An overview of current news in the crypto space

In our digest, we took a look at some important crypto industry news over the past week:

1. Hype meme token PEPE collapsed by 25 per cent, Twitter and Telegram accounts hacked
2. Crypto exchange CoinEX hacked, $27.8m in cryptocurrency withdrawn
3. Toncoin ranks among top 10 cryptocurrencies after Telegram wallet integration
4. Google Cloud top executive: “The problems solved by smart contracts are more important than tokens”
5. Bitcoin fell below $25,000 for the first time in three months

Now for more details. Reading time: 7 minutes.

1. HYIP meme token PEPE has collapsed by 25 per cent in the last 24 hours. More than 16 trillion tokens have been sent from PEPE’s multi-signature wallet to addresses linked to Binance, OXK and Bybit. Analysts speculate that the founder of PEPE could be Zachary Testa, who uses PEPE proceeds to buy sports cars. Over the weekend, PEPE’s Twitter and Telegram accounts were “hacked” and the whale sold around 760bn tokens. The price of the hype meme token has collapsed 44 per cent in the past month. However, a PEPE scam alert has emerged where Telegram and Twitter accounts have been hacked. Participants are asked to report the compromised accounts as a scam. As such, they suggest closing the accounts and warn of “splits” in the team. More information can be found on the PEPE website. The PEPE cryptocurrency is changing hands at $0.00000078 on exchanges, and its asset is on the verge of leaving the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation. The 24% overnight drop in PEPE’s price was caused by three team members with access to the multi-signature wallet.
2. Crypto exchange CoinEX has been hit by a hacker attack that resulted in the withdrawal of over $27.8 million in cryptocurrency from hot wallets on the Ethereum, TRON and Polygon networks. However, the exchange promises full compensation to users who were affected by the incident. Analysts at PeckShield have identified a “suspicious outflow” of funds from CoinEx wallets and believe that hackers from the DPRK-backed Lazarus Group may be linked to the hacking attack. Despite the incident, user assets were not affected, and CoinEx promises to restore deposits and withdrawals only after all risks have been eliminated. PeckShield estimates that the damage from the attack totalled around $43 million, with the remaining $72 million transferred to more secure cold wallets. Details of the attack itself have not yet been released, but CoinEx promises to release a full report once the investigation and incident response procedures are complete. The CoinEx hack may be linked to the Lazarus group, which has previously carried out major cryptocurrency heists, including the Stake.com and Atomic Wallet cryptocasino hacks.
3. Toncoin, a cryptocurrency linked to Telegram, has entered the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation after integrating the TON Wallet into the messenger’s interface. According to CoinMarketCap, Toncoin is ranked ninth, ahead of cryptocurrencies such as Dogecoin and Solana. The coin’s price has risen by nearly 40 per cent in just one week. Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced the launch of the TON Wallet cryptocurrency wallet in March this year. The wallet is now available to all Telegram users and allows you to purchase bitcoin, USDT Stablecoin and Toncoin. Sending cryptocurrency to your contacts has also become possible, but requires both parties to agree to a user agreement. Experts note that Pavel Durov aims to make Telegram a global payment system similar to China’s WeChat. Cryptocurrency regulation is not yet an issue in Russia, but users are warned to keep large amounts of cryptocurrency in safe wallets.
4. The top manager of Google Cloud, James Tromans, has expressed his opinion on the importance of smart contracts in solving business problems. In an interview with Cointelegraph, he emphasised the importance of paying attention to the logic of smart contracts rather than the dynamics of tokens. Tromans noted that blockchain and smart contracts can bring innovation in various areas, reduce operational costs and create new revenue streams. He also emphasised that companies in the TradFi sector are showing great interest in blockchain to solve financial and accounting challenges. Despite the bearish trend in the crypto market, Google Cloud continues to be in demand among businesses looking to integrate blockchain into their operations. However, Tromans doubts the mass adoption of blockchain and believes that there is a need to improve user interaction by offering simple solutions. He believes that when blockchain technology is widely adopted, it will stop being called Web3 and become just the Internet again. Last year, Google Cloud became a validator in the Solana blockchain and also offered its infrastructure to Web3 project developers. Let’s wait for such a large IT giant to pay attention to the Decimal blockchain, where special attention is paid to the ease of interaction of the tokens created and the creation of reliable smart-contacts. 
5. Bitcoin showed a drop below the $25,000 mark on Monday, 11 September. The rate of the first cryptocurrency fell to $24,953 on the Binance exchange, causing the asset to lose 2.8 per cent over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. At the same time, other assets from the top 10 by capitalisation have also moved into the red zone, with XRP in particular showing a notable decline of 4.8%. The total cryptocurrency market capitalisation also fell by 2.6%, with BTC accounting for 46.8% and ETH for 17.9%. This drop in bitcoin came amid rumours of FTX exchange’s plans to start selling digital assets as part of bankruptcy proceedings, which caused a negative market reaction. Bitcoin fell below the $25,000 mark for the first time in three months, dropping to $24,958, the lowest since 15 June. This drop in the bitcoin price is also due to the strengthening of the dollar and frustration over bitcoin regulation. Despite this, experts point to a positive outlook for the first cryptocurrency, with the founder of Edelman Financial Engines, Rick Edelman, predicting the bitcoin price to rise to $150,000 by the summer of 2025.

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