Hey hey! Qrafty heard about how Mark Cuban lost $870,000, Justin Sun printed $800 million and Japan startups will issue crypto!

***Qrafty smiling the biggest smile*** Aloha, crypto curious! I am Qrafty - the crypto lovin’ honey badger 🦡 !

Welcome to Coinqraft – the daily crypto newsletter for busy but curious people who don’t have time for the crypto drama!🌟

🦡   Qrafty has fresh bits from the crypto jungle, so let’s dive in: 📰 🌟

1. Mark Cuban Got Phished for $870,000

2. Former SEC/FED/Ripple exec is Binance US CEO

3. Japan Will Allow Startups to Issue Crypto

Bonus: Kevin McCarthy & Mitch McConnell paid by FTX

🙃 The weekend is here and the last thing you want to do is read about crypto! Or maybe it’s the first thing you want to do, we all have our fetishes/quirks… 😂 

So here’s what you need to know to chillax and keep your vibe up 😇 👇️

1. Japan will alow startups to issue crypto

Well, this is big news. Qrafty means… seriously big news! Japan is the world’s third largest economy! Yes, you read that right, Google it! It’s the US, China and then bam! Japan baby!

Qrafty… what’s the actual news?

Oh sorry… so Japan seems to be opening up to crypto lately, at an accelerated pace! Just at the beginning of this month, the Japanese Financial Service Agency issued a proposal to remove the “unrealized gain“ tax for crypto, which should allow a lot of people to breathe a bit and feel relieved.

That’s pretty big, because Japan government has been veeery traditional in its approach to digital currencies. And this is a sudden and very pro crypto move!

Japan now wants to allow startups to issue crypto currencies instead of stocks, says Nikkei! For now, it’s reserved to a specific type of business incorporation, called Investment Business Limited Partnerships.

Think about that: a startup can issue a stock or a digital coin; it’s basically a digital security, if you think about it.

Qrafty wonders… will this attract investors to fund blockchain or digital currencies startups in Japan? Will it spark a mania and create a bubble? Japan’s economy isn’t great right now and Japanese are tech-savvy. So there is a chance that crypto might pick up steam in Japan, bigtime!

2. Even Billionaires Get Hacked

Well… Qrafty must point out it’s not really a hack. It’s more like Mark Cuban downloaded some malware and was relieved out of almost $870,000 in 10 digital currencies from his wallet.

X user WazzCrypto noticed the unusual activity coming from Mark Cuban’s wallet. Remember, transactions on a public blockchain ledger are… public! You can even see how much crypto there is in them! Certain wallet addresses already have their owner associated with them, thanks to different research firms in the space. Mark Cuban’s was one of those wallets.

Ok Qrafty, that makes more sense. So what actually happened?

Well… the big problem isn’t the fraud itself, it’s the ease with which it happened. Cuban isn’t an idiot, he knows his way with a wallet and has enough technical knowledge to not fall very easily to obvious scams.

But he’s not a tech guy, he’s a business guy. And this wasn’t a very easy to spot scam, as he said. So he did a search on Google for Circle and somehow ended up installing a malware posing as Metamask or a Metamask extension. That’s the problem: you can’t know of this as a regular user.

He clicked a link that looked legit to him and it was actually an advertisement which redirected him to a scam website posing as the original website. He thought it was legit, entered his seed phrase and bam, that was it! Gone!

Crypto has a security and user experience problem. These need to be addressed if we want the average Joe to come into the world of magical internet money. But hey… that’s why TradFi is coming in strong!

3. CZ Moved Well

A very interesting strategic decision for Binance US. Amidst all the executives leaving the exchange lately, Chanpeng Zhao announced on X that the latest departure of their US CEO was a well earned break for the executive after accomplishing his objectives with the company.

Qrafty, that’s just PR talk. What’s the catch?

You’re right! The catch is this: the new Binance US CEO is Norman Reed. Considering the difficult context around Binance US right now, this is a very good strategic move from CZ.

During his career, Norman Reed has worked at: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, then at the SEC, then … wait for it… Ripple! And since 2001 he has been the General Counsel at Binance US.

He also knows Karen Gifford, also a former New York Fed, Ripple’s Chief Compliance Officer.

This comes at the same time with the judge approving the SEC motion to unseal documents in its lawsuit against Binance US.

Will Norman Reed get Binance US with a clean face out of all of this? Of course not! 🤣 That’s impossible! Will he be able to get it out alive and still operating in US? Well… that remains to be seen, isn’t it? Qrafty loves to see it unfolding! 🍿

4. PUBG Maker Shows NFT Metaverse Game

Hey, exciting news! It’s called Overdare, Krafton’s new and shiny NFT Metaverse game!

The soft launch is set for December 2023, with the full release by July 2024. Now, let's talk Krafton - they're the brains behind the hit game PUBG. They're cooking up a fresh NFT- driven metaverse game.

Think of Overdare like a turbocharged Roblox, offering an open-world metaverse where you can craft your own games. And get this, they've even whipped up their very own blockchain, Settlus, just for this game. Qrafty is looking forward to put his gamer hat on with this one!

5. Justin Sun Prints $800m TUSD

It’s most likely the much liquidity needed for his new and shiny exchange, HTX! Didn’t you hear? Huobi changed its name to HTX, as Qrafty mentioned yesterday…

Qrafty is just speculating but, probably to celebrate, Justin Sun printed $800 million worth of TUSD on Tron’s blockchain. Those funds went to Huobi, which sent it to Sun’s wallet.

He burned those funds as collateral for issuing $865 million stUSDT and deposited that in JustLend, which is one of Tron’s platforms. With today’s inflow of capital, Justin Sun’s position if $1.5 billion and JustLend’s TVL (total value locked) is $4.63 billion.

It’s worth keeping in mind that the SEC has charged Justin Sun with securities law violation and fraud, back in March.

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The future is just a series of present moments waiting to surprise us – like a cosmic game of peekaboo!

Qrafty’s thougt of the day

Other stories

FTX donated $$$ to Kevin McCarthy & Mitch McConnell

Juicy details emerge as the FTX lawsuit continues. As CBS reports, the official PAC for FTX, known as "West Realm Shire Services," contributed $1 million to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's Senate Leadership Fund. Additionally, they donated $750,000 to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's Congressional Leadership Fund.

North Korean hackers launder in Russia

Chainalysis reports that North Korea hacking groups are upping their use of Russian-based crypto exchanges known for laundering illicit digital assets. And Putin visited Kim Jong Un in North Korea quite recently.

A Japanese exchange playing hide-and-seek

Following a warning from Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), JPEX has raised its withdrawal fee to 999 USDT. The SFC issued a caution on September 13, accusing JPEX of promoting its services to the Hong Kong public without the required license. Moreover, the exchange's staff mysteriously disappeared from its Token 2049 booth in Singapore 🤣 .

The SFC also pointed out that JPEX had falsely portrayed itself as a licensed platform despite operating without regulatory oversight.

SHIB burns… well… SHIB

The Shibarium team has introduced a significant BONE update alongside the burning of 100 million SHIB tokens. While 100 million might seem substantial, it represents just a tiny fraction, approximately 0.000017%, of the total circulating supply of 590 trillion. Even burning as much as 100 billion would only account for 0.017% of the total supply. So don’t get your hopes up too much…

Germany is joining the degens

Boerse Stuttgart Digital, the crypto-focused branch of the Stuttgart Stock Exchange, is set to launch a fully insured cryptocurrency staking service in 2024. Ja, Baby!

Market Whispers

We have been getting used to a Bitcoin that is sleeping during weekends as if partying like an animal on Friday… and then hungover for Saturday and Sunday. It’s been happening for a while now, Qrafty noticed.

This one is seems to be no different, the high of the day was $26,777 and the low $26,445, so a $332 range. Good luck trading that! Qrafty's out to find a Badger girlfriend.

Qrafty ends channeling his inner trader.

Today is BATMAN DAY!

That’s all from Qrafty 🦡 for today! Qrafty thanks you and wishes you to live each moment as if you are listening to the music you love most!

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