GeckoPulse: Bithumb Accidentally Airdrops $140M in Bitcoin

This GeckoPulse episode covers February 6-9's top crypto news. Subscribe to our free daily newsletter to be the first to receive breaking updates!

A Costly Fumble

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb had mistakenly sent additional Bitcoin to its users over the weekend.

The incident was reportedly caused by a mixup with its ‘Random Box’ giveaway event, where users who were supposed to receive 2,000 Korean Won had received 2,000 BTC instead, worth approximately $140M.

Shortly after, the price of Bitcoin on the platform plunged by 15%, while the exchange apparently suffered over $3B won in withdrawals after users had sold the Bitcoin.

However, there is a happy ending, as 99.7% of the lost 620K Bitcoin has been recovered, while the missing balance was made whole using company reserves.

No More Namechain

ENS Labs has officially canceled the development of Namechain, its planned Layer-2 network. 

As such, its upcoming protocol overhaul, ENSv2, will now be deployed directly on the Ethereum mainnet.

In a recent blog post, lead developer Nick Johnson or ‘nick.eth’ noted that the primary reason for this pivot is the massive decrease in gas fees on Ethereum, where registration costs have dropped by 99% in the past year.

Although Namechain has been canceled, ENSv2 will come with a new registry architecture and improved handling of expiring domains.

Additionally, the service will remain interoperable with other L2s.

Since the announcement, the price of ENS has fallen by 3.4% from $5.88 to $5.68 today.

Tether Goes for Gold

Tether has secured a 12% stake in the prominent precious metals marketplace Gold.com through a $150M investment.

According to Tether’s latest press release, the collaboration is intended to extend the reach of Tether’s existing gold-backed token, XAUT, and integrate it onto Gold.com’s platform.

Additionally, both companies will explore the option of allowing users to purchase physical gold using USDT and the more newly-launched USAT stablecoin.

However, this process is still subject to compliance and regulations from supported jurisdictions.

Since Tether’s announcement, the price of Gold.com’s stock has risen by 4.2% from $50 to $52.10 today.

Gold’s recent run-up to its all-time high of $5,600 earlier in January has been cut short by a sharp correction, causing it to plummet close to $4,600.

While gold prices have rebounded slightly back to $4,800, the asset is facing heavy resistance near the $4.9K level, and is struggling to break past the $5K mark.

ETHZilla Expands its Options

ETH treasury company ETHZilla has acquired a portfolio of 95 manufactured and modular home loans for approximately $4.7M, through its new subsidiary, ETHZilla Modular Mortgage LLC.

The firm plans to tokenize the loan portfolio on an Ethereum L2 which has yet to be selected.

Additionally, the tokenized securities will support on-chain tracking and distribute cash flows automatically, providing an annual yield of more than 10.

The tokenized product is expected to go live at the start of Q2 on the Liquidity.io protocol.

Wagers To Watch For

Prediction markets allow users to bet ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ on the outcome of a particular event. Here are some markets to look out for.

When will BTC hit $150K:

• Before April 2026 (3%)

• Before MAy 2026 (4%)

• Before June 2026 (7%)

Powell out as Chair:

• Yes (93%) vs No (7%)

Oscar for Best Picture:

• One Battle After Another - 75%

• Sinners - 18%

• Hamnet - 7%

In Other News

Acquiring AI.com. Kris Marszalek, the CEO of crypto exchange Crypto.com has acquired the AI.com domain for $70M. According to a LinkedIn post from broker Larry Fischer, this is the largest domain name transaction to date.

Crypto Mentions in the Epstein Files. Newly released files showed that the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was linked to thousands of results related to crypto. Most notably, it was revealed that Epstein was an early Coinbase investor and had a close relationship with Tether co-founder Brock Pierce.

Introducing BASED. Crypto trading app and card issuer Based announced the launch of their BASED token. TGE is scheduled for an unspecified date in March. 36% of the token supply is earmarked for genesis distribution. However after community backlash, tokenomics changes are expected as team members seek to “make this right” as announced in the team’s Discord.

No Jupuary in January. Jupiter co-founder Siong announces that Jupiter’s annual airdrop event, “Jupuary” is delayed until the completion of this quarter’s edition of Active Staking Rewards (ASR).

Tether’s Hiring Spree. USDT issuer Tether is reportedly hiring an additional 150 staff over the next 18 months. The expansion is fuelled by USDT’s strong growth as stablecoin market capitalization continues to grow to record highs.

Is Tom Lee In Trouble? Tom Lee's BitMine Ethereum treasury firm now faces paper losses of over $8B after the recent market crash. Correspondingly, shares of BitMine Immersion Technologies have hit a 7-month low.

Pumpfun Acquires Vyper. Solana memecoin launchpad Pumpfun has acquired Vyper, a multichain trading terminal. Vyper’s team will be integrated into Pumpfun’s own trading terminal, which was previously announced after Pumpfun acquired Padre.

POLY Token Confirmed?! Prediction market Polymarket has reportedly filed for a trademark for the $POLY token. Punters on prediction market Opinion think that there is a 60% chance Polymarket will launch a token in 2026.

Relay Announces Relay Chain. Interoperability project Relay, announced the successful completion of a $17M series B fund raising led by Archetype and USV. Relay also announced the launch of their own network, Relay Chain.

Aster Launches L1 Testnet. Aster, the YZi Labs backed perp DEX has launched the testnet for their upcoming L1. The eventual launch of Aster’s L1 will increase transparency and put Aster alongside competitors such as Hyperliquid which currently operates on their own L1.