Latest news with #Arkham
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Saylor's MicroStrategy wallet addresses revealed despite his warnings
Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR), formerly known as MicroStrategy, has had its closely guarded Bitcoin wallet addresses identified by Arkham Intelligence, a move that goes against what co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor has publicly warned against. Arkham posted on X, 'SAYLOR SAID HE WOULD NEVER REVEAL HIS ADDRESSES ... SO WE DID,' claiming they've identified an additional 70,816 BTC belonging to Strategy, bringing the total to $54.5 billion. This represents 87.5% of Strategy's total BTC holdings, including those under Fidelity Digital's omnibus custody. 'Previously, we tagged: – 107K BTC sent to MSTR Fidelity deposits (Fidelity does not segregate custody, so these BTC do not appear in the MSTR entity) – Over 327K BTC held in segregated custody including Coinbase Prime, in our MSTR entity,' Arkham added. Saylor, a vocal critic of on-chain proof-of-reserves, recently said, 'The current, conventional way to publish proof-of-reserves is an insecure proof of reserves... It's not a good idea, it's a bad idea.' He likened publishing wallet addresses to 'publishing the addresses, bank accounts, and phone numbers of your kids in the hope of their safety, but it actually makes them more vulnerable.' 'You publish your wallet, that's an attack vector for hackers, nation-state actors, every type of troll imaginable,' he warned, advocating instead for self-custody and verification by a Big Four auditor. Saylor's MicroStrategy wallet addresses revealed despite his warnings first appeared on TheStreet on May 28, 2025
Malay Mail
12-05-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
Crypto cash for access? $TRUMP meme coin holders chase gala invites as Trump-linked wallets rake in millions
Top 220 $TRUMP holders to dine with Trump Critics say $TRUMP meme coin allows foreign access to Trump Senators propose bills to curb crypto profits NEW YORK, May 12 — Buyers of US President Donald Trump's $TRUMP meme coin are expected to learn Monday if they've won an opportunity to dine with the president at his country club outside of Washington, DC on May 22. The event, which the president promoted on social media as the 'most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the world,' promises the top 220 holders of the $TRUMP meme coin an invite to a gala dinner with the president, while the top 25 will also enjoy 'an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception' with the president as well as a 'Special VIP Tour'. The website says that the winners will be ranked by their 'time-weighted' $TRUMP holdings, which are calculated from the time the contest was announced on April 23 to the cutoff on May 12. The top 220 'time-weighted' holdings amounted to US$160 million worth of $TRUMP coin as of Friday, according to crypto intelligence firm Inca Digital. The coins surged to US$75 after Trump announced them over his Inauguration weekend before falling to a low of US$7.50. On Sunday, $TRUMP was trading around US$14. The top holder of $TRUMP meme coins on the leaderboard on Sunday was a wallet called 'SUN' with nearly US$18 million worth of the coin in time weighted holdings. The wallet is owned by Seychelles-based crypto exchange HTX, according to blockchain analysis firm Arkham. China-born crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun is a member of HTX's global advisory board, according to his Linkedin profile. HTX didn't respond to requests for comment on the wallet. Sun declined to comment. After Trump won the presidency, Sun said he invested a total of US$75 million into the family's new cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial. In addition to being the single-largest known investor, Sun also became an advisor to the project. In February, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said it paused its 2023 fraud case against Sun, citing public interest. The SEC declined to comment. At number 220 on the leaderboard on Sunday was an anonymous wallet simply known as 'Jjj,' which held about US$53,000 worth of time-weighted coins. The terms and conditions of the event noted that Trump may not attend and it could be 'cancelled for any reason.' In January, the Trump Organization announced that the president's investments, assets and business interests would be held in a trust managed by his children and he would play no role in day-to-day operations or decision making. The family named a prominent attorney, William Burck, as an ethics adviser to 'avoid any perceived conflicts of interest'. On April 24, the Trump Organization subsequently fired Burck, citing his representation of Harvard University in its funding battle with the Trump administration. The company has not named a replacement. Burck did not offer comment. The White House and the Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment. In an earlier response to Reuters regarding criticisms by Democratic lawmakers that the meme coin dinner poses conflicts of interest, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said: 'President Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest.' The current market value of all $TRUMP coins is US$2.74 billion. A company controlled by the Trump family and a second firm together hold 80 per cent of the remaining supply of the meme coins, which are advertised with an image of the president raising his fist in reference to his July assassination attempt. So far, the entities behind the Trump coin have earned US$320.19 million in fees, including at least US$1.35 million after the dinner announcement, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Some government ethics experts say the $TRUMP meme coin allows anonymous foreign individuals to personally purchase access to Trump, triggering a volley of complaints from Democratic lawmakers to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, ranking member of the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has opened an inquiry into whether Trump's crypto enterprises violate government ethics requirements. Both Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy and Oregon Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley have each introduced bills aimed at ending the ability of presidents and members of Congress to profit off crypto assets. California Democratic Congressman Sam Liccardo introduced companion legislation in the US House. 'The Trump meme coin is the single most corrupt act ever committed by a president,' said Senator Murphy in a statement to Reuters on Friday. 'Donald Trump is essentially posting his Venmo for any billionaire CEO or foreign oligarch to cash in some favours by secretly sending him millions of dollars.' Of particular concern, the lawmakers say, is the way Trump has moved to curb crypto enforcement and ease regulation at the same time as his family stands to benefit financially from the sector. In April, the DOJ dismantled its crypto enforcement unit. A spokesperson for the DOJ told Reuters: 'This Department of Justice will continue to prosecute those who victimise digital asset investors or those who use digital assets in furtherance of crimes.' Since the $TRUMP meme coin launch three days before the president's inauguration, returns have favoured large investors. More than 60 large wallets have profited close to US$1.5 billion, with US$48 million in profits occurring after the April dinner announcement, according to reviews by Inca Digital and crypto analytics tracker Bubblemaps as of May 8. At least two of the largest investors in the $TRUMP contest have made profits in excess of US$10 million each, Inca Digital found, while 15 investors have made more than US$1 million. Meanwhile, about 600,000 other wallets have lost US$3.87 billion so far, with US$117 million of losses occurring after Trump announced the dinner on social media, Bubblemaps found. The purchases were on the secondary market, meaning Trump's family collected relatively small amounts of fees. One of those is Kali, a 27-year-old in Hawaii who plans luxury vacations for high net worth individuals and asked that her last name not be used due to fear of being harassed by others in the crypto industry. She said she spent about US$10,000 on the coin, at an average of US$15 per coin. In the days leading up to the contest, as the coin's price began to climb again, she was holding her breath and hoping to break even by the time the contest ends today. The $TRUMP meme coin is part of the Trump family's growing array of crypto ventures including the trading platform World Liberty Financial, Trump Media & Technology Group's new crypto ETFs, a crypto mining operation, American Bitcoin, and a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar called USD1. — Reuters
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bitcoin ETFs finally see a positive net flow after 'Liberation Day'
On Apr. 14, spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed in the U.S. recorded a positive net flow for the first time since "Liberation Day." President Donald Trump refers to Apr. 2 as "Liberation Day," when he hiked tariffs on countries as part of his tariff war before pausing them for 90 days for all except China on Apr. 9. The tariff tensions sent the global stock and crypto markets into a shock from which they are still trying to recover.A spot Bitcoin ETF is a financial product that gives investors exposure to Bitcoin without the need for them to directly own the cryptocurrency. For every single trading day since Apr. 2, spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen only net outflows — not a single day of net inflow. After witnessing an inflow of $220.76 million on Apr. 2, Bitcoin ETFs saw a net outflow worth $878 million until Apr. 11, as per SoSoValue. On Apr. 14, Bitcoin ETFs finally saw an inflow even though the amount remained absurdly low at $1.47 million. BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF saw a net inflow of $36.72 million on the day, as Fidelity's ETF saw a net negative outflow of $35.25 million. No other ETFs recorded any activity on Apr. 14. Notably, BlackRock acquired $37 million in Bitcoin on Apr. 15. At the time of writing, the world's largest asset manager held 571,033 BTC worth $48 billion, as per Arkham. As far as Bitcoin is concerned, it is still to scale back to its pre-"Liberation Day" $87,000 levels. The asset was trading at $84,098.35 at press time, as per Kraken's price feed. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump-Backed World Liberty Financial Begins Selling ETH as Losses Top $125M
World Liberty Financial, the Donald Trump family-backed DeFi project, reportedly started to sell its ether (ETH) stash at $1,465 a token despite purchasing the asset for $3,259 at the start of the year. On-chain data from Arkham shows that a wallet closely tied to World Liberty Financial sold 5,471 ETH for around $8 million on Wednesday after racking up a $125 million loss. The sale comes just two months after Eric Trump, the U.S. president's son, said it was a great time to buy ETH, which was trading at $2,880. The main World Liberty Financial wallet still holds $98 million worth of crypto, $11.7 million of which is in ether. Donald Trump wrote on Wednesday that it is a "great time to buy" on Truth Social while global markets tumbled on the escalating risks of a trade war. Since Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20 the Nasdaq is down by 20%, S&P 500 by 17% and bitcoin (BTC) by 24%. The TRUMP and MELANIA memecoins have fared worse, losing 83% and 95%, respectively, since Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration. World Liberty Financial did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's request for comment.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BlackRock buys $66M in Bitcoin amid market crash
The sell-off in the stock market didn't cool down even on the second day following President Donald Trump's announcement of global 'reciprocal tariffs' on Apr. 2 dubbed the 'Liberation Day.' As China retaliated with reciprocal 34% tariffs on American imports on Apr. 4, the stock market took a further beating. The S&P 500 dipped 4.61% to 5,147.51 points, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) slid 3.95% to 38,944.31 points, and the Nasdaq fell 4.79% to 15,757.01 points at the time of writing on Apr. 4. BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), the world's largest asset manager, has been traversing a similar territory. BLK was trading at $833.61 at press time, falling 6%. The stock has not shown an uptick since Apr. 2 and has dipped around 13% since then. However, the stock market crash didn't dissuade the asset manager from acquiring more Bitcoin. As per the on-chain analysis platform Arkham, BlackRock purchased $66 million in BTC on Apr. 4. The firm has been offering a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. since January 2024. A spot Bitcoin ETF tracks the price of the cryptocurrency and allows investors to gain exposure to the asset without directly purchasing it. The asset manager's acquisition of additional Bitcoin on a day of massive sell-off only highlights the growing relevance the asset holds in the global market. In fact, BlackRock representatives met the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) crypto task force staff on Apr. 1 to discuss potential crypto products in the future. As of Apr. 3, the firm's Bitcoin ETF held net assets worth more than $47 billion as per SoSoValue. Sign in to access your portfolio
