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Bitcoin price gearing up for next leg of ‘acceleration phase’ — Fidelity research

A recent Fidelity Digital Assets report questioned whether Bitcoin price had already seen its cyclical “blow off top” or if BTC (BTC) is on the cusp of another “acceleration phase.”

According to Fidelity analyst Zack Wainwright, Bitcoin’s acceleration phases are characterized by “high volatility and high profit,” similar to the price action seen when BTC pushed above $20,000 in December 2020.

While Bitcoin’s year-to-date return reflects an 11.44% loss, and the asset is down nearly 25% from its all-time high, Wainwright says the recent post-acceleration phase performance is in line with BTC’s average drawdowns when compared to previous market cycles.

Bitcoin historical downside after acceleration phases. Source: Fidelity Digital Assets Research

Wainwright suggests that Bitcoin is still in an acceleration phase but is moving closer to the completion of the cycle, as March 3 represented day 232 of the period. Previous peaks lasted slightly

Crypto exploit, scam losses drop to $28.8M in March after February spike

Losses to crypto scams, exploits, and hacks dropped to just $28.8 million in March, far from February’s spike to $1.5 billion in losses after the Bybit hack.

Code vulnerabilities accounted for the most losses, at over $14 million, while wallet compromises were used to steal over $8 million, blockchain security firm CertiK said in an April 1 post to X.

The most significant loss for the month was the $13 million March 25 smart contract exploit of the decentralized lending protocol Abracadabra.money.

After accounting for returned funds, a total of $28.8 million was stolen through exploits, hacks and scams in March. Source: CertiK

In a separate March 27 report, the blockchain security firm said, “The attacker was able to borrow funds, liquidate themselves, then borrow funds again without repaying them.”

“This was due to the

Vanuatu passes long-awaited crypto laws that won’t be ‘light touch’

Vanuatu has passed laws to regulate digital assets and provide a licensing regime for crypto companies wanting to operate in the Pacific island nation, which a government regulatory consultant has called “very stringent.”

The local parliament passed the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act on March 26, giving crypto licensing authority to the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) along with powers to enforce the Financial Action Task Force’s Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorism Financing and Travel Rule standards with crypto firms.

The VFSC has sweeping investigation and enforcement powers under the laws, with penalties stipulating fines of up to 250 million vatu ($2 million) and up to 30 years in prison.

“God help any scammer that goes into Vanuatu because you’ll go to jail,” Loretta Joseph, who consulted with the regulator on the laws, told Cointelegraph. “The laws are very stringent.”

“The thing is, we don’t want another FTX debacle,” she added,

zkLend hacker claims losing stolen ETH to Tornado Cash phishing site

The hacker behind the $9.6 million exploit of the decentralized money-lending protocol zkLend in February claims they’ve just fallen victim to a phishing website impersonating Tornado Cash, resulting in the loss of a significant portion of the stolen funds.

In a message sent to zkLend through Etherscan on March 31, the hacker claimed to have lost 2,930 Ether (ETH) from the stolen funds to a phishing website posing as a front-end for Tornado Cash.

In a series of March 31 transfers, the zkLend thief sent 100 Ether at a time to an address named Tornado.Cash: Router, finishing with three deposits of 10 Ether.

“Hello, I tried to move funds to a Tornado, but I used a phishing website, and all the funds have been lost. I am devastated. I am terribly sorry for all the havoc and losses

SIR.trading begs hacker to return $255K or ‘no chance for us to survive’

The founder of the recently hacked decentralized finance protocol SIR.trading has made an emotional plea to the attacker, asking them to return around 70% of the stolen customer funds otherwise, the protocol will not survive.

“Here is my proposal, keep $100k as a fair share for your critical bug find, and return the remaining,” SIR.trading’s pseudonymous founder “Xatarrer” wrote in a March 31 onchain message to the attacker following the $355,000 hack on March 30.

“We’ll call it even. No legal games, no drama,” they added.

Xatarrer said that SIR.trading was built on the back of four years of late-night coding and $70,000 from friends and believers without any additional venture capital funding.

“We grew to $400k TVL organically without any advertising. If you keep 100% of the funds, there is no chance for us to survive.”

Xatarrer even praised <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/north-korean-crypto-attacks-rising-sophistication-actors-paradigm" rel="null" target="null"

Coinbase CEO calls for change in stablecoin laws to enable ‘onchain interest’

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is calling for legislative changes in the US to allow stablecoin holders to earn “onchain interest” on their holdings.

In a March 31 post on X, Armstrong argued that crypto companies should be treated similarly to banks and be “allowed to, and incentivized to, share interest with consumers.” He added that allowing onchain interest would be “consistent with a free market approach.”

Source: Brian Armstrong

There are currently two competing pieces of federal stablecoin legislation working their way through the legislative process in the US: the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE) Act, and the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.

In reference to the stablecoin legislation, Armstrong said the US had an opportunity to “level the playing field and ensure these laws pave a way for all regulated stablecoins to deliver

Privacy Pools launch on Ethereum, with Vitalik demoing the feature

A new semi-permissionless privacy tool, Privacy Pools, has launched on Ethereum, allowing users to transact privately while proving their funds aren’t linked to illicit activities.

The privacy tool, launched by Ethereum builders 0xbow.io on March 31, earned support from the likes of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who not only backed the privacy project but made one of the first deposits on the platform.

0xbow.io said that it implements “Association Sets” to batch transactions into the anonymous Privacy Pools and that a screening test is conducted to ensure that those transactions aren’t linked to illicit actors, such as hackers, phishers and scammers.

gm Ethereum ☀️

It is our great honor to announce the mainnet launch of Privacy Pools!

ETH users can now achieve on-chain privacy, while still dissociating from illicit funds

It is now up to all of us to Make Privacy Normal Again 🫡

More info in this thread 👇 pic.twitter.com/3nJO0AxoD1

— 0xbow.io

North Korean crypto attacks rising in sophistication, actors — Paradigm

North Korean cyberwarfare attacks on the cryptocurrency industry are growing in sophistication and in the number of groups involved in such criminal activity, crypto firm Paradigm warns in report titled “Demystifying the North Korean Threat.”

North Korea-originated cyberattacks range from assaults on exchanges and social engineering attempts to phishing attacks and complex supply chain hijacks, the report says. In some cases, the attacks take a year to play out, with North Korean operatives biding their time.

The United Nations estimates that between 2017 and 2023, North Korean hackers have netted the country $3 billion. The total haul has skyrocketed in 2024 and this year, with successful attacks against crypto exchanges WazirX and Bybit, which together netted attackers around $1.7 billion.

Paradigm writes that the North Korean organizations orchestrating these attacks number

Hyperliquid DEX trading volumes cut into CEX market share: Data

Hyperliquid is one of the current bull market’s standout DeFi success stories. With daily trading volumes having reached $4 billion, the exchange has become the largest decentralized (DEX) derivatives platform, commanding nearly 60% of the market.

Hyperliquid still lags far behind Binance Futures’ $50 billion daily average volume, but the trend suggests that it has started to encroach on centralized exchange (CEX) territory.

What’s behind Hyperliquid’s parabolic rise?

Launched in 2023, Hyperliquid gained popularity in April 2024 after launching spot trading. This, combined with its aggressive listing strategy and easy-to-use onchain user interface, helped to lure in a wave of new users.

The platform’s real explosion, however, came in November 2024, following the launch of its HYPE (HYPE) token. Hyperliquid’s trading volume skyrocketed, and it now boasts over 400,000 users and more than 50 billion trades processed, according to data from Dune.

Hyperliquid cumulative trades

Crypto PAC-supported candidates make a final push to Florida voters

Two Republican candidates supported by at least a combined $1.5 million in media spending from a cryptocurrency-backed political action committee (PAC) are making final pleas to voters turning out for special elections in Florida congressional districts.

On April 1, voters in Florida’s 1st and 6th congressional districts will head to the polls to decide whether to keep Republican representatives or hand over control to Democrats for the first time in roughly 30 years. The Defend American Jobs PAC — an affiliate of Fairshake, which poured more than $131 million in the 2024 US election cycle — has spent a combined $1.5 million on media for Republicans Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine, running against Democrats Gay Valimont and Josh Weil, respectively.

Source: Gay Valimont for Congress

Though the Florida congressional districts have historically favored Republican candidates, Democrats Valimont and Weil both <a data-ct-non-breakable="null"