The Acala Network’s aUSD stablecoin depegged by over 99% over the weekend and forced the Acala team to pause a hacker’s wallet, raising concerns about its claim of being decentralized. On Aug. 14, a hacker took advantage of a bug on the iBTC/aUSD liquidity pool which resulted in 1.2 billion aUSD being minted without collateral. This event crashed the USD-pegged stablecoin to a cent, and in response, the Acala team froze the erroneously minted tokens by placing the network in maintenance mode. The move also halted other features such as swaps, xcm (cross-chain communications on Polkadot), and the oracle pallet …

There’s a ferment brewing with regard to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and most people really don’t know what to expect. Varied effects seem to be bubbling up in different parts of the world. Consider: China’s e-CNY has already been used by 200 million-plus of its citizens and a full rollout could happen as early as February — but will a digital yuan gain traction internationally? Europe’s central bank has been exploring a digital euro for several years, and the European Union could introduce a digital euro bill in 2023. But, will it come with limitations, such as a ceiling …

Major Brazilian payment application PicPay is moving into cryptocurrencies by integrating a crypto exchange service allowing users to buy Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). The firm officially announced on Wednesday that PicPay clients can now buy, sell and store two major cryptocurrencies, BTC or ETH, directly on its app. PicPay pointed out that its choice was due to the real use cases provided by these digital assets, including security and many other benefits. The firm stated: “Blockchain technology, which is behind coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, is already used in the real estate sector, the insurance industry and even the …

Tornado Cash (TORN) has lost almost half its market valuation two days after being slapped with sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department. The department accused Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer platform, of laundering more than $7 billion in cryptocurrencies, including a stash of $455 million allegedly stolen by North Korea-based hackers. Immediate reactions were followed by U.S.-based crypto companies, including Circle and Coinbase. In a controversial move, the popular crypto firms blocked the movements of their jointly-issued stablecoin USDC tied to Tornado Cash's blacklisted smart contracts. TORN price drops 45% The news prompted traders to limit their exposure to TORN, …

Hot on the heels of an official announcement from USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle Pay, stablecoin giant Tether has now also officially confirmed its support behind Ethereum’s upcoming Merge upgrade and switch to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism-based blockchain. The announcement came on the same day as its stablecoin competitor, who pledged they will only support Ethereum’s highly anticipated upgrade. In an Aug. 9 statement, Tether labeled the Merge one of the “most significant moments in blockchain history” and outlined that it will work in accordance with Ethereum’s upgrade schedule, which is currently slated to go through on Sept. 19. …

On Tuesday, Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, pledged its full support for the transition of Ethereum to a proof-of-stake, or PoS, blockchain after the much-anticipated Merge upgrade. The firm views The Merge as an important milestone in the scaling of the Ethereum ecosystem, writing: "USDC has become a core building block for Ethereum DeFi innovation. It has facilitated the adoption of L2 solutions and helped broaden the set of use cases that today rely on Ethereum's vast suite of capabilities. We understand our responsibility for the Ethereum ecosystem and businesses, developers, and end users that depend on USDC, …

Ethereum-based algorithmic stablecoin project Beanstalk Farms has relaunched its protocol just under four months after going offline after suffering a devastating $77 million governance exploit. The protocol and its governance have been paused since April following the governance exploit and flash loan attack, but were relaunched as of Aug. 6 in an event called the “Replant.” In an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, Beanstalk said it has come out of the ordeal stronger than ever, likely in reference to protocol's governance and security. “Beanstalk has come out on the other end of this ordeal stronger than ever. It is a testament …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) has massive potential to transform traditional financial services. Data from Emergen Research recently found that the global DeFi platform market size is expected to reach $507 billion by 2028. Moreover, the total value locked within DeFi currently exceeds $75 billion, demonstrating fast-paced growth compared to previous months this year. Yet, DeFi’s potential may still not be realized by business leaders unfamiliar with the blockchain ecosystem. This notion is highlighted in Alex Tapscott’s recent book, Digital Asset Revolution. Tapscott, co-founder of the Blockchain Research Institute and managing director at Ninepoint Digital Asset Group, told Cointelegraph that he believes …

The cryptocurrency market has grown beyond many people’s expectations over the past decade. The nascent industry has managed to change mainstream perception quite significantly, especially in 2021, which saw many traditional financial institutions adopt crypto in one form or another. Some of the biggest public companies such as MicroStrategy started using Bitcoin (BTC) as a treasury hedge, while the likes of PayPal, Mastercard and Visa paved the way for the common public to use crypto as a form of payment. While many experts are still skeptical about the use of crypto as a form of payment, given its price volatility, …

Millionaire investor from the Shark Tank TV show Kevin O’Leary says there’s going to be “total panic” and “massive volatility” in the crypto markets ahead before the industry swings back toward stronger firms and clearer regulations. Despite the recent fall of crypto finance firms including Voyager Digital and Celsius, O’Leary told Cointelegraph on July 13 that we’re still missing a “real big event” seen in previous market cycles before we go back to accelerated growth in the space, stating: “This passion play gets played out over and over again.” Some investors have pointed to the current market conditions as a …

Circle has released a full breakdown of its USD Coin (USDC) holdings for the first time — a move designed to offer transparency and instill greater trust in the stablecoin issuer. As of June 30, Circle’s $55.7 billion reserves were comprised of $42.12 billion in short-term United States Treasuries and $13.58 billion in cash held at regulated financial institutions in the country, the company disclosed Thursday. The weighted average maturity of its Treasury assets was 43.9 days. “The USDC reserve is held solely in cash and 3-month U.S. Treasuries, held in segregated accounts for the benefit of USDC holders, and …

A sandbox test of a retail full-reserve digital currency (FRDC) has been completed in the United Kingdom, distributed ledger fintech company Millicent Labs announced on Thursday. The test was a demonstration for Innovate UK, a branch of the government’s U.K. Research and Innovation, which co-funded the company. An FRDC is a privately issued digital currency pegged to a fiat currency, Millicent said in a statement. It is introducing a suite of FRDCs that are fully collateralized by cash deposits in a central bank account safeguarded by a regulated third party. The demonstration for Innovate UK was intended to highlight the …