Crypto Flipsider News – $8 Million BitKeep Hack; NFTs Leave Solana; $4 Billion Miner’s Debt; Twitter Data Leak; BTC Hashrate Plunges

Read in the Digest:

Hacker steals $8 million from BitKeep crypto wallets in latest DeFi hack

Solana NFT projects abandon the network for Ethereum and Polygon Chains

The collective debt of Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies tally at $4 billion

Hacker puts data of 400 million Twitter users up for sale on the dark web

Bitcoin hashrate drops 38% as deadly U.S. storm disconnects BTC miners

Hacker Steals $8 Million from BitKeep Crypto Wallets in Latest DeFi Hack

The Decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector continues to remain the target of cybercriminals, with crypto wallet BitKeep being the latest victim, as a hacker steals over $8 million from users who installed an unofficial version of the app.

The stolen crypto of about $8 million (and counting) included 4,373 Binance Coin (BNB), 5.4 million Tether USD (USDT), 196,000 DAI, and 1,233.21 Ethereum (ETH). The funds of these users were drained while they were not using their wallets.

BitKeep has confirmed the breach, advising users running unofficial wallets to move their funds to the official app. The individual involved has moved most of the hacked funds to BNB Chain. However, BitKeep has reached out to Binance to freeze the funds.

BitKeep has emphasized the importance of users transacting exclusively on official applications and websites to avoid losing funds.

Flipsider:

According to BitKeep, the stolen assets would be returned to users if investigations reveal the exploit was due to a fault on the part of the company.

Why You Should Care

The BitKeep hack is the latest in the worst year for the DeFi sectors, where protocols have lost over $3 billion to hacks and exploits.

Solana NFT Projects Abandon the Network for Ethereum and Polygon Chains

The year continues to go from bad to worse for Solana, a chain once hailed as the Ethereum killer, as leading non-fungible token (NFT) projects built on the chain move to more stable networks, including Ethereum and Polygon.

DeGods, the most famous NFT collection on Solana, has announced that it will bridge to Ethereum in Q1 of 2023. However, the project notes that Ethereum is not the final destination but the “path to get there.”

Another leading NFT project, y00ts, has announced its migration to Polygon, Ethereum’s Layer-2 scaling solution. According to data from Token Terminal, the number of active developers in Solana will decrease by 90% in 2022.

The migration of developers has taken a huge toll on the activity of Solana’s decentralized finance ecosystem. According to data from DeFiLlama, the total value locked on Solana is $218 million, down from over $10 billion in November 2021.

Flipsider:

Solana is looking for a comeback in 2023, preparing to launch the Solana phone to boost the adoption of decentralized applications (dApps) on Web3 platforms.

Why You Should Care

The collapse of FTX, worsened by incessant network downtimes, has left Solana at a crossroads and in need of salvation.

The Collective Debt of Bitcoin (BTC) Mining Companies Tally at $4 Billion

Hit by a triple whammy of a plunge in Bitcoin price, skyrocketing cost of energy, and soaring network hashrates, Bitcoin mining companies are ending the year in a collective debt of over $4 billion.

According to the report, Core Scientific is the worst-hit miner, as the company owes $1.3 billion to creditors and has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The top 10 Bitcoin mining debtors cumulatively owe over $2.6 billion.

Highest debts of Bitcoin mining companies. Source: Hashrate Index

Marathon, the second-biggest debtor, has avoided bankruptcy as its $851 million debt is primarily in convertible note liabilities – meaning debt holders can convert the convertible notes to the company’s stocks.

According to Hashrate Index, a debt-to-equity ratio of two or higher is considered risky. However, most crypto miners have debt-to-equity ratios higher than twp, largely because of the debts taken over the last year.

Flipsider:

The financial turmoil also caused most bitcoin miners to sell more BTC than they mined throughout the year.

Why You Should Care

The high debt-to-equity ratios of leading Bitcoin miners may lead to more bankruptcies and restructuring unless a bull run erupts.

Hacker Puts Data of 400 Million Twitter Users Up for Sale on the Dark Web

The data of 400 million Twitter users have been reportedly put up for sale on the dark web shortly after the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced an investigation into a previous Twitter data leak that affected over 5.4 million users.

In what could be one of the largest data breaches ever, the hacker has posted a sample of data on one of the hacker forums. It includes the emails, names, usernames, follower counts, creation dates, and in some cases, the phone numbers of users.

According to the hacker, the information was scraped via a vulnerability on Twitter. The top affected users include the WHO, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and American singer Charlie Puth, among others.

In addressing Elon Musk, he wrote, “your best option to avoid paying $2.76 million in CDPR breach fines like Facebook did (due to 533 million users being scraped) is to buy this data exclusively.”

Flipsider:

The hacker has promised to delete the thread and not sell the information again if his terms are met.

Why You Should Care

The hacker put up the “private” data for sale and has called on the Twitter boss, Elon Musk, to purchase the info to avoid paying fines in possible lawsuits.

Bitcoin Hashrate Drops 38% as Deadly U.S. Storm Disconnects BTC Miners

The Bitcoin hashrate has experienced its biggest single-day drop since June 2021, falling by as much as 38.8% from last Wednesday’s peak as many U.S.-based miners have been forced offline due to deadly blizzards.

Reports from on-chain data trackers showed that Bitcoin’s hashrate plunged to 155.28 exahashes per second on Saturday, December 24th, after clocking at 253.88 exahashes on Wednesday, December 21st.

The one-month Bitcoin hashrate chart. Source: YCharts

The sharp drop in the hashrate of Bitcoin was attributed to miners in Texas powering down due to severe weather conditions and the demand for energy grids.

However, with most of the mining firms in Texas, FutureBit founder John Stefanop has alleged that the more than 33% fall in the Bitcoin hash rate was due to several “highly centralized mines” in Texas turning off simultaneously.

Flipsider:

As the hashrate of Bitcoin fell, the Bitcoin volatility index dropped to its all-time low. This is below the level recorded in late 2018 when Bitcoin fell to $3,200.