BitMart to Wind Down Exchange, End Trading by Aug. 26
BitMart said Saturday that it would carry out an orderly shutdown of its trading platform. The company said it made that decision after what it called a careful evaluation of its operating conditions, the market environment, and its future strategic direction, and it gave no further detail. According to the notice, suspensions for new registrations, deposits, and new trading orders began at 01:30 UTC on Sunday. BitMart said all trading services are scheduled to end on Aug. 26 at 01:00 UTC. It also said the platform’s operations will officially stop on Jan. 31, 2027, at 15:59 UTC. The exchange stated that withdrawals will still be available during the wind-down period. It urged users to close positions, complete KYC where required, and remove assets as early as possible. BitMart said withdrawal requests may be subject to extra checks, including identity verification, device and IP review, screening of withdrawal addresses, source-of-funds questions, and sanctions checks. The exchange added that processing times may lengthen if withdrawal request volumes rise sharply. Separately, one outlet reported that BitMart has operated for nine years, recently posted about $1.6 billion in 24-hour trading volume, and previously covered customer losses after a roughly $196 million hot-wallet breach in December 2021. The same outlet said this closure is the second crypto exchange wind-down announced this week, and reported BMX trading near $0.0663, down about 59% over 24 hours and roughly 79% over seven days, with circulating market capitalization around $22.5 million.
2 weeks left for Clarity: State of Crypto
Senators released updated Clarity Act text that combines two versions and, for the first time, sets out proposed ethics language. The draft includes an ethics measure that would prohibit senior government officials from sponsoring or issuing their own cryptocurrencies in response to President Donald Trump. Senator Cynthia Lummis said last week that talks on the ethics section and other parts of the bill would continue through the weekend. According to Punchbowl News, some Republicans, not only Democrats, have raised concerns about the legislation in its current form. Democrats are seeking a stricter ethics provision, while the current bill language was agreed to by the White House but not by Senate Democrats. That current provision would give Trump one year to divest or place his businesses in a blind trust, and it assigns enforcement to the Department of Justice. Democrats’ objections include distrust that the Justice Department would pursue Trump while he is in office. They also object that the provision would expire when the next president takes office and would prevent future administrations from pursuing Trump retroactively. The objections also state that Trump could keep benefiting from tokens already bearing his name, and that the text contains a name-image-likeness clause. Elizabeth Warren said Wednesday that the bill should be dead on arrival, citing investor protection, national security, other provisions, and Trump’s crypto ties.
A $650 million wave of bridge hacks just triggered a $7 billion mass migration to Chainlink
Chainlink said that more than $7 billion in token value moved onto its cross-chain infrastructure during the second quarter as use of its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol increased. The company also said CCIP processed $4.9 billion in quarterly volume, a year-over-year increase of 353%, while total value secured on the network reached $110 billion. Security concerns are described as reshaping how some large crypto projects transfer assets between blockchains. Cross-chain bridge and infrastructure losses have exceeded $650 million this year across several major incidents, including attacks involving the Verus Ethereum Bridge and Polkadot-based Hyperbridge. KelpDAO shifted about $1.5 billion of rsETH after a $292 million exploit tied to its previous bridging provider sharpened concern about cross-chain security. Kraken likewise moved more than $330 million of wrapped Bitcoin and said it plans to use CCIP for future wrapped assets. Mantle migrated over $2.5 billion of MNT to CCIP, while Lombard Finance moved more than $1 billion in Bitcoin assets and Solv shifted over $700 million in tokenized Bitcoin. Re moved roughly $475 million of reUSD distribution, and Virtuals adopted the system for more than $700 million of VIRTUAL across blockchain networks. DTCC said in May that its Collateral AppChain will use Chainlink’s Runtime Environment and data standard for near-real-time collateral management across financial markets and blockchains, with a go-live expected in the fourth quarter.
EU adds HTX to Russia sanctions list, barring transactions starting Aug. 23
The European Union added HTX to its Russia sanctions regime and will prohibit people and companies in the bloc from transacting with the platform beginning next month. The restriction is scheduled to take effect on Aug. 23, when EU operators will be barred from direct and indirect transactions with HTX. Reuters reported that the measure is not a full designation and does not include an asset freeze. Under the rules, eligible nationals and residents of the EU, the European Economic Area, and Switzerland may apply for permission to withdraw funds or close accounts within three months after the ban starts. In a regulation published in the Official Journal, the EU listed “HTX (HUOBI GLOBAL SA)” among third-country financial institutions and crypto service providers. That regulation said the listed entities were significantly frustrating restrictions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The legal document’s use of “HTX (HUOBI GLOBAL SA)” differs from a statement an HTX spokesperson gave after UK sanctions in May, when the spokesperson said Huobi Global S.A. was distinct from HTX. Other crypto platforms named alongside HTX include EXMO, Rapira, BitPapa, Aifory Pro, WhiteBird, NoOnecrypto, and Exnode. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in June that the package would cover 20 non-EU entities, including banks, crypto platforms, and oil traders servicing sanctioned Russian entities and individuals, but she did not identify HTX then. An HTX spokesperson told The Block that HTX takes compliance seriously, works with regulators worldwide, and runs a program to screen for and detect sanctioned entities.
Binance ‘red teams’ its own staff every month to keep hackers out
Binance chief security officer Jimmy Su said the exchange carries out simulated phishing exercises targeting its own employees each month. He said these exercises are run by Binance’s internal red team, which he described as an ethical hacking unit that tries to get into systems in order to find weaknesses. Su said the company uses the monthly tests to gauge whether employee security hygiene is getting better over time. According to Su, staff members who do not pass the phishing exercises receive remediation training. He also said employees are motivated to do well because their test outcomes are included in performance reviews. Su said repeated failure on the tests can lead to termination of employees. He described the hiring process as only one possible scenario used in the exercises. As another example, Su said the company might present a supposed free conference invitation to collect personal information and measure how many employees are deceived by it. One cited attack pattern in recent years is the “Zoom meeting attack,” in which victims are induced to install malware presented as an update for the video conferencing application. The supplied claims also say many such attacks begin with a fake job offer, while others use a funding pitch or a partnership proposal as the lure.
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