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CertiK Auditor Criticized for Kraken’s $3 Million Loss

Published

5 months ago

June 20, 2024

Coin2049 Newsletter

After the reported $3 million loss from Kraken exchange’s treasury, smart contract auditor CertiK has revealed an association with the incident.

The trading platform tried to recover the funds immediately but resorted to law enforcement, citing a case of extortion.

CertiK Shares Perspective on Kraken’s Loss

Kraken exchange’s recent $3 million bug attack has been linked to smart contract auditing firm CertiK, which confirmed the association. They discovered a series of critical vulnerabilities that could potentially lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

Following the discovery, the researchers took the initiative to explore the vulnerability, with three questions driving their research.

Can a malicious actor fabricate a deposit transaction to a Kraken account?
Can a malicious actor withdraw fabricated funds?
What risk controls and asset protection might trigger from a large withdrawal request?

According to CertiK, the trading platform failed all the tests, which led it to conclude that Kraken’s “defense in-depth system is compromised on multiple fronts.”

“According to our testing result: The Kraken exchange failed all these tests, indicating that Kraken’s defense in-depth-system is compromised on multiple fronts. Millions of dollars can be deposited to ANY Kraken account. A huge amount of fabricated crypto (worth more than 1M+ USD) can be withdrawn from the account and converted into valid cryptos. Worse yet, no alerts were triggered during the multi-day testing period. Kraken only responded and locked the test accounts days after we officially reported the incident,” read the report as highlighted in a post.

CertiK presented these findings to Kraken Exchange, whose security team classified them as “critical,” the most serious classification level at the trading platform. Unfortunately, it all culminated in a case that required the involvement of law enforcement.

“Kraken’s security operation team threatened individual CertiK employees to repay a mismatched amount of crypto in an unreasonable time even without providing repayment addresses. The verbal consensus reached during our meeting was not confirmed afterward. Ultimately, they publicly accused us of theft and even directly threatened our employees, which is completely unacceptable,” CertiK told BeInCrypto.

CertiK has urged Kraken to cease the threats against their persona, which is termed “Whitehat hackers.” The smart contract auditor has shared all testing deposit transactions. They added that they moved all funds to an accessible account with Kraken.

Auditor Being Judged For $3 Million Bug-Attack

Despite CertiK’s efforts to shed light on the matter, the crypto community has criticized the researchers, calling them out for malpractice. One user observes that “the sentiment around this story would have been more positive if resolved friendly with Kraken and posted about it after.”

Developer Uttam Singh’s summary of the event ridiculed several aspects that make the case tilt further against CertiK. He highlights the fact that the researchers performed multiple transactions and that they waited five days before disclosure.

According to Cyvers CTO Meir Dolev, a Certik-associated address created a contract on the Coinbase Layer-2 network Base on May 24. This cast doubt on Certik’s claim that the vulnerability was discovered on June 5. Reportedly, the address is also testing OKX and Coinbase to see if there is the same vulnerability as Kraken.

Based on the community reaction, the general sentiment is that the action was not a Whitehat security research, with social media engagement citing on-chain evidence. Nevertheless, this did not derail CertiK’s Series B3 financing round, which garnered a stark $88 million.

Among the leaders in the funding round are Insight Partners, Tiger Global, and Advent International. Goldman Sachs, Sequoia, and Lightspeed Venture Partners also participated. Noteworthy, it marked CertiK’s fourth round of capital raised in nine months, totaling $230 million.

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This Firm Files to Launch First Solana ETF in North America

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Market

Solana Hits New All-Time High After 3 Years

Published

9 minutes ago

November 22, 2024

Coin2049 Newsletter

On Friday, Solana (SOL) soared to a new all-time high (ATH), now trading at approximately $261. This breakthrough surpasses its previous peak set in November 2021.

Solana’s rise to a new ATH marks an increase of over 32 times from its lows recorded in December 2022.

Solana Hits All-Time High as Gary Gensler Plans Resignation

Solana’s path to this new high has been anything but smooth. After reaching its previous high in 2021, the platform faced a downturn in 2022 amid a broader crypto bear market, further exacerbated by technical issues and network downtimes.

The collapse of FTX in November 2022 pushed Solana’s price down to around $8.

Solana Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto

However, Solana has since made a remarkable recovery, increasing more than 32-fold from its low. Now, Solana enthusiasts believe that SOL could eventually outpace Ethereum (ETH) in market capitalization.

“Solana has been at an all-time high by market cap for a while actually. Now, we’re finally in price discovery. The flippening is coming,” Birch, the founder of PathCrypto, said.

The surge in Solana’s market value coincides with the news of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s planned resignation, slated for January 20, 2025, as Donald Trump assumes office.

Known for his strict regulatory stance on cryptocurrencies, Gensler’s departure signals a potential shift toward a more crypto-friendly administration. Consequently, this political change is stoking speculations about the approval of a Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF). According to Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett, the SEC has begun engaging with issuers to explore the possibility of a Solana ETF.

“Talks between SEC staff and issuers looking to launch a Solana spot ETF are “progressing” with the SEC now engaging on S-1 applications. Recent engagement from staff, coupled with the incoming pro-crypto administration, is sparking a renewed sense of optimism that a Solana ETF could be approved sometime in 2025,” Terrett claimed.

Previous efforts to launch a Solana ETF were stalled by regulatory roadblocks, often stopping early in the process. However, the changing political environment and the SEC’s increased openness have reignited hopes within the crypto community. Recent filings for a Solana ETF by Canary Capital and BitWise reflect a growing interest and anticipation for regulatory approval.

Despite these encouraging developments, the odds of a Solana ETF approval in 2024 remain low, with Polymarket estimates placing it at around 4%.

Odds of Solana ETF Approval in 2024. Source: Polymarket

Meanwhile, the crypto community is also closely watching Bitcoin as it approaches the highly anticipated $100,000 mark. On Friday, Bitcoin recorded a new high of about $99,300. This milestone is viewed as a pivotal moment for Bitcoin and could impact other cryptocurrencies, including Solana.

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XRP Price 25% Rally: Breaking Barriers and Surpassing Odds

Published

1 hour ago

November 22, 2024

Coin2049 Newsletter

XRP price rallied above the $1.15 and $1.20 resistance levels. The price is up over 25% and might rise further above the $1.420 resistance.

XRP price started a fresh surge above the $1.20 resistance level.
The price is now trading above $1.250 and the 100-hourly Simple Moving Average.
There was a break above a key bearish trend line with resistance at $1.1400 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from Kraken).
The pair is up over 25% and it seems like the bulls are not done yet.

XRP Price Eyes Steady Increase

XRP price formed a base above $1.050 and started a fresh increase. There was a move above the $1.150 and $1.20 resistance levels. It even pumped above the $1.25 level, beating Ethereum and Bitcoin in the past two sessions.

There was also a break above a key bearish trend line with resistance at $1.1400 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. A high was formed at $1.4161 and the price is now consolidating gains. It is trading above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the upward move from the $1.0649 swing low to the $1.4161 high.

The price is now trading above $1.30 and the 100-hourly Simple Moving Average. On the upside, the price might face resistance near the $1.400 level. The first major resistance is near the $1.420 level. The next key resistance could be $1.450.

A clear move above the $1.450 resistance might send the price toward the $1.50 resistance. Any more gains might send the price toward the $1.550 resistance or even $1.620 in the near term. The next major hurdle for the bulls might be $1.750 or $1.80.

Are Dips Supported?

If XRP fails to clear the $1.420 resistance zone, it could start a downside correction. Initial support on the downside is near the $1.3350 level. The next major support is near the $1.2850 level.

If there is a downside break and a close below the $1.2850 level, the price might continue to decline toward the $1.240 support or the 50% Fib retracement level of the upward move from the $1.0649 swing low to the $1.4161 high in the near term. The next major support sits near the $1.20 zone.

Technical Indicators

Hourly MACD – The MACD for XRP/USD is now gaining pace in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD is now above the 50 level.

Major Support Levels – $1.3350 and $1.2850.

Major Resistance Levels – $1.4000 and $1.4200.

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Market

WisdomTree Europe Launches XRP ETP

Published

2 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Coin2049 Newsletter

ETF issuer WisdomTree’s European division just announced a new ETP based on XRP. This product is currently available in four EU countries, which has led XRP’s price to jump slightly.

ETPs are a common issuer strategy to earn revenue without ETF approval, but Europe will not necessarily approve one even if the US does so.

WisdomTree’s XRP ETP

WisdomTree, one of the Bitcoin ETF issuers in the US, announced that its European branch is offering an exchange-traded product (ETP) based on XRP. This new product is currently available in Germany, Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands. A growing number of issuers have filed for an XRP ETF, but WisdomTree is taking a slightly different tack.

“The WisdomTree Physical XRP ETP offers a simple, secure, and low-cost way to gain exposure to XRP, one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Backed 100% by XRP, XRPW is the lowest-priced XRP ETP in Europe, providing direct spot price exposure,” the announcement claimed.

The possibility of an official XRP ETF is growing with the current bull market, and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse considers it “inevitable.” Still, it hasn’t happened yet, and ETP offerings allow issuers to somewhat address customers’ requirements. BitWise, which has also filed for an XRP ETF in the US, recently acquired a European ETP issuer to enter the same market.

WisdomTree, however, is no stranger to this market strategy. In May this year, it won approval to offer ETPs based on Bitcoin and Ethereum to British investors.

The UK has not yet approved a full ETF for either of these assets, but WisdomTree still gained market access. Even a fraction of the XRP market could also prove lucrative; the asset’s value spiked today.

XRP Price Spike — XRP Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto

WisdomTree Europe’s strategy page does not describe any further actions upon full approval. Even if the US approves an XRP ETF under the SEC’s new leadership, that won’t necessarily benefit WisdomTree’s European branch. For now, these ETPs built on XRP will have to suffice for this market.

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