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Feel Good Friday: Malone Lam Crypto Heist, Altcoin Season Index, Federal Reserve Slashes Interest Rates

What a crazy week! We have the Malone Lam crypto heist, the Fed interest rates cut at FOMC and the altcoin season trending upwards ...

By Isaiah Mccall

Last Updated: Sep 20, 2024

Fact checked

By Sam Cooling

What a crazy week! We have the Malone Lam crypto heist, the Fed interest rates cut at FOMC and the altcoin season trending upwards ...

Welcome to 99Bitcoin’s Feel Good Friday! And what a crazy week! We have the Malone Lam crypto heist, the Fed cutting interest rates, and the altcoin season trending upwards.

Remember last month when we were in death and despair mode? I saw a viral post about how “No one cares about crypto anymore.”

They said the normies’ short attention spans have moved on to something else, and they’ll never come back to crypto. Everything is going to zero.

Well, they were wrong. Dead wrong. Duh.

There’s a lot to cover. Let’s get into this edition of Feel Good Friday.

Malone Lam Crypto Heist Busted

Two suspects have been arrested concerning a $243 million crypto heist.

The drama unfolded on August 19, when a Genesis creditor fell for an elaborate social engineering ploy. The crooks, posing as Google support, used a fake number to manipulate the victim into resetting their Gemini two-factor authentication, ultimately siphoning the funds into a rigged wallet. Talk about shiesty.

 

With $243 million in dirty money in hand, the thieves spread it across 15 exchanges to blur their tracks.

The DOJ has now announced it had apprehended Malone Lam, 20, a Miami-LA commuter, and Jeandiel Serrano, 21, of LA for the crime. Charged with conspiracy and laundering, they were cuffed Wednesday and await their day in federal courts in California and Florida.

In a collaborative effort, CFInvestigators, zeroshadow, ZachXBT, and Binance Security locked down over $9 million from Malone Lam’s stash. They’ve already returned $500,000 to the original owner.

This incident highlights how you need to be very careful, especially with the bull run back on. Speaking of…

Federal Reserve Slashes Interest Rates

One day after the Malone Lam arrest the bull run is back on. Karma does exist!

The Federal Reserve slashed interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday, and the market is already up 2.45%.

Here’s a chart of what’s likely about to happen; you’re welcome:

(X)

We boldly suggested earlier this week that a 50BP cut might indicate that the Fed sees something deeply wrong with the economy.

However, equities and crypto have become a major part of the US economy. It does seem like this pump will trigger a sustained bull run.

Sure, the US will also be 40 trillion in debt by the end of this decade (maybe 2027), and eventually, the interest on the debt will become so high that we’ll have to create a new narrative to invade our creditors.

Like going into China to help “de-escalate” and “maintain stability” during a “crisis” and install a new government, but that’s a story for another day.

DISCOVER: Here’s The Highest Growth Crypto ICOs of September 2024

Altcoin Season Index Shifts Positive on Feel Good Friday

(AltSeason)

Lastly, it’s time to start accumulating things besides BTC and ETH.

Bitcoin will go parabolic to end the year, but altcoins are set to move more aggressively.

BTC dominance is already trending downward as altcoins pump

Here are some altcoins to consider:

  • Solana 70b MC
  • Jasmy 1b MC
  • Sui 4b MC
  • DePIN Tokens 19b MC
  • RNDR 2 MC
  • WILD CARD: ONDO (After dumping on either side of major unlock Q1 2025 [January 18 2025]) 990m MC

Anyway, that’s all we have for this week’s Feel Good Friday. Let’s get this money!

EXPLORE: 10 Best Decentralized Exchanges for September 2024 

Disclaimer: Crypto is a high-risk asset class. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. You could lose all of your capital.

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Disclaimer
Crypto is a high-risk asset class. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. You could lose all of your capital.
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Isaiah Mccall
Isaiah Mccall
Crypto Analyst

Isaiah McCall is an ultramarathon runner and journalist for 99Bitcoins. He started at USAToday in 2019 and now has a Medium blog following of 30k+ and millions of views. Follow him at @AfroReporter Read More

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