Ether Strategy's $414K Mistake: Deposits Lost, Launch Scrapped El Salvador Honors Satoshi with Disappearing Statue Australian Police Warn of Crypto Romance Scams Japan Reviews Crypto Tax Laws to Boost Industry Growth
1min read Over the weekend, several notable events unfolded in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. One such incident involved Ether Strategy, a project that styled itself as an on-chain MicroStrategy. The project blamed a user interface misconfiguration for an incident where users deposited 165 Ether, worth approximately $414,000, into the wrong wallet address. This occurred during the protocol's testing phase, before the launch's announcement. The project stated that the UI was fixed immediately, and they sent the 165 Ether into the deposit contract, making everyone whole. However, only a day later, the project announced that it wouldn't be launching in its current state due to a lack of interest.
In other news, El Salvador unveiled a disappearing statue honoring Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto. The statue, created by artist Valentina Picozzi, is a tribute to Nakamoto and the developers and programmers who helped build the Bitcoin ecosystem. The faceless figure working on a laptop can only be observed clearly from the side, while those looking from the direct front or rear will get a see-through effect due to its slit design.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) warned that a Philippine-based crypto romance scheme targeted thousands of Aussies before local authorities shut it down. The scammers posed on dating sites as either a Filipino female working in Australia or a local female resident in the Philippines to lure victims in with the promise of a romantic relationship before convincing them to purchase legitimate cryptocurrency. The scammers would request between $183 (300 Australian dollars) and $489 (800 Australian dollars) before encouraging the victim to invest more money and ultimately transfer it into the scammer's accounts.
In Japan, Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato announced that the government will review its crypto tax laws by the end of June. The review, led by the Financial Services Agency, aims to address the current tax system that requires crypto traders to report their trading profits as part of their tax returns, which critics argue results in higher tax burdens that are stifling the growth of crypto in Japan.
