KuCoin Compromised & Do Kwon Hits Back 💻

KuCoin’s official Twitter account compromised 💻

KuCoin's official Twitter account recently fell victim to a security breach, resulting in users' funds being stolen via a fraudulent giveaway. In light of this unfortunate event, the crypto platform has vowed to reimburse the funds lost.

KuCoin declared in an announcement that its Twitter had been infiltrated for almost an hour on April 24 at 8 AM ET. The hackers had posted deceptive content, apparently to deceive KuCoin users into believing they were participating in an authorized event. 

Up to now, 22 transactions related to the situation have been detected, and the firm vowed to compensate the affected people. The company called on affected individuals to contact them for help and promised to introduce more stringent security procedures to thwart such episodes in the future. Moreover, KuCoin declared that they are teaming up with Twitter to examine the incident in greater detail. For more information on their platform, you can read our in-depth KuCoin Review.

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Do Kwon’s lawyers hit back. Will the infamous CEO walk? 🧑⚖️

Kwon's legal team vehemently challenged the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) accusations against Terraform and its executives, claiming that the Terra coins are actually classified as "currencies" and not securities. Per South Korean media outlet EDaily and Bloomberg, the attorneys argued that this makes the SEC's charges against Terraform and its CEO baseless, thus leading to their motion for dismissal.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Do Kwon and others of trading in unregistered securities, prompting South Korean prosecutors to seek a trial against the defendants. However, South Korean law does not currently recognize any crypto assets as securities, which has caused legal experts to speculate on the potential difficulty of this endeavor.

Kwon's attorneys have argued that the U.S. securities law has no jurisdiction over the digital assets in this instance and asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit as the regulations used by the SEC are outdated. Kwon is to appear in front of the courts later in May.

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DeFi platform Thetanuts Finance raises $17 million 🚀

Thetanuts Finance, a decentralized-finance platform, has recently closed a massive $17 million funding round, led by Polychain Capital, Hyperchain Capital and Magnus Capital. This generous investment will enable the company to strengthen its connections with layer 1 and layer 2 networks, liquidity providers, blockchain foundations, market makers and exchanges. 

The funding comes at the perfect time - while the crypto industry is still attempting to thaw out of the wintery grip of the crypto winter, blockchain infrastructure providers have demonstrated admirable resilience throughout the downturn. DeFi projects have gained a particular advantage over centralized products, particularly after the fall of FTX last autumn.

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Romania to create a national NFT trading platform 🇷🇴

The Romanian National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics (ICI Bucharest) is stepping into the world of Web3 with the launch of ICI D|Services, an in-house nonfungible token trading platform. Come April 26, users both in the private and public sectors can get in on the action, minting, managing, and trading NFTs - creating a direct bridge between institutions and users.

At the start of 2022, the institution initiated a strategic project in collaboration with MultiversX to construct and employ the architecture of the marketplace system utilizing blockchain infrastructure providers. This partnership also encompasses the generation of a decentralized Domain Name System (DNS) and Top-Level Domain (TLD) ecosystem, as MultiversX CEO Beniamin Mincu stated. This move highlights the countries friendliness toward the asset class as they allow crypto exchanges in Romania to freely operate with clear and open guidelines.

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Chinese city to pay salaries 100% using CBDCs 🇨🇳

In a revolutionary move, Changshu, a satellite city near Suzhou, China, is set to become the world's first to pay the wages of public officials and state-owned enterprises entirely in Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). If successful, the People's Bank of China and its digital yuan token would be making a major breakthrough next month.

The digital yuan has gained widespread acceptance as a payment tool, with thousands of stores and outlets in the rapidly-developing pilot zone allowing its use. Plus, it's also a valid option in transport networks and toll booths across the nation. For online purchases, customers can pay with the digital yuan at well-known outlets such as Tencent, WeChat, JD.com and Alibaba-affiliated companies.

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Other breaking news 📰

• An Ethereum address that participated in its ICO woke up after 7.7 years and transferred one ether
• Argentina’s bailout from IMF reliant on the country adopting an anti-crypto stance
• Coinbase and Gemini to bid on Celsius network’s assets
• Standard Chartered claims BTC to hit $100,000 in 2024
• Zimbabwe's Central Bank plans Gold-Backed digital currency to stabilize local economy

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And that’s it for today’s Datawallet newsletter. From the KuCoin Twitter hack, to China’s speedy implementation of CBDCs, we’ve covered it all. The crypto winter seems to be thawing, as experts predict BTC to reach $100,000 and a long dormant ETH wallet waking up. Something is coming our way! Stay informed and ahead of the game with our daily crypto scoop. See you tomorrow!