It appears that while institutional investors are doubling down on major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, retail investors are gravitating towards memecoins and other altcoins, as per the report shared with The Block. This shift in trading interests marks a significant divergence from previous years when institutional and retail interests largely mirrored each other. The current trend indicates that institutions are seeking stable exposure while retail investors are exploring newer, albeit riskier, opportunities.

The gap in allocation to major cryptocurrencies has surged to a record 30 percentage points between institutions and retail traders. Institutions maintain a 67% allocation to majors, largely due to ETF inflows and other new accumulation vehicles, while retail allocations to majors have dwindled by 9% to 37%, reflecting a shift towards altcoins.

“This divergence is not a fleeting phenomenon; it signals a more mature, sophisticated, and specialized crypto market,” commented Wintermute CEO and Founder, Evgeny Gaevoy. “Investors are no longer pursuing the same trend. While institutions treat crypto as a macro asset, retail traders are drawn towards innovation.”

In the first half of 2025, institutions largely embraced derivatives as potential tools for hedging, yield-generation, and capital-efficient exposure. Wintermute reported a 412% surge in over-the-counter (OTC) options volume compared to the first half of 2024.

Memecoins such as BONK, WIF, POPCAT, and other emerging memecoins gained traction, while established coins like DOGE and SHIB saw a dip in dominance. DOGE, SHIB, and PEPE, however, continue to be the top three memecoins by weight in the GMCI MEME Index.

For the latter half of 2025, Wintermute anticipates that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s potential decision on spot Dogecoin ETFs in October could sway retail demand. Grayscale, REX-Osprey, and Bitwise have all filed for spot Dogecoin ETFs this year.

The post Institutional and Retail Crypto Investors Display Divergent Strategies Amid 2025 Bull Run: Wintermute Report appeared first on Crypto Market Insights: Dive In with CryptoUpdate.io.

“We are committed to buying back more tokens. However, our immediate focus is to understand the current situation and take measures to prevent future financial attacks,” Xie posted on Monday.

The ZKJ token witnessed a dramatic drop from approximately $2 to 30 cents within a few hours on Sunday. Following this, Polyhedra released a preliminary report detailing potential reasons behind the crash. Among these factors were substantial token deposits resulting from an alleged coordinated onchain liquidity attack, large-scale deposits by Wintermute into centralized exchanges, and ensuing liquidations on these platforms.

Despite facing criticism, Xie remained resilient. “While we are under scrutiny, we have faced such situations before. We have previously turned criticism into commendation and I am confident we can do it again, even better,” he stated.

Having started trading in March, the ZKJ token quickly peaked at around $3.40, but soon plummeted to a low near $1.10. The token remained mostly stable before gradually climbing again in November, according to data from The Block.

Polyhedra, the creator of the lightning-fast zero-knowledge interoperability protocol zkBridge, had achieved a $1 billion valuation in March 2024 following a strategic funding round of $20 million. Notable investors from that round included Polychain Capital, Animoca Brands, and Hashkey Capital.

Sunday’s crash represents a major setback for the company that had previously shown promising growth.

The post Polyhedra Promises Further ZKJ Token Buybacks Following Alleged Market Attack appeared first on Crypto Market Insights: Dive In with CryptoUpdate.io.

London-based cryptocurrency trading firm and liquidity provider, Wintermute, is stirring up the meme coin sector, pivoting its portfolio heavily towards the PEPE token. The firm’s changing strategy highlights an evolving dynamic within the meme coin market. Well-respected crypto commentator Jason Cline has pointed out that Wintermute’s holdings of PEPE are now almost on par with its APE coin holdings and exceed its Shiba Inu (SHIB) holdings. This shift has been visible through the firm’s recent trading activity, with Wintermute selling approximately $227,000 worth of PEPE only to start repurchasing shortly thereafter. While the exact reasons behind these moves are not public knowledge, they underscore the significant sway that major investors have in the unpredictable meme coin arena.

The Rapid Rise of PEPE Token

The change in Wintermute’s strategy coincides with the recent listing of PEPE on Bitfinex, a leading digital asset trading platform. This listing, announced on May 22, marks another significant achievement for the meme-themed token, which has seen a rapid rise since its inception in April 2023. The Bitfinex listing is a testament to PEPE’s growing prominence in the crypto market and serves as a validation of its increasing popularity among investors and traders alike.

The Continued Relevance of Meme Coins

Despite the shifts in Wintermute’s portfolio, the firm continues to dominate the Bitfinex leaderboard with over $143 million in trading volumes within a week. This activity emphasizes the continued relevance of meme coins in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. With PEPE joining the ranks of other meme coins listed on major exchanges, such as Binance, OKX, Bitget, and KuCoin, the impact of these shifting trends on the wider cryptocurrency market remains to be seen. As more investors and traders turn their attention to meme coins like PEPE, the landscape of the crypto market could undergo significant changes.

The post Wintermute’s Shifting Focus: PEPE Token Challenges SHIB’s Dominance appeared first on Crypto Market Insights: Dive In with CryptoUpdate.io.

FTX Hack

The catastrophic failure of the widely used digital asset exchange FTX, with the loss of billions of dollars in cash, was the most significant cryptocurrency event of 2022 and perhaps the most important news story of the year.

In addition to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 12, the celebrity-backed exchange was the target of an unknown cyberattack.

About $640 million worth of tokens were stolen from many wallets believed to belong to FTX. The money was then transferred to other cryptocurrency exchanges and changed into other digital currencies.

Unfortunately, the thief or thieves responsible for the missing funds remain unknown. New FTX management’s attorney, James Bromley, said during the collapsed exchange’s first court hearing that a significant proportion of the exchange’s assets are either lost or stolen.

$566,000,000 for Binance (Binance Smart Chain)

On October 6, hackers stole $566 million worth of BNB from a blockchain affiliated with the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.

This vulnerability affected the inter-chain bridge BSC Token Hub. The hackers basically created tokens out of thin air by forging withdrawal proofs. However, the assault against Binance did not result in user losses on the Binance blockchain.

Although a large number of tokens were stolen, the perpetrators could not get away with them all; according to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, the exchange was able to keep between 80% to 90% of the stolen assets safe.

It is because, after the assault, validators on the BSC chain halted the network, but hackers did transfer around $100 million to other chains.

$552,000,000 for Ronin

In March, hackers stole an estimated $552 million in Ethereum and USDC from Ronin, a sidechain for the widely played NFT game Axie Infinity. One week after Axie Infinity creator Sky Mavis announced the flaw, the total worth of the stolen cash had reached $622 million.

What strategy did they employ? The “hacked private keys” were used to make fake transactions and steal money.

Approximately $7 million in Ethereum was transmitted to cryptocurrency mixing provider Tornado Cash for fast laundering.

U.S. Treasury investigators subsequently found cryptocurrency wallet addresses that they believed belonged to the Lazarus cyber organization in North Korea.

$326 million Wormhole

It was a terrible year for decentralized financial protocols. DeFi is a catch-all word for the still-evolving category of applications that banks and brokerages use to automate routine tasks. It implies there is a safety concern, especially with bridges, which enable users to move cash across different blockchains.

The famous bridge, Wormhole, was vulnerable to an attack in February. Tokens were minted by hackers who focused on Solana (where users lock Ethereum within a smart contract in exchange for a similar amount of Wrapped Ethereum, or WETH). About $120,000’s worth of WETH tokens. That equated to around $326 million back in the day.

In the DeFi ecosystem, WETH, a token tied to the price of Ethereum at a ratio of 1:1, facilitates rapid monetary transfers.

Wormhole’s parent business, Jump Trading, a prominent participant in the Solana ecosystem, stepped in to replace the stolen goods and restore bridge service.

Nomad, $190 million

In August, there was a second attack on a bridge. All of Nomad’s Ethereum, USDC, DAI, FXS, and CQT were stolen by hackers who took advantage of a flaw in the update. Nomad is a service that allows users to exchange digital assets across multiple blockchains.

The money began trickling back in when the protocol’s backers promised a 10% incentive to hackers who returned the tokens (without imposing law enforcement).

Although around $22 million was recovered from the incident, it led the FBI to issue a warning to investors about the increased interest of cyber criminals in exploiting weak DeFi systems.

The $100M Harmony Bridge Hack

Another $100 million in various cryptocurrencies were stolen via a breach of the Horizon Bridge, which connects Ethereum, Bitcoin, and BNB Chain to Harmony’s layer-1 blockchain.

Because the money was laundered in a manner consistent with known Lazarus Group operations, blockchain forensics company Elliptic has concluded that the breach was carried out by that group of North Korean cybercriminals.

It is believed that Lazarus stole employee login credentials for the Harmony platform, compromised the site’s security, and took control of the protocol before using automated laundering programs to transfer funds.

The Wintermute $160M Hack

Approximately $160 million in 70 different tokens were stolen from the hot wallet of United Kingdom-based crypto-exchange Wintermute.

CertiK, a blockchain security company, conducted an analysis and found that a private key presumably produced by Profanity, an app that lets users construct vanity crypto addresses, was exploited.

Using the private key, the attacker could then perform a function that, according to CertiK, would enable the attacker to replace the swap contract on the platform with the attacker’s own.

BlockSec, a blockchain security company, disproved rumors that the attack was an “inside job” because of the method by which it was executed.

$182 million Beanstalk Farms

Beanstalk Farms is an Ethereum-based stablecoin system. Tokens called STALK were utilized in this technology. It would need the consent of the majority of STALK holders in order for any assets to be transferred out of Beanstalk Farms.

A hacker purchased a controlling stake in STALK via a flash loan (a very short-term crypto loan) in April. They then utilized STALK tokens to propose a huge transfer of cash and approve it. An estimated $80 million in profits were made by the hacker, but the attack led the stablecoin to fall, leading to total losses of $182 million.

The post Top 8 of 2022’s Worst Crypto Exploits appeared first on Crypto Market Insights: Dive In with CryptoUpdate.io.