Vitalik Buterin Says Ethereum Will be '55% Complete' Post-Merge, Hodlnaut Reveals Massive Shortfall, AMC Shares Tumble 40% + Mor

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

• co-founder Vitalik Buterin said that: “After the Merge, Ethereum will be 55% complete, there’s so much to be done in the coming years and that’s where opportunity for builders & enthusiasts comes in.” Buterin made this comment in a press release shared with Cryptonews.com, ahead of the inaugural ETHWarsaw conference, which will last for two days, followed by two days of hackathon, from September 1 until September 4. Headline speakers at the event include Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of , Sam McPherson, Protocol Engineering at MakerDAO, Julien Bouteloup, Founder of Stake CapitalStakeDAO, Sumit Kishore, Product Lead at Consensys

DeFi news

• The Singapore-based crypto lender Hodlnaut has a USD 193m financial shortfall, a document filed as part of ongoing legal proceedings in Singapore shows, according to a from The Block. The company withdrawals earlier this month and has filed for creditor protection.

Investment news

• US cinema chain 's shares tumbled nearly 40% in premarket trading on Monday after UK-based Cineworld's warning of a possible bankruptcy spooked investors ahead of AMC's preferred stock listing, Reuters reported. AMC's preferred stock will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday under the ticker "APE". Cineworld, which owns cinemas in the US, said that it was looking at a possible bankruptcy filing as it struggles to cut debts that jumped during the pandemic
• WisdomTree, the exchange-traded fund () and exchange-traded product (ETP) sponsor, has added Polygon (MATIC)Avalanche (AVAX) to the indices tracked by the physically-backed crypto basket ETPs, WisdomTree Crypto Market (BLOC) and WisdomTree Crypto Altcoins (WALT), said an announcement. BLOC and WALT are listed on Borse XetraEuronext exchanges in Paris and Amsterdam and , the Swiss stock exchange. The ETPs are passported for sale in a number of countries in the European Union.

Security news

• A hacker has stolen funds from customers who made deposits at a bitcoin operated by General Bytes published by the company last week shows. The attacker was able to create an admin user remotely and get the machine to send bitcoin to the hacker's own wallet, the report said.
• The hackers behind the large attack on the play-to-earn game Axie Infinity’s Ronin bridge have transferred all of their funds to according to pseudonymous on-chain investigator ?liteZero. They added that most of the funds have been deposited on the coin mixing services ChipMixer Blender. The North Korean cybercrime group Lazarus Group is widely believed to be behind the attack.

Exchange news

• Crypto exchange grew its revenue by 1,000% in 2021, helped by a boom in crypto prices and a series of acquisitions, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried confirmed on Twitter this weekend after CNBC first reported

Regulatory news

• South Korea will impose a 10 to 50% “gift tax” on crypto airdrops, a government official has said, according to local outlet Yonhap News.
• Regulators in Australia are “ready to start consultation with stakeholders” for a regulatory framework for crypto, a press release from the Australian Treasury Ministry has said. It added that the framework will allow consumers to “participate in the market while also better protecting them.”

NFT news

• American singer-songwriter Miley Cyrus applied for several metaverse and non-fungible token ()-related trademarks. Cyrus seems to have plans related to "virtual currency", "digital assets", "virtual goods", etc. The trademarks are registered under serial numbers 9755120197551195

Sport news

• Crypto sports company and owner of Crawley Town FCWAGMI Unitedannounced today that Crawley Town Football Club has agreed to a new shirt sleeve sponsorship with the fan token and NFT platform XCAD Network. The deal will see Red Devils players wearing a patch featuring the XCAD logo on their left sleeve during the club's upcoming Carabao Cup match against visiting Premier League side