Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation. Today in crypto, digital assets investment products recorded $360 million in outflows last week. DeFi protocol Balancer suffered a $116 million exploit involving staked Ether, while Aster surged 30% after Binance co-founder revealed the purchase of about $2.5 million worth of the token with personal funds. Cryptocurrency investment products saw $360 million in outflows last week as investors reacted to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s cautious remarks on future rate cuts. Despite Wednesday’s rate cut, Powell’s remark that another one in December was “not a foregone conclusion,” combined with the absence of economic data due to the ongoing government shutdown, appears to have left markets uncertain, CoinShares reported on Monday. Read more
The partnership will place key FTSE Russell and Russell index data on blockchains, expanding public access to reliable market information. Global index provider FTSE Russell has partnered with Chainlink to publish its benchmark equity and digital asset indexes onchain, highlighting how blockchain technology is being used to deliver institutional-grade market data. On Monday, Chainlink announced that data for the Russell 1000, Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 small-cap indexes, the FTSE 100 Index and several digital asset benchmarks will be made available across multiple blockchains via DataLink, an institutional-grade publishing service powered by the oracle network. The Russell indexes, widely used as benchmarks for US small- and mid-cap stocks, are tracked by more than $18 trillion in assets globally. Read more
The biotech company's pivot into digital assets marks one of the largest treasury financings to date, underscoring growing institutional demand for tokenized finance. Biotech company Tharimmune has raised $540 million in private funding to launch a crypto treasury strategy and acquire Canton Coin (CC), the native token of the Canton Network. The private offering, among the largest digital asset financings to date, was led by DRW and Liberty City Ventures, with participation from ARK Invest, Polychain Capital, Kraken, and other institutional investors. The round values Tharimmune’s shares at $3.075 each. Tharimmune said the funds will be used to purchase CC tokens, support general operations, and expand its role within the Canton ecosystem. The company also plans to become a Super Validator, operating additional nodes to earn token rewards and strengthen network performance. Read more
Reports showed four security companies conducted 11 audits of Balancer’s smart contracts starting in 2021, but a bad actor was still able to drain millions in staked Ether. Many cryptocurrency traders are seeking answers after a successful exploit at the decentralized exchange and automated market maker Balancer resulted in more than $100 million in digital assets being stolen. In a Monday X post updating users on the exploit, Balancer said the incident was “isolated to V2 Composable Stable Pools and does not impact Balancer V3 or other Balancer pools.” The platform added that it had “undergone extensive auditing by top firms, and had bug bounties running for a long time to incentivize independent auditors,” calling into question how the exploit was accomplished. Read more