The king cryptocurrency continues to linger above $43,000 as buyers step back in. Shortly after our alert about LINK Coin, its price finally exceeded $18. Double-digit rises in some altcoins are catching attention. So, what’s the latest in the markets?
Cryptocurrency Market Update
Assets worth $4.2 million stolen by XRP thieves were frozen by Binance and will be returned to Ripple co-founder Chris Larson. Three individuals are accused in relation to the FTX exchange hack, which was revealed to be a sim-swap attack, leading to a $400 million loss. The main suspects in the attack that caused the loss were the founder and employees of FTX. Polygon Labs has laid off 19% of its staff to “increase performance”.
XRP Coin Attack
Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s personal wallet was attacked, and $112 million worth of tokens were stolen. The transfer of these to centralized exchanges was an opportunity for the assets to be quickly frozen, and Binance successfully seized $4.2 million worth of them.
Binance CEO Richard Teng thanked ZachXBT and the Ripple team on social media for their coordination and assistance.
Details of the FTX Attack
Three individuals responsible for numerous sim-swap attacks have been identified by United States prosecutors. They are believed to be responsible for the attack during the FTX exchange’s bankruptcy process, which resulted in a $400 million loss.
In a filing to the Washington D.C. District Court on January 24, US federal prosecutors charged Robert Powell, Carter Rohn, and Emily Hernandez with copying the SIM cards of 50 individuals. A blog post by blockchain security firm Elliptic dated February 1 mentioned that the victim company named in the indictment could be FTX.
Polygon Labs Layoffs
Polygon CEO Marc Boiron announced that the company will lay off 60 employees for “enhanced performance”. The CEO also announced a 15% raise for the remaining employees. At the beginning of last year, 20% of Polygon’s staff had also been laid off.
Similar to 2023, layoffs continue in technology and finance companies. BlackRock and many other companies had announced significant layoffs.
