Ravencoin (RVN) up 94% post Upbit listing while Bitcoin dips below $105K

Base, a layer-two blockchain developed by Coinbase, has seen a significant surge in Total Value Locked (TVL) over the last 24 hours following a key integration.

It comes amid changing regulatory winds in the US, with President Trump’s pro-crypto stance inspiring bold moves among sector players.

Base TVL Soars 20% As Binance.US Adds Support

According to data on DefiLlama, Base TVL is up by $557 million. It moved from $2.778 billion on Thursday to $3.335 billion as of this writing, a 20% surge in the last 24 hours.

The surge in TVL suggests an increased volume of assets staked, locked, or deposited in the Base blockchain. A higher TVL indicates increased user activity, trust, and adoption, with users committing capital to the protocol.  

Meanwhile, this surge follows a notable announcement from Binance.US, the American arm of Binance exchange, the world’s largest crypto trading platform by volume metrics.

According to the announcement, Binance.US now supports Base. It allows Ethereum (ETH) and Circle’s USDC (USD Coin) stablecoin transfers on the Layer-2 network.

“We’re excited to announce that Binance.US now supports Base! Starting today, you can deposit and withdraw Ethereum (ETH) and USDC via Base,” an excerpt in the announcement read.

The exchange highlighted that more assets will join Binance.US on the Base network, indicating interest in developing the integration. Meanwhile, using Base’s blockchain, users can deposit and withdraw ETH and USDC directly to and from Binance.US.

For the exchange, this integration could bolster accessibility. Specifically, Binance.US users can interact with Base’s ecosystem without bridging assets through Ethereum’s mainnet. This is amidst concerns that Ethereum’s mainnet is slow and costly.

As an L2 scaling solution, Base offers faster and lower-cost transactions compared to Ethereum’s mainnet. Data on Etherscan shows Ethereum’s transaction throughput is approximately 13.2 TPS. This could lead to network congestion and high gas fees during peak periods.

On the other hand, Base processes transactions off-chain, bundling them before submitting them to Ethereum. This Method achieves higher throughput and significantly lower fees, making it more cost-effective for users.

Therefore, the integration allows Binance.US users to move ETH and USDC to Base for DeFi activities at a fraction of the cost.

Meanwhile, this development comes only months after Binance.US restarted USD deposits and withdrawals via bank transfer following a two-year hiatus.

Binance.US suspended its USD deposit and withdrawal services following a high-profile SEC lawsuit and mounting regulatory pressure starting in 2023. However, amid shifted political rhetoric toward crypto, exchanges appear to be taking bold steps.

“Now that we’ve survived, our goal is to help crypto thrive and empower all Americans with freedom of choice,” Binance.US interim CEO Norman Reed said recently.

It aligns with a recent move from the Kraken exchange. As BeInCrypto reported, the US-based exchange listed BNB in a move that marked a strategic shift in US crypto exchanges, potentially signaling broader token adoption in the country.

The post Base TVL Rises $557 Million On Binance.US Integration For ETH and USDC Transactions appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Over a week after the Zksync hacking incident, the exploiter agreed to a bounty and returned a significant portion of the loot.

Despite recovering stolen funds, the network’s powering token, ZK, continues to exhibit bearish sentiment.

ZKSync Hacker Returns $5.7 Million

On April 15, the Ethereum-based  Layer-2 scalability solution, ZKsync, suffered a hack. The compromised account controlled $5 million worth of ZK tokens. As BeInCrypto reported, the incident had caused a 16% price drop.

The incident was controversial after some community members noticed some concerning data. The revelations led to dire allegations, with some likening ZkSync to Mantra (OM). To some, ZKsync responded to the hack by dumping their assets at an accelerated pace.

“The ZkSync team has released 110 million tokens and sold 66 million. The price of ZK is going against the trend as the market is recovering, and it has immediately dropped by 15%. First OM, now ZK, this project seems to be heading in the wrong direction,” one user noted.

This bordered on embezzlement. However, in a recent development, the ZKsync Association revealed that the hacker returned 90% of the funds, effectively honoring the safe harbor deadline.

Through an April 21 post on X (Twitter), the ZKsync Security Council offered the hacker a 10% bounty if they returned the stolen funds, allowing a 72-hour window.

“To resolve this matter amicably in the spirit of safe harbor, we are offering a 10% bounty for your cooperation if you return 90% of the funds involved in the exploit,” ZK Nation shared on X.

As it happened, the bad actor heeded, transferring almost $5.7 million to the ZKsync Security Council across three transfers on April 23.

Specifically, they sent two transfers on the ZKsync Era blockchain. The first involved sending $1.83 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) to the ZKsync Security Council’s ZKsync Era address, and the second involved sending $2.47 million worth of ZKsync tokens.

In the third transaction, the ZKSync hacker sent 776 ETH worth approximately $1.4 million to the ZkSync Security Council’s Ethereum address.

With this, the ZKsync Association committed to publishing a final report revealing more details about the security incident.

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the hacker followed instructions given by the ZKsync Security Council to the letter. Based on this, the case closes without further action.

It mirrors past incidents, including Ronin Bridge hackers returning $10 million worth of ETH and earning a $500,000 bounty.

Despite the turn of events, however, the ZK token continues to display bearish sentiment, down by nearly 2% in the last 24 hours. As of this writing, ZKsync’s token was trading for $0.06.

Meanwhile, not all hacking incidents honor safe harbor offers. Recently, Bybit launched a bounty program offering up to 10% of recovered funds to ethical hackers and cybersecurity experts.

This incentivized efforts to reclaim $1.4 billion in stolen assets. While some efforts to reclaim lost assets yielded results, the partial recovery was thanks to key industry players stepping in, not the exploiter.

Meanwhile, other ecosystems leverage bounty programs to bolster security. Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson recently offered a $1 million bounty for hacking the new Lace Paper Wallet, testing its security.

Similarly, Uniswap announced a record-breaking $15.5 million bug bounty targeting critical vulnerabilities in its v4 core contracts.

The post ZKsync Price Falters Despite 90% of Stolen Funds Returned Within Safe Harbor Deadline appeared first on BeInCrypto.