[News Brief] Apr 22, morning | Wasabi Protocol Suffers $5.7 Million Loss After Private Key Compromise

Garrett Jin Deposits $250 Million Worth of ETH to Binance

PANews reported on the 9th, citing Onchain Lens, that Garrett Jin, known as an early Bitcoin holder, deposited 108,169 ETH to Binance.

At current prices, the holdings are worth about $250 million. Large exchange deposits are generally interpreted as a potential sign of selling pressure in the short term.

Wasabi Protocol Suffers $5.7 Million Loss After Private Key Compromise

Wasabi Protocol disclosed an update on its security incident, stating that the attacker exploited a Spring Boot Actuator configuration vulnerability in its AWS infrastructure to steal EVM smart contract private keys.

According to Odaily, about $4.8 million in user funds and about $900,000 from the protocol treasury were drained in the attack. The incident began when the actuator heap dump on a public analytics server was not properly password-protected, allowing the attacker to obtain credentials for other servers and gain control of smart contract private keys.

The damage was limited to some vaults deployed on EVM chains including Ethereum, Base, Blast, and Berachain. Wasabi Protocol said its Solana deployment and Prop AMM were not affected.

Wasabi Protocol added that a final compensation plan for users has not yet been determined, but compensating affected users remains its top priority. Future investigation updates will be announced through its Discord community.

BTC Breaks Above $81,000

According to Odaily, BTC rose above $81,000 based on OKX market data.

BTC was trading at $81,048, up 0.94% over the past 24 hours.

BlackRock Pursues Two Ethereum-Based Tokenized Money Market Funds

BlackRock is preparing to launch two tokenized money market funds for investors holding cash in stablecoin form, Odaily reported, citing Bloomberg.

BlackRock filed documents to introduce a digital share class for the roughly $6.1 billion BlackRock Select Treasury Based Liquidity Fund.

The fund primarily invests in cash, U.S. Treasuries, and securities with remaining maturities of 93 days or less. The tokenized securities will be issued on the Ethereum blockchain and operated alongside traditional share classes.

Korean Investors’ Crypto Holdings Fall More Than 50% in One Year

According to Odaily, data submitted by the Bank of Korea to the National Assembly showed that Korean investors’ cryptocurrency holdings fell from KRW 121.8 trillion at the end of January 2025 to KRW 60.6 trillion at the end of February 2026, a decline of more than 50% in a year.

During the same period, average daily trading volume on South Korea’s five major exchanges—Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit, Coinone, and Gopax—fell from $11.6 billion in December 2024 to $3.0 billion in February this year. KRW deposits at exchanges also declined from KRW 10.7 trillion to KRW 7.8 trillion, suggesting that some capital moved into the domestic stock market.

Stablecoin holdings remained relatively resilient. Korean investors’ stablecoin holdings rose to $597 million in December 2024 before falling to $41 million in February this year.

South Korean financial authorities plan to implement stricter anti-money laundering rules starting in August, automatically classifying transactions over KRW 10 million involving overseas exchanges or personal wallets as suspicious. The Digital Asset Exchange Association warned that the measure could push users toward offshore platforms such as Binance.

South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance recently confirmed for the first time that a tax policy applying a 22% rate to cryptocurrency income will take effect on January 1, 2027.

Circle to Report First-Quarter Earnings on the 11th

According to Odaily, USDC issuer Circle will release its first-quarter earnings before the U.S. market opens on the 11th and hold an earnings conference call at 9:00 p.m. Korea time that day to discuss financial results and business progress.

Market expectations call for first-quarter revenue of about $715 million, down about 7% from $770 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 but up about 11% year over year. Forecast GAAP EPS is $0.18, while adjusted EPS is projected at $0.27.

The average analyst price target is $144.36. Oppenheimer maintained an outperform rating and a $152 target, while Needham kept its buy rating but lowered its target price from $190 to $130. Circle’s market capitalization was reported at $28.1 billion, with shares trading at $113.67.

Protocols With $2 Billion in TVL Shift From LayerZero to Chainlink CCIP

Wu Blockchain reported, citing analyst Tom Wan, that protocols with about $2 billion in total value locked are moving from LayerZero to Chainlink CCIP.

According to Tom Wan, the protocols include KelpDAO ($1.5 billion), Solv Protocol ($600 million), and REI ($200 million). He said the shift to Chainlink CCIP is continuing even after LayerZero issued an apology.

CCIP is Chainlink’s cross-chain interoperability protocol, which supports asset and message transfers between different blockchains.

Bitcoin Market Cap Surpasses Tesla, Ranks 12th Among Global Assets

Bitcoin’s market capitalization exceeded $1.6 trillion, surpassing Tesla and making it the 12th-largest global asset by market value, Odaily reported, citing 8marketcap data.

According to 8marketcap, Bitcoin’s market capitalization reached $1.617 trillion, above Tesla’s $1.608 trillion. The rank increase highlights Bitcoin’s growing scale relative to major global assets.

Anonymous Wallet Transfers $157.6 Million Worth of ETH to Binance

According to Whale Alert, an anonymous wallet transferred 68,159 ETH, worth about $157.6 million, to Binance.

Large exchange inflows often draw attention as possible selling pressure, though it has not been confirmed whether the transferred ETH was actually sold.

VanEck’s Matthew Sigel Sees BTC Returning Near All-Time High Within 12 Months

According to Odaily, Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, said Bitcoin could approach its all-time high again within the next 12 months.

Sigel said the correlation between Bitcoin and the Nasdaq is currently near a five-year high, and the resilience of U.S. equities is supporting the rebound. However, he noted that derivatives markets reflect more short covering and hedging demand than outright bullishness, which from a contrarian perspective suggests there may still be room for further upside.

He also pointed to a central bank’s announcement this year that it would add Bitcoin to its foreign exchange reserves as a significant long-term development. He said Bitcoin is evolving into a global asset that can be used for large cross-border settlements.

From an investment perspective, he said he favors Bitcoin miners that benefit from Bitcoin dominance gains and demand for AI infrastructure. Sigel added that miners’ expanding AI-related businesses are also reducing pressure to sell Bitcoin to raise funds.

He also said that if the U.S. Clarity Act is ultimately passed, sentiment in the altcoin market could recover, though institutional investors remain cautious toward most altcoins due to regulatory and investor protection concerns.