Today in crypto, Bitcoin retail investors and whales are moving in opposite directions, the Balancer DAO has given the hacker behind the exploit until Saturday to return the stolen funds for a bounty. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan is considering converting part of its sovereign wealth and gold reserves into digital assets.
Bitcoin whale and retail 'major divergence' is a warning sign: Santiment
Bitcoin retail investors are snapping up Bitcoin as whales sell off, a pattern that could signal trouble for the asset’s price if history is any guide, according to sentiment platform Santiment.
However, other crypto analysts are divided on how the coming weeks will unfold for Bitcoin.
“Historically, prices tend to follow the direction of the whales, not retail,” Santiment said in a markets report on Saturday.
Santiment pointed out that since Oct. 12, Bitcoin whales — wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC — have sold approximately 32,500 Bitcoin. However, Santiment added that “small retail wallets have been aggressively buying the dip.”
Balancer makes last appeal to hacker behind $100M+ exploit
The Balancer Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) issued an onchain notice to the wallet holder behind an exploit this week that resulted in more than $100 million in digital assets being stolen.
In a Friday X post, Balancer posted a copy of the message it sent to the individual or group responsible for the incident tied to the platform’s V2 Composable Stable Pools. The decentralized exchange offered them until Saturday to return the funds in exchange for an unspecified bounty, or it would use “technical, onchain, and legal measures” to pursue matters.
“We understand that affected users are awaiting further updates,” Balancer said of the exploit. “We will continue to provide information as the investigation progresses.”
The exploit, which Balancer reported to its users on Monday, resulted in more than $100 million worth of staked Ether (ETH) — including StakeWise Staked ETH (OSETH), Wrapped Ether (WETH) and Lido wstETH (wSTETH) — being moved to a newly created wallet. The hack drew attention to the audits of the exchange’s smart contracts after reports showed four security companies had reviewed them.
Kazakhstan may fuel $1 billion crypto reserve with gold, FX and seized assets
Kazakhstan’s government is reportedly considering converting a portion of the country’s National Fund assets, as well as part of its gold and foreign exchange reserves, to fund a cryptocurrency reserve.
According to The Times of Central Asia, Berik Sholpankulov, deputy chairman of Kazakhstan’s National Bank, announced the initiative during a recent parliamentary session. A Bloomberg Law report Friday suggested the government aims to allocate between $500 million and $1 billion to the effort.
“I think by year end, January next year, we will have it up and running,” Sholpankulov said, according to Bloomberg. Sholpankulov added that the creation of a state-managed crypto asset fund is under discussion among government officials. “We are considering the possibility of using part of the National Fund’s assets and gold and foreign exchange reserves for investment in crypto assets,” he said.
The central bank official said confiscated assets “will be transferred to the state digital asset fund” to be “stored as a strategic reserve of the government.” He also stated that the Ministry of Digital Development has proposed allowing state-owned entities to supply energy to private cryptocurrency mining companies in exchange for cryptocurrency.
