News

The attacker who drained over $40 million from GMX’s V1 contracts earlier this week has started returning funds, suggesting they’ve accepted the project’s $5 million white-hat bounty.

The first signs came Friday via an on-chain message: “ok, funds will be returned later.”

Hours later, over $10.5 million in FRAX was sent back to GMX’s deployer wallet. Security firm PeckShield flagged the returns, which appear to be just the start, with more funds expected to follow.

GMX is now trading at $13.15 having risen by 13% over the past 24 hours.

Later on, over $40 million in various tokens were returned to the GMX Security Committee MultiSig address, Lookonchain noted.

The breach, one of the largest DeFi exploits of the year, targeted GMX’s GLP pool on Arbitrum. It exploited a re-entrancy flaw in the OrderBook contract, allowing the attacker to manipulate short positions on BTC, inflate GLP’s valuation, and redeem it for outsized profits across USDC, WBTC, WETH, and FRAX.

Reentrancy is a common bug that allows exploiters to trick a smart contract by repeatedly calling a protocol to steal assets. A call authorizes the smart contract address to interact with a user’s wallet address.

GMX responded by halting V1 trading and minting across both Arbitrum and Avalanche. A bug bounty worth more than 10% of the stolen funds was offered, with a promise of no legal pursuit if the full amount was returned within 48 hours (which the hacker seems to have adhered to as of European morning hours Friday).

Aptos's APT gained as much as 9% in the last 24 hours as crypto markets surged higher.

Strong support was established at $4.57 with high-volume confirmation during the bounce, according to CoinDesk Research's technical analysis model.

Technical targets point to $5.20 from $4.57 base, the model showed, with resistance at the $5.03 level.

Aptos Labs named Solomon Tesfaye as Chief Business Officer for institutional partnerships, the company said in a tweet on X on Thursday.

The rally in Aptos came as the wider crypto market also rose, with the broader market gauge, the CoinDesk 20, recently up 7%.

Bitcoin (BTC), the world's largest cryptocurrency, also hit a new high of $118, 739. In recent trading, APT was 8.5% higher over 24 hours, trading around $4.99.

Technical Analysis:

• Strong support established at $4.57 with high-volume confirmation during bounce
• Resistance level identified at $5.03 where price reversed despite elevated volume
• Volume spikes exceeded 2.2 million and 3.7 million during key acceleration periods
• Measured move projects potential targets near $5.20 from $4.57 low
• Higher low at $4.89 established during consolidation phase
• Final hour volume exceeded 64,000 confirming bullish sentiment

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.

At the time of writing, Ether (ETH) was trading at $3,012, up 8.22% in the past 24-hour period, according to CoinDesk Research's technical analysis model. The broader crypto market, as gauged by the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), was up 6.39% during the same period.

In a recently-released research paper titled "Blockchains as Emerging Economies", the world's third largest asset manager explained how "ether can serve as a medium of exchange and store of value."

Also, in a blog post published Thursday, the Etheruem Foundation announced plans to integrate zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs throughout the Ethereum stack, starting with a Layer 1 zkEVM. Initially, validators will be able to choose clients that verify multiple offchain execution proofs from different zkVMs, rather than re-executing blocks. This setup leverages Ethereum’s existing client diversity model for added security, with minimal protocol changes needed to support pipelined execution in the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade.

Although adoption of ZK clients will start small, it’s expected to grow as trust builds. When a majority of validators are confident in ZK proofs, Ethereum can increase the gas limit and shift to proof verification as the default.

To enable this shift, the Foundation is defining “realtime proving” standards for zkVM developers. These include 10-second latency for 99% of blocks, open-source code, minimum 128-bit security, sub-300KiB proofs without trusted setups, and hardware limits of $100K in cost and 10kW in power use — making home proving feasible.

While proving in the cloud is already affordable, the emphasis is on optimizing for decentralized, at-home setups. The Foundation expects ongoing innovation toward these goals ahead of Devconnect Argentina, with zkVMs poised to become critical infrastructure for Ethereum’s future.

Finally, yesterday, lockchain analytics platform Glassnode noted a rare occurrence in the derivatives market: ether's 24-hour futures trading volume briefly surpassed that of Bitcoin. According to the firm, ETH futures notched $62.1 billion in daily volume, edging out Bitcoin’s $61.7 billion.

Technical Analysis Highlights

• ETH exhibited extraordinary bullish momentum during the past 24 hours from 10 July 09:00 to 11 July 08:00, rocketing from $2,788.96 to $2,976.10, delivering a 7.10% gain with an overall range of $266.73.
• The most explosive price action materialized at 21:00 on 10 July, where ETH launched from $2,819.79 to $2,972.56 on exceptional volume of 1,202,822 units — nearly four times the 24-hour average of 308,041 units.
• Critical resistance surfaced at $3,027.83 during the 05:00 hour with heightened volume of 529,411 units, while the asset sustained consolidation above $2,950.00 throughout the second half of the period.
• Robust high-volume support formed around $2,818.00 indicating continued institutional accumulation and potential for additional upside momentum.

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.

Bitcoin's BTC climb to a record left crypto stocks with mixed reactions as some companies closely tied to the industry advanced while others fell.

The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization rose more than 4% on Thursday, closing in on $118,000. It was recently trading at $117,700, up 5.78% over 24 hours.

Strategy (MSTR), the holder of the biggest BTC stash among publicly traded companies, rallied 3.2%, and Galaxy Digital (GLXY), which provides institutional services in crypto trading, added 4%. In Japan, Metplanet (3350), which is mimicking Strategy's strategy of buying bitcoin for its treasury, rose 2.9% and The Blockchain Group (ALTBG), which is doing the same, rose 9.3% in Paris.

Bitcoin miners also rallied, with MARA Holdings (MARA) adding 3.2% and Hive Digital (HIVE) 2.1%. Riot Platforms (RIOT) gained 1.5%. A higher bitcoin price means the BTC they produce is becomes valuable.

Even so, some miners declined. Cipher Mining (CIFR) fell 2.5% and Bit Digital (BTBT) dropped 1%.

They weren't alone. Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) lost1.6% and Circle Internet (CRCL), the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, slid 7%. It's worth noting that Circle, at $204.8 a share, is still trading at more than six times its IPO price of just $31 a month ago.

Cantor Equity Partners (CEP), which is in the process of becoming a listed bitcoin investment company called Twenty One Capital, is up 8.2% after finishing Thursday’s session 9% higher.

UPDATE (July 11, 15:26 UTC): Updates prices throughout, rewrites first paragraph appropriately.

This is a daily analysis of top tokens with CME futures by CoinDesk analyst and Chartered Market Technician Omkar Godbole.

Bitcoin: Resistance at $120K?

Bitcoin's (BTC) upswing has gathered pace, as indicated by the "negative dealer gamma buildup" and IBIT's bull flag breakout. Bull momentum looks strong, evidenced by the 14-day RSI topping 70 and the MACD histogram producing higher bars above the zero line—no reason to worry for bulls, or is it?

With prices in uncharted territory, identifying resistance becomes difficult, and so we look to the options market for clues. On Deribit, the $120,000 strike call is the most popular option with an open interest of $2.37 billion and could be the next key level to watch.

The Coinbase premium shifted to negative level early today, suggesting weaker demand in the stateside market alongside an overnight decline in the cumulative perpetual futures open interest on offshore exchanges. Both factors call for caution on the part of the bulls.

Meanwhile, the hourly chart's RSI requires attention, as a potential bearish divergence may emerge, signaling a pause in the uptrend and a possible correction.

• AI's take: The market being in uncharted territory makes it vulnerable to a pullback despite the overall positive sentiment.
• Resistance: $120K
• Support: $113,666 (the 23.6% Fib of the upswing from June low), $119,965 (the May high)

Ether: Bulls push through supply zone

Ether (ETH) has finally managed to clear the supply zone at around $2,800, which capped upside in May and June. An upswing in spot volumes backs the breakout, and coupled with the fresh bullish signal from the Guppy multiple moving average system, suggests potential for a continued move higher, beyond $3,066, the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the December to April downtrend. With prices firmly above the Ichimoku cloud, alongside an RSI above 70 and a rising MACD, pullbacks, if any, are likely to be shallow and well-supported at around $2,600.

• AI's take: Ether's breakout above the $2,800 supply zone suggests a potential shift in market sentiment and a bullish continuation.
• Resistance: $3,066, $3,400, $3,525
• Support: $2,880, $2,600, $2,370

Solana: Dual breakout

SOL's (SOL) price rally to a high of $166 triggered an inverse head-and-shoulders breakout and marked a crossover into the bull territory above the Ichimoku cloud. That's dual breakout! The measured move method applied to the inverse H&S breakout suggests a potential rally to $200. On the way higher, prices may encounter resistance between $180 and $190, characterized by intraday highs from May. On the downside, $145 is key support, which, if lost, could embolden bears.

• AI's take: The dual breakout signals strong bullish confirmation, offering bulls a compelling case to chase upside. Prudent traders should still manage risk with stop-loss orders, and broader market conditions.
• Resistance: $180-$190 range, $200.
• Support: $150 (the 100-day SMA), $145 and $125.

XRP: Strongest bull momentum since Jan

XRP (XRP) has risen to $2,58, the highest since May 14, with the 14-day RSI crossing above 70 for the first time since January to suggest the strongest bullish momentum in six months. The rising MACD histogram also paints a bullish picture, supporting a potential break above resistance at $2.65 (the May high). Following this, the focus would shift to $3.00 and $3.39 (the yearly high). XRP's perpetual futures open interest has risen to a fresh multi-month high of 833 million XRP, supporting the rally.

• AI's take: XRP's market points to significant bullish strength.
• Resistance: $2.65, $3.00, $3.39.
• Support: $2.20, $1.90, $1.60.