Today in crypto, Monero is facing a controversial, economically powered hashrate takeover attempt by Qubic, a mining pool and crypto network led by Iota co-founder Sergey Ivancheglo, Roman Storm has asked for an extra $1.5 million to fund rising legal costs in his Tornado Cash case, and Bitcoin is approaching a key resistance zone.
Monero “economic attack” receives strong community response
Privacy-focused Monero is facing what appears to be an attempted network takeover by former top mining pool Qubic, prompting community backlash and concerns over hashrate centralization.
As of Monday, Qubic had fallen from the top spot on the Monero (XMR) mining pool rankings to seventh, according to MiningPoolStats data. After the community noticed the pool looked to be openly performing a network takeover, the pool’s hashrate plummeted until it fell into its current position as the seventh-largest XMR mining pool.
In a June 30 blog post, Qubic revealed that it had begun incentivizing Monero CPU mining via its own network. The mined XMR would then be used to fund buybacks and token burns for the Qubic ecosystem. “QUBIC miners now perform real-world tasks (Monero mining) that generate real market value, which in turn strengthens the QUBIC economy,” the post stated.
Sergey Ivancheglo, founder of crypto projects Qubic, NXT and Iota, has admitted that his Qubic network was staging a takeover of the Monero network. In a recent X post, he said that after getting control of most of the network’s hashrate, Qubic would reject the blocks mined by other pools.
This would lead to XMR mining becoming only profitable, or even effective, on the Qubic pool. Still, given the pool’s falling hashrate, that danger may be declining.
Roman Storm asks for $1.5 million lifeline as Tornado Cash trial presses on
Roman Storm, one of the creators behind the Tornado Cash protocol, is seeking another $1.5 million to cover mounting legal costs as his landmark crypto trial enters its third week.
In an “urgent call for support,” Storm asked for another $1.5 million, explaining that legal fees have been “piling up fast” as his team continues to “work around the clock.”
According to Roman Storm’s website, more than $3.2 million has been raised to support Storm’s Legal Defense Fund — 65% of a new $5 million goal. The Ethereum Foundation also reached its $750,000 goal to assist Storm’s legal defense.
Storm’s trial could establish a precedent for criminalizing open-source privacy tools, posing a serious risk to decentralized finance innovation while significantly restricting privacy rights.
Bitcoin nears key resistance zone as traders prepare for larger price swings
Bitcoin’s price resumed its upward momentum on Sunday, trading once again within a key resistance zone that analysts believe could determine the cryptocurrency’s short-term direction.
The BTC/USD pair climbed above $119,300 on Sunday, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, extending its recovery from Friday’s brief dip below $115,000.
Friday’s volatility was likely triggered by the sale of 80,000 BTC from a Satoshi-era Bitcoin whale. However, the market quickly absorbed the sell-off, prompting analysts to forecast a potential continuation of the rally.
Bitcoin is now approaching a “strong resistance” level between $119,000 and $120,000, according to crypto analytics platform Coinank, which has identified “dense liquidation clusters” in this range.
Analyst TheKingfisher noted that traders should brace for “potentially larger price swings in the near term” as market participants hedge their positions.
