Happy Tuesday! In today’s newsletter, Matter Labs is laying off 16% of its staff. GK Sync ZK
-3.45%
Let’s get started.
Matter Labs Cuts Staff by 16% Due to Declining ZKsync Demand
Matter Labs, the developer of ZKsync, laid off about 16% of its staff on Tuesday due to changing market conditions and business needs throughout 2024, according to CEO Alex Gluchowski.
- For most of this year, zkSync Era has consistently maintained the highest 7-day moving average among ZK-based exchanges. Ethereum
Ethereum -2.74%
Two-layer network.
- However, activity has declined in recent months since the project airdropped its ZK tokens in June, falling behind Linea and Scroll.
- The number of active ZKsync addresses has also declined significantly since topping 455,000 in April, falling to around 93,000 as of Monday, according to The Block’s data dashboard.
- “We went through a massive organizational planning process, and it became clear that the talent and roles we had in place were not a perfect fit for our needs,” Gluchowski wrote in X.
- “We then reviewed every role in the company to make sure we had the right people in the right roles to remain agile and effective.”
- According to Tracxn, Matter Labs has raised $458 million in four funding rounds since its founding in 2018.
SEC Charges and Settles with Crypto-Focused Galois Capital Over Custody Issues
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges and settled with Galois Capital, a cryptocurrency-focused investment advisory firm, over the way it handled client assets.
- The SEC said in a statement Tuesday that the allegations primarily relate to private equity funds that invested in cryptocurrencies.
- The SEC accused Galois Capital of violating custody rules, putting investors at risk of loss, misuse or embezzlement of their assets.
- Galois Capital neither admitted nor denied the charges, but settled with the SEC and agreed to pay a $225,000 civil penalty, which will be distributed to fund investors.
WazirX Hacker Moves $6.5 Million Worth of Ether to Tornado Cash
According to security firm PeckShield, the WazirX hackers are believed to have transferred 2,600 ETH ($6.5 million) to the approved cryptocurrency exchange Tornado Cash on Tuesday for the purpose of laundering money.
- Using mixers like Tornado Cash is a common tactic used by cybercriminals to hide the origin of stolen cryptocurrency and make it difficult to trace.
- WazirX reported a cyberattack on July 18, which resulted in the loss of over $230 million from its multi-signature wallets and freezing withdrawals, limiting the possibility of recovery.
- North Korea’s Lazarus Group, notorious for running notable malware, is believed to be behind the hack.
Web3 security company Hypernative raises $16 million
Hypernative has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by Quantstamp, another Web3 security company, and the equity-based round brings its total raised to $27 million, co-founder and CEO Gal Sagie told The Block.
- Hypernative provides a real-time risk monitoring platform designed to detect and prevent hacks using AI, serving over 120 clients including Uniswap, Solana, Chainlink, and more.
- Since its launch in September 2022, Hypernative claims to have saved over $100 million in funds and detects 99.5% of hacks with a false positive rate of less than 0.001%.
- The company plans to use the new funding to expand its presence in Asia Pacific and the Americas markets and add to its current 30-person staff.
Scottish court seizes Bitcoin belonging to ‘brain’ of machete cryptocurrency robbery
According to a BBC report, a Scottish court has seized £110,000 ($144,000) worth of Bitcoin from John Ross Rennie, who was convicted in 2020 of being the “technical brains” behind an assault and cryptocurrency robbery.
- According to the report, the victim “waked up to find a man with a machete looking down at him and demanding he transfer cryptocurrency.”
- This case marks the first time in Scotland that police have successfully tracked down and seized cryptocurrency stolen following a robbery, and prosecutors have converted the funds into cash.
within the next 24 hours
- U.S. mortgage data is released Wednesday at 7 a.m. ET. U.S. JOLT job openings figures are released at 10 a.m. ET.
- Korea Blockchain Week continues in Seoul.
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