Binance Hacked, Fidelity to Finally Launch, and Bitfinex Token Offering

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Hackers Steal $40 Million Worth of Bitcoin From Binance Exchange

Yesterday, hackers stole over 7,000 bitcoin (BTC) from the Binance exchange—worth over $40 million.

The theft happened in Binance’s “hot wallets,” which account for about 2% of total exchange holdings. In response, Binance suspended deposits and withdrawals. This will last for approximately one week as Binance conducts a security review. In the meantime, it will still allow trading.

If you hold your crypto funds in a Binance hot wallet and were affected by this hack, there’s good news: Binance said it would cover any losses in full, using its Secure Asset Fund for Users (an insurance reserve set up for this type of situation).

Fidelity Will Offer Cryptocurrency Trading Within a Few Weeks

In last week’s newsletter, we covered reports about E*Trade’s entrance into cryptocurrency trading…

Well, not to be one upped, Fidelity, which began a custody service to store Bitcoin earlier this year, will buy and sell Bitcoin for institutional customers within a few weeks, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The main difference? Fidelity is only targeting institutional customers and not retail investors like E*Trade and Robinhood. But we wouldn’t be surprised if retail trading launches soon.

Bitfinex Releases Official White Paper for $1 Billion Exchange Token Offering

Bitfinex has released its official white paper for its $1 Billion Initial Exchange Offering (IEO). The crypto exchange is seeking that amount in Tether ($USDT) through a private sale with a public sale option if private funds fail to cover the targeted amount.

Not exactly everyone is excited about this one though…

New Research: Institutional Investments Likely to Increase Over Next 5 Years

Let the Fidelity hype train begin. In addition to the circulating trading desk reports, Fidelity Digital Assets released some fresh research suggesting institutional interest (Pensions, Endowments, Family Offices, etc.) is ramping up.

Fidelity found that 70% of the institutional investors surveyed, believe that cryptoassets could be attractive as a new asset class. Most attractive to them are the non-correlation of cryptoassets with traditional asset classes and the new technologies that are enabling them.

The Story of Crypto Capital’s Dark Past and its Deep Ties with the Crypto Industry

Crypto Capital – a company that provided banking services for Bitfinex – quietly worked with organizations associated with financial crime, money laundering and securities fraud. Here’s the entire inside scoop.

REGULATORY FRONT

Cryptocurrency Firm OneCoin Sued Over Multibillion-Dollar Fraud

Cryptocurrency issuer OneCoin, which allegedly ran a $4 billion pyramid scheme, has been sued by an investor who’s seeking class-action status for the suit to include others who say they were scammed.

TWEET OF THE WEEK