cryptowatchmay2024

South Korean prosecutors have recovered 320.8 BTC worth about $21.4 million after a hacker returned funds stolen from their custody, local media reported Thursday.
Robinhood’s Ethereum Layer 2 testnet processed four million transactions in the first week following its public launch, according to CEO Vlad Tenev.
Happy Thursday! Bitcoin
BTC+1.91%
is trading at around $66,000, with weakening ETF demand, fragile accumulation, and defensive positioning pointing to a range-bound market between roughly $79,000 and the $54,900 realized price floor, according to analysts at Glassnod
In today's newsletter, South Korean prosecutors recover $21 million worth of bitcoin stolen from their custody, Robinhood Chain's testnet generates four million transactions in its first week, DBA raises $68 million for its second venture fund, and more.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon revealed he owns a "very little" amount of bitcoin.
P.S. Don't forget to check out The Funding, a biweekly rundown of crypto VC trends. It's a great read — and just like The Daily, it's free to subscribe!
Hacker returns $21 million in stolen bitcoin to South Korean authorities
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The Daily: Hacker returns $21 million in stolen bitcoin, Robinhood Chain testnet hits four million transactions in first week, and more
By James Hunt
Security•February 19, 2026, 12:33PM EST

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The Daily: Hacker returns $21 million in stolen bitcoin, Robinhood Chain testnet hits four million transactions in first week, and more
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Quick Take
South Korean prosecutors have recovered 320.8 BTC worth about $21.4 million after a hacker returned funds stolen from their custody, local media reported Thursday.
Robinhood’s Ethereum Layer 2 testnet processed four million transactions in the first week following its public launch, according to CEO Vlad Tenev.
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The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Thursday! Bitcoin
BTC+1.91%
is trading at around $66,000, with weakening ETF demand, fragile accumulation, and defensive positioning pointing to a range-bound market between roughly $79,000 and the $54,900 realized price floor, according to analysts at Glassnode.

In today's newsletter, South Korean prosecutors recover $21 million worth of bitcoin stolen from their custody, Robinhood Chain's testnet generates four million transactions in its first week, DBA raises $68 million for its second venture fund, and more.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon revealed he owns a "very little" amount of bitcoin.

P.S. Don't forget to check out The Funding, a biweekly rundown of crypto VC trends. It's a great read — and just like The Daily, it's free to subscribe!
Hacker returns $21 million in stolen bitcoin to South Korean authorities
South Korean prosecutors have recovered 320.8 BTC worth about $21.4 million after a hacker returned funds stolen from their custody, local media reported Thursday.
Investigators lost the bitcoin last August after entering recovery seed phrases on a phishing website during a probe into a gambling platform, but only discovered the loss in December.
Authorities had blocked transactions to centralized exchanges from the hacker's wallet, limiting the ability to liquidate the stolen assets.
Prosecutors have since moved the returned bitcoin to a local exchange for safekeeping and said they will continue efforts to track down the hacker's identity.
The incident prompted a nationwide review of investigative agencies' management of seized digital assets after additional police reports revealed further missing bitcoin that was held in custody.
Robinhood's Layer 2 testnet sees four million transactions in first week, CEO Vlad Tenev says
Robinhood's Ethereum Layer 2 testnet processed four million transactions in the first week following its public launch, according to CEO Vlad Tenev
The Arbitrum-based Robinhood Chain targets tokenized real-world assets and onchain financial services, including equities and ETFs.
The permissionless network previously underwent six months of private testing and has already integrated key infrastructure partners, including Alchemy, LayerZero, and Chainlink.
Robinhood plans to launch the mainnet later this year as part of its broader push into tokenization, including plans for round-the-clock trading and near-real-time settlement.siyam
Crypto investment firm DBA raises $68 million for its second venture fund
The New York-based firm, led by prominent Ethereum commentator Jon Charbonneau and former Galaxy Digital executive Michael Jordan, invests across early-stage and public crypto markets.
DBA, short for "doing business as," has previously backed infrastructure and application projects, including Monad, DoubleZero, Payy, MetaDAO, and bitcoin scaling startup Alpen Labs.
The firm said decentralized exchanges, ICO platforms, prediction markets, and impact markets represent key areas shaping the future of finance.
Uniswap governance considers activating protocol fees on all v3 pools, expanding to eight additional chains
Uniswap governance launched a temp check to expand protocol fees across all v3 pools and eight additional chains, including Arbitrum, Base, Celo, OP Mainnet, Soneium, X Layer, Worldchain, and Zora.
The proposal would introduce a tier-based mechanism to automatically apply fees across all remaining v3 pools, significantly expanding Uniswap's protocol revenue capture.
The system would route fees through TokenJar contracts and burn them as UNI on the Ethereum mainnet.
The vote marks the first major fee expansion under the new UNIfication governance framework.
CME Group to launch 24/7 crypto futures and options trading on May 29
CME's Tim McCourt said client demand for crypto risk management has reached "an all-time high," with a record $3 trillion in notional volume traded across its cryptocurrency futures and options in 2025.
While not all markets lend themselves to operating 24/7, providing always-on access to our regulated, transparent cryptocurrency products ensures clients can manage their exposure and trade with confidence at any time," he said.
#MegadropLista
#NOTCOİN
#BinanceHerYerde
#VeChainNodeMarketplace
#CryptoWatchMay2024

The UAE Royal Group holds $453.6 million in bitcoin through Citadel Mining-linked operations, generating $344 million in unrealized profit, minus energy costs, Arkham said on Thursday.
The Gulf state retains the majority of its self-mined bitcoin, with onchain records showing the last fund outflow occurred four months ago.
The United Arab Emirates is sitting on approximately $344 million in unrealized profit from royal family-linked bitcoin mining operations, excluding energy costs, according to data from Arkham.
The Gulf nation currently holds a total of $453.6 million in bitcoin
BTC-1.22%
mined through state-linked infrastructure, maintaining a consistent production rate of 4.2 BTC per day over the previous seven days, the data show
UAE’s mining push traces back to 2022, when Citadel Mining, an entity tied to Abu Dhabi’s royal family, established large-scale operations on Al Reem Island. In 2023, Marathon Digital Holdings and Abu Dhabi-based Zero Two announced a joint venture to develop 250 megawatts of immersion-cooled mining capacity in the UAE, marking one of the region’s largest disclosed industrial deployments.
Arkham's latest data revises downward the $700 million in mined bitcoin it attributed to the UAE in August 2025, when the firm first identified the country's wallets on its platform and bitcoin prices were trading at higher levels. At that time, Arkham reported the UAE had mined approximately 9,300 BTC and continued holding about 6,300 BTC, ranking it fourth among government entities with verified onchain holdings.
The current data shows the UAE Royal Group holds about 6,782 BTC, representing 0.03% of bitcoin's total supply.
Beyond the Gulf: Other sovereign miners and holders
The UAE is not the only sovereign entity mining bitcoin. Bhutan's Royal Government, through its investment arm Druk Holding & Investments, began mining in 2019 using the country's hydroelectric resources. At its peak, Bhutan accumulated over $1 billion in bitcoin, with Arkham first identifying its holdings in September 2024 at just over 13,000 BTC.
Unlike the UAE, which Arkham reports has not moved funds in four months, Bhutan has been systematically reducing its position. Since the beginning of 2026, Bhutan has sold bitcoin for three consecutive weeks, totaling approximately $29 million, with the most recent sale occurring in February. Over the past five months, Bhutan has sold more than $100 million in bitcoin, reducing its holdings by more than half from peak levels. The government currently holds 5,600 BTC valued at $375 million, according to Arkham data.
Several other governments hold significant bitcoin portfolios, though unlike the UAE and Bhutan, their accumulations derive primarily from asset seizures. According to Arkham, the U.S. government ranks first among sovereign holders with 328,000 BTC valued at $22 billion, representing 1.64% of the total supply.
These holdings were recovered by the FBI from the Bitfinex hack, seizures from the Silk Road marketplace, and assets taken from Silk Road hacker James Zhong. The U.S. recently acquired an additional 127,000 BTC from the LuBian Hacker address, per Arkham.
The UK government ranks second with 61,000 BTC valued at $4 billion, or 0.3% of total supply. The UK Metropolitan Police seized part of this bitcoin stash from Jian Wen and Zhimin Qian in 2018, gaining access to the funds in July 2021.
Other governments have accumulated bitcoin through different channels. Ukraine has received $22.8 million in bitcoin donations since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, while Germany seized 50,000 BTC in January 2024 from a movie piracy site and fully sold the holdings in July 2024. Arkham’s platform tracks these and other sovereign wallets, though it notes that additional government holdings may remain unidentified.
#ZeusInCrypto
#XRPRealityCheck
#CryptoWatchMay2024
#VeChainNodeMarketplace
#BinanceHerYerde

One trader. Twelve wallets. Millions in fake volume.
Here's how they do it:
The Setup
Imagine a "trader" with a dozen different wallets. Same person. Different addresses.
They're not trading with real people. They're trading with themselves.
No risk. No real buyers. Just fake volume pumping up the charts.
Why Crypto Makes This Easy,
In traditional markets? Straight-up illegal. The SEC would crush you.
In crypto? It's the wild west.
Pseudonymous wallets + bots on Uniswap/PancakeSwap = instant fake volume that shows up on DexScreener and CoinGecko.
The 4-Step Scam
Step 1: Control 2-5 wallets with the same funds
Step 2: Bot A buys 1,000 tokens from Bot B at market price
Step 3: Repeat 100x in minutes. Volume spikes 10,000%. Charts glow green.
Step 4: Real traders pile in. Insiders dump at the peak.
Real example: Volume.li (busted in 2024) sold this as a "service" for $500/month. Exchanges ignored it because fake volume boosted their rankings.
How to Spot It
Look for "matched orders"—trades with identical sizes at identical times.
Tool: Bubble Maps reveals wallet clusters instantly. If 5+ wallets are connected, that's your red flag.
Up next in Part 3: Real-world busts. SEC takedowns. On-chain forensics that exposed the biggest scammers.
Drop a comment: Which project do you think is wash trading right now.
#TradeSmart #MarketRebound #Binance #BTC走势分析 #CryptoWatchMay2024

Market Summary:
Venice Token (ticker: VVV) has delivered one of the most dramatic short-term performances in the current crypto market cycle, surging roughly 55% in the past 24 hours. This sharp move has captured the attention of traders and analysts alike as the token rebounds from earlier lows and tests key resistance levels. �
AInvest
📈 Price Action & Volume Dynamics
Over the past day, VVV’s price accelerated sharply, climbing from lower support around the mid-$1 range to approximately $2.7-$3.0, reflecting a near-55% gain in the 24-hour window according to multiple market sources. Trading volume has also increased substantially, signaling heightened market participation and liquidity compared to recent sessions. �
AInvest
This type of performance often accompanies elevated volume-to-market-cap ratios, indicating that both buyers and opportunistic traders are actively engaging with the token during its breakout. �
AInvest
🧠 What’s Driving the Rally
Several technical and market factors may be contributing to VVV’s rapid appreciation:
Technical Breakout: The token broke through a key resistance zone near $2.00 before accelerating higher, suggesting strong momentum and a possible trend reversal from recent consolidation. �
AInvest
Low Float Dynamics: Only a portion of VVV’s total supply is actively circulating, with a significant locked supply potentially creating supply pressure and sharper price reactions when demand spikes. �
AInvest
Increased Trading Volume: With millions of dollars of VVV trading in the last 24 hours, volume dynamics suggest real market interest rather than isolated low-liquidity moves. �
AInvest
📊 Market Positioning & Volatility
Despite the strong short-term surge, VVV remains well below earlier all-time highs from prior market cycles. This large price gap reinforces that VVV is still in a recovery phase rather than a new bull run, making near-term volatility especially pronounced. �
AInvest
Tokens that move over 40-50% in a single session often witness rapid retracements as profit-taking accelerates, so traders are advised to manage their positions and be mindful of risk in such high-volatility environments. �
AInvest
🧩 Bottom Line for Traders
Venice Token’s recent surge highlights the dynamic and speculative nature of mid-cap altcoins. While the ~55% gain is impressive, market participants should:
Monitor volume sustainability to distinguish durable momentum from short-lived spikes.
Watch key support and resistance levels for signals of continuation or pullback.
Apply disciplined risk management, especially in assets with significant daily volatility
#VVV
#VeniceToken
#CryptoWatchMay2024
#AltcoinSurge
#BinanceSquareFamily

$IP Coin (Story Protocol) has emerged as one of the strongest-performing altcoins, defying overall market weakness and recording powerful double-digit gains while the broader crypto market faced heavy selling pressure.
Despite billions being wiped from total market capitalization, IP continued its bullish run, making it one of the top gainers and capturing massive attention from traders and investors alike. �
CryptoNews
🔥 Why Is IP Coin Exploding?
🧠 1. Real-World Use Case — Tokenizing Intellectual Property
Story Protocol aims to bring intellectual property (IP) on-chain, allowing creators to register, license, and monetize stories, characters, art, and AI training data using blockchain technology. This powerful narrative connects Web3, AI, NFTs, and creator economy, giving IP a unique long-term value proposition.
📈 2. Massive Buying Pressure
Strong demand has pushed IP into top gainer territory, even during market-wide downturns — a clear sign of smart money accumulation and rising investor confidence. �
CryptoNews
🏗 3. Layer-1 Blockchain Advantage
As a Layer-1 network, Story Protocol offers speed, scalability, and autonomy — giving developers and creators a robust platform to build next-generation decentralized applications.
📊 Market Outlook — Is This Just the Beginning?
With the creator economy, AI sector, and real-world asset tokenization rapidly expanding, IP Coin stands at the intersection of multiple high-growth narratives.
If current momentum continues, IP could remain one of the strongest trending tokens, offering excellent volatility for traders and solid potential for long-term holders.
#IP #CryptoNewss #CryptoWatchMay2024