Latest news with #Mantra
Crypto Insight
25-05-2025
- Business
- Crypto Insight
Wallet intelligence shapes the next crypto power shift
Opinion by: Scott Lehr, adviser to In the world of cryptocurrency, knowledge isn't just power — it's a weapon. The recent collapse of Mantra's OM token, which saw a 90% drop in value within hours, underscores how wallet intelligence can be leveraged with devastating effects. Wallet intelligence is the real-time analysis of blockchain data to extract insights from wallet behaviors, transaction patterns, and asset flows. Firms like Chainalysis and Arkham Intelligence have turned raw onchain activity into high-resolution surveillance, enabling everything from compliance monitoring to predictive trading. This level of insight gives a strategic advantage to those who can access it. Power like this, however, has consequences. There is a new battlefield on the blockchain, and you might be in danger. The downside of transparency As blockchain transparency advances, the pseudonymity that once protected users rapidly dissolves. Every transaction leaves a breadcrumb trail — one that sophisticated actors can follow. Wallet intelligence is increasingly used by regulators, exchanges, and analytics firms to enforce compliance and track illicit activity. It also opens the door to abuse: centralized surveillance, profiling, and preemptive censorship. OM's collapse exposed the dangers The April collapse of OM offers a case study of how these dynamics play out. Although not conclusively proven, reports suggest that a single trader initiated a massive short on Binance's perpetual market, allegedly exploiting market liquidity to trigger a cascade of liquidations. At the same time, Mantra's token was held in a highly centralized fashion — 90% of OM supply sat with insiders. Combine that with low liquidity and poor transparency around OTC deals, and you get a chain reaction that wiped out millions in market cap and investor trust. The FTX fallout and the power of wallet intelligence We saw echoes of this dynamic during the collapse of FTX. While regulators and internal auditors failed to sound the alarm, early warnings came from parts of the crypto community — analysts and observers who flagged questionable ties between Alameda Research and FTX. But the full extent of the misconduct wasn't revealed until a leaked balance sheet and a cascade of withdrawals forced the truth into the open. After the collapse, wallet intelligence became critical. Blockchain investigators and independent sleuths traced the movement of billions in customer funds, exposing how deeply intertwined — and misused — those assets were. The fallout didn't just destroy value. It shattered trust and proved that, in the right hands, blockchain transparency can uncover truths that centralized actors try to bury. The growing threat of surveillance capitalism This is the new battlefield. Wallet intelligence enables actors to front-run movements, manipulate price action, or influence reputational narratives by selectively exposing wallet data. In the wrong hands, it becomes a weapon capable of destabilizing protocols, shaping regulatory pressures, or undermining the decentralization of crypto. What happens when blockchain data stops protecting users and starts profiling them? The centralization of these tools and data pipelines poses a systemic risk. A small number of firms with privileged access and institutional relationships now have disproportionate influence over which transactions get flagged, which wallets get blocked, and which behaviors are interpreted as 'suspicious.' That isn't decentralization. It's surveillance capitalism with a blockchain veneer. What the crypto community must do now The implications for markets are significant. As wallet intelligence tools become more influential, expect heightened regulatory scrutiny, targeted enforcement, and volatility driven by actors who can read the tape before the rest of the market sees it. In the wrong context, transparency without guardrails can morph into tyranny. Wallet intelligence is here to stay — but how it's governed, who gets access, and whether it reinforces or undermines decentralization will determine whether it serves the ecosystem or destabilizes it. Blockchain users: Stop assuming decentralization means safety. Know how your data is being tracked, interpreted, and possibly weaponized. Regulators must understand this technology before attempting to regulate it—or risk empowering the wrong actors. Developers should push for decentralized wallet intelligence platforms that return data power to the network, not a few firms. Protocols should bake privacy into their architecture without sacrificing accountability. In this next era of crypto, what you don't know about your own wallet might be exactly what someone else is using to move against you. Opinion by: Scott Lehr, adviser to Source:
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Movement Labs and Mantra Scandal Are Shaking up Crypto Market-Making
Two of the year's most chaotic token blowups — Movement Labs' MOVE scandal and the collapse of Mantra's OM — are sending shockwaves through crypto's market-making businesses."These scandals have definitely changed trust dynamics between market makers and project teams, where trust is no longer assumed—it's engineered," Zahreddine Touag, Head of Trading at Woorton, said over a Telegram message on Friday. "Market makers -- especially those providing balance sheet-intensive support -- will now insist on full disclosure of side agreements, token grants, and any preferential economic rights," Touag added. In both cases, rapid price crashes revealed hidden actors, questionable token unlocks, and alleged side agreements that blinded market participants, with OM falling more than 90% within hours late April on no apparent catalyst. Unlike traditional finance, where market makers provide orderly bid-ask spreads on regulated venues, crypto market makers often operate more like high-stakes trading desks. They're not just quoting prices; they're negotiating pre-launch token allocations, accepting lockups, structuring liquidity for centralized exchanges, and sometimes taking equity or advisory stakes. The result is a murky space where liquidity provision is entangled with private deals, tokenomics, and often, insider politics. A CoinDesk exposé in late April showed how some Movement Labs executives colluded with their own market maker to dump $38 million worth of MOVE in the open market. Now, some firms are questioning whether they've been too casual in trusting counterparties. How do you hedge a position when token unlock schedules are opaque? What happens when handshake deals quietly override DAO proposals? 'Our approach now includes more extensive preliminary discussions and educational sessions with project teams to ensure they thoroughly understand market-making mechanics,' Hong Kong-based Metalpha's market-making division told CoinDesk in an interview. 'Our deal structures have evolved to emphasize long-term strategic alignment over short-term performance metrics, incorporating specific safeguards against unethical behavior such as excessive token dumping and artificial trading volume," it said. Behind the scenes, conversations are intensifying. Deal terms are being scrutinized more carefully. Some liquidity desks are reevaluating how they underwrite token risk. "Recent developments have prompted a recalibration—not a reinvention—of how B2C2 assesses counterparty risk in our market-making," Dean Sovolos, Chief Legal Officer at B2C2, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message. "Historically, when I first joined B2C2 in 2021, much of the crypto market operated on a blend of informal trust and aggressive risk appetite. That paradigm has shifted, especially of late. Post-Q1, B2C2 is seeing a marked pivot toward institutional-grade rigor: enhanced legal diligence, enforceable tokenomics terms, and clear contingency frameworks for breaches or deviations from disclosed unlock schedules," he said."The Movement and Mantra incidents didn't create new risks—they revealed how latent those risks remain in poorly governed token ecosystems. We're responding with stronger contract architecture, but also better integration between legal terms and technical enforcement mechanisms," Sovolos stated. Others are demanding stricter transparency — or walking away from murky projects altogether. 'Projects no longer accept prestigious reputations at face value, having witnessed how even established players can exploit shadow allocations or engage in detrimental token selling practices,' Metalpha's head of Web3 ecosystem Max Sun noted. 'The era of presumptive trust has concluded,' he claimed. Beneath the polished surface of token launch announcements and market-making agreements lies another layer of crypto finance — the secondary OTC market, where locked tokens quietly change hands well before vesting cliffs hit the public eye. These under-the-table deals, often struck between early backers, funds, and syndicates, are now distorting supply dynamics and skewing price discovery, some traders say. And for market makers tasked with providing orderly liquidity, they're becoming an increasingly opaque and dangerous variable. 'The secondary OTC market has changed the dynamics of the industry,' said Min Jung, analyst at Presto Research, which runs a market-making unit. 'If you look at tokens with suspicious price action — like $LAYER, $OM, $MOVE, and others — they're often the ones most actively traded on the secondary OTC market.' 'The entire supply and vesting schedule has become distorted because of these off-market deals, and for liquid funds, the real challenge is figuring out when supply is actually unlocking,' Jung added. In a market where price is fiction and supply is negotiated in back rooms, the real risk isn't volatility for traders — it is believing the float is what the whitepaper and founders say it is. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Korea Herald
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Blackpink's Jennie hits 100m views with ‘Like Jennie' music video
Jennie of Blackpink amassed 100 million views on YouTube with the music video for 'Like Jennie' on Friday. It is the second music video of hers as a solo artist to reach the milestone, following 'Mantra.' It is also the first K-pop music video released this year to achieve the feat, added her agency Odd Atelier. Both singles are from her first solo album 'Ruby' which rolled out in March. Prerelease 'Mantra,' which dropped in October last year, ranked No. 98 on Billboard's Hot 100. 'Like Jennie' stayed on the main songs chart for three weeks, peaking at No. 83. Jennie is also the first-ever K-pop solo female singer to have a music video exceed 1 billion views, which she achieved in April with 'Solo,' her first solo single from 2018. glamazon@
Korea Herald
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Blackpink's Jennie hits 100m views with ‘Like Jennie' music video
Jennie of Blackpink amassed 100 million views on YouTube with the music video for 'Like Jennie' on Friday. It is the second music video of hers as a solo artist to reach the milestone, following 'Mantra.' It is also the first K-pop music video released this year to achieve the feat, added her agency Odd Atelier. Both singles are from her first solo album 'Ruby' which rolled out in March. Prerelease 'Mantra,' which dropped in October last year, ranked No. 98 on Billboard's Hot 100. 'Like Jennie' stayed on the main songs chart for three weeks, peaking at No. 83. Jennie is also the first-ever K-pop solo female singer to have a music video exceed 1 billion views, which she achieved in April with 'Solo,' her first solo single from 2018.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jennie's 2025 Met Gala Look Could've Come Straight Out of 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Jennie just completed her Met Gala hat trick in, what else? A stunning look from Chanel. For the third year in a row, the global pop superstar attended the fashion event held on the first Monday in May, where she stole the show in an outfit courtesy of her favorite French fashion house. And with her look, the 'Mantra' singer looked she was transported straight out of Breakfast at Tiffany's. John Nacion - Getty Images WWD - Getty Images The strapless design featured a silk hem along the top, with pearl buttons dotting the bodice and white peaks jutting out from beneath. Meanwhile, thick strands of white pearl necklaces hung in front of the dress, while a split hem in the center of the skirt revealed layers of milky material underneath. John Nacion - Getty Images To complete the look, Jennie added her most Hepburn touch with a two-tone boater hat that matched the rest of the ensemble, and she slipped into a pair of midnight black heels to round things out. Steve Eichner - Getty Images It was no surprise to see Jennie repping Chanel, giving that she serves as a global ambassador for the brand, and she is often endearingly referred to as the 'Human Chanel.' (When she graced the cover of Harper's Bazaar for our October 2024 Home Issue, she modeled a number of fabulous pieces from the house, naturally.) This wasn't Jennie's first time showing up in Chanel to the Met Gala. In fact, she chose the exact same color scheme when she made her debut back in 2023. Then, the K-pop star pulled a vintage look from the house's Fall 1990 collection, which was a white strapless minidress with a floral ornament pinned to the front and a black silk belt, which coordinated with her inky platform heels and opera gloves. Sean Zanni - Getty Images The look honored the tenure of former creative director Karl Lagerfeld, who Jennie actually got to meet before his passing in 2019. In her cover story with Bazaar, Jennie opened up about the time that they met, saying: 'Just the fact that I got to talk to him, to have him see me wearing what he made—all of that was enough. I am still very honored.' You Might Also Like
