Chart of the week
Every market will inevitably face challenges, and crypto is no exception. However, a key sign of maturity is how the market reacts to negative events. The recent Bybit hack, which occurred late last week, is a case in point—while significant, it did not trigger widespread panic.
Thus, we can point out two potential positive takeaways:
1) As shown in the chart, ETH prices (and the broader crypto market) experienced limited impact and have already rebounded, surpassing pre-incident levels.
2) Allegedly (pending audit confirmation), the exchange replenished its ETH reserves after a $1.4 billion exploit.
Market Highlights
Bybit suffered the largest crypto hack in history
On February 21, a hacker stole $1.4 billion from Bybit, after accessing an Ethereum cold wallet and exploiting their flawed security practices.
The exchange claims to have filled the gap in its ETH reserves after the incident.
Despite the events, market impact was relatively minor compared to past events like BOJ hikes, which suggests a growing market maturity when it comes to short-term shocks.
Digital ledgers to settle transactions in ECB
The European Central Bank is planning to establish a system to use a digital ledger-based system to settle transactions in their database.
This could signal a significant institutional use case for blockchain technology, marking another step towards broader institutional adoption.