Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.
PayPal has launched PYUSD on Venmo starting September 20 and rolling out to all eligible users throughout the next few weeks. CoinEx has rebuilt its wallet system following a $70 million hack and is set to resume deposit and withdrawals for select cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, DeFi protocol Balancer has warned users to stay away from its frontend website, after an apparent attack that has siphoned over $200,000 in cryptocurrency.
PayPal rolls out PYUSD stablecoin to Venmo users
PayPal announced the immediate availability of its PYUSD stablecoin on the Venmo platform.
According to a statement, PYUSD is already available to some Venmo users and will be rolling out fully in “the coming weeks”
“PYUSD is already present in native crypto experiences, and continues to be made more broadly available as the ecosystem grows,” said PayPal, in a statement. “In the few weeks since its launch in the open market, PYUSD is already present on select exchanges including Crypto.com, Bitstamp, Coinbase, and Kraken.”
The community response on X has been almost uniformly positive with many calling the move “bullish” or otherwise indicating general approval.
bullish
— bojak.eth (@W0JAK) September 20, 2023
CoinEx to resume service with new wallet system following $70M hack
Cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx is set to resume deposit and withdrawals for its users more than a week after it suffered a $70 million hack due to compromised hot wallet private keys.
In previous correspondence with Cointelegraph, the exchange outlined its priority to build and deploy a new wallet system to facilitate activities for the 211 blockchains and 737 tokens that it served before the hacking incident.
The latest statement from the exchange announces the resumption of deposit and withdrawal services of BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC and other tokens from Sept. 21.
CoinEx will update deposit addresses for the listed tokens and will generate new deposit addresses for its users. CoinEx customers were advised not to deposit into old addresses on the platform, as this would result in assets being permanently lost. The exchange also warned of a potentially large number of pending withdrawals at the resumption of its operations:
“We ensure the new wallet system is stable, and we will gradually resume deposit and withdrawal services for more assets.”
The exchange maintains that it has implemented a 100% asset reserve policy to safeguard users against potential security threats. Previous updates following the hacking incident also stated that users assets were not affected and that CoinEx’s User Asset Security Foundation would cover any financial losses.
CoinEx has since revealed that compromised private keys for a number of its hot wallet addresses allowed hackers to withdraw some $70 million worth of cryptocurrencies. The hot wallets were used as temporary storage for user deposits, withdrawals and temporary storage.
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has linked the incident to North Korean “Lazarus Group” hackers, while the exchange told Cointelegraph that it was still investigating the identity of the perpetrators. CoinEx released further details of the assets that were stolen in the incident on Sept. 20.
Balancer warns frontend has been attacked, $238K crypto stolen
Balancer, an Ethereum-based decentralized finance protocol has warned users to stay away from its website until further notice, after an attack on its frontend.
Balancer said the details of the attack are under investigation. The firm hasn’t officially commented on whether user funds were affected, but Balancer contributor Cosme Fulanito has reportedly confirmed that Balancer’s vault remains “100% fine.”
Blockchain security firms including PeckShield and blockchain analyst ZachXBT however estimated at least $238,000 in crypto has been stolen so far.
#PeckShieldAlert @Balancer has reported that its frontend under an attack, ~$238k worth of cryptos were stolen https://t.co/aAaj0Xqery pic.twitter.com/YDIjfnNYM4
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) September 20, 2023
Some users have been reporting that when interacting with the website, they’re being prompted to approve a malicious contract that drains users’ wallets.
The attacker has since started to move the allegedly stolen funds, according to PeckShield.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
