The Daily: Vana Secures Investment From YZi Labs As CZ Becomes Advisor, Infini Hacked For $49 Million, And More
We hope you had a great weekend. The market saw a dip this morning as the memecoin craze cooled, and many in the crypto space are dealing with major events like the Bybit hack. Here are the notable stories from today's newsletter.
YZi Labs Invests In Vana As CZ Becomes Advisor
YZi Labs, formerly known as Binance Labs, has invested in data ownership crypto startup Vana for an undisclosed amount. Notably, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), co-founder of Binance, has officially become an advisor to Vana through YZi Labs.
The investment comes shortly after Vana launched its mainnet and token in December, with VANA down 82% since then, bringing its market cap to around $192 million. Vana’s blockchain allows users to consolidate their data into the Data DAO, where they can earn rewards and retain ownership of the data.
Infini Hacked for $49 Million
Infini, a Hong Kong-based payments platform and stablecoin neobank, was hacked, resulting in a loss of $49 million. The incident occurred when an attacker used compromised administrative privileges to change smart contract settings and withdraw funds, then convert them into ether. The stolen funds were sent via Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer.
Infini has said it will investigate the incident and has pledged to compensate affected users, while ensuring that no private keys were leaked in connection with the hack.
Bybit Closes Ether Shortage
Following a massive $1.5 billion hack on Bybit last week, CEO Ben Zhou confirmed that the platform has recovered customer assets through short-term loans and ether buybacks on OTC exchanges.
The attack, which resulted in the loss of over 400,000 ETH and multiple derivative tokens, is believed to have been carried out by North Korea’s Lazarus Group through a manipulated multi-signature approval process.
Ethena Raises $100 Million in Private Token Sale
Ethena Foundation has raised $100 million in a private sale of ENA tokens to build a new chain for its ecosystem. Investors including Franklin Templeton, Polychain, Pantera, and Fidelity participated in the round.
USDe, Ethereum’s decentralized synthetic dollar, is now the fourth-largest stablecoin with a circulating supply of $5.9 billion.
Strategy Buys $2 Billion More Bitcoin
Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, has just purchased another 20,356 BTC for a total of $1.99 billion. The acquisition brings its total holdings to 499,096 BTC, worth over $47 billion.
The acquisition comes on the heels of Strategy completing its latest $2 billion zero-coupon convertible bond offering.
Upcoming Events
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Michael Barr is speaking tomorrow, and ETHDenver is still ongoing. Stay tuned to make sure you don’t miss any important developments in the digital asset space.
