Tag: Cryptocurrency

De-fi platform Drift suspends deposits and withdrawals after millions in crypto stolen in hack

Posted on by faz_business


Decentralized finance company Drift says it has suspended withdrawals and deposits after confirming a security incident. 

The crypto platform said in a post on X that it was “experiencing an active attack,” and that it was working to “contain the incident.”

Security researchers and public blockchain data suggest the losses could be significant. Blockchain security firm CertiK said on X that hackers may have stolen around $136 million, while crypto analytics firm Arkham put the figure at around $285 million stolen.

If confirmed, this would make the Drift hack the largest crypto theft of the year, according to the Rekt leaderboard, a site that tracks crypto thefts by size.

It’s not clear who is behind the attack, and a spokesperson for Drift did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Security firms say North Korea was behind the most crypto thefts last year, netting at least $2 billion in stolen cryptocurrency, funds the regime is believed to use to finance its nuclear weapons program and skirt international sanctions that restrict its access to the global financial system.

Winklevoss twins’ crypto company Gemini files for IPO

Posted on by faz_business


Another crypto company is headed for the public markets. This time, it’s Gemini Space Station Inc., the New York-based crypto exchange and custodian bank founded by billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

The outfit, which plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol GEMI, was founded in 2014 and operates as an exchange and custodian that offers a number of products and services, including a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin and a credit card that offers rewards in crypto.

The company’s S-1 document, which was filed Friday after markets closed, provides a look at its finances. The upshot: Gemini appears to have widening net losses. The company reported a net loss of $158.5 million on $142.2 million in revenue in 2024. Net losses in the first six months of 2025 havw already exceeded that number. Gemini reported a net loss of $282.5 million on $67.9 million in revenue in the six months ending June 30.

Gemini is the latest crypto company to turn to the public markets as the regulatory environment has eased and the Trump administration has embraced digital currencies and other crypto assets.

In June, Circle Internet Group raised $1.2 billion in an IPO. The company, one of the world’s largest issuers of USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, had a blockbuster debut with its stock trading 168% above its IPO price of $31 set the previous day.

On Monday, despite higher revenue than a year earlier, Circle reported a quarterly loss due to one-time costs associated with that June public offering.

Earlier this month, crypto exchange Bullish, which also owns media outlet CoinDesk, raised $1.1 billion in its IPO. Bullish, led by former president of the NYSE Tom Farley, saw its shares more than double from its $37 IPO price to peak at $118.

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Trump jumps into cryptocurrency, appears to know nothing about it

Posted on by faz_business


Donald Trump, who previously called Bitcoin a scam, has launched a new cryptocurrency venture called World Liberty Financial. “Crypto is one of those things we have to do,” he said in an interview on X. “Whether we like it or not, I have to do it.” The news comes just a day after a likely assassination attempt against Trump at his Florida golf course.

Trump is entering the venture with his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, along with two crypto entrepreneurs: Chase Herro (who once called stablecoins “borderline a Ponzi scheme”) and Zachary Folkman, who founded a company called Date Hotter Girls. Trump’s 18-year-old son Barron Trump, who has no known crypto expertise, is also listed as “chief DeFi [decentralized finance] visionary.”

The tokens themself are supposedly based on US dollar stablecoins. Some involved in the venture have touted it internally as a borrowing and lending platform, according to The New York Times.

Cryptocurrency is generally supposed to be decentralized, but a large chunk of the governance tokens for World Liberty Financial could be held by insiders, according to a draft white paper for the project seen by CoinDesk. The remaining 30 percent would be distributed “via public sale” with some of the money raised from that also going to project insiders.

When asked questions about the venture in an X Spaces interview (above), Trump appeared to know next to nothing about it. “It’s so important. It’s crypto. It’s AI. It’s so many other things. AI needs tremendous electricity capabilities beyond anything I ever heard,” he said. He deferred to Barron’s expertise, saying he has “four wallets” and equated it to learning a language like Chinese.

Some comments in the Spaces interview weren’t kind. “Let’s be honest Trump doesn’t even know what crypto is or why he’s being asked to shill it,” said one. Others noted that launching such a venture just ahead of an election was inappropriate.

“I think it genuinely damages trump’s electoral prospects, especially if it gets hacked (it’ll be the juiciest DeFi target ever and it’s forked from a protocol that itself was hacked),” said crypto industry notable and self-proclaimed Trump supporter Nic Carter in a post on X.

Someone apparently hacked 50 Cent’s accounts to peddle a memecoin and made off with millions

Posted on by faz_business


50 Cent and his millions of social media followers were reportedly the targets of a pump-and-dump crypto scam on Friday that resulted in hackers pocketing a good chunk of change before it was all shut down. The exact amount they made is unclear; the rapper initially wrote on Instagram that “whoever did this made $300,000,000 in 30 minutes” (per Cointelegraph), but the post has since been edited to say $3,000,000 as of this afternoon. I will not make a Get Rich or Die Tryin’ pun, I will not make a Get Rich or Die Tryin’ pun…

The scammers used 50 Cent’s X account and website, Thisis50, to push $GUNIT. “My Twitter & Thisis 50.com was hacked I have no association with this Crypto,” 50 Cent wrote in an Instagram post containing screenshots of the unfolding mess. “Twitter worked quickly to lock my account back down,” he added. His X account and Thisis50.com still appear to be unavailable. Stay safe out there, and be wary of celebrities shilling crypto.