BlackRock 🤝 Bitcoin

GM Readers!📪 It's BitDegree Insider, and let the new day commence!

⭐️Today's selection:

• 🤝 BlackRock Embraces Bitcoin
• 🥷Multi Hack
• 👌Selected Meme of The Day
• 📰Bite-Sized News

BlackRock CEO TALKS ABOUT BITCOIN

Judging from the latest news, one could even joke that The CEO of BlackRock is now the Marketing Director for Bitcoin. At least he acts like one!

Recently, Fox Business hosted an enlightening conversation with Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, elaborating on the firm's perspective on Bitcoin.

Here are some notable takeaways:

• Bitcoin is perceived as an international resource and the equivalent of digital gold.
• Bitcoin is an option for investors seeking a guard against inflation.
• "We want to make cryptocurrency more democratic and much cheaper for investors". According to him, the current spread between demand and supply is very high.
• "Bitcoin is not based on any single currency, and therefore it can be an asset that people can use as an alternative."

Interestingly, six years ago, the CEO of BlackRock referred to Bitcoin as a "laundering index," but now they're on their way to launching a Bitcoin ETF. This indicates a clear shift in market trends for funds and investors.

A recent survey by Nomura, Japan's most prominent brokerage firm, shows that BlackRock's move to launch a Bitcoin ETF has provoked a dramatic increase in cryptocurrency interest among institutional investors.

With nearly $5 trillion under their management, 96% of these professional investors are keen to dive into cryptocurrency investment.

The bottom line is simple. The BIG money has realized that Bitcoin is here to stay.

TL;DR: BlackRock's CEO, Larry Fink, is actively promoting Bitcoin as a valuable asset and option for investors seeking protection against inflation, signaling a significant change in the firm's stance. The announcement of BlackRock's plan to launch a Bitcoin ETF has sparked a surge of interest in cryptocurrency among institutional investors, with a majority expressing a strong desire to explore crypto investments.

MULTI HACK

Do you recall when we asked you about how cautious you are when it comes to transferring your crypto assets between wallets?

Well, the "guest" on our program today certainly approaches this task with caution!

To be precise, this mysterious guest stood out of the crowd… for a rather unusual reason.

They begin their 'operation' by sending out $2 to themselves to make sure that there are no typos in the address. Just like most of us do. But then, they do something extraordinary. During the second transaction, this person sent out a whole $30 million.

Now this caught the public's eye.

It all started with the blockchain security firm PeckShield detecting a capital outflow from the Multichain inter-network router protocol. At first, users suspected a rug pull, but of course, new details emerged indicating a hack - and it was confirmed that, indeed, it was one.

The idea of a rug pull didn't come out of the blue sky. They had some very strange problems a little over a month ago. There were unpleasant rumors about issues within Multichain surfacing on social media.

So, it may even turn out, that this isn't simply a hacker attack, but a betrayal within the team.

Rumors that the founder of Multichain is under investigation by Chinese police have not been dispelled.

To learn more about the impending crisis that's been haunting the Multichain's project, be sure to check out our previous newsletter issue, when we analyzed what's going on over there.

CZ believes that Multichain has been hacked and offers his assistance in resolving the situation.

You may wonder, what does CZ have to do with this situation?

We didn't mention this before, but Multichain has been drained of ~$126M worth of cryptos. That's quite a blood loss, and numbers like this can have some real collateral damage.

As of today, ~$1.92B worth of cryptos, that are associated with cross-chain bridges, has been stolen in the last 3 years.

In total:

Over $120 million in various tokens were withdrawn and distributed to six unknown addresses. Interestingly, 1.2 million ICE was simply burned ($1.8 million).

The $MULTI token is declining in price, but not falling below the baseboard, and the team doesn't know what's happening.

The $MULTI token is declining in price, but not falling below the baseboard, and the team doesn't know what's happening.

Regarding security, if you didn't use it - all good. If you did - you need to revoke all contract approvals!

You can search for Multichain here and revoke access or do it automatically via the Rabby wallet using this guide here! Take care!

TL;DR: The Multichain inter-network router protocol experienced a significant capital outflow, initially suspected as a rug pull but later confirmed to be a hack. Over $120 million worth of various tokens were stolen and distributed to unknown addresses, leading to concerns about internal betrayal within the Multichain team. Users are advised to revoke all contract approvals if they had utilized Multichain for security reasons.

SELECTED MEME OF THE DAY

BITE-SIZED NEWS

• Binance Temporarily Suspends Certain Multichain-Bridged Tokens Transfers. Binance takes yet another action against a selection of Multichain-bridged tokens.
• DBS Bank Strengthens Ties with China Through Its Digital Yuan Payment Tool. With the new feature, Chinese businesses can receive CBDC payments even in locations with limited internet connection.
• Crypto Trading Volumes Jump Amid High Hopes for Bitcoin ETFs. The excitement around Bitcoin ETFs continues to have a positive impact on the crypto ecosystem.