On September 10th, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced that Singaporean police are investigating seven individuals suspected of providing Worldcoin account and token trading services. This investigation involves possible violations of the Payment Services Act of 2019, and the police have arrested five people.
Preliminary investigations show that three men are suspected of recruiting personnel on behalf of multiple entities to create Worldcoin accounts, and then using cash to exchange and control these accounts and tokens. These assets were subsequently transferred to a fourth man and a woman, who are believed to be involved in the purchase and management of these asset transfers. During the operation, the police seized over 200 mobile phones as evidence.
The Worldcoin project aims to create a global digital identity, but the collection of biometric data has raised global privacy concerns. Regulatory authorities in France, the UK, Hong Kong, Colombia, and Argentina are investigating this matter.
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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ odds of winning the upcoming November election on crypto-based prediction platform Polymarket rose following the presidential debate on Tuesday night. Now Harris and former president Donald Trump are at a tie on Polymarket’s $860 million market.
Tuesday night saw the first and likely last presidential debate between Harris and Trump before the election, where numerous recurring topics such as the war in Gaza and abortion rights were discussed, with no mention of crypto. Bettors on Polymarket placed a 94% chance that Harris won tonight’s debate in polls, which are yet to be disclosed.
Harris’ chance of winning the presidential election rose from 46% Monday night to 49% on Polymarket, while Trump’s odds fell from 52% to 49%. Trump has been vocal in expressing pro-crypto opinions, while Harris has started engaging with the crypto sector, though she has yet to take a solid stance on the industry.
Min Jung, an analyst of Presto Research, told The Block that while the debate did not specifically mention crypto, the odds in favor of Harris are rising on Polymarket, “which might be seen as less favorable for the crypto market.”
Bitcoin briefly grew above the $58,000 mark and stayed at higher levels in the hours leading up to the debate, but dipped to lows of around $56,700 during the debate. It is now trading at $56,797, according to The Block’s bitcoin price page.
Justin d'Anethan, head of APAC business development of crypto market maker Keyrock, said that bitcoin was more of a “dispassionate observer” as the debate unfolded. “The crypto market is watching but not reacting — at least, not yet. Bitcoin continues to behave like any other risk asset, moving in tandem with tech stocks and growth equities, searching for direction amidst a cocktail of inflation fears, rate uncertainty, and global political turbulence.”
“The debate itself is undoubtedly a significant moment, setting the tone for the likely battle between two different visions of America's future,” d'Anethan added. “For bitcoin, though, it will need something more concrete. As things stand, bitcoin seems to be waiting for a catalyst — a jolt from either the macroeconomic front, like an unexpected change in Fed policy, or something seismic from the political arena, such as a scandal or a surprising turn in election polling.”
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PolitiFi coins dipped
PolitiFi coins inspired by Trump and Harris fell over the past hour. Super Trump (Ticker: STRUMP), which has a market capitalization of $13.8 million, plunged 6.8% in the past hour, while Kamala Horris (KAMA) dipped 5.7%, according to CoineGecko data. MAGA (TRUMP) edged down 0.2%.
“The market is showing a knee-jerk reaction to seemingly a better-than-expected performance by Harris in the debate so far,” said Peter Chung, head of research at Presto. “This is clear from the timing of the PolitiFi coins’ big moves, which all started soon after 9pm EST, which is when the debate started.”
D'Anethan of Keyrock said that the PolitiFi coins could see some volatility spikes “as the debate continues to reverberate and Twitter feeds buzz with partisan fervor.”
“Speculators are likely to exploit any perceived sentiment shifts in the immediate aftermath, but with low liquidity and dwindling attention, any such moves are likely to be fleeting at best,” d'Anethan added.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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The Indonesian encrypted trading platform, Indodax, has discovered potential security signs on its platform through social media. Currently, comprehensive maintenance is being carried out to ensure the normal operation of the entire system. During this maintenance process, the INDODAX web platform and application are temporarily inaccessible. But don't worry, it can be ensured that users' encrypted currency and rupee balances remain 100% safe.
Earlier reports indicated that on September 11th at 7:00, according to Cyvers Alerts monitoring, Indodax's wallet had more than 150 suspicious transactions on different networks, with a total loss of approximately $18.2 million. Suspicious addresses are exchanging various tokens for Ethereum.
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CleanSpark said Wednesday it will acquire seven bitcoin mining facilities and associated land in the Knoxville, Tenn., area for total cash payments of $27.5 million, or about $324,000 per megawatt. The company anticipates closing at each site by Sept. 25.
The combined operating hashrate of the facilities is expected to reach 5 exahashes per second (EH/s) once the latest generation S21 Pro miners are installed, according to the press release. This will boost CleanSpark's current hashrate by over 22%. The miners required for this expansion will be installed promptly upon the closing of each site; the seven sites total 85 MW and range in size from 10 MW to 20 MW.
"With this additional 5 EH/s expected to begin hashing over the coming weeks, we now expect to achieve 37 EH/s before the end of 2024," said CleanSpark CEO Zach Bradford in the release. "As we've previously discussed, our timing of the market on mining server purchases intentionally locked in low prices so that we could take advantage of opportunities like this and immediately fill acquired data center space. The GRIID acquisition, our recent closing in Wyoming, and now this new transaction represents the continued execution of our growth strategy."
Bradford said Tennessee has a political and energy environment similar to Georgia, where CleanSpark has deployed nearly $1 billion of capital and operates nearly 500 MW. In June, CleanSpark purchased all of GRIID’s outstanding stock in a deal valued at $155 million.

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"Applying the same winning community-oriented strategy to The Volunteer State is our plan as we expand our presence in the region and continue showcasing how Bitcoin can benefit the local power grid and communities where we're located," he said.
CleanSpark's stock (ticker: CLSK) was trading down 4.5% to $9.93 per share at publication time. The stock is down 18% in the year-to-date period.
Bernstein recently gave the stock an "outperform" rating, calling it one of the three largest bitcoin producers, along with MARA and Core Scientific. In terms of operational and energy efficiency, Bernstein said CleanSpark is "in the sweet spot of energy efficiency and realized hash rate/uptime."
Last week, CleanSpark said it mined 478 BTC in August, increasing its total operating hash rate by 1.4 EH/s. The company’s total bitcoin holdings stood at 7,558 as of Aug. 31.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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Former US President Trump said he will participate in the second presidential debate hosted by NBC or FOX.
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The U.S Commodity Futures Trading Commission swiftly filed an appeal after a judge ruled that the agency exceeded its authority when it blocked predictions market Kalshi's election contracts.
Lawyers representing the CFTC had alluded that they would be filing that appeal during a virtual hearing held on Thursday morning.
"We're asking for an administrative stay to maintain the status quo so that in order, to allow this court or the Court of Appeals, adequate time to consider the CFTC's forthcoming motion for stay pending appeal," a CFTC lawyer told Judge Jia M. Cobb for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia during that hearing.
Earlier in the day, Judge Cobb ruled that the CFTC exceeded its authority when it pushed against Kalshi's move to list contracts tied to U.S. elections. The CFTC said last year that Kalshi could not offer contracts related to "congressional control contracts." Kalshi then sued the agency in November 2023.
Judge Cobb ruled again in favor of the predictions market last week and tossed the CFTC's order blocking Kalshi from listing its congressional contracts for trading. Soon after, the CFTC filed a motion seeking an emergency stay of the judge's decision for at least two weeks while the agency works on an appeal.
During Thursday's hearing, the CFTC's lawyer warned about risks to "election integrity."
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"The Commission noted serious concerns about potentially adverse effects on election integrity, or the perception of election integrity, at a time where confidence in election integrity is incredibly low," the lawyer said. "These contracts would give market participants a $100 million incentive to influence either the market or the election, which could very certainly undermine confidence in election integrity."
"This is a very serious public interest risk," the lawyer added.
The CFTC previously argued that Kalshi's election contracts involving gaming that was unlawful and "contrary to the public interest." In the ruling issued on Thursday, Judge Cobb decided that Kalshi's contracts do not involve "unlawful activity or gaming."
"The Court concludes that Kalshi’s congressional control contracts do not involve unlawful activity or gaming," Cobb said in the opinion. "And thus the Court has no occasion to consider whether they are contrary to the public interest."
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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Ethereum ETH
+2.69%
Foundation researcher Danny Ryan is stepping away from the Ethereum ecosystem after seven years of contributions.
Ryan attributes his departure to personal reasons and to create room for other opportunities, according to a Friday post on GitHub. He added that his reason for leaving is "not a reflection of any facet of Ethereum, core development or crypto at large."
"Being at one of the many helms that is the complex ship of Ethereum is an all-consuming experience, and although one of the greatest experiences of my life, it is one that I'm ready to relinquish, making space for other things," Ryan said.
"I showed up many years ago as 'a random person from the internet.' I found the doors wide-open. I found my place and got a few things done," Ryan added. "And, now I'm ready to take a step back and come up for air."
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Ryan served as a lead coordinator for Ethereum's shift to a proof-of-stake consensus system known as The Merge, and oversaw the launch of the Beacon Chain in 2021. He also contributed to the Ethereum Foundation's blog, including progress updates for Ethereum Improvement Proposals, The Block previously reported.
Ether, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. A single ether traded at $2,416 as of 4:04 p.m. ET (20:04 UTC) on Sept. 13, according to The Block prices.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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