Today in crypto, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warned that rising US debt could push investors toward Bitcoin, posing a threat to the dollar’s global dominance. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s sons have partnered with Hut 8 to launch a new mining firm and DeFi protocol SIR.trading lost $335,000 in a hack.
Bitcoin could reduce dominance of US dollar — BlackRock
The US dollar could lose its status as the world’s reserve currency to Bitcoin or other digital assets if the United States does not get its debt under control, according to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.
Fink wrote in his Annual Chairman’s Letter to Investors that “decentralized finance is an extraordinary innovation” that makes “markets faster, cheaper, and more transparent.” But “that same innovation could undermine America’s economic advantage if investors begin seeing Bitcoin as a safer bet than the dollar.”
According to Trading Economics, the US debt equaled 122.3% of the country’s gross domestic product in 2023. That is a considerably higher percentage than the 105% observed in 2018. Moody’s Ratings retains the US’s AAA credit rating but has downgraded its outlook to negative, indicating a possible future rating downgrade.
In the letter, Fink says that “tokenization is democratization” with the technological innovation “enabling instant buying, selling, and transferring without cumbersome paperwork or waiting periods.”
If every asset ends up being tokenized, Fink said, “it will revolutionize investing. Markets wouldn’t need to close. Transactions that currently take days would clear in seconds. And billions of dollars currently immobilized by settlement delays could be reinvested immediately back into the economy, generating more growth.”
Trump sons back new Bitcoin mining venture with Hut 8
Several members of US President Donald Trump’s family are backing a new venture to launch what aims to become the world’s largest Bitcoin mining firm.
Hut 8, a digital asset mining and infrastructure company, announced on March 31 that it is acquiring a majority stake in American Bitcoin, formerly known as American Data Center. The firm was founded by a group of investors, including Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
Related: Bitcoin miner Hut 8 argues to toss ‘short and distort’ shareholder suit
As part of the deal, American Bitcoin will take ownership of Hut 8’s Bitcoin (BTC) mining hardware. Donald Trump Jr. said that the entrepreneurs behind American Data Centers have backed their conviction in Bitcoin personally and through their businesses.
The new venture “aims to become the world’s largest, most efficient pure-play Bitcoin miner while building a robust strategic Bitcoin reserve,” the announcement said. Mining operations will remain under Hut 8’s compute segment but will operate through the American Bitcoin brand. Donald Trump Jr. added:
“Mining it on favorable economics opens an even bigger opportunity. We’re excited to bring investors into that equation through a platform engineered to execute on this thesis and deliver real, tangible participation in Bitcoin’s growth.”
DeFi protocol SIR.trading loses entire $355,000 TVL in “worst news” possible
Ethereum-based DeFi protocol SIR.trading, also known as Synthetics Implemented Right, has been hacked, resulting in the loss of its entire total value locked (TVL) — $355,000 at the time of the attack.
The March 30 hack was initially detected by blockchain security firms TenArmorAlert and Decurity, both of which posted warnings on X to alert users of the protocol.
The protocol’s founder, known only as Xatarrer, described the hack as “the worst news a protocol could received [sic],” but suggested the team intends to try to keep the protocol going despite the setback.
Source: SIR.trading
Decurity described the hack as a “clever attack” that targeted a callback function used in the protocol’s “vulnerable contract Vault” which leverages Ethereum’s transient storage feature.
According to Decurity, the attacker was able to replace the real Uniswap pool address used in this callback function with an address under the hacker’s control, allowing them to redirect the funds in the vault to their address.
TenArmorAlert further explained that by repeatedly calling this callback function, the attacker was able to fully drain the protocol’s TVL.
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