Bye bye FTX... Hello GTX

GM Readers!📪 It's BitDegree Insider, and you know what we're about to do.

⭐️Today's selection:

• 🤔GTX... New Crypto Exhcange?
• 🏴‍☠️️North Korean Hackers In Action
• 😎Cool Fact Tuesdays
• 👌Selected Meme of The Day
• 📰Bite-Sized News

INSTEAD OF FTX... WE'RE ABOUT TO SEE GTX?

Okay, so you know how they say that you should never give up, learn from your mistakes, and always aim high?

Well, some people really do have such a mindset. 

The co-founders of bankrupt company Three Arrows Capital (3AC), along with co-founders of CoinFLEX, are looking to raise about $25 million to launch a new cryptocurrency exchange called GTX. 

Let's rephrase that. 

Co-founders of 3AC, a company that reached an evaluation of over $4 billion, went abruptly bankrupt, and saw its founders running away and hiding their current whereabouts from the authorities... 

Together with the founders of CoinFLEX, a crypto company that froze their withdrawals in June, and ended up reporting an $84 million loss...

Are joining forces to establish a new crypto exchange... With a brand new name that would totally not sound similar and remind of FTX... 

Because It would be called GTX. No one's gonna know...

You can't make this stuff up. The dream team consists of Kyle Davies and Su Zhu from 3AC, and Mark Lamb, and Sudhu Arumugam from CoinFLEX.

They pitch this GTX thing as something that would help the creditors of bankrupt exchanges such as FTX, Celsius, BlockFi and Mt.Gox claim their assets and use them for trading.

The funds raised will be used to streamline the registration process for creditors of bankrupt exchanges.

They even promised to bring innovation to the market:

"Our legal team will simplify and automate the acceptance of claims on GTX. Unlike competing market operators, GTX will allow clients to use claims as collateral for trading. In addition, the exchange can enter regulated markets, such as the stock market."

Well, what can you say? Dream on. Redemption arcs exist not only in movies.

Nevertheless, it's not a surprise that the crypto community reacted to the news in a way that could be summarised in this tweet:

TL;DR: Co-founders of 3AC, a notorious, bankrupt crypto lender, and co-founders of CoinFLEX, a crypto platform which had frozen withdrawals in the past, and reported an $84M loss, are trying to raise $25M so they could found a new crypto exchange.

NORTH KOREAN HACKERS CAUGHT IN ACTION

The well-known crypto-detective ZachXBT published a detailed report on the movement of large amounts of ether.

ZachXBT arrived at the conclusion that this is the work of the notorious hacker group Lazarus, North Korea's cyber-crime unit that's notorious for their crypto heists.

ZachXBT has earned a reputation in the crypto streets. Because the work this on-chain sleuth does... requires some serious skills. 

Here's an image he attacked to solidify his findings. A picture of all the transactions he observed, systemised, and, therefore, was able to arrive at the conclusion about Lazarus.

So, the analyst traced the transactions to more than 350 addresses.

They were conducted through the Tornado Cash mixer and Railgun anonymizer. Tools that allow you to hide your wallet address, AND your IP address.

Thus, unknown people sent about 41,000 ETH worth $63.5 million to Railgun. Then the assets went to three different exchanges.

CZ from Binance tweeted that the funds sent to Binance and Huobi were frozen. He added that the teams work closely from time to time:

The Lazarus group was the prime suspect in the $100 million attack on Horizon Bridge Harmony (the crosschain bridge that connects Harmony to the Ethereum and Binance Chain networks).

That incident happened in June. But some of the funds have already been recovered.

North Korean hackers have also been involved in other high-profile hacks.

The biggest was a nine-figure exploit that hit Ronin Bridge (Axie Infinity Bridge). The Lazarus group used phishing emails to gain access to five of Ronin's nine network validators.

This allowed the criminal syndicate to withdraw 173,600 Eth and $25.5 million in fiat from the bridge. The total loss amounted to about $625 million.

TL;DR: On-chain sleuth ZachXBT noticed Korean hacker unit Lazarus moving stolen crypto assets worth over 63$ million. 

COOL FACT TUESDAY

How do you do, fellow kids? It's Tuesday, and it means we gotta act cool, look cool, and know cool stuff.

This Sunday was an interesting day. It's because, on that day, the crypto market sent out some... optimistic signals!

The Bitcoin Fear & Greed index, the metric that follows the market's sentiment...

Showed a score of... 52! That's the highest level since April 2022. This means that for the first time in over a year, the sentiment was not on the fear's side. That's jolly good.

Today it's 51. A bit lower. But still... the vibe is alright.

SELECTED MEME OF THE DAY

BITE-SIZED NEWS

• Thai SEC Rolls Out New Rules for Crypto Custody Service Providers. Old game, new rules.
• In the Fourth Quarter of 2022, Silvergate Bank Recorded a $1 Billion Net Loss. That gotta hurt.
• Bank of England Governor Skeptical About Need for Digital Pound. Press X to doubt.