Coinbase Launches Spot Trading for Non-U.S Clients; OKX DEX Loses $2.7M in Security Breach; BlackRock Updates Bitcoin ETF Structure
Summary:
Coinbase has introduced a spot trading feature for customers outside the U.S, starting with institutional clients. Meanwhile, the OKX decentralized exchange lost around $2.7 million due to a security exploit after an upgrade in an admin proxy contract. Additionally, BlackRock has updated the structure of its pending spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund to enable banks to create shares in the fund using cash, aiming to provide resistance to market manipulation.
Coinbase has launched a spot trading feature for customers who are based outside of the United States. Meanwhile, a security breach on the OKX decentralized exchange (DEX) resulted in the loss of around $2.7 million in various digital currencies, after an admin proxy contract was upgraded, leading to a compromise of the private key. Also, BlackRock has made adjustments in the setup of their prospective spot Bitcoin(BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Starting from December 14, international institutional clients on Coinbase's Global Exchange can trade Bitcoin and Ether against the USD Coin. This feature expansion is a step towards making Coinbase's Global Exchange a key part of the worldwide crypto ecosystem, offering industry-standard capabilities while maintaining the company's key principles of trust, safety and ease of use.
The international exchange was introduced by Coinbase in the month of May, which, at that time, enabled trading of BTC and ETH perpetual futures for institutional investors. In September, it declared that it would broaden its services to accommodate retail traders. After the launch of spot trading for non-US traders, Coinbase plans to extend its services to retail investors, adding more tokens and features that can facilitate new trading strategies and improve capital efficiency.
On December 13, OKX DEX experienced a security breach resulting in a loss of $2.7 million. The private key of the proxy admin owner was reportedly leaked. The breach began on December 12, 2023, around 10:23 pm, after the DEX proxy contract was upgraded to a new implementation contract by the proxy admin owner, providing the hacker an opportunity to steal tokens. At about 11:53 pm, the admin owner executed another upgrade in the contract, following which the tokens continued to be exploited. In an analysis, SlowMist identified this chain of events could be a result of the proxy admin owner's key leakage. Consequently, the DEX proxy was removed from the platform's list of trusted sources. Notably, blockchain security firm PeckShield reported the total loss due to the breach was around $2.7 million.
BlackRock has updated the structure of its pending spot Bitcoin ETF, which may now enable banks to create new shares in the fund using cash instead of cryptocurrencies. This prepay ETF model would permit banking giants like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs to bypass restrictions on them directly holding Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, thereby functioning as authorized participants for BlackRock's ETF. This new setup aims to provide greater resistance to market manipulation which the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has previously stated as a reason for denying prior spot Bitcoin ETF proposals. If approved, it might pave ways for highly regulated trillion-dollar balance-sheet banks to participate in the market which are currently unable to hold direct exposure to Bitcoin.
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Published At
12/13/2023 10:16:19 PM
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