Kaspersky Says Crypto Phishing on the Rise in the Philippines

Subreddit Token Price Slide Following SurgeReddit’s subreddit community tokens, Moon and Brick, having experienced a remarkable surge in prices last week fueled by a significant increase in trading volume, have taken a downward trajectory, plummeting in price.Photo by Mike Petrucci on UnsplashCrypto.com token listingThe Moon token, associated with Reddit’s r/CryptoCurrency community boasting over 6.5 million members, shot up from approximately $0.09 to nearly $0.58 on July 19, just after Singapore trading platform Crypto.com listed the token.Concurrently, trading volume spiked to around $3 million on Wednesday, marking an impressive boost.Similarly, the Fortnite subreddit community token, Brick, which Crypto.com distributes as a reward to contributors of r/Fortnite, also witnessed a substantial price surge. The token’s value surged from $0.01 on July 17 to approximately $0.10 on July 19, according to data from CoinGecko.Surge acknowledgedIn response to the sudden price surges, Crypto.com released a note early on Monday, acknowledging the surge both tokens had experienced recently. However, in a swift turn of events, both tokens experienced a significant downturn in the past 24 hours, with their prices plummeting by over 20%.As of midday (ET) on Monday, Moon was trading at $0.33, while Brick was valued just under $0.05, as reported by CoinGecko data. Moreover, trading volumes for both tokens have significantly contracted during this period of volatility. Moon’s volume shrank from over $1 million on July 23 to approximately $200,000 on Monday. On the other hand, Brick’s volume saw an even more drastic decrease, falling from approximately $210,000 on July 23 to a mere $26,000 on Monday.Terms of service changeMarket analysts speculate that the recent change in Reddit’s Terms of Service might have been the catalyst for the initial price increases. Reddit’s alteration of its Terms of Service on July 16 to permit users to trade community tokens and avatars potentially triggered the surge in token prices. It appears that Web2 centralized virtual goods such as coins and awards are making way for tradable Web3 community points.Speculating on the token price surge, Bobby Ong, the Co-Founder and COO of Malaysia-headquartered cryptocurrency data aggregator CoinGecko, wrote via Twitter last week: “Both tokens increased at the speculation of the changes coming at Reddit. No one knows exactly what is happening but Reddit deprecating Web2 Coins & Awards while allowing trading of their Web3 CPs could be something to monitor in the coming months.”Despite the recent downturn, the overall crypto space remains highly dynamic and unpredictable. Events such as the listing of tokens on prominent trading platforms can cause rapid price fluctuations. As always, that scenario makes it essential for investors to approach these assets with caution.While Moon and Brick may have encountered a sharp decline, the cryptocurrency market, in general, has proven its resilience and ability to rebound with Bitcoin currently holding a unit price of $29,125. As the market continues to evolve and gain wider acceptance, investors will need to continue to exercise caution and consider the volatility inherent in digital assets.

With local regulator the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) having set out guidelines for crypto firms regarding the provision of crypto staking services, two prominent Hong Kong companies have moved forward with staking-related offerings. HashKey Capital, a crypto-focused institutional asset manager, and crypto trading platform OSL, have announced the addition of staking to an Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) and in the case of OSL, a partnership with Kiln to offer ETH staking.Photo by Raymond Yeung on UnsplashFirst spot crypto ETF in APAC to support stakingIn a press release published on April 11, HashKey Capital outlined that its Bosera HashKey Ether ETF, which was jointly launched with Bosera Asset Management in April 2024, has received approval from the SFC to engage in Ethereum staking activity from April 25 onwards.  HashKey claimed that its ETH ETF product is the first spot crypto ETF within the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region to support staking. The company stated: “By enabling staking, the ETF aims to enhance potential returns for investors, creating a new avenue to participate in the Ethereum ecosystem through a regulated virtual asset investment vehicle.” The staking service will be extended to the ETF by another HashKey Group company, HashKey Cloud, a Web3 infrastructure provider. HashKey Capital and HashKey OTC Global CEO Deng Chao said that the institutional-grade staking infrastructure of HashKey Cloud was being leveraged in order to provide a secure, efficient and regulated vehicle to access staking rewards with ease to both professional and retail investors.  The ETF is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX). It tracks the price of Ether via the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate, a daily benchmark index price that aggregates Ether trade data from various sources. Competitive edgeBoth HashKey and the Hong Kong authorities have stolen a march on their international counterparts with the launch. In recent months, efforts have been building in the United States by spot ETH ETF providers to add a staking element to these offerings.Robert Mitchnick, head of digital assets at the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, told last month’s Digital Asset Summit in New York that the lack of availability of a staking yield as part of U.S. spot ETH ETFs is likely to be holding the development of the products back. He added:”A staking yield is a meaningful part of how you can generate investment return in this space, and all the [ether] ETFs at launch did not have staking.” HashKey and OSL were the first two entities to be issued trading licenses by the regulator in Hong Kong. OSL is also looking to take advantage of the new regulatory clarity related to crypto staking in Hong Kong. On April 10, it published a press release, outlining details of a partnership that it has formed with enterprise-grade staking infrastructure firm, Kiln. By integrating with Kiln’s API infrastructure, OSL is now enabled in offering clients of its custody platform access to staking services.Kiln co-founder and CEO Laszlo Szabo underscored the significance of regulatory approval of staking in Hong Kong, while stating:”With the future integration of staking, these products will offer investors both exposure to ETH price movements and rewards for securing the Ethereum network.”

ClayStack, the crypto liquid staking platform, has made a strategic move into the Ethereum restaking arena through EigenLayer, providing users with reward points in anticipation of its upcoming token launch.Photo by Kanchanara on Unsplash‘Redefining the staking landscape’The Singaporean platform describes its mission as redefining “the staking landscape by helping users unlock the underlying value of their crypto assets, and we are doing this by building a decentralized cross-chain liquid staking protocol.” In its efforts to deliver on that mission, it appears that the crypto startup is set to convert its Ethereum liquid staking token, csETH, into a liquid restaking token, leveraging the Ethereum restaking protocol offered by EigenLayer. Eigenlayer enables restaked sidechains, through which ETH restakers can participate in Ethereum-centric consensus protocols. Reward pointsIn an announcement on Tuesday, ClayStack revealed its plan to offer reward points to users participating in Ethereum restaking, with a 1:1 ratio for redemption when the platform's token is launched. Each clay point earned will be redeemable for one clay token during the token launch. Notably, the platform distinguishes itself by offering a 1:1 redemption system, setting it apart from other points programs. Founder and CEO Mohak Agarwal explained how the project is adopting EigenLayer's protocol for this new service. Agarwal had teased that the project had something new to offer in the pipeline when taking to social media last week, writing:”We are entering into a new era where staking will become more dynamic, accessible, and rewarding for the entire DeFi community.” Currently, ClayStack accepts native ETH for direct restaking on EigenLayer. Agarwal confirmed to The Block that other liquid staking tokens, such as Lido staked ether (stETH) and Rocket Pool ether (rETH), will be integrated into the platform in the coming days. He emphasized that these tokens will be directly deposited on EigenLayer, streamlining the restaking process. Growing interest in restakingEthereum restaking has gained significant traction since EigenLayer's launch in June of the previous year, with a total value locked (TVL) in smart contracts reaching approximately $1.7 billion. Renzo Protocol recently entered the Ethereum restaking space via EigenLayer, securing a $3.2 million seed funding round. Despite being in beta, Renzo has already achieved a TVL exceeding $116 million. ClayStack's TVL currently stands at around $2.25 million, having initially launched liquid staking for Polygon's MATIC token in 2022. Following that, the platform introduced Ethereum liquid staking in September. However, the latest move marks a shift in focus towards Ethereum restaking due to challenges faced on the Polygon network. Agarwal outlined the reward structure, stating that 20 clay points will be allocated per ETH per week, with rates subject to change every Monday but generally remaining constant throughout the week. There are no minimum or maximum points for individual users, although there is a weekly total cap for all users combined, which refreshes at the beginning of each week.