Daily Digest - 2 February 2023

Headlines

▌UK government unveils plans to regulate cryptocurrency trading and lending

The British government introduced a new cryptocurrency regulatory framework through a consultation document released by the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday, which contains stricter investment and trading rules. At the top of the government's agenda is the introduction of a system to regulate cryptocurrencies more broadly. The document attempts to design a system covering encryption service providers, lending platforms, prudential requirements, consumer protection, encryption issuance and disclosure, and prevention of market abuse.

Policies

▌U.S. Treasury Blacklists Bitcoin, Ethereum Addresses Related to Evasion of Russian Sanctions

The U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions watchdog, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), announced that it has blacklisted Bitcoin and Ethereum addresses related to Russian sanctions evasion, which are related to Russia’s arms export intermediaries. According to OFAC, Russian national Jonatan Zimenkov was linked to the two addresses, which in turn were linked to his father and the Rosoboroneksport OAO. According to its website, the company acts as a middleman for Russian arms exports. At press time, the balances of bitcoin and ethereum addresses on the blacklist are practically zero.

▌U.S. judge prohibits SBF from contacting current or former employees of FTX and Alameda

On February 1, court records showed that a U.S. judge prohibited SBF from contacting current or former employees of FTX and Alameda.

Cryptocurrency

▌Stargate proposes to reissue all STG tokens to eliminate the risk of illegal transfer of STG held by Alameda

Stargate, a Layer Zero-based cross-chain liquidity protocol, proposed to reissue all STG tokens to eliminate the risk of illegal transfer of STG from Alameda addresses. Previously, Alameda purchased 10% of the total supply of STG from Stargate's community sale in March 2022, and promised to lock these tokens until March 2025, but the recent on-chain transfer of the Alameda wallet shows that Alameda Without full control over their wallets, someone is moving funds illegally.

▌After hackers stole $5 million in AllianceBlock tokens, token prices plummeted 51%

According to an announcement issued by AllianceBlock on Wednesday, hackers stole approximately $5 million worth of AllianceBlock (ALBT) tokens on the decentralized lending protocol Bonq. AllianceBlock suspended all activity on the bridge following the attack on Wednesday afternoon. During the attack, the Polygon wallet accessed 112 million ALBT tokens, bridging them from the Polygon blockchain to the Ethereum blockchain. The hacker also gained 500,000 USDC by dumping Bonq Euro (BEUR) tokens. The protocol's team, as well as Bonq's team, will be minting new ALBT tokens and airdropping tokens to affected wallet addresses. “The AllianceBlock and Bonq teams, including all involved partners, are now removing liquidity and halting all exchange transactions,” reads the announcement. None of its smart contracts were compromised or damaged during the attack, AllianceBlock said, but that hasn't allayed investors' concerns. According to data from CoinMarketCap, the price of ALBT tokens plummeted by around 51% following the exploit. During the hack, the attackers also minted 100 million BEUR tokens, reducing their price to almost zero.