Wintermute Hack - New Conspiracy Theory

Hello everyone, hope your Tuesday is going well. This is the BitDegree Insider, and it's time to check the pulse of the crypto organism.

Today's attention goes to:

• Wintermute Hack - New Conspiracy Theory
• Do Kwon Acting 'Sus'
• Crypto Exchange FTX Wins Bid For Voyager Digital Assets
• Mastercard Says 'hi' To NFTs
• New BTC Environmental Impact Study Published
• Selected Meme of The Day

Wintermute - Inside Job (?)

Wintermute, a global crypto market maker, made the news on September 20 after a hack resulted in the company losing $160M. Today they're in the headlines for another reason. 'Wintermute hack was an inside job', the latest update says.

James Edwards, a crypto analyst that goes under the alias of 'librehash', has just prepared the dough for the latest crypto conspiracy theory for everyone to talk about. According to his analysis, the post-mortem check of the Wintermute hack doesn't add up with the actual transactions that took place during the hack.

"The relevant transactions initiated by the [Externally Owned Address] make it clear that the hacker was likely an internal member of the Wintermute team,' he suggests.

"Why would the team send $13 million dollars worth of funds to a smart contract they *knew* was compromised?" he asks in a tweet.  In his analysis, he asserts the theory of an inside job in a convincing manner.

So this update adds some spice to the soup of reality. We are still waiting for Wintermute to comment on this whole situation.

Do Kwon Makes a Move

South Korean authorities noticed that the nefarious Do Kwon, the main character in the Terra Luna movie, has been once again acting 'odd'. Prosecutors were taken aback by witnessing a 3,310 BTC (roughly $67 million) transfer taking place from the Terra's Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) wallet to OKX and KuCoin, shortly after his arrest warrant was issued.

1,354 BTC were sent to KuCoin, and 1,959 BTC were thrown into OKX. South Korean prosecutors didn't let this slide. They immediately sent requests for these two exchanges to freeze the assets in question.

KuCoin complied with the authorities, while OKX ignored the request. As you can see, the saga is far from over. Do Kwon is not going away without a bang. We'll see what's next.

FTX Wins Bankrupt Voyager's Assets

Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire founder of one of the world's top exchange companies who literally has the word 'bank' in his surname, expands his territory.

So, the exchange company FTX won the auction for the assets of Voyager Digital Ltd, a crypto platform that notoriously filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.

According to Voyager's statement, the agreement is valued at around $1.4B. It consists of $1.3B market value of locked in at the bankrupt platform, and $111M additional value. What does this mean?

Once the bankruptcy process concludes, Voyager's customers will be able to transfer their assets to the FTX US platform. This translates to FTX expanding their user base, and increasing grip's strength on their share of the market. This is not the first time Sam Bankman-Fried acquires a crypto company that hit the rocks. BlockFi, Robinhood Markets Inc, Alameda are the names of other crypto companies that FTX's founder has his eyes on, or already owns at least partially.

Sam Bankman-Fried is a big name. And, at least in this case, what is already big, can always become BIGGER.

Mastercard Says 'Hi' to NFTs

hi - the blockchain-based crypto and fiat exchange app - has just dropped some interesting news. They're launching, as the public announcement goes, 'the world's first debit card featuring NFT avatar customization, powered by Mastercard'. Let's unpack this.

First of all, it's not everyday that you hear the words 'NFT' and 'Mastercard' in one sentence. This is traditional banking shaking hands with DeFi. This is important. So what does it mean in practical terms?

The announcement summarises it simply: "Eligible cardholders will be able to personalize the face of their card with an NFT avatar they verifiably own, and spend at more than 90 million locations worldwide where Mastercard is accepted."

First of all, the NFTs gain a physical, palpable form. That's nice. NFT owners will be able to 'touch' what they own.

Secondly, this is a clear signal that consumer interest in NFTs, and DeFi is not being ignored. The big players have their big eyes on the big potential that NFTs have. The hi Debit Card will promise benefits for their owners, thus only further increasing people's interest in it. Cardholders will be able to:

• Spend fiat, stablecoins and other cryptos at any Mastercard merchant worldwide
• Receive 1-10% back on spending
• other goodies

This is the first small step, but it's a giant that's walking. Others will follow.

Latest Bitcoin Environmental Impact Data Published

The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, has just announced their latest update to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index that tries to estimate the the greenhouse gas emissions in relation to Bitcoin.

Key takeaways:

• Bitcoin mining accounts for 0.1% of greenhouse gas emissions globally
• That's equivalent to the entire country of Slovakia, and that's more than the New Zealand
• That's around 48.35 million tons of carbon dioxide annually
• 37.6% of the energy used by the Bitcoin industry comes from sustainable sources

On the other hand, when compared to 2021, the 2022 annual estimate of greenhouse emissions has declined by 14.1%. Reasons for that are simple: mining profitability has decreased. This means less electricity was used, since the miners' enthusiasm was shushed.

Selected Meme of The Day