🥷 North Korean “developers” stole $680K from Favrr

Six operatives from DPRK built 31 fake identities, posed as crypto devs, and infiltrated fan-token marketplace Favrr. Once inside, they planted backdoors, accessed private keys, and drained $680K disguised as normal transactions.

➡️ Fake IDs, LinkedIn/Upwork accounts, even claims of working at Polygon, OpenSea, Chainlink

➡️ Corporate-style setup: Google Docs for tasks, VPNs and rented PCs for cover, budget tracked to the cent

➡️ ZachXBT confirmed it was insider theft, not an outside hack

Scale of the problem: DPRK stole $1.34B in 2024 (60% of global hacks) and $1.5B ETH from Bybit in Feb 2025. An estimated 8,400 IT operatives are funding the regime’s weapons program by posing as freelancers.

The lesson is clear - not every threat comes from outside. Some are already on payroll.

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❕Nasdaq moves against crypto-stock pumps

Nasdaq is tightening control over companies that raise money only to buy crypto and boost their share price.

➡️ Some firms may now need shareholder approval before issuing stock for crypto purchases
➡️ The aim is to curb speculative behavior and artificial rallies linked to token holdings

The exchange is signaling that “buying Bitcoin for the chart” won’t pass unchecked anymore.

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🔥 Why buybacks are the new meta

In TradFi, revenue defines success. In crypto, that logic is catching up, and token buybacks are becoming the clearest way to show it.

➡️ Protocols with strong revenue often buy back tokens or share income. Hyperliquid puts 93% of $1B+ annual fees into $HYPE buybacks. OKX, Raydium and BONK use similar playbooks.

➡️ But design matters. Pear Protocol’s revenue share lets whales dominate rewards after unlocks, showing how buybacks can fail if tokenomics don’t fit.

➡️ Compared to airdrops or revenue-sharing, buybacks add a deflationary edge: holders get scarcity, price support, and extra yield.

The lesson is simple: buybacks only work with real PMF and sustainable cash flow. Without that, they’re just a short-term stunt.

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📉 September is Bitcoin’s worst month

Over the last 10 years, September delivered an average return of –2.8%, the weakest month for BTC.

➡️ Only 39% of Septembers closed positive
➡️ August is often red too, but less severe
➡️ Seasonality points to pressure before year-end rallies

A reminder that Bitcoin’s toughest stretch of the year is here.

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⚡️The latest DeFi developments

➡️Arbitrum introduced its DeFi Renaissance Incentive Program

➡️Solana’s proposal to implement an upgrade that will make it 80x faster passed

➡️Chainlink partnered with the US Department of Commerce to bring government data on-chain

➡️Ondo launched Ondo Global Markets, enabling its users to buy and sell over 100 tokenized U.S. stocks & ETFs

➡️Resolv went live on Arbitrum and joined Arbitrum’s DeFi incentive program

➡️Rabby integrated Hyperliquid perps into its wallet

➡️Portal to Bitcoin released its PTB token and its airdrop claiming portal

➡️Peapods Finance started PEAS token buybacks

➡️Linea released its airdrop checker

➡️Falcon Finance announced a Legendary Falcon Badge reward for KAITO stakers with 5000+ sKAITO

➡️Wormhole has integrated Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM

➡️Sonic’s S token circulating supply will increase by 14% for its US expansion push

➡️Lombard launched LBTC, its yield-bearing BTC token, on Solana

➡️Starknet started decentralizing its sequencer and became 7x faster

➡️Turtle Club released the Liquidity Leaderboard with the goal of rewarding LPs

➡️Curve Finance announced it will go live on Monad on day 1 of mainnet

➡️Etherealize raised $40M to onboard institutions to Ethereum

➡️Lido released Lido Earn - a set of blue-chip DeFi strategies for stETH

➡️Avalanche is working with Toyota to build autonomous robotaxi infrastructure

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90% of the time altcoins barely move.

But the other 10% of the time they see explosive pumps and it almost feels like money falls from the sky.

Your job is to not leave crypto during the boring market phase.

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Escape this fate, whatever it takes

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📊 Crypto Venture Weekly: September 1–5, 2025

$185M raised across 22 projects this week, led by Etherealize ($40M) and Utila ($22M).

TRON Inc. added $110M to its TRX treasury, while CIMG Inc. acquired 500 BTC ($55M).

M&A saw Kraken acquire Breakout, Solowin buy AlloyX for $350M, and RedStone purchase Credora. Sora Ventures launched a $1B Bitcoin Treasury Fund.

Here’s what the top 10 are building 👇

🖱 Etherealize ($40M, Paradigm, Electric Capital)
Institutional marketing and product arm for Ethereum.

🖱 Utila ($22M, Red Dot, DCG, FunFair, Nyca Partners)
All-in-one digital asset operations platform for institutions.

🖱 Kite AI ($18M, General Catalyst, PayPal Ventures, Animoca, HashKey, GSR, Hashed)
A purpose-built L1 blockchain for AI applications.

🖱 Aria ($15M, Polychain, Neoclassic, Story Protocol Foundation)
IP tokenization platform built on Story Protocol.

🖱 Obita ($10M, Mirana Ventures, Vision Plus, HashKey, Web3.com Ventures)
Global B2B financial infrastructure and digital finance network.

🖱 Plural ($7.13M, Paradigm, Maven 11, Volt, Neoclassic)
Tokenizing solar, storage, batteries, and data centers.

🖱 Reflect ($3.75M, a16z CSX, Big Brain, Solana Ventures, Colosseum, Equilibrium)
Yield-bearing stablecoin protocol built on Solana.

🖱 Wildcat Finance ($3.5M, Robot Ventures, P2 Ventures, Kronos Research, Hyperithm)
Configurable undercollateralized credit rails on Ethereum.

🖱 Maiga ($2M, Amber Group, Red Beard, IBC, Chainlink)
Decentralized AI agent and DeFAI platform on BNB Chain.

🖱 Gigaverse ($1M, 1Confirmation)
A Web3 role-playing game live on Abstract.

Investor focus this week was on stablecoin infra, AI-powered DeFi, and tokenized assets, while treasuries and M&A reshaped the landscape.

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📄 Crypto Watchlist for this week:

➡️$SOL - SOL Strategies will become the first Solana treasury company listed on Nasdaq on Sept. 9

➡️$RESOLV - Resolv S2 points program ends on Sept 9

➡️$ENA - StablecoinX will start buying $5m-$10m worth of ENA per day

➡️$LINEA - Linea's TGE will happen on Sept. 10

➡️$HOME - DeFi App will announce a "1000 bonus HOME for everyone" campaign next week

➡️$DOT - Polkadot will have a big product launch tomorrow (more details about this haven't been revealed yet)

➡️$DOGE - The first Dogecoin ETF fund is rumored to launch in the US as early as next week

➡️$S - 5.02% of Sonic's S token supply will be unlocked on Sept. 9

➡️Falcon - Falcon Finance will make a big announcement in collaboration with WorldLibertyFi soon

➡️Macro events - US CPI data will be released on Sept. 11

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