According to Cointelegraph: A user recently lost $32 million worth of Spark Wrapped Ethereum (spWETH) in a sophisticated phishing attack, marking one of the latest and most significant crypto heists of 2024. The attack, which took place on September 27, targeted a wallet ending in "e57," draining it of 12,083 spWETH tokens. This incident comes amidst a sharp rise in phishing scams in the crypto space.Attack Details and Fund TransfersAccording to security firm CertiK, the stolen tokens — approximately 10,000 spWETH worth $26 million — were first transferred to a wallet beginning with "0x471c." The funds were subsequently dispersed to four additional wallets:1,750 Ether (ETH) to wallet "0x105c"2,613 ETH to wallet "0x278d"3,730 ETH to address "0x408d"Approximately 1,865 ETH to "0xfaf2"Crypto analytics firm Arkham Intelligence suggested that the compromised wallet may belong to F2Pool founder Shixing Mao, though this has yet to be officially confirmed.Phishing Attacks Spike in August 2024Phishing attacks within the cryptocurrency space have been on the rise, with August 2024 seeing a 215% spike in such incidents. According to crypto security firm Scam Sniffer, total losses due to phishing attacks in August exceeded $66 million. In one instance, a single wallet suffered a loss of $55 million from a phishing attack targeting proxy ownership.Source: CertiK AlertA separate report from Blockaid in September 2024 highlighted an upgrade in phishing tactics by the infamous Angel Drainer software, now upgraded to AngelX. This new version of the phishing software deployed over 300 phishing decentralized applications (DApps) in just four days. AngelX's control panel offers malicious actors enhanced capabilities to create increasingly sophisticated phishing scams, making it particularly concerning for blockchain networks such as The Open Network and Tron.Search Engines Featuring Malicious Phishing LinksAdding to the growing problem, search engines have unknowingly contributed to the spread of these scams. On September 11, Scam Sniffer revealed that search engine DuckDuckGo had inadvertently displayed fraudulent Etherscan sites. These malicious links prompt users to connect their MetaMask wallets, potentially giving hackers access to user funds.ConclusionAs crypto phishing attacks continue to rise, with losses reaching tens of millions of dollars, the recent spWETH theft serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities in the crypto ecosystem. Enhanced security measures, greater user education, and vigilance are more important than ever to prevent such high-profile losses. The increasing sophistication of phishing tools like AngelX and the appearance of malicious links on legitimate platforms underline the urgent need for heightened awareness among crypto users and industry participants.

According to PANews, the Federal Reserve's recent decision to cut interest rates for the first time since March 2020 is anticipated to affect the revenue streams of five major centralized stablecoins. A report by CCData, released on September 27, indicates that these stablecoins collectively hold nearly $125 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds. Each 50 basis point (bps) rate cut could result in an estimated $625 million loss in interest income. The report highlights that U.S. Treasury bonds constitute 80.2% of the reserves held by these primary stablecoins.Data from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's FedWatch tool suggests that the market expects a total rate cut of 75 bps by the end of 2024, including a 50 bps cut in November and an additional 25 bps cut in December. If these predictions materialize, stablecoins could face an additional $937.5 million in revenue losses, bringing the potential total loss due to the Fed's easing policy to $1.5625 billion.Among the affected stablecoins, Tether's USDT holds the largest share of U.S. Treasury-backed reserves, amounting to $93.2 billion, including Treasury bonds and repurchase agreements. Circle's USD Coin (USDC) follows with $28.7 billion in U.S. Treasury holdings through the Circle Reserve Fund. Other stablecoins, such as First Digital USD (FDUSD), PayPal USD (PYUSD), and TrueUSD (TUSD), hold smaller Treasury positions of $1.83 billion, $634 million, and $502 million, respectively.Despite these potential financial setbacks, the stablecoin market continues to demonstrate resilience. CCData reports that in September, the total market capitalization of stablecoins increased by 1.50%, reaching $172 billion, marking twelve consecutive months of growth.

According to Odaily, Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan recently shared his insights on the X platform, expressing a significant forecast for the stablecoin market. Hougan stated that the market for stablecoins could surpass $1 trillion in assets under management by the end of 2026. This prediction underscores the growing importance and potential of stablecoins in the broader financial ecosystem.

According to PANews, Japanese listed company Remixpoint disclosed details of its latest round of cryptocurrency investments on September 27, amounting to 750 million yen (approximately $5.27 million). The investment includes the purchase of 64.4 BTC (600 million yen), 130.1 ETH (50 million yen), 2,260.5 SOL (50 million yen), and 12,269.9 AVAX (50 million yen). This marks the first execution of the company's plan announced on September 26 to invest a total of 1.5 billion yen (approximately $10.55 million) in virtual currencies. The initiative aims to mitigate the risk of yen depreciation through diversified investments and optimize cash management strategies.During the board meeting held on September 26, Remixpoint's decision-makers unanimously agreed to allocate part of the surplus funds to virtual currencies. This move is intended to diversify the asset portfolio, reduce yen exposure, and enhance the company's financial resilience. The company outlined its investment and management strategy, specifying that out of the total 1.5 billion yen, Bitcoin would hold the largest share (1.2 billion yen), while Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche would each receive investments of 100 million yen. These investments will be made in stages, with the goal of completion by the end of this year, depending on market conditions.

According to Odaily, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Folks Finance has integrated Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) and price feed services on the Avalanche, Base, and Ethereum mainnets. This integration aims to enhance secure cross-chain lending by leveraging CCIP's arbitrary messaging capabilities. By incorporating Chainlink's price feeds, Folks Finance can access high-quality, tamper-proof price sources to support secure markets on its lending platform.

According to Odaily, Onyx Capital has announced a strategic partnership with Fight Plus, completing a $3 million acquisition of the project. This acquisition signifies Onyx Capital's further expansion in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. Onyx Capital will provide Fight Plus with extensive technical support and industry resources to accelerate its product iteration and market expansion. The merger aims to combine the strengths of both entities to advance Fight Plus's strategic deployment in the global DeFi ecosystem, enhancing its brand recognition and influence. Fight Plus is a DeFi project dedicated to offering users stable and continuous investment returns through an innovative white hole counter model. The collaboration between Onyx Capital and Fight Plus is expected to leverage their combined expertise to drive further growth and development within the DeFi space.

According to Odaily, Telegram Wallet announced that starting from 20:00 UTC+8 on September 30, users will be able to trade HMSTR on the P2P market and send it to their Telegram contacts for free. Previously, Telegram Wallet had launched an HMSTR deposit and earn activity.

According to Foresight News, a phishing attack has led to the theft of 12,083 spETH, valued at approximately $32.43 million. The incident was detected by Scam Sniffer, which reported that the compromised address signed a phishing contract signature 43 minutes prior to the theft.

According to Foresight News, ZachXBT has reported a rise in cyber robberies targeting cryptocurrency professionals in Western Europe over the past few months. These incidents involve well-known figures within the crypto community who have been held at gunpoint. As this trend continues, ZachXBT advises individuals to be cautious about sharing their successes and meeting with others.

According to Odaily, PancakeSwap has announced on the X platform that the Boosted PEPE Syrup Pool is now live. Users can now stake CAKE tokens to earn PEPE rewards.

According to Odaily, Layer 1 blockchain Kava has announced the formation of a new advisory team dedicated to the intersection of AI and DeFi. This team aims to bring fresh perspectives and strategic thinking to Kava's development, fostering a deeper integration of AI and DeFi to create innovative solutions and growth opportunities. Previously, Kava introduced an early version of Kava AI at the TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore, which allows users to generate Meme Coins using Kava AI.

According to Odaily, PeckShield has reported on X platform that Onyx appears to be a victim of a known precision issue in the forked CompoundV2 codebase. This vulnerability has been exploited by attackers, resulting in the theft of funds including 4.1 million VUSD, 7.35 million XCN, 5,000 DAI, 0.23 WBTC, and 50,000 USDT. The precision issue in the CompoundV2 codebase has been a known problem, and it seems that Onyx did not address this vulnerability in their forked version. The attackers took advantage of this oversight, leading to significant financial losses for the platform. The stolen assets include a variety of cryptocurrencies, highlighting the broad impact of the exploit. This incident underscores the importance of thoroughly auditing and securing code, especially when forking from existing projects. The financial losses suffered by Onyx serve as a stark reminder of the potential risks involved in the DeFi space. Ensuring the integrity and security of codebases is crucial to prevent such exploits and protect user funds.

According to a recent Chainalysis report, the UAE received over $30 billion in cryptocurrencies between July 2023 and June 2024, placing the country among the top 40 crypto markets globally. The UAE has seen significant growth in cryptocurrency activities, driven by regulatory advancements, increased institutional interest, and heightened market activity.The report highlights that cryptocurrency acceptance among small and large retail investors surged by more than 75% year-on-year, while institutional investor participation increased by over 50%. As the third-largest crypto economy in the Middle East and North Africa region, the UAE’s crypto ecosystem stands out for its diversity.Notably, the UAE’s DeFi adoption rate exceeds the global average, with 32.4% of crypto transactions occurring through decentralized exchanges (DEX). The total value of cryptocurrency transactions conducted via DeFi services in the UAE grew by 74%, while token value through DEX surged by 87%, rising from $6 billion to $11.3 billion. The country’s expanding crypto activities have been fueled by its efforts to attract blockchain and cryptocurrency companies. 

According to BlockBeats, on September 26, Shen Yu (@bitfish1) posted on social media that with further interest rate cuts, a significant increase in Defi arbitrage trading is anticipated. The current structure, where government bonds serve as the primary source of Defi yields, may soon be disrupted, signaling an imminent reversal.

According to Foresight News, the decentralized trading protocol WOOFi has introduced the Stake Surge: Optimism event. This initiative will run until September 30, offering WOO stakers the opportunity to share a prize pool of 60,000 OP tokens, valued at approximately $101,000, based on the points they accumulate.

According to PANews, U.S. Congressman Warren Davidson introduced the 'Assessing DeFi Opportunities Act' on Tuesday. The bill calls for a joint study on decentralized finance (DeFi) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Secretary of the Treasury. Davidson emphasized the crucial role DeFi plays in the future of capital markets but expressed concerns over the Biden-Harris administration's regulatory approach to the sector. He stated, 'This legislation ensures that the federal government can implement data-driven financial regulation without disrupting the digital market's development or compromising the privacy offered by DeFi.' Lawmakers noted that as the number of users continues to grow, the total market value of DeFi has surged to approximately $75 billion. However, Davidson warned that excessive regulation could stifle innovation and drive investment overseas. The proposed study aims to help regulators understand the benefits of DeFi, such as blockchain's operational resilience, market competition, and user privacy protection. Davidson stressed that regulators need to 'take a measured approach' to ensure DeFi can thrive without jeopardizing user privacy or innovation.

According to Cointelegraph, Curve Finance, a decentralized exchange (DEX), is contemplating the removal of TrueUSD (TUSD) from its list of collateral tokens for Curve Stablecoin (crvUSD) following charges against TrueCoin, TUSD’s issuer, by United States regulators for securities law violations. In a post dated September 25 on Curve’s governance forum, cross-chain messaging protocol Wormhole proposed reducing the upper limit on crvUSD’s TUSD backing to zero. This move aims to eliminate exposure to TUSD due to regulatory risks and concerns about solvency. The 'PegKeeper' liquidity pool currently allows users to mint up to $10 million worth of crvUSD using TUSD. The proposal also suggested lowering the amount of crvUSD that can be minted with Paypal’s stablecoin, PYUSD, from $15 million to $5 million. This adjustment is intended to ensure that reliance on each PegKeeper is appropriate for the significance of the respective pool. On September 24, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled charges against TrueCoin and TrustToken for fraudulent and unregistered sales of investment contracts involving TrueUSD. The SEC’s complaint alleges that TrueCoin and TrustToken falsely marketed TUSD as fully backed by U.S. dollars or their equivalent, while a substantial portion of the assets backing TUSD had been invested in a speculative offshore investment fund. The SEC claims that as of September 2024, 99% of the reserves backing TUSD were invested in this speculative fund. TrueCoin and TrustToken did not admit or deny the allegations but agreed to final judgments that enjoin them from further violations of federal securities laws and require them to pay civil penalties of $163,766 each. Curve’s crvUSD stablecoin can be minted against various types of cryptocurrency collateral, including Ethereum (ETH) and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC). WBTC constitutes the largest portion of crvUSD’s collateral backing, with more than $68 million in total value locked (TVL). Wrapped Staked Ether (wstETH), a liquid staking derivative issued by Lido Finance, is the second-largest collateral, with around $60 million in TVL. The September 25 proposal highlighted that crvUSD is overexposed to minor stablecoins, particularly TUSD, which has a questionable track record and has recently been charged by the SEC with defrauding investors. The proposal emphasized the need for a strong diversity of PegKeepers for Curve, although it noted that this is a separate discussion.