Bitcoin, XRP Sink as Cyber Secrets Get Traded for Crypto 📈
Every blockchain seems to tell a story, and last week’s tale is written in blood-red candles on broken dreams. 😣 Just the way these things go down in spy thrillers, some dude really tried to leverage the pseudonymous nature of blockchain to move dirty money across borders, but the feds weren’t having any of it.
Meanwhile, some big wallets seem to have had enough of Bitcoin going round in circles, they had to unleash waves of selling pressure that have rippled through the entire market. And in similar fashion, XRP holders seem to be living through their worst nightmare since the FTX days.
And if you thought these are bad days for bitcoin and XRP holders, one of our brothers in arms just announced his retirement from crypto after seeing his wallet bleed $10k to that Libra scam massacre…. You remember that one? Sometimes the market doesn't just take your money, it takes your dreams too.
Here are the Highlights:
- Australian Executive Accused of Selling Cyber Secrets to Russia for Crypto
- Bitcoin slides 5%, tumbling below $65,000 as whale selling grows and recent buyers lock in losses
- XRP records $1.93 billion in realized losses, the largest peak since the FTX collapse
- Trader Leaves Crypto Permanently After Losing $10,000 to LIBRA
Australian Executive Accused of Selling Cyber Secrets to Russia for Crypto
An Australian executive who pleaded guilty to selling sensitive cyber tools to a Russian broker was paid in crypto under contracts promising millions more, placing crypto at the center of a case prosecutors say endangered Five Eyes intelligence capabilities. Prosecutors alleged Peter Williams, an Australian national and U.S. resident, sold eight protected cyber-exploit components, including zero-day capabilities, to a Russia-based broker known to do business with the Russian government.
Bitcoin Slides 5%, Tumbling Below $65,000 as Whale Selling Grows and Recent Buyers Lock in Losses
Bitcoin is down sharply as trading in the new week begins, down 5% over the past 24 hours to $64,700. U.S. stock index futures are down as well, led by the Nasdaq 100's 0.9% decline. Precious metals are sharply higher, with gold ahead 2% and silver 5.6%. The move in bitcoin follows a sharp flush from the $67,000 range, where it was trading over the weekend, and comes as on-chain data from Glassnode and CryptoQuant suggest the worst of the panic may have passed, but the broader structure remains under pressure.
XRP Records $1.93 Billion in Realized Losses, the Largest Peak Since the FTX Collapse
XRP accumulated $1.93 billion in realized losses over the past week, according to blockchain analytics platform Santiment. The figure surpasses any other peak recorded since November 2022, when the collapse of exchange FTX triggered a broad market sell-off. The scale of the event places XRP at one of the most intense selling pressure points in its recent history. What makes the situation particularly striking is the price reaction. Despite the volume of selling, XRP trades around $1.44 and shows no collapse proportional to the pressure applied.
Trader Leaves Crypto Permanently After Losing $10,000 to LIBRA
One year has passed since Argentine President Javier Milei backed a project that drove hundreds of thousands of people worldwide to invest in Libra, a meme coin that turned out to be a rug pull. Alfonso Gamboa Silvestre, a 25-year-old from Chile, was among the many traders who suffered steep losses. The token’s launch and swift demise cost him $10,000. Since that moment, he has left the crypto industry for good. On Valentine’s Day last year, Gamboa Silvestre was trading on his computer.
Other Highlights Worth Mentioning
XRP Records Largest On-Chain Realized Loss Spike Since 2022 - Trading View
California Begins Enforcing State-Level Crypto Licensing With DFAL - Decrypt
Nakamoto to acquire BTC Inc, UTXO in $107M all-stock deal - CoinMarketCap
Bitcoin eyes $175B in refund liquidity as Supreme Court nukes Trump tariffs - Cryptoslate
COINIGY FACT OF THE DAY
On this day in 2023, major U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase officially launched the testnet for Base, its Ethereum Layer-2 (L2) blockchain built on the OP Stack.
Base is designed to run on top of Ethereum’s mainnet (Layer 1), meaning it processes transactions off-chain and then batches them back to Ethereum. This makes transactions much faster and cheaper compared to executing directly on Ethereum’s base layer, a major usability improvement for decentralized apps (dApps) and users. Instead of creating entirely new technology, Coinbase used the OP Stack, an open-source modular toolkit from the Optimism protocol to ensure the chain remains compatible with Ethereum’s existing standards and developer tooling. This also aligned Coinbase with the broader Optimism ecosystem.
COINIGY MEME OF THE WEEK
