Coinbase is planning to introduce its own liquid staking token ahead of the Ethereum blockchain’s Merge upgrade, which is expected to take place around September 15. The token will be called Coinbase Wrapped Staked ETH (cbETH).

Blockchain analytics and crypto compliance solutions provider Elliptic released a report yesterday, which stated that scammers and exploiters have stolen over $100m worth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) since 2021. 

Sam Trabucco has resigned from his Co-CEO role at multi-strategy crypto trading firm Alameda Research. Trabucco tweeted yesterday that he will stay on as an adviser. Caroline Ellison, who has been a trader at the firm since March 2018, will now become the sole CEO.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Coinbase Introduces Its Own Liquid Staking Token (cbETH) 
• Elliptic Reports $100M Worth of NFTs Stolen Since 2021
• Alameda Research’s Sam Trabucco Steps Down From Co-CEO Position

Coinbase Introduces Its Own Liquid Staking Token (cbETH)

Yesterday, Coinbase introduced its own liquid staking token ahead of the Ethereum blockchain’s Merge upgrade, which is expected to take place around September 15th. The token will be called Coinbase Wrapped Staked ETH (cbETH).

Here is how Coinbase Help describes cbETH:

“Coinbase is allowing customers who stake ETH to receive an ERC20 utility token called Coinbase Wrapped Staked ETH (‘cbETH’), which is a liquid representation of their staked-ETH. All staked-ETH is locked until a future Ethereum protocol upgrade is complete. In the meantime, Coinbase has created cbETH to give customers the option to sell, transfer, spend, or otherwise use their staked-ETH while it remains locked.”

Coinbase customers holding cbETH tokens can move them to a non-custodial wallet and trade them off the Coinbase platform.

Trading of the token should start on August 25th.

Elliptic Reports $100M Worth of NFTs Stolen Since 2021

Blockchain analytics and crypto compliance solutions provider Elliptic released a report yesterday, which stated that scammers and exploiters have stolen over $100m worth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) since 2021. 

In its NFTs and Financial Crime report, Elliptic revealed that market participants have had more than $100m worth of NFTs stolen between July 2021 and July 2022. The firm reported that the scammers stole the most tokens in July 2022 (~4647 assets); however, the most value was stolen in May 2022 (roughly $23.9m).

The most valuable NFT theft that Elliptic uncovered was a CryptoPunk which was stolen in November 2021, when it was valued at roughly $490,000. Elliptic also points to an incident in December 2021 where one victim lost “16 blue chip NFTs worth $2.1 million”. Elliptic’s data also suggests that $58.1 million worth of Bored Ape and Mutant Ape NFTs were stolen in July 2022.

“Across June and July 2022, thefts of valuable NFTs decreased while those affecting lower value early-stage projects rose,” said Elliptic. “This trend likely partially reflects valuable NFT owners "hodling" their assets throughout the bear market and not engaging as actively with new projects vulnerable to scammer activity.”

Alameda Research’s Sam Trabucco Steps Down From Co-CEO Position

Sam Trabucco has resigned from his Co-CEO role at multi-strategy crypto trading firm Alameda Research. Trabucco tweeted yesterday that he will stay on as an adviser. Caroline Ellison, who has been a trader at the firm since March 2018, will now become the sole CEO.

"I can't personally continue to justify the time investment of being a central part of Alameda," Trabucco said. "Everyone works really hard here, and spending a 'normal' amount of time at work is tricky — especially when you're trying to be a leader."

Sam Bankman-Fried, who is co-founder and CEO of FTX, founded Alameda Research in October 2017. Trabucco and Ellison had been operating as Co-CEOs since last year. Although no official comments have been made by Alameda, a recent tweet suggests that the departure is for personal reasons.

"I've reached a point in life where I have to prioritize other things," Trabucco said. "Lately I've been really happy, spending a lot of time traveling, visiting friends and family, working on "myself" and whatnot. Also I bought a boat, that's been cool. I needed to relax, and I'm really, really happy."

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