ZachXBT: A Whale Hardware Wallet Fell Victim to a Social Engineering Scam, Losing Over $282 Million, with the Attacker Later Laundering the Funds into Monero, Causing a Price Surge of Over 60%
January 17th — On-chain detective ZachXBT announced on social media that around 11:00 PM UTC on January 10, 2026, a whale investor fell victim to a hardware wallet social engineering scam, losing over $282 million worth of Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin (BTC).
Subsequently, the attacker converted the stolen LTC and BTC into Monero (XMR) via multiple instant exchange platforms, triggering a sharp spike in Monero’s price. Some BTC was also bridged to the Ethereum, Ripple (XRP), and Litecoin networks using the Thorchain cross-chain bridge.
BlockBeats Note: Social engineering scams are a form of fraud where attackers leverage human weaknesses, psychological manipulation, and trust to trick victims into voluntarily sharing sensitive information, assets, or permissions—instead of accessing systems directly through technical vulnerabilities.
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Anchorage Digital is seeking to raise $200-400 million in funding ahead of next year's IPO
Bloomberg reported Thursday (January 17) citing people familiar with the matter that Anchorage Digital—the first federally chartered digital asset bank in the U.S.—is exploring a new funding round and weighing a potential public listing.
One anonymous source noted Anchorage aims to raise $200 million to $400 million ahead of a potential initial public offering (IPO) next year, with valuation details still being finalized.
Anchorage Digital Bank NA’s federal charter permits it to issue stablecoins in the U.S. under the GENIUS Act, which went into effect in July 2024. In September 2024, the firm announced plans to partner with Tether Holdings SA—headquartered in El Salvador and the world’s largest stablecoin issuer—to launch the USAT token for the U.S. market.
At the end of 2021, Anchorage closed a $350 million funding round led by KKR, with participation from Goldman Sachs, Singapore’s government investment vehicle, and Apollo Credit Fund. That round valued the firm at over $30
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Suspected BitMine Address withdrew 20,000 ETH from Kraken 3 hours ago
On January 17, per LookOnChain data, a suspected BitMine address withdrew an additional 20,000 ETH from exchange Kraken 3 hours prior—valued at roughly $65.4 million.
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US Stock Crypto Stocks Bucking the Trend with Overall Gains, FIGR Up 13.78%, GEMI Up 4.59%
Jan. 17th — Bitget market data shows U.S. stocks closed mixed-to-lower on Friday, with:
- Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow): 0.17% lower (weekly drop: 0.29%)
- S&P 500: 0.06% lower (weekly drop: 0.38%)
- Nasdaq Composite: 0.06% lower (weekly drop: 0.66%)
Crypto-related stocks broadly gained, tracking Bitcoin’s rebound. Notable moves include:
- Coinbase (COIN): +0.78%
- Circle (CRCL): +2.62%
- MicroStrategy (MSTR): +1.64%
- Bullish (BLSH): +3.47%
- Gemini (GEMI): +4.59%
- Figure (FIGR): +13.78%
- Bit Digital (BTBT): +0.94%
- SharpLink Gaming (SBET): +5.36%
- Bit Digital (BTBT): +2.6%
- ETHZilla (ETHZ): +3.14%
- BTCS Inc (BTCS): +1.05%
- ALT5 Sigma (ALTS): +7.02%
- American Bitcoin (ABTC): -2.38%
- Kindly MD (NAKA): -5.56%
This rewrite uses concise, common U.S. media phrasing (e.g., "broadly gained," "tracking," clear bullet points for readability) and standard formatting for financial data. Repeated entries for Bit Digital (BTBT) are retained as
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Space, Solana's first leveraged prediction market, has raised $18.2M+ with 729%+ oversubscription, as whales added $2.2M in the past hour alone.
Space(@intodotspace), the first leveraged prediction market on #Solana, has raised $18.2M+ in its public sale, 729%+ oversubscribed. In just the past hour, multiple whales have invested a combined $2.2M, including whale EMp115, who put $998K into Space's public sale.
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Bitwise Research: 32% of Financial Advisors Allocate Crypto for Clients, 56% Advisors Personally Own Crypto
Jan 17 — Bitwise and VettaFi have jointly released survey data showing U.S. financial advisors’ cryptocurrency allocations hit an all-time high in 2025.
Roughly 32% of advisors now include crypto in client accounts, up sharply from 22% in 2024. Additional key findings:
- 56% of advisors hold crypto in their personal portfolios (the highest level since the survey launched in 2018).
- Among client portfolios with crypto, 64% have allocations exceeding 2% (up from 51% in 2024).
- 42% of advisors say they can purchase crypto for client accounts, a big jump from 35% in 2024 and 19% in 2023.
Stablecoins and tokenization top advisors’ preferred sectors (30%), followed by digital gold (22%) and crypto-related AI investments (19%).
“Advisors have embraced cryptocurrency at an unprecedented rate in 2025,” said Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise.
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