The National Pension Service, South Korea’s national pension fund, has reported purchases of nearly $34 million in MicroStrategy shares.

NPS is South Korea’s largest public pension fund and the third-largest in the world with over $729 billion worth of assets.

Wu Blockchain shared the news via X:

South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) disclosed that it bought 245,000 shares of MicroStrategy in the second quarter of this year, worth about $33.75 million. Previously, NPS bought 282,700 shares of Coinbase in the third quarter of last year. NPS manages $729.77 billion…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 16, 2024

Details filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission indicate the NPS acquired 245,500 of MicroStrategy shares at a total of $33.5 million. The filing relates to the fund’s investments in the quarter ending June 30, 2024.

According to news outlet Infomax, the National Pension Service’s investment in shares of the US-based MicroStrategy accounts for 0.04% of the fund’s total investment in US stocks.

Apart from MSTR, the fund also holds more than $51 million in Coinbase shares, $31.5 million in Roblox and over $61 million in shares of Block, Inc. The fund also holds shares of AI-chip powerhouse Nvidia, and tech giants Google and Microsoft.

MicroStrategy shares up 92% YTD

While the MicroStrategy stock has plummeted 20% as the crypto market struggles with choppy conditions. Despite falling from highs of $180 in mid-July to currently around $131, MSTR remains more than 92% up year-to-date.

MicroStrategy, as well as top crypto related companies such as Coinbase, are largely bullish amid growth and projections for Bitcoin. For Michael Saylor-led MicroStrategy, part of the success has come after adopting the strategy of adding BTC to its balance sheet.

MSTR has soared alongside Bitcoin since MicroStrategy first bought BTC in 2020, the latest surge coming amid Bitcoin’s push to reclaim $60k.

Saylor said in a recent post on X that MSTR has outperformed 499 of the 500 stocks in the S&P 500.

Four years ago today, MicroStrategy adopted #Bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset; since then $MSTR has outperformed 499 of 500 stocks in the S&P 500. pic.twitter.com/Db7GVeyc9a

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) August 11, 2024

The company acquired an additional 12,222 BTC in Q2, 2024, adding more than $805 million in BTC to its haul. Currently, MicroStrategy holds 226,500 BTC worth over $13 billion.

Poodlana, the fast-growing Solana meme coin, is set to list on Raydium, on Friday after running one of the most successful token sales of the year. 

Poodlana token listing is nearing

With four hours to go, the developers have raised over $7.9 million from investors, a figure that could top $8 million.

Poodlana, unlike other cryptocurrencies that spend months before listing in exchanges, will start trading almost immediately after the sale ends. Precisely, it will start trading on Raydium, just one hour after that. 

Raydium has grown into the most popular Solana DEX. Data by DeFi Llama shows that the network has over $910 million assets in the ecosystem. At the same time, it has handled over $2.7 billion worth of transactions in the last 7 day and is continuing to gain market share. 

Raydium is not the only exchange that is expected to list Poodlana. MEXC, one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world, has pledged to list the token on August 19th while the developers have hinted that a major tier 1 exchange – most likely Binance or OKX – will list it on August 23rd.

Listing the Poodlana token is just the beginning of what is expected to be a long journey to make the POODL token one of the biggest meme coins in the world. After its launch, the developers will continue marketing the token in a bid to make it the most popular asset in crypto. 

The next phase will involve building the ecosystem, such as introducing staking, where users can earn returns. They will also launch more airdrops and bonuses to reward long-term holders. 

The ecosystem growth is important in the meme coin industry, which is often short-term. Just this year, many meme coins like MOTHER, DADDY, and WATER surged, attracted buyers, and have now imploded.

Poodlana’s appeal

Poodlana hopes to change the short-term nature of meme coins. As part of its appeal, the developers have named it after Poodle, a highly popular Japanese dog that often sells for more money than other brands like Shiba Inu and Floki.

At the same time, it is a luxury brand that sees itself as Hermes, the most popular brand among the elite. While most luxury brand stocks like Kering and Burberry have slumped, Hermes stock has risen to the highest point on record.

There are other reasons to be bullish on Poodlana now that cryptocurrencies are retreating and the sentiment has waned. In a statement, Miles Deutscher, a popular crypto analyst, hinted that this boring phase could be a form of accumulation and that cryptocurrencies could bounce back soon.

We’re entering the apathy/time capitulation phase again.

In the last 2 weeks:

• Crypto YT views are down ~-30%
• Coinbase app ranking is down from #159 to #502
• Trading volume is down -21% (Binance)

Strap in. Things are getting boooooooring.

— Miles Deutscher (@milesdeutscher) August 14, 2024

The main catalyst for these coins will be the upcoming Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, the end of the summer season, and the end of the American election. You can buy the POODL token here.

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WazirX has filed a police complaint and is pursuing additional legal actions in response to a recent cyberattack that resulted in over $230 million loss, said the exchange in a Friday statement. Its immediate plans include “tracing the stolen funds, recovering customer assets, and conducting a deeper analysis of the cyberattack.”

WazirX has reported the incident to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-India) and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN). The firm has also cooperated with over 500 exchanges to block the involved addresses.

“Many exchanges are cooperating with us, and we are actively working with them on additional resources to aid our recovery efforts,” the WazirX team stated.

WazirX is actively working with forensic experts and law enforcement agencies to identify the attackers and is focusing on fund recovery and forensic analysis post-hack, the firm noted.

On Thursday, WazirX said it was hit by a cyberattack, resulting in the theft of over $230 million from one of its multisig wallets. The hack prompted the exchange to halt all INR and crypto withdrawals as a precautionary measure.

The firm stated that the attackers exploited a discrepancy between the data displayed on the wallet interface and the actual transaction details, which allowed them to siphon off the funds.

Following the attack, Shiba Inu’s SHIB token plummeted by 8%. At the time, the attackers’ wallet held around $100 million worth of SHIB; they swapped several altcoins for Ethereum (ETH).

The wallet currently holds 43,800 ETH, valued at around $153 million, Arkham Intelligence’s data shows.

According to blockchain analysis firm Elliptic, the cyberattack on WazirX was potentially linked to North Korean hackers.

A wake-up call for crypto regulation in India

The WazirX hack has exposed India’s crypto regulatory gap, according to Joanna Cheng, Fireblocks’ Associate General Counsel. Cheng called for clear guidelines on security standards, risk management, and consumer protection.

“There is no crypto-specific regulation in India so far, and the industry would benefit from clear regulatory expectations on issues like security standards, risk management, and consumer protection. Regulatory intervention in this space would also mean that exchanges that service large numbers of retail customers are held accountable for their actions (or inaction),” Cheng told Crypto Briefing.

Commenting on WazirX’s statement that the incident was “a force majeure event” that was beyond its control, Cheng pointed out that for the force majeure clause to be effective, the event, here the cyberattack, must be truly unexpected and unavoidable. If it can be shown that WazirX could have reasonably prevented or mitigated the attack, the clause might not apply.

“In the case of WazirX, the usage of the force majeure clause likely allows the exchange to halt withdrawals. However, if it is found that the event is in fact foreseeable and could have been avoided or mitigated through reasonable measures, the clause cannot be invoked,” Cheng noted.

“We believe that this incident highlights the importance of regulatory clarity and oversight, in order to establish a base level of accountability and investor protection,” she added.

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