Autor Cointelegraph By Brayden Lindrea

Decentralized finance (DeFi) analytics platform Zapper announced it will shut down next month, becoming the latest crypto platform to fold amid a market downturn.In a post to X on Wednesday, Zapper CEO Seb Audet said Zapper’s website, mobile app and API services would shut down on Aug. 3, marking the end of a seven-year run after receiving backing from the likes of billionaire investor Mark Cuban in 2021.“We evaluated a number of different options, pursued some to the fullest extent possible, and came to the realization that an orderly wind down is the best course of action,” Audet said.While Zapper didn’t share the reasons behind its decision to shut down, Audet hinted in a response that the shutdown was due to falling demand, stating: “At the end of the day, the market decides.”Cointelegraph reached out for comment but didn’t receive an immediate response.Source: ZapperZapper adds to a growing list of crypto platforms that have shut as crypto market sentiment has sunk to near all-time lows and venture capital funding has become harder to secure.Cardano-based analytics platform TapTools made a similar decision to shut down in June, as did Bitcoin-focused DeFi platform Botanix a week later, citing weak demand for Bitcoin DeFi.SBI’s crypto unit, decentralized email service Dmail, and nonfungible token marketplaces like Nifty Gateway and Rodeo have also sunset operations this year amid a broader fall in NFT activity.Related: Yield Guild Games cuts 35 staff, shuts game publisher to focus on AIZapper was founded in 2019 and put itself on the map by winning one of Kyber’s DeFi Hackathon events later that year, which helped it raise a $1.5 million seed round.It also raised $15 million in a Series A funding round in May 2021, led by Framework Ventures, with Cuban, Coinbase Ventures and the Ashton Kutcher-founded Sound Ventures also contributing.Crypto traders use platforms like Zapper to track token prices, follow DeFi trends and discover new protocols. Zapper also allowed traders to connect their wallets to monitor positions, manage liquidity pools and yield farms and learn about upcoming airdrops.Audet said the Zapper team scaled its product to over 2 million monthly active users and oversaw more than $13 billion in processed transactions at its peak.However, Zapper has experienced major setbacks throughout its journey, including in April 2025, when it suffered a social engineering attack. The breach allowed attackers to temporarily hijack the platform’s domain and redirect unsuspecting users to a malicious page embedded with phishing traps.Securing VC funding has become a challengeWhile crypto VC funding increased 57.6% year-on-year to $4.21 billion in the second quarter, the spread of capital has become far more concentrated, with the overall deal count having now fallen nine times over the last 10 quarters, according to RootData’s VC dashboard.Quarterly change in crypto VC funding and deal count since Q1 2020. Source: RootDataFeatures: From Bitcoin critics to blockchain believers: The 5 biggest crypto backflips

The debate over whether Bitcoin’s fixed supply cap should be lifted has resurfaced after StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson suggested Tuesday that it should replaced with a 4% annual issuance rate.In a post to X on Tuesday, Ben-Sasson said the current 21 million cap “doesn’t make sense” because private keys are lost over time and “as time goes to infinity, all keys will be lost.”Crypto wallet hardware provider Ledger estimated in November that up to 4 million Bitcoin had been burned or permanently lost. Ben-Sasson said he still supports a hard upper bound on Bitcoin’s supply, and that a 4% annual inflation rate roughly tracks the growth of the human population.Bitcoin’s fixed cap has long been one of its core selling points, underpinning the “digital gold” narrative and drawing on Austrian economics, where a fixed money supply protects against monetary debasement and, in theory, preserves purchasing power over time. Many Bitcoiners have argued that changing the cap would undo the very thing that makes Bitcoin unique. Source: Eli Ben-SassonBitcoiners have also said the loss of private keys improves Bitcoin’s supply-demand dynamics because one can’t sell what one doesn’t have access to. One of the biggest advocates of this feature is Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor, who plans to burn his Bitcoin private keys upon his death as a “pro-rata contribution” to other Bitcoin holders, making their coins scarcer in the process.Bitcoiners bark at 4% Bitcoin inflation proposal Ben-Sasson’s post was met with heavy criticism.One X user argued that Bitcoin is divisible into 2.1 quadrillion base units, called satoshis, in an effort to counter Ben-Sasson’s claim that there won’t be enough Bitcoin “to go around.”However, Ben-Sasson argued that those 2.1 quadrillion units would also trend toward zero over time because of lost keys. Other opponents argued that lifting Bitcoin’s fixed cap would make it like other cryptocurrencies. However, Ben-Sasson said Bitcoin would retain its scarcity, provided that the inflation rate remained fixed.Related: Has Bitcoin bottomed for this cycle? Analysts say ‘not yet’The answer could be in Zcash’s proposed fixThe founder of Zcash, Bryce “Zooko” Wilcox, recommended that Bitcoin developers follow a proposal currently being considered in the Zcash ecosystem, since the privacy-focused network also relies on miners to secure the network and has a fixed supply cap of 21 million Zcash (ZEC).The “Network Sustainability Mechanism” proposal seeks to keep ZEC’s fixed cap intact but lets users burn the token, which is gradually reissued as block rewards over a four-year period to ease pressure on miner incentives without lifting the hard limit.However, Bitcoin developers, miners and node operators would need to reach consensus for such a change to occur, given the network’s decentralized governance model, which makes it challenging to implement protocol-level changes.Features: Does ‘Paper Bitcoin’ mean there’s an unlimited supply of BTC? 

Bitcoin financial services platform Strike has launched a “volatility-proof” Bitcoin-backed loan that eliminates margin calls and forced liquidations amid the depths of a bear market, but only for those who can pay on time and handle a 14% interest rate.In an announcement on Tuesday, Strike CEO Jack Mallers said the offering came in response to broad customer feedback on Strike’s first Bitcoin loan product, which launched in May 2025 and triggered many liquidations during a timeframe in which Bitcoin (BTC) dropped 54% from peak to trough.“No margin calls. No price liquidations. No matter how far bitcoin falls, your bitcoin doesn’t move,” Strike CEO Jack Mallers said of the new Bitcoin loan product. The trade-off is an expensive interest rate, a shorter six-month loan term, and an obligation to pay on time to avoid liquidation, Mallers said.Strike’s Jack Mallers is presenting the new Bitcoin-backed loan product. Source: Jack MallersThe Bitcoin industry has spent the better part of a decade racing to build financial products that expand Bitcoin’s use case beyond a savings technology. A report in June from crypto lending platform Ledn, however, found that while 88% of surveyed crypto investors said they would consider a crypto-backed loan, only 14% use them.Ledn said confidence in crypto-lending products and market volatility are among the main reasons for this 6-to-1 “crypto collateral gap” that has slowed adoption.Volatility has been one of the biggest obstacles behind that push, with Bitcoin dropping 30% or more in 10 of the past 12 years, while also experiencing a 50% or more drawdown four times since 2014, Mallers noted.Other crypto market participants offering Bitcoin-backed loans are Binance, Coinbase, Nexo and Xapo Bank.Strike charges double-digit interestThe maximum initial loan-to-value ratio for the volatility-proof loans is 45%, meaning that a customer who puts up $100,000 in Bitcoin as collateral can borrow up to $45,000, while the annual percentage rate (APR) is also 2.95 percentage points higher than Strike’s standard loan product.“The secret sauce is that we’re taking the extra charge that we’re giving you guys and we’re putting it on extra hedges in the market to protect all of us.”Strike’s standard Bitcoin loans charge an annual percentage rate between 7.75% and 11.25%, meaning the volatility-proof products could carry interest between 10.7% and 14.2%. “If you’re OK with a slightly shorter term and a little bit higher of a fee, there is no price move that can liquidate you,” Mallers said.Over the past year, Bitcoin has fallen 54% from its all-time high of $126,080 in October to $58,190 on June 25.Bitcoin investor Fred Krueger said the loan product “could eliminate one of Bitcoin’s biggest structural problems: forced selling during market crashes.” “Instead of volatility causing automatic liquidations, defaults would be driven by borrowers’ inability to service debt rather than by temporary price swings,” he said.Related: Coinbase rolls out UK crypto-backed loans as FCA shapes rules“Great product for those who need near-term liquidity and don’t want to risk liquidation,” added Vibes Capital Management executive chairman Rob Topping, though he also acknowledged the 14% APR was expensive. Customers must pay up or face consequencesIf a client misses a payment, they have 10 days to make the payment or contact Strike to explain their financial situation, Mallers said.Failing to pay after that 10-day period may mean Strike starts liquidating their Bitcoin to cover the overdue amount, Mallers warned.“If we don’t hear from you for a few weeks, then I may have no choice but to sell off some of the Bitcoin because it seems like you’re doing a hit-and-run.”“That’s why we call it ‘volatility-proof,’ not ‘liquidation-proof,’” Mallers added.The Bitcoin loans are offered in most US states and can be taken out in both personal and business names. They can be used for new loans, refinancing or consolidating.While the minimum loan amount varies from state to state, the minimum loan offered through personal loans is $10,000, while businesses in certain states can access loans as low as $5,000.Features: Bitcoin miners are pivoting to AI, so why is the hashrate near ATHs?

A trader who swapped $2.01 million worth of Ether on a decentralized exchange has been left with just $14,500 worth of tokens after a router directed the order through a low-liquidity pool, allowing an Ethereum block builder to profit massively from a same-block arbitrage trade.The trader swapped 1,126.44 of Ether (ETH) but only received 5,776 Lighter (LIT) tokens, in a “textbook case of same-block backrun extraction,” according to GoPlus Security.“This was a real, highly imbalanced backrunner arbitrage, not a classic sandwich attack,” GoPlus Security said. Titan Builder was the biggest beneficiary, walking away with $1.8 million from the transaction, which took place on Monday at 1:59 am UTC.Source: LookonchainThe incident is a reminder of the risks posed by maximal extractable value (MEV) bots and liquidity routers on top of hackers and scammers, which continue to run rampant in the crypto industry.Don’t sign DEX transactions blindly, trader saysTo reduce the risk of such incidents, crypto trader Ruslan Khairullin said traders should read the transaction route before signing the transaction.“This is what happens when you clicked confirm faster than you read the route. Painful lesson to see in a real time.”Source: Luke CannonHow the victim lost $2M to a botThe victim’s swap routed approximately 1,117 Ether into a low-liquidity AVAIL/WETH pool on Uniswap v3, causing the trade to execute at roughly 120 times higher than what AVAIL could later be sold for, GoPlus Security said.After the trader received nearly 6.67 million AVAIL tokens at an inflated price, the router involved, 0x router, sold a small amount of externally sourced AVAIL into the same pool to extract about 1,072 WETH before paying out 1,018 ETH, worth $1.8 million, to Titan as a builder reward.The AVAIL was then swapped for $14,200 worth of LIT tokens, marking a 99.3% loss.Related: ‘All DeFi unsafe’ claim sparks AI security debate after April hack surge Cointelegraph reached out to Titan but didn’t receive an immediate response.Titan has now made $112.6 million in revenue from its block building services this year, data from DefiLlama shows.Titan’s biggest day this year came in March when it extracted around $34 million in arbitrage profit from a MEV bot incident on the CoW Protocol.Monthly change in Titan’s revenue since February 2025. Source: DefiLlamaMagazine: China’s 107 Bitcoin memory thief, Bithumb CEO booked: Asia Express

The Trump administration’s push to establish a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve has reportedly hit a roadblock, as the Commerce and Treasury departments are at odds over how the reserve should be structured and which agency should have primary oversight of the holdings.US President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order called for the SBR to be housed inside the Treasury Department, while other agencies would assist with asset seizures to build the reserve. However, concerns have emerged over whether the Treasury has the legal authority to manage the Bitcoin (BTC) holdings, partly because of its volatility, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Commerce Department has emerged as a contender to oversee the reserve, they said. The Department of Justice is also reportedly working with the departments to determine legally available options, they added.The Bitcoin reserve is a key part of Trump’s plan to make the US the “crypto capital of the world,” marking a major shift in the government’s approach to digital assets by positioning Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset rather than a seized commodity.“To deliver on the President’s vision, the Trump administration continues to evaluate the best structure for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and US Digital Asset Stockpile,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston told Cointelegraph.Source: CointelegraphThe US currently holds 328,372 Bitcoin worth $21.1 billion — the most of any nation-state — but has sold portions through court-ordered actions over the years.Senators look to codify the Bitcoin reserveEfforts have been made to codify the Bitcoin reserve in Congress through the BITCOIN Act and ARMA Act, introduced in May, which seek to acquire 1 million Bitcoin over five years using budget-neutral strategies.Related: Has Strategy’s capital overhaul put an end to ‘death spiral’ fears?One of the White House’s top crypto advisers, Patrick Witt, described ARMA as “Version 2” of the BITCOIN Act and said the White House had spent significant time examining the legal implications of creating a Bitcoin reserve. “It’s a breakthrough as far as getting everything in place — legally sound — properly safeguarding the assets,” Witt said at the time.Under ARMA, Bitcoin must be held for at least 20 years unless it is sold to reduce America’s national debt, which is nearing $40 trillion.Bitcoin reserve developments viewed bullishlyDespite the interagency issues, many industry advocates say the SBR could strengthen the case for Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset.“The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve isn’t just bullish for Bitcoin. It validates an entirely new category of capital allocation,” Tim Kotzman, host of the Bitcoin Treasuries Podcast, said.“Public companies moved first. Nation-states are beginning to follow.”While 15 nation-states hold Bitcoin, El Salvador is the only country that has formally established a Bitcoin reserve and is making routine purchases.Magazine: Does ‘Paper Bitcoin’ mean there’s an unlimited supply of BTC?