What’s Happening In Crypto Today? Daily Crypto News Digest

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of blockchain and crypto news today – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s news.

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Why is crypto down today?

On the first day of this new week, we find that the global cryptocurrency market capitalization fell slightly. It’s down 0.4% over the past 24 hours, now standing at $2.54 trillion.

Not many coins are green today among the top 100 coins.

The winner is Dogwifhat (WIF) , with a rise of 3.2% to $2.68.

Next are Arweave (AR) and Marinade Staked SOL (MSOL) , having increased by 2.4% each to $48.45 and $211, respectively.

Only five other coins saw increases in their prices over the past day.

As for the red coins, Zebec Protocol (ZBC) fell the most: 8.8% to $0.02056.  Celestia (TIA) follows with a 6.9% drop to $8.77.As for the top 10 coins, only once coin has seen its price increase over the past day.

Solana (SOL) is up 2%, now trading at $177.On the other hand, the biggest drop is Toncoin (TON)’s 2.8% to $6.37.The remaining coins decreased between BNB’s 0.56% and Dogecoin (DOGE)’s 1.7%.

Bitcoin (BTC)’s price fell 0.64%, currently trading at $66,796.

Ethereum (ETH) is not far behind. It’s down 0.63% to $3,092.Meanwhile, a US judge greenlit Genesis Global’s Chapter 11 plan, allowing the defunct crypto lender to repay creditors roughly $3 billion in crypto and cash .

Also, State Street, the second-oldest bank in the US, is actively searching for the head of its digital assets solutions team.

The Sandbox Announces Its First Movie, Backed by NFTs

In crypto news today, the Sandbox , a decentralized gaming platform and a subsidiary of Animoca Brands , unveiled “its first foray into the movie production space” at the Cannes Film Festival.

Per the press release shared with Cryptonews, the debut film, ‘Hollywood Hills’, merges the capabilities of Web3 technology with the creative power of traditional filmmaking.

“This collaboration between The Sandbox and the visionary producers embodies a new era of creativity and community engagement, bridging the realms of NFT ownership, gaming, and cinema,” it said.

The combination of Web3 and the film industry will create a new narrative chapter that will revolutionize the way we experience cinema and the metaverse.

Blockchain enables this revolution by allowing audiences to participate in “their own side adventures” and develop novel forms of fan engagement.

Source: The Sandbox

The team will begin filming in early 2025. It follows a bus tour and the story of “picking up the wrong passenger.”

“Part Hollywood stroll, part hallucinatory horror, the film plays out like a juicy slice of gothic L.A. that delights in questioning the very idea of reality,” the press release said.

The movie will be backed by an NFT collection of more than 3,000 NFTs designed by artist Gilberto Zaragoza .

The pieces in the collection will hold different values and utility. They will also allow the audience to have a say in elements of production, the announcement said.

“’Hollywood Hills’ engages viewers across various mediums,” said Sebastien Borget, COO Co-Founder of The Sandbox.

“While they ride past Hollywood’s famous mansions on a haunted bus tour, a transmedia adventure set against the backdrop of a cosmic event plays out. Each mansion can be owned as an NFT, turning viewers into players in a grand treasure hunt on The Sandbox, where they solve the mystery that unfolds in the movie.”

Two Crypto Scammers Arrested in $73 Million ‘Pig Butchering’ Scheme

Two Chinese nationals were arrested and indicted in California, USA, for allegedly playing leading roles in a scheme to launder proceeds from cryptocurrency investment scams .

One was arrested in April, and the other last week, according to the US Department of Justice.Daren Li, Yicheng Zhang, and other conspirators managed an international syndicate that laundered crypto proceeds from ‘pig butchering’ scams.

Victims transferred millions of dollars to US bank accounts opened in the names of dozens of shell companies. Their only apparent purpose was to facilitate the laundering of fraud proceeds, said the press release.

A network of money launderers transferred those funds to other domestic and international bank accounts and crypto platforms in order to hide the source, nature, ownership, and control of the funds. Per the investigation, the fraud involved more than $73 million laundered through US financial institutions to bank accounts in The Bahamas, and converted to USDT .

A single crypto wallet connected to the scheme received more than $341 million in crypto.

Li and Zhang are both charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and six substantive counts of international money laundering.

If convicted, the two face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count.

Bybit Introduces Web3 DEX Pro, 2% Cashback Rewards

In other crypto news today, Bybit Web3, the Web3 division of crypto exchange Bybit , launched Bybit Web3 DEX Pro.

According to the press release, this is a decentralized exchange platform designed to “empower traders with smart and informed tools.”

Bybit Web3 DEX Pro combines the benefits of DeFi with the i-SMART intelligence technology, enabling users to gain valuable insights from macro trends to micro-movements. The platform also employs advanced algorithms to facilitate the discovery and capitalization of emerging opportunities, it said.

Moreover, DEX Pro offers seamless wallet integration, while its cross-chain functionality enables the execution of trades across different blockchain networks.

Meanwhile, Bybit also recently unveiled a 2% cashback offer on its Bybit Card.It is paid in USDT directly to users’ accounts and applies to all purchases made using both fiat and crypto.

Users can activate Auto Cashback directly from their Card Dashboard, said the announcement.

After each transaction, the cashback points are issued within days and are viewable under the ‘Earned’ section in Bybit’s Reward Market.

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