Market Trend｜Rubic Loses $1,000,000 In Private Key Exploit, MATIC Adoption Causing Anticipation For Up To ‘200% Gains’

With the bear market having slowed and signs of progressive growth taking the form of institutional adoption and green candlesticks, the wider cryptocurrency market appears to be entering a period of stability.

The likes of MATIC have been privy to institutional adoption on an immense scale, with the likes of JP Morgan, Disney, and Instagram onboarding the blockchain, leading analysts and bullish holders alike to project up to ‘200% gains’ for the asset in the coming weeks.However, this stability has been disrupted by tumultuous events within the wider blockchain and DeFi communities such as major exploits and the reopening of fraud investigations. Just eaelier today, the decentralised multi-chain exchange Rubic was exploited for $1,000,000 worth of tokens after malicious actors gained access to the private keys of an administrator’s wallet, joining the plethora of decentralised exchanges that have been targeted by malicious actors in what has been regarded as the year with the highest volume of blockchain-based attacks.

However, on a more legal note, the Justice Department has announced that they are reviving the investigation into Tether surrounding bank fraud in New York, after the investigation into Tether’s controversial banking relationships went dormant.

Across the coming week, it is likely that the market will remain relatively consistent in its current growth momentum, providing further leverage to the cryptocurrency space as the remainder of global financial markets continues to decline in light of global macroeconomic factors. As a result, it is plausible that MATIC may be privy to the anticipated growth levels foretold by its community and this ongoing increase in adoption may point towards a hopeful future of blockchain integration. However, as exploits and investigations ensue, it is likely that further regulatory crackdowns may begin on decentralised finance at large as security concerns continue to grow.







Rubic Loses $1,000,000 In Private Key Exploit

This year alone has been privy to various high-profile exploits and hacks, whereby decentralised exchanges have had their users’ wallets and liquidity pools drained and private keys were stolen. Unfortunately, this week has made no exception for this grim trend forming, with the multi-chain swapping protocol, Rubic, being the most recent victim. Rubic was drained of over $1,000,000 worth of tokens after malicious attacks gained access to the private keys of an administrator.

During the early hours of November 2nd, the project revealed that one of their administrator’s waller addresses that managed the RBC/BRBC bridge and staking rewards has been compromised by what developers suspect to be ‘malicious software that was used to get access to the admin wallet’s keys’. Considering private keys are generated as an assortment of randomised words and are used in tandem with an algorithm to encrypt and decrypt data, they act as seemingly secure passwords that cannot be easily compromised unless shared with other parties.

According to the Rubic team, the hacker successfully stole an estimated 34 million RBC and BRBC tokens before liquidating them on Uniswap and Pancakeswap to reap up to $1.2 million, which led to a 98% plunge in the price of RBC. However, the Rubic team noted that the wallet used to steal the tokens also possessed 205 BNB (just over $65,000) and over $205,000 worth of Ether. Rubic has since publicly announced they will conduct an investigation, but this will be terminated providing the attacker returns 80% of the stolen funds, allowing them to keep the remaining 20% and face no ‘legal consequences’.




MATIC Adoption Causing Anticipation For Up To ‘200% Gains’

Polygon, the Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development solution, has undeniably become one of the most adopted and well-known networks in the blockchain space at large, onboarding partners such as Meta, Disney, Starbucks, and Robinhood alone in recent months. Acting as a hub for blockchain integration for Web2 and traditional businesses, Polygon has begun trailblazing the transition to Web3 and blockchain-based services on an institutional level.

However, Polygon’s most recent partnership with the banking giant JP Morgan, whereby the network was used to conduct the bank’s first live trade (worth $71,000) on a public blockchain, established a new concrete step towards the integration of cryptocurrencies in traditional finance frameworks. As a result, the MATIC token rose over 13%, pushing towards the resistance level of $1, and was joined by a sharp uptick in daily trading volume.

MATIC’s bullish trading pattern doesn’t appear to end here, however, as on a technical level, MATIC’s chart has illustrated a cup-and-handle set-up, which is comprised of a u-shaped recovery followed by a downward drifting channel. As a result, MATIC is now eyeing a decisive breakout above the pattern’s neckline range to reach a primary upside target of $2.89. Analysts predict that this 200% price rally is set to happen by the end of Q1 2023.




The ‘Dormant’ Tether Bank Fraud Investigation Is Revived

Throughout the years, Tether has come under fire repeatedly for allegedly engaging in controversial business relationships and illicit financial activity and misconduct – so much so, that an investigation was launched into the stablecoin. Last year, Bloomberg reported on a banking-related investigation linked to Tether, whereby the stablecoin was coming under scrutiny for alleged bank fraud and controversial banking relations. However, the case went primarily unnoticed in comparison to the likes of the SEC’s investigation into Ripple as Tether publicly dismissed the report as ‘recycling old news’.

However, The Justice Department has announced that they are returning to the investigation and are going to reignite the probing into the ‘dormant’ Tether investigation into New York to bring to light any potential banking fraud or similar illicit financial activities. Drawing from controversial banking relationships and activity that have drawn scrutiny and concern from US regulators historically, The Justice Department is anticipated to fully flesh out the investigation.

While little is yet known about The Justice Department’s plans regarding the investigation, it can be ascertained that this is just the beginning of a new wave of regulatory scrutiny for blockchain protocols – particularly those who have faced severe allegations.






Author: Gate.io Researcher: Matthew Webster-Dowsing
* This article represents only the views of the researcher and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
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