Ethereum whale dumps another $17m ETH
Trump’s DeFi project’s December crypto buying spree nears $45M
Crypto chief buys banana for $6mn at contemporary art auction
North Korean Hackers Stole $1.3 Billion in 2024/a>
Ethereum whale dumps another $17m ETH
A whale that recently deposited a huge amount of Ethereum funds to Binance has offloaded another $17 million to the crypto exchange. The whale is related to Nexo, as indicated by onchain data. In recent days, Nexo or wallet addresses related to the crypto platform have deposited ETH into the centralized crypto exchange. It includes 18,000 unstaked Ethereum worth over $70.8 million moved to the exchange on Dec. 13. “A whale (related to #Nexo) deposited 4,946 $ETH ($17.2M) to #Binance again in the past hour. Since Dec 2, #Nexo has deposited a total of 114,262 $ETH ($423.3M) into #Binance at an average price of $3,705.” Lookonchain
The Ethereum market has witnessed a significant offloading by whales in recent weeks. A whale deposited over 22,740 ETH worth $77.7 million into Binance earlier this month, using the funds to settle debt. $170 million, or 49,910 ETH, also made its way to Binance, the whale involved cashing out $137.8 million in stablecoins.
While the transactions aren’t much of a panic selling, the whale’s behaviour adds to similar sell-offs seen in the past month. A number of large wallets have dumped ETH as the altcoin struggled to break higher. With BTC price retreating from its all-time high above $108k, Ethereum dropped to below $3,200. The gains to nearly $4,000 earlier provided a profit-taking opportunity. Some addresses took the cash, contributing to the decline and struggle engulfing bulls.
Other than Nexo, which has been active in recent days, some notable sellers have included the Ethereum Foundation. Justin Sun, Tron’s founder, has also been aggressive. Despite the offloading, ETH’s price remains resilient, above $3k. It hovered around $3,448 at the time of writing – about 1.2% down in the past 24 hours.
$2.2 Billion Stolen from Crypto Platforms in 2024. Hacked Volumes Stagnate Toward Year-End as DPRK Slows Activity Post-July
Crypto hacking remains a persistent threat, with four years in the past decade individually seeing more than a billion dollars’ worth of crypto stolen (2018, 2021, 2022, and 2023). 2024 marks the fifth year to reach this troubling milestone, highlighting how, as crypto adoption and prices rise, so too does the amount that can be stolen.
In 2024, funds stolen increased by approximately 21.07% year-over-year (YoY) to $2.2 billion, and the number of individual hacking incidents increased from 282 in 2023 to 303 in 2024.
Interestingly, the intensity of crypto hacking shifted about halfway through the year. In our mid-year crime update, we noted that cumulative value stolen between January 2024 and July 2024 had already reached $1.58 billion, approximately 84.4% higher than the value stolen over the same period in 2023. As we see in the chart below, through the end of July, the ecosystem was easily on track for a year that could rival the $3 billion+ years of 2021 and 2022. However, 2024’s upward trend slowed considerably after July, after which it remained relatively steady. Later, we’ll explore a potential geopolitical reason for this change.
In terms of amount stolen by victim platform type, 2024 also saw interesting patterns. In most quarters between 2021 and 2023, decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms were the primary targets of crypto hacks. It’s possible that DeFi platforms were more vulnerable because their developers tend to prioritize rapid growth and bringing their products to market over implementing security measures, making them prime targets for hackers.
Although DeFi still accounted for the largest share of stolen assets in the first quarter of 2024, centralized services were the most targeted in Q2 and Q3. Some of the most notable centralized service hacks include DMM Bitcoin (May 2024; $305 million) and WazirX (July 2024; $234.9 million).
This shift in focus from DeFi to centralized services highlights the increasing importance of securing mechanisms commonly exploited in hacks, such as private keys. Private key compromises accounted for the largest share of stolen crypto in 2024, at 43.8%. For centralized services, ensuring the security of private keys is critical, as they control access to users’ assets. Given that centralized exchanges manage substantial amounts of user funds, the impact of a private key compromise can be devastating; we only have to look at the $305 million DMM Bitcoin hack, which is one of the largest crypto exploits to date, and may have occurred due to private key mismanagement or lack of adequate security.
After compromising private keys, malicious actors often launder stolen funds by funneling them through decentralized exchanges (DEXs), mining services, or mixing services to obfuscate the transaction trail and complicate tracing. In 2024, we can see that the laundering activity of private key hackers differs meaningfully from that of hackers exploiting other attack vectors. For instance, after stealing private keys, these hackers often turned to bridges and mixing services. For other attack vectors, DEXs were more popular for laundering.
Trump’s DeFi project’s December crypto buying spree nears $45M
Donald Trump’s crypto project, World Liberty Financial, has been on a massive crypto buying spree in December — now nearing a total spend of $45 million after buying $250,000 of Ondo (ONDO).
Since Nov. 30, a World Liberty wallet has purchased $30 million worth of Ethereum and $10 million worth of Coinbase Wrapped BTC (cbBTC) alongside a handful of other purchases, according to a December 16 X post from the blockchain monitoring account Lookonchain and data from Arkham Intelligence. Lookonchain said World Liberty’s most recent buy at around 11 pm UTC on Dec. 15 was for $250,000 worth of Ondo about a day after it bought $500,000 worth of Ethena (ENA). It had previously purchased $2 million each of Chainlink and Aave, bringing its total token buys for this month to $44.75 million.
The project, unveiled in September, bills itself as a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform for trading crypto that lists president-elect Trump as its “chief crypto advocate” and his sons Donald Jr, Eric and Barron as “ambassadors.” A company linked to the family is entitled to 75% of net revenues.
Nansen research analyst Nicolai Søndergaard recently told Bloomberg that World Liberty’s token buys could be ”a way to gain additional trust or a way to boost the project by shedding light on these assets as the project will likely do well if these assets do.”
The project has struggled to meet the goal for the sale of its self-titled World Liberty Financial (WLFI) token. So far, it’s sold less than a quarter of the $300 million WLFI it put up for sale.
It did, however, get a boost last month when Tron blockchain founder Justin Sun bought $30 million worth and became the project’s largest investor and was then later added as an adviser.
Sun and Tron have been accused of selling unregistered securities by the Securities and Exchange Commission — an agency Trump promised to overhaul to be more crypto-friendly.
Meanwhile, on December 13, AaveDAO, the autonomous collective behind the DeFi protocol Aave, passed World Liberty’s proposal to allow it to deploy an Aave instance — its own version of the protocol.
World Liberty proposed allowing for the borrowing and lending of Ether, Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), and stablecoin’s USD Coin
USDC and Tether. It’d also give 20% of fees generated to AaveDAO and 7% of WLFI’s supply, worth $21 million, with its price at 1.5 cents.
Crypto chief buys banana for $6mn at contemporary art auction
A cryptocurrency entrepreneur paid $6.24mn for a banana taped to a wall at a contemporary art auction in New York, more than four times its presale estimate.
Maurizio Cattelan’s “Comedian”, a banana stuck to a wall with duct tape, was sold to Justin Sun, the founder of cryptocurrency platform Tron, on Wednesday evening.
Sun outbid six others at a Sotheby’s New York auction to purchase the banana at a much higher price than its presale estimate of $1mn to $1.5mn. The entrepreneur said on Wednesday that “Comedian” was “not just an artwork; it represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes and the cryptocurrency community”. He added that he planned to eat the banana in the “coming days . . . as part of this unique artistic experience, honouring its place in both art history and popular culture”.
Sun’s Tron blockchain network facilitates a large volume of the world’s USDT stablecoin transactions. In March last year, the entrepreneur proposed buying collapsed Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse for $1.5bn to “integrate it into the Web3.0 world”. The same month, he was sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for fraudulently inflating the trading volumes of TRX, Tron’s crypto token. Sun denies the charges.
North Korean Hackers Stole $1.3 Billion in 2024
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea—often referred to as North Korea—is reportedly responsible for 61% of crypto stolen this year, according to Chainalysis.
“In 2023, North Korea-affiliated hackers stole approximately $660.50 million across 20 incidents; in 2024, this number increased to $1.34 billion stolen across 47 incidents—a 102.88% increase in value stolen,” reads a recent report from major crypto forensics firm Chainalysis. This is the highest amount siphoned in by North Korean hackers in any year so far.
Luis Lubeck, services project manager at crypto cybersecurity firm Hacken, told Decrypt that the financial collaboration between North Korea and Russia exacerbates the situation.
“It heightens threats by sharing tools and expertise, complicating attribution and response efforts,” he said. “This partnership could escalate global cyber conflicts and reshape how cyber warfare will held place with alliances instead of solo efforts from one state.”
