Today in Crypto: Canada’s ‘Crypto King’ Allegedly Kidnapped and Tortured, Kokomo’s $4M Exit Scam, KuCoin Launches $1M Bug Bounty Program, Bitget Partners with Space and Time

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Legal news

• Canada’s self-proclaimed “Crypto King” Aiden Pleterski was kidnapped, tortured, and held for ransom after reportedly defrauding investors out of millions, according to the claims made in the court documents filed earlier this month. “They basically held him for approximately three days, drove him around different various parts of Southern Ontario, beat him, tortured him, allowed him to make specific phone calls to specific people only,” Pleterski’s father Dragan claimed Pleterski had told him. “He was released with the threat that he needed to come up with some money fast, and if he had went to the police, that there would be a lot more trouble,” he added. Aiden Pleterski was petitioned into bankruptcy last August and is accused of running an investment scheme.

Security news

• Developers behind the Optimism-based lending protocol Kokomo Finance conducted an exit scam over the weekend, manipulating tokens on the protocol and stealing $4 million in user funds, security firm CertiK said. The project has removed all of their social media accounts, it added.

Exchange news

• KuCoin announced its partnership with cybersecurity company Hacken to launch a $1 million bug bounty program, described as “the biggest bounty reward among crypto exchanges so far.” The program will reward security researchers for discovering and responsibly disclosing vulnerabilities on the platform, said the exchange. Meanwhile, a new Security Landing Page was launched on the KuCoin website to outline its security practices and provide users with resources and tips to enhance their own account security, it added.
• Bitget announced a strategic partnership with the decentralized data warehouse Space and Time (SxT). “The trustless Space and Time platform will provide Bitget users with verifiable evidence that the exchange holds the assets it claims to own on behalf of its clients,” said the press release. Users will also have full transparency into the exchange’s activity, liquidity, assets, and liabilities “with the assurance that the data and computation powering the exchange are accurate and haven’t been tampered with,” it added.
• Binance announced the opening of its new blockchain hub in Georgia, “looking to ramp up talent acquisition, promote blockchain education, and accelerate crypto adoption in the region,” said the blog post. Binance’s Georgia team currently has 25 people, and with the launch of the new regional hub, it expects to add “dozens” more jobs by the end of 2023, the exchange said.

Blockchain news

• Australian energy trading technology company Powerledger announced that it partnered with Vietnam Electricity Central Power Corporation (EVNCPC) to launch Vietnam’s first blockchain peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading project. The announcement said that the initial 6-month trial would see Powerledger’s technology used by so-called “prosumers” with rooftop solar in Da Nang and Quang Nam provinces to sell electricity directly to consumers.

DeFi news

• Open-source technology provider Komodo announced that it is open-sourcing its AtomicDEX Mobile codebase. AtomicDEX is a non-custodial wallet, crypto bridge, and cross-chain/protocol decentralized exchange (DEX) in one app available on three GUIs (AtomicDEX Mobile, AtomicDEX Web, and AtomicDEX Desktop). Komodo previously open-sourced AtomicDEX Desktop.
• Chainstack, a suite of services connecting developers with Web3 infrastructure, announced the integration of the Polygon zkEVM to its platform, as one of the launching partners enabling developers to build and scale their dapps on the protocol. “Chainstack provides a reliable, enterprise-level RPC infrastructure that offers a strong foundation for Web3 developers to start building and scaling their dapps on Polygon zkEVM Mainnet Beta on any of its subscription plans,” said the press release.
• Web3 gaming studio Horizon Blockchain Games announced that Sequence, its Web3 solutions platform and smart wallet for Ethereum and EVM ecosystem, will support Polygon Labs zkEVM scaling solution at launch “as one of its very first ecosystem partners.” The team added that “from day 1,” builders and developers will have access to the Sequence Wallet and tech stack on Polygon zkEVM Mainnet Beta.