***Qrafty smiling the biggest smile*** Welcome, fellow crypto seeker! I, Qrafty the crypto lovin’ honey badger, welcome you to Coinqraft – the crypto newsletter for brainy folks who crave the lowdown on crypto and Bitcoin but prefer to dodge the crypto fanatics and Twitter daredevils lurking in those mysterious Telegram caverns!.🌟

🦡 Buckle up because today's conversation is packed to the brim! 🦡 We're plunging headfirst into the cryptoverse because Qrafty is back with a treasure trove of news 📰 and juicy insights 🔍 fresh from the wild crypto frontier!:

1. U.S. DEA sends $50,000 to a scammer 

2. Solana + Shopify = ❤️

3. Worldcoin former employee talks

Bonus: Former cop charged for crypto scamming

Today’s Story

The U.S. DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) sent $50,000 of seized crypto to a scammer

Can’t make this up 🤣 🤣 🤣 

Earlier this year, the DEA found itself in a rather embarrassing pickle. You see, they fell for a cryptocurrency con that left them $50,000 lighter in the digital wallet. This whole saga began during a three-year investigation into crypto being used to launder suspicious drug money, as Forbes reports.

Back in May, the DEA went all in and scooped up a chunky $500,000 haul of USDT from a couple of Binance accounts it suspected were being used to funnel illegal narcotics proceeds. The DEA, in its quest to be a responsible crypto holder, stashed these newfound funds in its digital piggy bank, aka a Trezor hardware wallet, which it then guarded like it was Fort Knox's cyber cousin.

Meanwhile, as the DEA was keeping a keen eye on its shiny new stash, a sneaky crypto trickster had been lurking in the shadows. This crypto Sherlock had spotted the DEA making a test payment of $45.36 in Tether to the United States Marshals Service. That's like flashing a neon sign saying, "Hey scammers, come one, come all!"

With a move worthy of a sneaky magician, the scammer whipped up a look-alike crypto address that shared a resemblance to the Marshal's real deal. It was like crafting a fake VIP pass to the crypto club.

Then, our crafty con artist pulled a move called "airdropping." It's usually a legit crypto thing where you drop tokens into someone's account. But here, they were trying to dupe the DEA. They slipped their fake address into the DEA's account, making it look like the money had gone to the Marshals. It's like a crypto shell game, but with digital dollars. This time, it was a wolf in airdrop clothing.

And our scammer also got lucky. The DEA mistakenly sent over $55,000 in one go to the scammer's address. When the Marshals smelled something fishy and called up the DEA, they all panicked and phoned Tether's hotline, asking them to freeze the scammer's account. But Tether's response? "Sorry, the money's on vacation already!" 🏖️💸

A good giggle… priceless. For everything else there’s… laughing hysterically.

Here is the main news of the day 👇️ 

1. Solana Pay partners with Shopify

An interesting but not unusual development has reached Qrafty’s ears: Solana Pay to be implemented in Shopify.

What does this mean, Qrafty?

It means that Shopify users will be able to pay with the USDC stablecoin on the Shopify platform. While most say that suddenly, Solana will become available to Shopify’s customers, Qrafty sees the other way around: Solana users will be able to spend their USDC on the Shopify platform. Given the context around crypto now, the possibility of people rushing to buy Solana are small to none. Also, SOL will not be available for purchase immediately, maybe at a later phase; just USDC will be used for now.

So what are the advantages?

There is a good advantage: settlement, fees and reduced chargebacks. Merchants usually have big issues with these three aspects, and settlement is a big one. That is because usually it takes from one to a few days for card payments to be cleared.

With this option, settlement is almost immediate and this clears some big liquidity problems for merchants. Obviously, if they receive their payments via Solana Pay.

So this is good, right?

It’s great news for the entire ecosystem, as Shopify is a huge player that accounts for around 9% of ALL commerce in the US. It’s also important to remember that this is not the first endeavor of its kind and up until now, these ended up in ashes. Qrafty hopes that this will not be the case and this collaboration will bear fruit for Solana and for the crypto ecosystem at large.

2. A novel scam, pay attention!

On August 21, while searching for the Celer blockchain bridge website using the term "Celer bridge," Twitter user meUP_meQuit has his funds drained from his wallet. The initial search result, seemingly authentic and even displaying the correct URL for the genuine Celer bridge, turned out to be a bait.

Upon clicking this deceptive result, he was swiftly redirected to a phishing website. The consequences were dire. As soon as the victim connected their cryptocurrency wallet, a staggering $900,000 in the USDC stablecoin was drained from it. This devastating loss prompted them to share on Twitter that it constituted the majority of their net worth.

Sooo… please be careful and pay attention to what you are doing with your wallet and where you are clicking. Also, please bookmarks sites you know and use (or want to use), install an adblocker and open your eyes wide!

3. So… when’s the SEC going after ADA? 😅 

Charles Hoskinson, Cardano (ADA) founder, recently declared in a YouTube interview that the SEC is not going to come after his coin. You have to understand that… especially in crypto land… people say LOTS of things. About 99% are complete and utter… bull droppings, to be elegant.

There is also a big possibility that Mr. Hoskinson is feeling left out by the SEC, since the agency has been recently on a rampage, suing projects left and right and cashing in on the millions of dollars in settlements. So probably he just wants a bit of TLC from the SEC for his security… Qrafty means coin… aka $ADA crypto currency.

As per his words in the interview: “[…]there’s no coming after Cardano just because in a lawsuit against some exchange, they say that something is a security. There’s been no enforcement event. Certainly, if that occurred, you know the facts and circumstances would be different, but that’s not the case for us[…]“

This kind of confidence level in crypto usually ends up really bad. SEC incoming in 3….2…1… ?

4. FTX’s Alameda research engineer shares his story

Interesting to follow the thread as it was presented yesterday by Aditya Baradwaj, a former engineer at Alameda Research. He tells the story of his employment and his experience during his time at the now failed crypto exchange and research firm.

What particularly caught Baradwaj's attention was SBF's expansive vision for FTX, a vision that reached far beyond the usual confines of a typical cryptocurrency exchange.

SBF spoke with great enthusiasm on a wide array of topics, spanning from establishing vaccine factories in the Bahamas to discussions about political contributions and emerging technologies. He painted a picture of his company that went beyond the pursuit of mere profits, emphasizing its role in driving positive global change.

Once a billionaire before hitting 30, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, was a fervent advocate for what he called a "revolutionary new outlook for the future." However, according to Adi, this vision demonstrated a rather reckless approach to risk management and fiscal responsibility, resulting in significant value destruction and consequences for people's livelihoods.

5. Former WorldCoin employee speaks out

From “the cherry on top of a horrendous cake“, “sloppy or illegal things that I witnessed” to “a lot of processes and things were being done in a very questionable way“, a former WorldCoin employee speaks out about the activity and, to say the least, extremely questionable practices of the eye-scanning crypto project.

He mentioned that he has completely severed his ties with them and that the company is withholding his pay and a legal action is underway.

While he believes in the vision and idea of a UBI for people around the world just because they exist, his concerns came after reading the whitepaper and “it was 100% clear“. He requested some clarifications from the legal team and CEO, which further strengthened his doubts and conclusion: “a great vision, but a horrendous execution that deserves what comes next“.

He advises everyone to read the conditions very clearly if you intend to get involved with this project.

6. It’s official: BRICS will add members

Just like Qrafty was mentioning yesterday but nothing was official, today it’s official: BRICS is expanding. It will add news members in its ranks starting , and these members will be Saudi Arabia, Iran, Brazil and UAE.

So that you understand the context better, here’s a nice statistic:

World top oil producers (in barrels per day)

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If my crypto wallet could beat me, I woud be in a coma!

Qrafty’s thought of the day

Other stories from today worth considering

Binance takes another hit

Beginning on August 25th, Binance is obligated to halt its crypto debit card services in the Middle East and Latin American nations. This move will eventually culminate in a complete discontinuation of the service by September later this year.

This is because Mastercard and crypto exchange Binance will end their four crypto card programmes in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Bahrain as of Sept. 22, a spokesperson for Mastercard said via email on Thursday.

DeFi TVL slumps to lowest level since February 2021

Not really fabulous news, but it’s part of the cycle. Well, it's like trying to weigh the importance of a feather in a heavy metal concert – the value these projects brought to the ecosystem over those two years is so close to zero, you might need a microscope to spot the difference.

It's like they threw a party for progress, and the progress RSVP'd with a "Sorry, can't make it." So, if you're on a quest for substantial value, you might want to keep a treasure map handy, because you won't find it here! Things will pick back up, but it takes time.

Bitstamp ends ETH staking for U.S. users on Sep. 25

Blockworks reports from a letter it has received from Bitstamp that it will discontinue ETH staking for United States customers, while all other Bitstamp services will remain unaffected.

“Considering current regulatory dynamics in the US, we’ve made the decision to discontinue staking for customers residing in the United States”, Bitstamp also mentions.

Former cop charged by the SEC for crypto scamming

Allegedly, the former lieutenant at the New Jersey Department of Corrections, orchestrated a crypto scam targeting other police employees and first responders under the claim that his coin will obviously get them “to da moon” and will replace the pension funds systems.

And they believed him! They believed him so much, that he raised over $600,000!

A bank does useless crypto things for clout

Just like in one of those stupid accidents that you can’t get your eyes off, a bank in Singapore has decided to solve global food waste by… making a mini scenario in Sandbox. The brilliant banking minds announced that they will create a “gamified adventure” in the metaverse to increase awareness about… ESG. Btw, Elon tweeted that the S in “ESG“ stands for Satanic.

Yes, it will be as effective for solving global food waste as jumping up and down in Booger Hole, West Virginia (that’s a place, look it up) to create an earthquake in Jalan Boo Bee, Malaysia.

Market Whispers

After yesterday's high at 26800 today btc couldn't go higher than 26570 so it dipped again to 25800. It looks like it really wants to go back into the old range, above 26600, will see if he finds supporters to push it higher. The main feeling in the market is still bearish at the moment.

Today is NATIONAL WAFFLE DAY!

It's National Waffle Day, folks! If the crypto market isn't dishing out any financial treats, at least we can indulge in some waffle sweetness! 😄🥞

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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