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CryptoCodex


	Good Wednesday morning. Billy Bambrough here with what you need to know from the world of bitcoin and crypto. (I'm on the road this month so you may receive your copy of *CryptoCodex* a little early/late—apologies in advance for any disruption and normal service will resume the week beginning August 23)

24-hour crypto market snapshot

$46,155

$3,212

$385.97

$1.78

Seizing the day


	Cryptocurrency prices are surging higher today, with so-called altcoins significantly outpacing bitcoin. The bitcoin price, up 20% over the last week, has inched higher today, edging closer to the psychological $50,000 level. Crypto KPIs: Crypto exchange Coinbase trading volumes jump over 1,500% Cardano is leading the crypto top ten higher with a near-20% gain over the last 24 hours after a DeFi hack hit its two biggest rivals, ethereum and Binance's BNB. Both ethereum and BNB have also climbed, however, up 2% and 8% respectively. Ripple's XRP is also soaring, up almost 10% on this time yesterday and again nearing the closely-watched $1 level. Now read this: Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson's Bloomberg Q&A

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🏛️ The House always wins


	The Senate yesterday approved the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, including the controversial language regarding cryptocurrency tax reporting that some fear could stifle the crypto economy. The next stage: The House is now set to begin debate on the infrastructure bill before it receives final approval and heads to the desk of President Joe Biden to be signed into law. The House has an opportunity to amend the bill before it’s moved for a floor vote. It’s unclear exactly how long the process will take before the language is finalized. To the bitter end: The crypto community isn't throwing in the towel just yet, with lobbyist, lawyers, advisors and experts druming up support on Capitol Hill. 🖊 "Left unchanged, this provision will have sweeping implications for crypto investors in our country and further regulate innovation out of the United States," members of the bipartisan Blockchain Caucus wrote in a letter to every House lawmaker yesterday. 🗣️ "While the damaging language in the infrastructure bill remains, we all owe [senators Ron Wyden, Cynthia Lummis and Pat Toomey] enormous thanks for their work trying to protect innovation and the future of crypto in the United States," Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong said via Twitter following the release of its second quarter earnings. "Our work with policymakers will continue going forward. There is no question that tax reporting is enormously important, but nonsensical rules that are impossible to comply with don’t advance that goal." Now read this: The infrastructure bill is a coming-of-age moment for crypto

Hacked off



	The Poly Network team appealed to the "hacker" to return the stolen funds Poly Network / Twitter


	Going, going, gone: The decentralized finance (DeFi) community was left reeling yesterday after it was revealed the blockchain-based platform poly network had lost over $600 million worth of cryptocurrencies to hackers. Background: Poly network is a DeFi protocol launched by the founder of China-based blockchain project Neo and operates on the Binance smart chain (BSC), ethereum (eth) and polygon blockchains. DeFi protocols are designed to act as trusted third parties, removing the role of banks and other financial institutions. However, the hundreds of different networks and protocols are often vulnerable to hacks and exploits. Counting the cost: The Poly team identified three addresses where stolen assets were transferred and could be seen to collectively hold more than $600 million in different cryptocurrencies, including the dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC, wrapped bitcoin, wrapped ether and dogecoin-rival shiba inu. Easy come, easy go: In a surpise move, the hacker appears to have indicated they will return the funds, embedding a message saying as much in an ethereum transaction and asking the poly network team to provide them with a multisignature wallet to return the over $600 million worth of cryptocurrency coins. Don't be modest: In another message, the hacker described themselves as already a "legend" after pulling off the hack. 💬 "We call on miners of affected blockchain and crypto exchanges to blacklist tokens coming from the above addresses,” the poly team tweeted along with a novel appeal to the hackers better nature, asking them to return the stolen funds before law enforcement cracks down on what the team called a "major economic crime." Damage control: Binance's chief executive Changpeng Zhao, commonly known as "CZ", moved to reassure DiFi users. 💬 "We are aware of the poly network exploit that occurred today," CZ posted to Twitter. "While no one controls BSC (or eth), we are coordinating with all our security partners to proactively help. There are no guarantees. We will do as much as we can." Size matters: The hack is thought to be the biggest ever to affect the nascent DeFi space that's grown to a total value of over $100 billion in the last couple of years. The Poly Network breach outstrips even the $460 million 2014 hack on the erstwhile dominant cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox. Beggars can't be choosers: The hackers' wallet addresses have been innudated with messages asking for handouts, with requests including: "Brother, I am a poor Chinese, can you airdrop me some ethereum?" and: "I'm a bachelor. Can you send me some money to marry a wife?"

Settle a bet


	💸 Bitmex, a Seychelles-based crypto exchange, has agreed to pay $100 million to settle accusations it violated anti-money laundering laws and allowed illegal trades. 🇺🇸 The charges, brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), were part of a regulatory lawsuit that claimed Bitmex failed to follow U.S. rules while allowing Americans to access its trading platform. 🙊 Bitmex, a pioneer of leveraged trading in bitcoin and other cryptocurrency derivatives, neither admitted nor denied the allegations. 🗨️ "Today marks an important day in our company’s history, and we are very glad to put this behind us," Bitmex chief executive Alexander Höptner said in a statement. "As crypto matures and enters a new era, we too have evolved into the largest crypto derivatives platform with a fully verified user base." 🚔 In April, former Bitmex chief executive Arthur Hayes turned himself in to face U.S. charges related to the lawsuit.

	Billy Bambrough
	Forbes Contributor

I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world. I write about how bitcoin, crypto and blockchain can change the world.

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