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Top News

• 🧽 CryptoPunk sells for $1.5M in suspected wash trade

• 🚀 Delegate launches 'Clusters' multi-wallet protocol with Layer Zero

• 💥 Ripple founder hacked for $113M, XRP drops 5%

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Specs’ Insights

Punk 5363 bought for 655 ETH ($1,532,215.31 USD)

⌐◪-◪ → Punk 5364 just sold for 655 ETH ($1.53M) after a series of suspicious bids. Some think it was a fat-finger trade, while others think it’s a wash trade. Here’s why…

If you look at the transaction history, a bidder placed a series of bids over 3 days, increasing by 0.5 ETH each time: 63, 63.5, 64, 64.5, 65, then suddenly 655 ETH.

In isolation, this looks like a fat-finger mistake, but 655 ETH bid was accepted within 23 minutes, which is pretty suspicious fast considering there are no push notifications for the Punks marketplace.

Additionally, the wallet conveniently had 660 ETH in it after moving 235 ETH yesterday, and the seller had never listed the punk before after being inactive for a year. This is way too coincidental.

I think this must have been a wash trade, what do you think?

Let me know in Specs Chat!

Delegate, LayerZero to launch naming protocol 'Clusters' on Ethereum, Solana and other chains

Clusters will be designed to support human readable domain names across multiple blockchains, while relying on LayerZero's technology.

⌐◪-◪ → Delegate just rolled out a blockchain-based naming protocol in collaboration with LayerZero. The product is similar to ENS, but designed to work natively across chains.

We currently don’t have a unified identity layer that maintains consistent identity across multiple chains, which will only worsen as we move further into a multi-chain world.

So, Clusters solves a real and growing problem and was created by a trusted team led by the legendary developer Foobar, whose contributions to crypto are undeniable. Foobar has helped keep thousands of people’s JPEGs safe through his protocol Delegate Cash and other famous whitehat moments.

To learn more about Clusters, check out LayerZero’s blog post, and if you want early access, sign up here.

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Ripple Founder Hacked for $113 Million, XRP Drops 5% - Decrypt

Ripple's XRP token dropped following word of a $112.5 million hack, which co-founder Chris Larsen said were from his "personal" accounts.

⌐◪-◪ → Ripple co-founder/chairman Chris Larsen’s personal XRP account was just hacked for $112.5M.

Seriously, how the hell can we expect mainstream adoption of self-custody solutions when even the experts are getting REKT?

While I’m a firm believer in the original crypto vision of self-custody and don’t want to give up and let it fade, I’m increasingly convinced most people are simply not responsible enough.

An analogy I like: Just because you CAN own a gun doesn’t mean you SHOULD own a gun. Sure it’s your right (at least in the US it is), but with great power comes great responsibility.

On-chain sleuth ZachXTB published a nice visual of the source address and the various exchanges the hacker is attempting to offload funds through. Fortunately for Chris, this might be a situation where centralization prevails, as the authorities have been notified and frozen funds on respective exchanges.

Anyway, be safe out there everyone, and teach your friends how to self-custody safely.

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Everything Else

⛓️ Crypto & DeFi

• Tether reports record $2.85B profits, approaches $100B market cap

• Blast gets roasted for not-so-subtly copying Optimisim’s code

• Bitboy ends daily crypto show after 3 years to costly legal battles

• JUP token to begin trading on exchanges today

• Jupiter DEX sees $1.4B daily volume amid token launch

🏦 Wallstreet & VC

• GSR appoints former JPMorgan Andreas Koukorinis as head of trading

• Cube raises $12M on a $100M valuation for hybrid crypto exchange

• Chris Dixon talks about his book Read Write Own and life philosophy

🏛️ Legal & Regulatory

• Celsius starts $3B payout after emerging from bankruptcy

• FTX expects to fully repay customers, but won’t restart exchange

• SEC requests dismissal of Debt Box case after judge’s sanctions threat

• US increases monitoring of crypto miners’ energy use

• Binance sued by families of Hamas victims in the US

• Republican House asks CFPB to review proposed crypto rule

🌎 Rest of the World

• Worldcoin under investigation in Hong Kong over data privacy

• Bitfinex Securities launches digital asset services in El Salvador

• German banking giant DZ Bank to pilot crypto trading this year

• 130-year-old German bank partners with BTC consulting firm

• Bybit submits license application in Hong Kong

• Animoca Brands appoints new COO to lead Japanese expansion

• Argentina’s president Javier Milei removes crypto taxes

• UK Police seize $1.78B Bitcoin from Chinese money launderers

🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse

• Netmarble’s blockchain subsidiary Marblex partners with Saga

• Binance launches a marketplace for BRC-20 inscription tokens

• Art Blocks acquires NFT marketplace Sansa, focused on generative art

• ApeCoin DAO proposals begin with 7 live for voting

• Claire Silver’s digital fashion drop raises $1.2M

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