Weekend Wrap: Ether Strategy’s wrong address, El Salvador’s Satoshi statue and more

Ether Strategy, a project styling itself as an onchain MicroStrategy, has blamed a UI misconfiguration for an incident that saw users deposit 165 Ether, worth $414,000, into the wrong wallet address the day before it folded due to a lack of interest. 

In a Jan. 31 post on X, Ether Strategy said the mishap came during the protocol’s testing phase and before the launch’s announcement.

“In this short amount of time, 165 ETH was deposited by users to the incorrect address,” it said. 

“The UI was fixed immediately. We have since sent 165 ETH into the deposit contract, making everyone whole.” 

Ether Strategy said the deposit contract was safe, the UI was configured correctly, and existing depositors were not affected.

However, only a day later, the project announced that it wouldn’t be launching in its current state. 

“There was not enough interest/demand to justify launching the DAO in the current state,” EtherStrategy said.

“We will update you here shortly when the refunds are complete. The team is going back to the drawing board to figure out what’s next for Strategy DAOs.” 

Previously, it announced that users offered over 40,000 Ether ETHUSD in precommitments, well over its 10,000 Ether goal. 

El Salvador gets its own disappearing Satoshi Statue 

A disappearing statue honoring Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto has been unveiled in El Salvador, created by the same artist behind a similar sculpture in Lugano, Switzerland.

Valentina Picozzi, the artist behind the Satoshigallery handle on X, said in a Jan. 31 post to X, that the statue was a tribute to Nakamoto, just like her other creation that was unveiled as part of Plan B’s annual forum in Lugano in 2024.

The statue is of a faceless figure working on a laptop and can only be observed clearly from the side, while those looking from the direct front or rear will get a see-through effect due to its slit design. 

“The statue itself wants to give the viewer this feeling of disappearance, and the sense that the inventor stays between the lines — as of today Satoshi exists in the lines of the Bitcoin code, allowing humanity to have the first decentralized payment system,” she said.

“It represents a hacker in his stereotyped pose, sitting with the laptop on his legs, and is a tribute to all the developers and programmers around the world that helped build the Bitcoin ecosystem, fighting for transparency and freedom.”

Picozzi, an Italian artist and orthodontist, first found Bitcoin in early 2012 and has since been working as an activist artist.

Australian feds warn 5,000 Aussies about Philippine crypto romance scheme 

A Philippine-based crypto romance scheme targeted thousands of Aussies before local authorities shut it down, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has said. 

In a Jan. 31 statement, the AFP said its joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre (JPC3) found over 5,000 Australian-based phone numbers linked to messages on an end-to-end encryption platform confiscated by Philippines authorities.

In an Oct. 3 raid last year, Philippine authorities arrested 250 people suspected of helping run a scam compound operating in central Manila, confiscating 300 computer towers, 1,000 mobile phones, and thousands of SIM cards.

The police allege the scammers posed on dating sites as either a Filipino female working in Australia or a local female resident in the Philippines to lure victims in with the promise of a romantic relationship before convincing them to purchase legitimate cryptocurrency.

The scammers would request between $183 (300 Australian dollars) and $489 (800 Australian dollars) before encouraging the victim to invest more money and ultimately transfer it into the scammer’s accounts.

Japan says it will finalize crypto tax reform by end of June

Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato has reportedly said the government will review its crypto tax laws by the end of June.

According to a Jan. 31 report by Iolite, Kato said during a session of the House of Representatives that the Financial Services Agency would lead the review. 

“We are discussing the matter in line with the 2025 Tax Reform Outline, and are considering the necessary legal arrangements,” he said. 

“The Financial Services Agency will verify the system regarding crypto assets by June of this year.”

At the moment, Japan’s tax system requires crypto traders to report their trading profits as part of their tax returns, which critics argue results in higher tax burdens that are stifling the growth of crypto in Japan.