Ethereum is now testing the key support level of $1,177 after forming a head and shoulder pattern earlier. Bitcoin could break through support at $20,560, which could lead to very serious problems in the short term. In the meantime, several crypto projects have run into issues due to hacker attacks and the ongoing crypto crash.
Hackers stole about $100 million in crypto from the Horizon blockchain bridge in one of the biggest attacks on crypto services in recent months. According to Harmony, the developers of Horizon, they have managed to identify the address used in the attack. "We have begun working with national authorities and forensic specialists to identify the culprit and retrieve the stolen funds," Harmony stated on Twitter, adding that the developers are working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and multiple cybersecurity firms to investigate the attack.
Blockchain bridges play a key role in the DeFi sectors, allowing users to transfer crypto assets from one blockchain to another. For example, Horizon links Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain together. These platforms lock assets on one blockchain and unlock them on another blockchain. Bridge services hold large volumes of crypto assets and are less protected compared to hot wallets at crypto exchanges, making them a very attractive target for hackers.
According to some researchers, the Horizon hack was caused by the bridge service's poor security, which hinged on a "multisig" wallet that required only two signatures to initiate transactions.
Earlier, hackers stole more than $600 million dollars worth of crypto from the Ronin network, which supports the crypto game Axie Infinity.
Yesterday, the Horizon hackers began laundering the stolen funds. According to PeckShield, More than 24,000 ETH (about $30 million) were transferred from the address used in the attack, with 6,000 ETH being sent to the mixing service Tornado Cash. Harmony offered a $1 million bounty for the return of the bridge funds.
Yesterday, CoinFLEX froze withdrawals and halted FLEX coin trading due to "extreme market conditions" along with uncertainty around a certain counterparty. A whale account at the crypto derivative trading platform went into negative equity during recent market volatility, forcing the company to suspend withdrawals to stay afloat. CoinFLEX plans to raise $47 million by issuing Recovery Value USD (rvUSD) tokens. The tokens are valued at $1 and have an annual percentage rate of 20%. However, these measures are unlikely to help the company recover - only a full recovery of the crypto market would allow CoinFLEX to stay in the black.
Last weekend, bitcoin moved towards key resistance levels - BTC would need to settle above $21,520 for bulls to maintain the initiative. This would send the cryptocurrency towards $22,850, easing investor anxiety following bitcoin's earlier dive below $18,000. If bitcoin breaks below the closest support at $20,550 and settles below $19,600, it could then slump towards the low at $18,500, as well as $17,540 further below.
Ethereum has formed a head and shoulders pattern on the H1 chart and is now close to testing its lower boundary near $1,117. If ETH bounces off this level, it could then return to the weekly high at $1,265. From there, the cryptocurrency could reach $1,385 and $1,544, which could be challenging for traders. ETH would enter an uptrend if it settles above these levels. Then, Ethereum could test the high at $1,746. Renewed bearish pressure would send ETH downwards to the closest support at $1,177. A breakout below this level would push the cryptocurrency downwards to $1,117 and the new lows at $1,041 and $934, where major market players would come into play once again.
