Happy Monday! In today’s newsletter, Telegram CEO’s arrest is related to a cybercrime investigation, Abra settles lawsuit with SEC, and stablecoin market cap hits new all-time high.
Let’s get started.
Telegram CEO Arrested in Cybercrime Investigation
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has been arrested by French authorities as part of a cybercrime investigation into allegations that he provided unauthorized cryptographic services and tools.
- Durov was detained at Le Bourget Airport on 24 August 2024 as part of a judicial investigation by the Paris prosecutor’s office focusing on cybercrime.
- The investigation includes allegations that cryptographic services and tools were provided without proper certification or reporting, and that these tools were imported without prior approval.
- Additional charges filed against Durov include conspiracy to possess child pornography and laundering proceeds from organized crime.
- Durov is currently being questioned and could be detained until August 28 as part of the ongoing investigation.
- Prominent figures in the cryptocurrency community, including Elon Musk and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, expressed their support for Durov following his arrest.
Abra Settles Lawsuit with SEC
The U.S. SEC has settled its complaint against Plutus Lending LLC, operating as Abra, for allegedly offering and selling unregistered cryptocurrency asset securities through its Abra Earn product.
- The SEC also alleged that Abra operated as an unregistered investment firm while providing profit-generating services to U.S. users.
- As part of the settlement, Abra agreed to a preliminary injunction prohibiting it from further violations of the registration laws, and agreed to pay a civil penalty to be determined by the court, without admitting or denying the SEC’s claims.
- According to the SEC, Abra Earn generated approximately $600 million in cryptocurrency assets, $500 million of which came from U.S. customers.
Stablecoin Market Cap Reaches All-Time High
The total stablecoin market cap, excluding algorithmic stablecoins, has hit an all-time high of $168.1 billion, surpassing the previous record set in March 2022.
- The stablecoin market cap grew 0.8% last week, continuing a steady rise that began in early 2024 after hitting a low of around $122 billion in October 2022.
- The increase in stablecoin market cap could indicate growing confidence in the cryptocurrency market and growing interest from institutional investors.
- The largest stablecoin, Tether’s USDT, currently accounts for around 70% of the total stablecoin market cap, growing 28% this year to $117.84 billion.
Bitcoin inflows hit $543 million last week
Bitcoin received a boost in cryptocurrency confidence last week after it recorded $543 million in inflows following dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
- Powell’s comments hinted at a possible rate cut and a return to 2% inflation, which sent the Bitcoin price up from below $61,000 to around $63,500.
- Digital asset investment products also benefited, with $533 million inflows last week, the largest in five weeks.
- The US led global inflows into digital asset products with $498 million, with a newly launched Ethereum-based ETF seeing $3.1 billion in inflows while Grayscale’s Ether product lost $2.5 billion.
Chainbound, an Ethereum research firm, raises $4.6 million.
Chainbound has raised $4.6 million in seed funding to develop Bolt, a protocol that enables sub-second transaction confirmation on Ethereum.
- This funding round was led by Cyber Fund, with participation from Maven 11, Robot Ventures, Bankless Ventures, and angel investors.
- Chainbound’s first product, Bolt, will initially launch on the Helder testnet and is expected to launch on the Ethereum mainnet by the end of the year.
Don’t miss a beat with The Block’s daily roundup of the most impactful events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet providing news, research and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is the largest investor in The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the cryptocurrency space. Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget is an anchor LP of Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to provide objective, impactful and timely information on the cryptocurrency industry. Below are the current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All rights reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not provided or intended to be legal, tax, investment, financial or other advice.
About the Author
MK Manoylov has been a reporter for The Block since 2020, joining just before Bitcoin first broke $20,000. Since then, MK has written nearly 1,000 articles for the publication, covering all aspects of crypto news but with a penchant for NFTs, metaverse, web3 games, fundraising, crime, hacking, and crypto ecosystem stories. MK holds a graduate degree from the Science, Health, and Environment Reporting Program (SHERP) at New York University and has also covered health topics for WebMD and Insider. You can follow MK on X @MManoylov and on LinkedIn.