Only four days prior, on July 14, Bexplus had published a press release offering "rewards worth up to $5,000 to new users who sign up and make their first deposit". The project also promised its users up to 21% interest on bitcoin kept with the exchange. Bexplus had also promised a 100% match on deposits to the platform, up to 10 BTC (currently priced at $235,550).
Bexplus crypto exchange closes, gives users only 24 hours to withdraw funds
- "Notice on Indefinite Suspension of Bexplus Project", Bexplus
- "Bexplus Exchange Announces $5,000 Giveaway for New Users", press release
- "Corretora brasileira de criptomoedas fecha e dá 24 horas para clientes sacarem fundos", Livecoins (in Portuguese)
Vauld is short around $70 million
Several weeks prior, Vauld had cut 30% of staff, slashed executive salaries, and began various other cost-cutting measures.
Rival firm Nexo has said it is considering acquiring Vauld, though some have expressed skepticism that Nexo is in a position to afford such an acquisition.
More than $2.25 million stolen from Bifrost's BiFi platform
Bifrost wrote in their post-mortem analysis that because the attack was limited to the BTC address registration server, and the hack didn't exploit any smart contract or protocol vulnerabilities, a security audit performed by Theori "is still valid" — leading one to wonder why anyone should trust an "audited" platform if $2.25 million in assets can be stolen without invalidating an audit.
- "Post-mortem: BiFi-BTC illegal address registration", Bifrost blog
Twitter and YouTube accounts for the British Army simultaneously hacked and used to promote NFT and crypto scams
On Twitter, the account details were changed to resemble the Possessed NFT project (as also happened to top Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player MkLeo in March). Tweets from the account announced a "new NFT collection" and linked to a fake minting website, complete with a fake counter showing the number of available NFTs appearing to dwindle.
Meanwhile, the YouTube account was rebranded to resemble ARK Invest, the investment management firm founded by Cathie Wood. It ran a steady stream of fake videos cribbed from an old, real livestream with Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey, but surrounded with borders promoting "double your money" Bitcoin and Ether scams. This is a common YouTube scam, and one such scam earned crypto scammers $1.3 million in 24 hours back in May.
Voyager Digital suspends withdrawals and other activity
Voyager announced that they were making the decision "given current market conditions", and that it "gives us additional time to continue exploring strategic alternatives with various interested parties". They also released some financial and balance sheet updates that painted a pretty grim picture.
- "Voyager Digital Provides Market Update", press release from Voyager
Mirror Trading International charged after $1.7 billion fraud
Mirror Trading International was founded and operated by Cornelius Johannes Steynberg, who had been on the run from South African police until recently being detained in Brazil on an INTERPOL warrant. The CFTC is seeking full restitution, disgorgement, and bans from future trading.
SEC rejects Grayscale application to create Bitcoin ETF
Also on the 29th, the SEC rejected an application from Bitwise to create a Bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP).
Grayscale immediately announced they would be suing the SEC, a course of action they'd been suggesting for several months. Don't hold your breath, though — a litigation analyst estimated such a lawsuit would take 12–18 months to reach resolution.
CEO and CFO resign from Compass Mining
Binance pauses Bitcoin withdrawals for 3 hours due to "stuck" transactions
I love it when I go to my bank to grab some cash from the ATM and discover that I can't, because someone else's cash clogged up the pipe.
The pause occurred as Bitcoin was reaching record low prices not seen since 2020, contributing to the ongoing pattern of Binance suddenly pausing withdrawals or undergoing maintenance during periods of chaos in the crypto ecosystem.
Offline Cash project finally gives the world what it really needs: physical digital physical cash
Anyway, a project called Offline Cash has sprung up. In a stunning example of Poe's Law, the project seeks to provide a physical form of that digital physical cash people have spent so much time working on.
Hear me out: imagine you had paper notes that you could transfer to people in lieu of making a Bitcoin transaction! And unlike regular cash, it has an expiration date to keep track of!