Chicago-based Jump Trading acquired Certus One, the developer behind Wormhole, in August.
Wormhole, an online platform that allows the transfer of information across crypto networks, said on Wednesday it had been “exploited” for 120,000 digital tokens connected to the second-largest cryptocurrency, ether.
At the time of its announcement, the market value of the tokens was just over $320 million.
The theft was the latest to hit the fast-growing but mostly unregulated DeFi sector. DeFi platforms allow users to lend, borrow and save — usually in crypto — while bypassing traditional gatekeepers of finance such as banks.
“All funds have been restored and Wormhole is back up,” the platform said on Twitter after earlier saying on its Telegram channel that “all funds are safe.”
Cash has poured into DeFi sites, mirroring the explosion of interest in cryptocurrencies as a whole. Many investors, facing historically low or sub-zero interest rates, are drawn to DeFi by the promise of high returns on savings.
— Reuters
LABOR
Mexican union wins key battle at GM plant
An upstart union supported by international activists won a sweeping victory on Thursday to represent General Motors workers in the central Mexican city of Silao, opening the door to bigger raises that employees long felt were out of reach.
The union, SINTTIA, won with 78 percent of the vote, beating three rivals including Mexico’s biggest labor organization that had held the contract at the automaker for 25 years.
The vote by several thousand workers was required under a Mexican labor reform that underpins a trade agreement with the United States and Canada, and was closely watched by the U.S. government.
The AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor organization, celebrated the vote as a win for workers across the auto sector.
“Workers will advocate for higher wages and improved health and safety standards . . . helping to set new standards in the automobile industry,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement. “This vote represents a rejection of the past.”
GM said it would work with SINTTIA to begin a contract negotiation and thanked employees for voting.
“General Motors recognizes and appreciates the active participation of employees,” the company said in a statement.
— Reuters
Also in BusineSS
Merck said on Thursday it expects its 2022 sales to increase as much as 18 percent over last year, mostly on sales of its new covid-19 pill, molnupiravir. The drugmaker said sales of the covid-19 drug were $952 million in the fourth quarter, and it expects another $5 billion to $6 billion in molnupiravir sales in 2022. Merck developed the antiviral pill — and shares the profits equally — with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Merck still expects to produce 30 million treatment courses of molnupiravir by the end of the year.
Wag Labs, the developer of dog-walking app Wag!, said on Thursday it plans to go public by merging with a blank-check firm in a deal valued at $350 million. The merger with CHW Acquisition Corp. will provide gross cash proceeds of nearly $175 million to the combined company, which will be majority owned by Wag’s shareholders. The combined entity will be named Wag! Group and trade on the Nasdaq under the under the symbol “PET” after the deal closes, which is expected in the second quarter of this year.
A record 50 percent of U.S. small-business owners said they raised compensation in January amid still-elevated job openings, the National Federation of Independent Business said Thursday. With some 47 percent of small businesses reporting job openings last month that they could not fill, employers have been raising wages to attract skilled candidates.
Coming today
8:30 a.m.: Labor Department releases employment data for January.
— From news services