Trump’s crypto token flops, Ethereum centralization concerns: Finance redefined
Despite high expectations, former US President Donald Trump's token launch failed to live up to expectations. After the first day of trading, the coin accumulated only about $12.7 million worth of trading volume, with $287 million worth of tokens remaining unsold.
In the broader crypto space, investors are concerned about Ethereum's level of centralization after it produced more than 88% of its major blocks in the first two weeks of October.
Five Reasons Why Trump's Global Freedom Financial Token Crashed and Burned
Former US President Donald Trump's token launch was one thing.
On October 16, Trump launched the World Freedom Finance (WLFI) token. He said the token website would allow investors to gain voting rights in the future decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol.
However, after almost a full day of trading, sales of the token remained strong. As of 10:00 a.m. UTC on October 17, the token's website showed that 848.63 million WMFI (12.7 million worth based on the presale price) had been sold, with an additional 19.1 billion coins ($287 million) remaining unsold. The amount sold on the first day is only 4.24% of the total.
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Two builders produce 89% of Ethereum blocks in October, raising concerns
Two Ethereum block builders produced the most blocks in the first two weeks of October, raising concerns about centralization on the world's second largest blockchain network.
Ethereum block builders Beverbuld and Titan Builder were responsible for 88.7% of the blocks produced on the mainnet over the past two weeks, according to Ethereum Foundation researcher Tony Wahrstetter.
Wahrstätter wrote in October. 17X post:
“This trend is primarily driven by the rise of Private Order Flow (XOF), which is sold only by certain apps. XOF reduces real competition between builders in block auctions, resulting in less collective trading.”
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Registrants are targeted by malicious “clear signature” phishing emails.
New scam emails are targeting Ledger users and trying to steal their crypto.
The scam emails are intended to convince users to enable a security feature called “Ledger Clear Signing” by October 31 so they can continue using their ledger devices.
The emails – sent from addresses not linked to Ledger – lead users to a malicious link to activate a fake security feature. The phishing email reads:
“To continue using your Ledger device securely, enabling ClearSignature is mandatory from November 1, 2024. This feature is essential to protect your assets from phishing attacks and fraudulent activities.”
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Jump Trading has been accused of crypto pump-and-dump in the garb of a game dev
Crypto game developer Fracture Labs has accused the company of using a pump-and-dump scheme of DIO Game tokens.
In a lawsuit filed Oct. 15 in Illinois District Court, Fracture Labs said it entered into an agreement with Jump as a market maker in 2021 to offer its DIO token on crypto exchange Huobi Now HTX.
According to the agreement, the game developer has loaned 10 million DIO, worth $500,000, and sent 6 million tokens, worth $300,000, to HTX.
HTX has asked online influencers to promote the DIO token after its launch. According to the complaint, the price has risen to a high of $0.98, and the borrowed tokens are worth $9.8 million.
Jump then sold all holdings, Fracture Labs said. A “mass liquidation” lowered the price to $0.005, and the trading firm made millions in profit before Leap bought back the tokens at a lower price.
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Sui's price rally sparked allegations of a $400 million insider
Sui Token's recent triple-digit rally has sparked accusations of insider trading among cryptocurrency investors, despite impressive price gains.
Sui (SUI) is up more than 120% in the last month to trade at $2.25 at 10:13 am UTC on October 14. According to Cointelegraph data, the token is up more than 16% in the last week.
SUI/USD, 1-month chart. Source: Cointelegraph
However, despite Sui Token's strong price action, allegations of insider trading have been raised.
Wallets linked to SUI's initial coin offering (ICO) reportedly sold more than $400 million worth of tokens during the rally, according to anonymous crypto analyst Ilhanu, who posted the data on X on Oct. 14.
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Overview of the DeFi market
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the green.
From the top 100, memecoin Cat in a Dog's World (MEW) was the biggest gainer, more than 51% on the weekly chart, followed by the Etena Ina (ENA) token, more than 40%, the second biggest gain of the week.
Total value is locked in DeFi. Source: Defillama
Thanks for reading this week's roundup of the most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and lessons about this dynamic and evolving space.
