OX.FUN Denies Insolvency, Freezes $1M of JefeDAO's Funds Montana Rejects Bitcoin Reserve Bill Amid Crypto Concerns Bybit Offers $140M Bounty for Stolen Crypto Recovery

OX.FUN, a crypto exchange backed by Su Zhu, has denied allegations of insolvency and fund withdrawal issues. The exchange has accused JefeDAO of manipulating trades to tarnish its reputation and has frozen $1 million USDC of JefeDAO's funds as a result. OX.FUN emphasizes user fund security and adherence to its service terms, despite social media claims of financial instability and urging user withdrawals.

In other news, Montana's House of Representatives failed to pass Bill 429, which aimed to designate Bitcoin as a state reserve asset. The bill intended to establish a special revenue account for investing in Bitcoin, precious metals, and stablecoins. Lawmakers expressed concerns over the risks associated with crypto investments and disagreed with granting the Montana Investment Council the authority to invest in crypto and NFTs. Despite some support, opposition, citing the speculative nature of the investment, prevailed.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrency detective ZachXBT uncovered that in the recent Bybit hack, stolen Ethereum was laundered through memecoins on the decentralized platform PumpFun. The thief notably launched a memecoin named QinShihuang, generating over $26 million in trading volume. The stolen funds traversed various blockchain networks, resulting in complex laundering paths using multiple wallets and currencies across platforms like Solana and Binance Smart Chain.

Following the record-breaking $1.4 billion crypto exchange hack, Bybit has launched a recovery bounty program offering 10% of retrieved funds to contributors. Security firms and researchers are encouraged to assist in reclaiming assets stolen by the Lazarus Group, with potential rewards totaling up to $140 million, marking the largest bounty in crypto history. Bybit aims to enhance its security, liquidity, and community trust through this initiative.