The Daily: Telegram CEO arrest tied to cybercrime, Abra settles charges with the SEC, stablecoin market cap reaches all-time high and more

Happy Monday! In today's newsletter, the Telegram CEO's arrest is tied to a cybercrime investigation, Abra settles charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the stablecoin market capitalization reaches a new record high and more.

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Telegram CEO's arrest tied to cybercrime investigation

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested by French authorities as part of a cybercrime investigation involving allegations of providing unauthorized cryptology services and tools.

• Durov was taken into custody at Le Bourget airport on Aug. 24, 2024, following a judicial investigation initiated by the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office focused on cybercrime.
• The investigation includes charges related to offering cryptology services and tools without proper certification or declaration, as well as importing such tools without prior authorization.
• Additional alleged charges against Durov involve complicity in possessing pornographic images of minors and laundering proceeds from organized crimes.
• Durov is currently being questioned and can be held until Aug. 28 as part of the ongoing investigation.
• Prominent figures in the crypto community, including Elon Musk and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, have expressed their support for Durov following his arrest.

Abra settles charges with the SEC

The U.S. SEC settled charges against Plutus Lending LLC, operating as Abra, for offering and selling unregistered crypto asset securities through its Abra Earn product.

• The SEC also alleged that Abra operated as an unregistered investment company while offering its yield-earning service to U.S. users.
• To settle, Abra agreed to an injunction prohibiting further violations of registration laws and will pay civil penalties as determined by the court without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations.
• Abra Earn generated nearly $600 million in crypto assets, with $500 million coming from U.S. customers, according to the SEC.

Stablecoin market cap hits new all-time high

The total stablecoin market capitalization, excluding algorithmic stablecoins, reached an all-time high of over $168.1 billion, surpassing its previous peak in March 2022.

• The stablecoin market cap has grown by 0.8% over the past week, continuing a steady rise that began in early 2024 after hitting a low of around $122 billion in October 2022.
• The increase in stablecoin market cap may signal growing confidence in the crypto market and rising institutional investor interest.
• Tether’s USDT, the largest stablecoin, now represents about 70% of the total stablecoin market cap and has grown by 28% this year to $117.84 billion.

Bitcoin inflows hit $543 million last week

Bitcoin saw $543 million in inflows last week following dovish comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, boosting confidence in the cryptocurrency.

• Powell's remarks, which hinted at possible interest rate cuts and a return to 2% inflation, helped Bitcoin's price rise from below $61,000 to around $63,500.
• Digital asset investment products also benefited, with $533 million in inflows last week, marking the largest inflows in five weeks.
• The U.S. led global inflows into digital asset products with $498 million, while newly launched Ethereum-based ETFs have accumulated $3.1 billion in inflows, despite Grayscale's ether product losing $2.5 billion.

Ethereum research firm Chainbound raises $4.6 million

Chainbound has raised $4.6 million in seed financing to develop Bolt, a protocol enabling sub-second transaction confirmations on Ethereum.

• The funding round was led by Cyber Fund, with participation from Maven 11, Robot Ventures and Bankless Ventures, along with angel investors.
• Bolt, Chainbound's first product, will initially launch on the Helder testnet and is expected to go live on the Ethereum mainnet by the end of the year.

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