📉 Bitcoin below $59k

👀 During the night, BTC dropped below $59k, and ETH fell below $2.4k. After a brief rebound, the price of Bitcoin is back to where it was—$58,400 at the moment.

In the past 24 hours, positions worth $322 million have been liquidated ($287 million in long positions and $35 million in short positions). 🧐

In 2017, French and UAE intelligence agencies hacked Pavel Durov's smartphone - Wall Street Journal

👀 The operation was launched due to "extreme concerns" that Telegram was being used for recruiting individuals into terrorist groups.

🍽🍷 A year later, Durov was already dining with the President of France. Despite this, various governments have continued to target him over the years. 🤔

Sony has rolled out the testnet for its new L2 blockchain, Soneium. 🚀

🧑‍💻 Developed by Sony Block Solutions Labs, a partnership between Singapore’s Startale Labs and Sony Group, Soneium is an EVM-compatible blockchain.

🔨 It leverages Ethereum’s base layer infrastructure and is built using the Optimism Foundation’s OP Stack and Superchain tools.

Co-founder of Sky (formerly MakerDAO) Rune Christensen has announced that the asset freezing feature will only be applied to the new stablecoin USDS.🚫🥶

DAI will continue to operate as before. 👀

There is no need to update your coins.

⚠️ Reuters: Today is crucial for Pavel Durov!

⚖️ On August 28, French judges will decide whether to release Pavel Durov or start an official investigation into the Telegram founder.

Updated details on the investigation will be provided this evening. ⏳

The probe is focused on "unnamed individuals" . The prosecutor’s office has not disclosed what crime Pavel Durov is suspected of.

👀 An official investigation doesn’t imply guilt and doesn’t necessarily lead to a trial; it might take years before reaching court.

If a formal investigation is initiated, Durov could be held in custody until the trial.

Pavel Durov's brother declared wanted in France – Politico

🗒 In March, French authorities issued arrest warrants for Telegram founder Pavel Durov and his brother, Nikolai Durov.

The reason: "near-total lack of cooperation" from Telegram with French and European regulators. 🧐

🥷 Nikolai Durov, a co-founder of Telegram, is rumored to have created the messaging encryption system and the TON blockchain.

TON reacted to news of Durov's release with an immediate 10% increase! 📈🚀

Update: Durov was released from custody, but preliminary interrogation and the presentation of charges are still ahead.

Yesterday, the TON network experienced another 4-hour outage 🛠

It seems that without Durov, TON just can't keep running... 🤔

This marks the second TON failure in just a few days.

The network issues are being linked to the strain caused by interactions with DOGS. 🐶

In the meantime, Pavel Durov has been released under judicial supervision in France. He’s required to pay a €5 million bail and is prohibited from leaving the country. 💰🇫🇷

Durov is facing accusations of enabling illegal transactions on Telegram and facilitating child exploitation. He’s also charged with failing to cooperate with the police and offering encryption services without proper oversight. 🧐

Pantera Capital Snags TON Tokens with a 40% Discount – Bloomberg

👀 New details have surfaced about Pantera Capital's record-breaking investment in Toncoin from May.

The TON tokens have a 1-year lock-up period. While the exact amount remains undisclosed, it's confirmed to exceed $100,000,000.💰🔐

In light of recent events involving Durov, a video filmed by a French prisoner from his own cell is going viral online. 📹

Turns out, life in a French prison isn’t all that bad after all! 😁

🇰🇷 In South Korea, a 40-year-old man has been arrested for swindling investors out of $12 million.

To evade capture, he had undergone plastic surgery to alter his appearance. 👩‍⚕️🔪

He duped 158 individuals by guaranteeing a monthly return of 18% on investments in a supposedly active cryptocurrency mining venture. 👀

🇸🇻 El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele is on the cover of TIME.

🦾 He’s dubbed a “strongman” who is transforming his country with an iron fist, becoming the world’s most popular authoritarian leader.

Remember, El Salvador buys exactly 1 BTC every day, rain or shine, as part of its Bitcoin strategy. ⛈

The country currently holds 5,856.75 BTC, worth nearly $350 million. 💰

Following Pavel Durov’s arrest, Nayib Bukele trolled France by inviting people to move to El Salvador, promising freedom of speech, no censorship, and no property taxes.

🕵️‍♂️ According to Chainalysis in their latest report, the average lifespan of crypto scams in 2024 has dropped to 42 days, compared to 271 days in 2020.

🥷 Scammers frequently use the “pig butchering” scheme, where they initially lure victims with small gains to build trust and confidence, only to later exploit them for a significant loss. 🐖🔪

Reuters: A U.S. federal court has dismissed a lawsuit against Elon Musk and his company Tesla, which were accused of deceiving investors by creating hype around DOGE and engaging in insider trading.

The district judge ruled that Musk's tweets and statements cannot serve as grounds for securities fraud. 🧐

Now Musk can pump tokens without fearing legal consequences! 😁 DOGE to the moon? 🚀

BTC reserves on centralized exchanges have fallen to a new annual low. 📉

This might ease selling pressure and potentially trigger a retest of $60,000. 🚀

OKX has announced the upcoming listing of Hamster Kombat 🐹

📆 Spot market trading for the HMSTR token will commence on September 26.

👀 The exchange also revealed plans to launch several promotional campaigns leading up to the listing, aimed at increasing user engagement and driving participation in the Hamster Kombat ecosystem.

On August 1, Hamster Kombat (HMSTR) was listed on OKX’s pre-market futures platform before its official token launch. Additionally, trading of HMSTR began on pre-market platforms Bybit and Gate.

🇺🇸 The U.S. is intensifying its cryptocurrency regulation efforts.

📅 In September 2024, the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services will start addressing various cryptocurrency issues, including DeFi, fraud, and the actions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

👀 The committee is set to hold multiple hearings: the first on September 10, two more on September 18, and the most notable one, with SEC Chair Gary Gensler testifying, on September 23.

A solo miner has just mined a Bitcoin block and earned nearly $200,000! 🙀

On August 29, a solo miner added block #858,978 to the Bitcoin blockchain, earning 3.275 BTC ($199,101) in block subsidy and fees. 💰

🗒 CKPool administrator Kon Kolivas noted that the user has a significant hash rate for solo mining—38 PH/s. According to Kolivas, this performance allows for mining a block approximately every four months.

Kolivas also mentioned that this marks the 291st block mined by CKPool clients, who provide services to individual miners. The pool combines clients' computational power to increase the chances of finding blocks, but the entire reward goes to the miner whose equipment solved the problem. 💻