Wintermute Hit by $160 Million Hack, Fed Raises Interest Rates to Combat Inflation
London-based Wintermute, which trades billions of dollars everyday across crypto venues, is the latest victim of a wave of hacks across the DeFi ecosystem. Digital assets worth around $160 million were stolen from the market maker, which owes several counterparties over $200 million. [1]
Fed hikes interest rates by 75 basis points
On September 21, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 basis points – the highest we’ve seen since late 2007. This decision follows a 0.6% increase in the August consumer price index (CPI), which showed that inflation, excluding energy and food prices, increased from the previous month.
In a press conference, Jerome Powell commented, “The FOMC is strongly resolved to bring inflation down to 2% and we will keep at it until the job is done.”
Crypto markets were volatile following the Fed's decision, with Bitcoin crashing below $19,000 before rebounding to $19,500 and then sliding back down to $18,900. [2]
Cardano Vasil upgrade goes live
After months of delays, the long-awaited Cardano Vasil upgrade and hard fork finally went live on September 22. The protocol's hard fork is intended to improve the ecosystem’s scalability and transaction throughput capacity, as well as advance the development of decentralized applications (DApps). This represents the blockchain’s most significant update since adding smart contract functionality last September. [3]
In case you missed it:
- Digital bank Revolut's data breach may have affected 50,000 customers
- Nasdaq rolls out cryptocurrency service focused on institutional investors
- Colorado enables crypto payment for taxes
Sources
- Hacked Crypto Market Maker Wintermute Has $200M in Outstanding DeFi Debt
- Fed Hikes Rates to Highest Since 2007; Bitcoin Slides Toward $19K
- Fork, Yeah! Cardano Vasil Upgrade Goes Live
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