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The Crypto Minute
Your Weekly Guide to Surviving the Crypto Rollercoaster.
CoinBrain
August 18, 2025 • Reading Time: 12 minutes
Ha! You never get a boring week around here 🤷
This time, we have a hefty dose of attacks, speculation, and new launches.
Don’t make the mistake of ignoring this stuff if you deal with crypto markets. The Crypto Minute by CoinBrain is here to make your life easier ❤️ 🧠
⤵️ Today’s Agenda:
Monero suffered a 51% Attack, Qubic gained control over the entire blockchain. Dogecoin appears to be next.
After a period of serious pumping, the crypto market took a nosedive amid uncertain macro conditions.
Ethereum privacy researcher detained at Turkish passport control due to a research paper.
Circle is launching Arc, a Layer-1 blockchain designed for stablecoin usage.
And more…
📊 Market Snapshot
| $115,300BTC-5.1% | $4,250ETH+1.0% | $3.89TCrypto Market Cap-3% | 56 (Neutral)Fear & Greed Index-6 from last week |
📅 Crypto Events You don’t want to Miss
📌 Monday, Aug 18th: OpenPad Token (OPAD) Listing on KuCoin (OpenPad AI is a platform that builds a decentralized AI-powered investment and automation ecosystem)
📌 Aug 18th - 21st: US Wyoming Blockchain Symposium
Central bankers, politicians, regulators, and industry leaders are due to discuss a range of topics including Bitcoin’s evolving role in the global financial system, regulatory outlook for cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and emerging trends in decentralized finance, in Jackson Hole.
📌 Tuesday, Aug 19th: Helium Spaces The DePIN Playbook
This event, moderated by JHiller, will dive into DePIN's role in building decentralized networks like wireless hotspots and mapping systems.
The purpose? To educate the community on how projects like Helium and Hivemapper incentivize global contributors with tokens, driving innovation and adoption.
📌 Aug 21st to 24th: San Francisco Onchain Summit 2025
Hosted by the Base Community and organized by OnChainFX, the event will take place from August 21 to 24 at 111 Minna Gallery and Event Space in San Francisco.
📌 Friday, Aug 22nd:
Jackson Hole Symposium - Attended by central bankers, finance ministers, academics, and market participants. Comments and speeches can create significant market volatility.
US Fed Chair Powell Speaks - Due to speak about the economic and monetary policy framework at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium in Wyoming
🐋Smart Money Tracker
Monday, Aug 11th: The Infini Exploiter sold another 1,771 $ETH($7.44M) at $4,202 today.
On Feb 24, they exploited Infini, stealing $49.5M to buy 17,696 $ETH at $2,798.
As $ETH increased, they sold 1,770 $ETH ($5.88M) at $3,321 and sent 4,501 $ETH ($15.03M) to TornadoCash on July 17.
They still hold 9,154 $ETH($38.85M).
Tuesday, Aug 12th: After three losses from shorting $ETH, AguilaTrades flipped to long $ETH, with a position of 10,000 $ETH($43.3M).
Wednesday, Aug 13th: Pumpfun deposited another 86,254 $SOL ($16.22M) into Kraken on this day instead of buying back $PUMP.
They have deposited a total of 3.93M $SOL ($715.5M) to Kraken at $182 and sold 264,373 $SOL for 41.64M $USDC at $158.
Thursday, Aug 14th: The Radiant Capital hacker turned the stolen $53M into $102.54M by trading $ETH, a profit of $49.5M(+93.5%).
10 months ago, the hacker stole $53M from Radiant Capital and swapped it all for 21,957 $ETH.
Recently, they began selling $ETH for profit, selling 9,631 $ETH($43.94M) at an average price of $4,562, leaving 12,326 $ETH($58.6M).
Saturday, Aug 16th: The Ethereum Foundation-linked wallet (0xF39d) sold 7,294 $ETH($33.25M) over the past 3 days at an average price of $4,558.
0xF39d3 is a smart $ETH trader, buying 33,678 $ETH($40.2M) between June 13 and 16, 2022, at a low price of $1,193.
Sunday, Aug 17th: A total of 893,599 $ETH ($3.96B) is queued for unstaking.
But whale 0x2aC9 couldn’t wait - they swapped 4,242.4 $stETH for 4,231 $ETH ($18.74M) directly and deposited it to Kraken to sell, taking a loss of 11.4 $ETH ($50.5K)
Source: Lookonchain
📰 News Recap (August 11. to 18.)
📉 BTC slides to $115,500 as macro fears grip markets
Bitcoin (and other major projects) took a nosedive on Sunday, dropping to $115,500 as last week's spicy inflation data continued to haunt crypto markets.
The culprit? That pesky Producer Price Index (PPI) came in hotter than expected at 3.3%, crushing hopes for September rate cuts and making the dollar flex its muscles.
Adding salt to the wound, Treasury Secretary Bessent poured cold water on Bitcoin strategic reserve dreams, saying the government won't be buying BTC anytime soon.
Fear and Greed Index shows "neutral" at 56, but analysts say all eyes are on Jackson Hole this week - could Powell save the day? 👀
⛓️ USDC issuer launching its own Layer 1 called "Arc"
🔄 Circle isn't content with just minting stablecoins anymore - they're building their own blockchain called Arc!
This EVM-compatible Layer 1 will use USDC as its native gas token (because why not make paying fees less volatile, right?).
Source: circle.com
The network is set to hit public testnet this fall, marking Circle's ambitious move from stablecoin issuer to full-stack blockchain operator.
With Q2 revenue jumping 53% to $658 million, Circle's clearly got the cash to back this bold play.
🔒 Ethereum researcher detained in Turkey
Wild 24 hours for Federico Carrone (aka "Fede's intern")! 😵
The Ethereum privacy researcher got detained at Turkey's passport control over alleged links to his 2022 academic paper about crypto mixer vulnerabilities.
You know, the research that actually HELPED identify privacy weaknesses?
After international pressure got him released, Carrone made a power move: boosting his donation to Roman Storm's legal defense from $50K to $500K! 💪
I’m finally out, safe and free. There was a small moment were things looked very bad but thanks to help from many I got released. Sorry if I didn’t answer every message. I was in calls non stop the last 24 hours with too many people and I only slept two hours.
Yesterday I landed
— Fede’s intern 🥊 (@fede_intern)
4:37 PM • Aug 11, 2025
His message was crystal clear: "Writing code to make transactions private doesn't make you a criminal."
The Ethereum Foundation matched with another $500K, proving the community's got developers' backs.
Privacy is normal, folks! 🛡️
⚖️ Terra founder pleads guilty to fraud charges, faces 25 years
The Terra saga reaches its climax! 📺
Do Kwon, the infamous mastermind behind the $40 billion Terra USD collapse that shook crypto in 2022, finally pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy charges in a Manhattan courtroom.
Judge: How old are you?
Do Kwon: 33.
Judge: Are you satisfied with your attorneys' representation of you?
Do Kwon: Yes, Your Honor.
Judge: You know you have the right to go to trial, and you are waiving that right?
Do Kwon: Yes, Your Honor.— Inner City Press (@innercitypress)
2:40 PM • Aug 12, 2025
After months of playing legal ping-pong between Montenegro, South Korea, and the US, the 33-year-old waived his right to trial and acknowledged he could face up to 25 years behind bars.
The Terra/Luna implosion didn't just wipe out billions; it triggered a crypto winter that took down giants like Three Arrows Capital and FTX.
🌍️ Story of the Week: Monero Gets 51% Pwned, Doge Is Next
Holy blockchain warfare, Batman! 💥 This week delivered one of crypto's most dramatic plot twists when Qubic - an AI-focused blockchain - successfully pulled off a 51% attack on Monero.
Looks like #Qubic has achieved 51% over #Monero, we are waiting for independent confirmations. In the meanwhile #Monero team is polishing details of their 51% attack protection.
Many accused us of being sponsored by 3-letter agencies to attack this anon coin. What do you think— Come-from-Beyond (@c___f___b)
6:43 AM • Aug 12, 2025
Yeah, you read that right. The privacy coin that prides itself on being untraceable just got owned by a bunch of smart contracts.
🤔 How it went down
Qubic spent a MONTH grinding hashrate like it's a gaming leaderboard, slowly amassing mining power until they controlled over half of Monero's network.
Source: MiningPoolStats
Then BOOM - they reorganized six blocks and basically said "we run this show now." 🎮
Kraken immediately hit the panic button, suspending XMR deposits while keeping withdrawals open (because even they don't know what happens next).
Monero's core team is scrambling, insisting the network's privacy features still work fine.
Spoiler alert: that's not really the point when someone else controls your blockchain! 😬
After successfully conquering Monero, Qubic's founder casually asked the community which blockchain they should attack next. The options? Dogecoin, Kaspa, and Zcash.
The people have spoken: DOGE IS NEXT with over 300 votes! 🐕
Source: @c___f___b on X
‼️ Why this matters
This could be a wake-up call for every proof-of-work chain.
If an AI project can casually 51% attack a $4 billion privacy coin as a "demonstration," what's stopping them from targeting the $35 billion dog coin?
Suddenly that whole "code is law" thing feels a lot less secure when someone else is writing the code.
Monero monthly chart. Source: Coingecko
The Qubic team says they're doing this to "provide security" for other networks.
Sure, and the Mongols were just providing cultural exchange! Watch this space - the next few weeks could get VERY interesting for DOGE hodlers. 👀
🔒 Major Token Unlocks of the Week
Explore more unlocks with full vesting details.
💡 1 Minute Learning: Cross-Chain Yield Farming Explained
Imagine having multiple high-yield savings accounts across different banks, but instead of banks, you're earning on different blockchains!
Cross-chain yield farming lets you farm yields on multiple networks all at once instead of being stuck on just one.
Why bother? 💰
You get access to the best opportunities across ALL chains while spreading your risk.
No more choosing between Ethereum's established DeFi (with crazy gas fees 💸) and Binance Smart Chain's cheap transactions. You can have both!
Plus, you can profit from arbitrage opportunities when the same asset has different prices on different chains.
How it works ✨
You connect your wallet to platforms like Beefy Finance or Symbiosis, deposit your crypto into automated vaults, and boom 💥 - the platform becomes your personal yield farming butler.
It automatically moves your funds to the highest-paying farms across multiple blockchains while you sleep.
Think of it as being a yield farming nomad 🏕️ who goes wherever the best opportunities are, instead of being loyal to one blockchain kingdom.
The reality check ⚠️
Bridge risks: Moving between chains isn't risk-free
Smart contract risks: More chains = more potential bugs
Impermanent loss: Still exists, but diversified
Start small: $100-500 on low-fee chains like BSC/Polygon
DYOR and farm responsibly! 🚜
🗞️ From our Blog
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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or make financial decisions. Always do your own research and stay safe out there.