FIRST THEY CAME FOR YOUR AXIES.
THEN THEY TOOK FROM HARMONY.
NOW, AFTER NOMAD, THEY’VE STOLEN NEARLY $2 BILLION.
COMING SOON - THE 2022 CRYPTO MOVIE OF THE YEAR…
THE HACKENING…
IS THAT THE BEST WE’VE GOT?
BUT YOU DID SAY M NIGHT SHYAMALAN WAS AVAILABLE?
ALRIGHT WE’LL CALL THE TITLE A WORK IN PROGRESS.
THE CONCEPT THOUGH, YOU HAVE TO AGREE, IS PRETTY GOOD.
I KNOW IT SEEMS FAR FETCHED, BUT BELIEVE IT OR NOT - IT’S A TRUE STORY.
$2 BILLION
JUST THIS YEAR.
AND ALL FROM CRYPTO BRIDGES.
SO WHAT’S UP?
WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH THESE HACKERS AND WHY ARE THEY SUDDENLY HACKING EVERYTHING?
WE’RE ALSO GOING TO GET SOME DEEPER ANALYSIS ON WHAT ALL OF THIS IS DOING TO CRYPTO PRICES
THE BAD NEWS?
IT’S GOING TO GET WORSE.
SO LET’S TALK AGAIN ABOUT THE NOMAD HACK.
SOMETHING LIKE $200 MILLION NICKED FROM THE CRYPTO BRIDGE.
AND TAKEN BY NOT ONE HACKER, OR EVEN GROUP OF HACKERS - BUT SUPPOSEDLY 300 DIFFERENT
ACCOUNTS.
NOW TECHNICALLY THAT WAS NOT A HACK.
IT WAS ACTUALLY WHAT’S CALLED AN EXPLOIT.
BUT EITHER WAY, IT TAKES THE TOTAL NUMBER OF BRIDGE BREACHES TO 13 THIS YEAR, ADDING
UP TO A TOTAL OF $2 BILLION.
THAT’S ACCORDING TO A REPORT BY BLOCKCHAIN DATA PLATFORM CHAINALYSIS.
BOTH AXIE AND HARMONY WERE QUICK TO POINT TO THEIR CODE AUDITORS AND THEIR CODE AUDITING
THAT WAS DONE AND THEY WERE AUDITED, WHICH IS GREAT.
AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT WE WANT TO SEE, BECAUSE IF YOU CAN HAVE A THIRD PARTY, MAKE SURE THAT
THERE ARE NO VULNERABILITIES IN THE CODE BEFORE THE CODE IS LAUNCHED.
AND THAT'S GOING TO GO A LONG WAY TO PROTECTING \THE CODE ITSELF.
THE AUDITORS ALSO PLAY A ROLE IN JUST KNOWING WHAT'S OCCURRING OUT THERE, WHAT EXPLOITS
ARE POSSIBLE, AND JUST KNOWING THE VULNERABILITIES ACROSS THE SPACE.
SO HOW IS ALL OF THIS IMPACTING CRYPTO PRICES, WHICH HAVE ALREADY BEEN UNDER PRESSURE FROM
MACRO WORRIES ABOUT INFLATION AND EVERYTHING ELSE?
THEY CERTAINLY SEEM TO HAVE HELD UP, WITH ONE RECENT REPORT SHOWING THE STRONGEST CRYPTO
INFLOWS THIS YEAR IN JULY.
LET’S TALK TO ANNABELLE HUANG, MANAGING PARTNER OF AMBER GROUP AGAIN.
ALWAYS GREAT TO CHAT WITH YOU ANNABELLE.
WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON THESE HACKS THEN AND THE IMPACT THEY’VE BEEN HAVING ON THE MARKET?
ARE THEY PUTTING INVESTORS ON EDGE AT ALL?
ACTUALLY I THINK WE'VE SEEN THE MARKETS RECOVERING QUITE A BIT SINCE MAYBE THE INITIAL MAY AND
JUNE NEWS IN THE MARKET.
AND OF COURSE, THE PRICE RALLY HELPS, I THINK, AROUND THE MERGED NARRATIVE, AND EVERYTHING.
SO I THINK OVERALL IT WAS POSITIVE
UNFORTUNATELY, THERE HAVE BEEN A FEW HACKS RECENTLY OVER JUST THE LAST WEEK, ESPECIALLY
AROUND SOLANA, BECAUSE THERE WERE QUITE A NUMBER OF USERS AFFECTED.
AND I THINK THE COMMUNITY AND ALL THE DEVELOPERS REALLY CAME TOGETHER AND INVESTIGATED THE
ISSUE.
SO I THINK INITIALLY WE SAW SOLANA DIP QUITE A BIT, BUT NOW HAS MOSTLY RECOVERED AND GAINED
A BIT OF TRACTION BACK.
BUT I THINK THAT DID EXPOSE SOME OF THE VULNERABILITIES AROUND HOT WALLETS AND THE KEY MANAGEMENT
THERE.
AND I THINK NOW THAT THAT TOPIC IS VERY TOP OF MIND.
N FACT, WE RECENTLY LAUNCH OUR CUSTODY BUSINESS, INCLUDING A MIXTURE OF COLD, WARM AND HOT
WALLETS, OPTIONS.
AND NOW WE'RE GETTING A LOT MORE INQUIRY AROUND THE COLD STORAGE OPTIONS BECAUSE OF THE RECENT
EVENTS.
IS MACRO NEWS STILL THE BIG MOVER, OR ARE YOU SEEING MORE EVIDENCE OF CRYPTO STORIES
MOVING THE NEEDLE FOR INVESTORS?
THE COINBASE DEAL WITH BLACKROCK TO BRING IN MORE INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS INTO CRYPTO
LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING THAT POTENTIALLY SHOULD HAVE HAD A BIGGER IMPACT ON PRICES, RIGHT?
I THINK OVER THE MEDIUM TO LONGER TERM IS STILL GOING TO BE VERY MACRO-DRIVENMACRO DRIVEN.
WE MIGHT HAVE SOME INTRADAY MOVEMENTS ON THE BACK OF SOME OF THESE POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE
NEWS COMING OUT IN THE MARKET.
THE COINBASE NEWS IS DEFINITELY A BIG ONE IN INSTITUTIONAL SPACE, BUT IN FACT WE HAVEN'T
SEEN, I WOULD SAY MAYBE COMPARED TO THREE OR FOUR YEARS AGO, NEWS LIKE THIS WOULD DEFINITELY
MOVE THE MARKET QUITE A BIT.
BUT I THINK NOW, FIRST OF ALL, PEOPLE ARE NOT SURPRISED THAT CRYPTO IS GOING MORE MAINSTREAM
OR GOING MORE INSTITUTIONAL.
SO THAT'S A GOOD SIGN.I THINK INVESTORS ARE A LOT MORE SOPHISTICATED.
THEY'RE LOOKING AT A LOT MORE FACTORS THAN JUST THE CRYPTO, THE CRYPTO ONES.
TO YOUR POINT IS STILL GOING TO BE VERY, VERY MACRO AND SORT OF GEOPOLITICAL DRIVEN.
SO LET’S TALK ABOUT THE INFLOW OF MONEY INTO CRYPTO IN JULY.
WHAT IS THAT TELLING YOU?
WHAT’S THE STORY OF CRYPTO MONEY RIGHT NOW?
YEAH, I WOULD SAY A LOT OF SORT OF WITHIN THE SPOT MARKET, SOME OF THE BUYING FLOWS
WE'RE SEEING WITHIN THE OPTIONS MARKET, PEOPLE GENERALLY WANT TO OWN SOME UPSIDES FROM HERE.
SOME MAYBE SOME LONGER TERM UPSIDE OPPORTUNITIES FROM TODAY, AS WELL AS THE NET INFLOWS THAT
WE'VE SEEN JUST ON OUR OWN PLATFORM AND I'M SURE ON SOME OTHER PLATFORMS AS WELL, I THINK
SHOWS A SIGN THAT THE GENERAL SENTIMENT AND CONFIDENCE ARE COMING BACK A BIT IN THE MARKET.
BUT I WOULD SAY STILL A LOT OF INVESTORS OUT THERE ARE BEING CAUTIOUS, SITTING ON THE SIDELINES,
MOSTLY IN CASH, WHICH GIVES US A BIT OF A RUNWAY WHEN THINGS DO START TO LOOK A BIT
BETTER, ESPECIALLY FROM A MACRO PERSPECTIVE.
ALRIGHT THANKS AGAIN ANNABELLE.
THAT WAS ANNABELLE HUANG FROM AMBER GROUP.