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Trader allegedly saw over 5000x gains after Ankr protocol hack
As the BNB Chain-based protocol Ankr was exploited and the hacker dumped Ankr Reward Bearing Staked BNB (aBNBc) tokens, a trader took advantage of the price discrepancies to turn $2,879 into $15.5 million. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, security firm Beosin suggested that the multi-million dollar exploit may have come from vulnerabilities in the smart contract code and compromised private keys due to a technical upgrade. Then, the hacker minted and dumped 20 trillion aBNBc tokens, significantly lowering the price of aBNBc. As this happened, a trader reacted quickly and took advantage of an opportunity. Going through on-chain data, analysis platform Lookonchain recently shared how a trader allegedly managed to gain $15.5 million by making their way through the Helio Protocol...
Animoca creates billion-dollar metaverse fund for developers
The GameFi champion and metaverse developer Animoca Brands has a billion-dollar fund in its plans, according to a report from Nikkei Asia on Nov. 30. Animoca Brands’ co-founder Yat Siu said in an interview that the fund could potentially have up to $2 billion dollars to allot to mid to late-stage startups with a metaverse focus. The fund and the exact amount available to developers have yet to be finalized. Cointelegraph reached out to Animoca Brands for a comment, to which the company confirmed that the fund is “in the works.” According to the interview with Siu there will be no geographical restrictions for those to receive funding and the primary focus will be “everything on digital property rights.” He also said the funds are intended to speak to a more mature developmental atmos...
Mike Novogratz: Bankman-Fried is ‘delusional’ and headed to jail
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has been lambasted this week following a series of controversial public appearances, with Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz one of the latest to dish out a lashing to the former kingpin of crypto. On Dec. 1, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz unleashed a tirade of criticism towards SBF concerning his interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times annual DealBook Summit on Nov. 30. Speaking to Bloomberg, Novogratz characterized SBF as “delusional” following his declaration in the live interview that he never tried to commit fraud. “It’s kind of surprising that his lawyers are letting him speak,” Novogratz said before adding “having watched two interviews, the word delusional kept coming to mind.” The lambasting didn’t stop there with Novogratz ec...
FTX was the ‘fastest’ corporate failure in US history — Trustee calls for probe
The United States Trustee handling FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings has referred to the now-defunct exchange as the “fastest big corporate failure in American history,” and is calling for an independent probe to look into its downfall. In a Dec. 1 motion, U.S. Trustee Andrew Vara noted that over the course of eight days in November, debtors “suffered a virtually unprecedented decline in value” from a market high of $32 billion earlier in the year to a severe liquidity crisis after a “proverbial ‘run on the bank.'” “The result is what is likely the fastest big corporate failure in American history, resulting in these “free fall” bankruptcy cases.” Vara has called for an independent examination of FTX, stating it was “especia...
Front-running scams rampant on YouTube with 500% surge in 2022: CertiK
Front-running scam bots are significantly gaining traction on YouTube, with the number of dubious videos increasing six-fold in 2022 according to a new report from blockchain security firm CertiK. In the firm’s Dec. 1 report, CertiK explores how a wave of front-running bot scams are promising free returns as high as 10X a day, but ultimately end up swiping people’s funds. Notably, CertiK’s analysis found 84% of videos on YouTube mentioning “front running bot” were scams, with the number increasing 500% from 28 videos in 2021 to 168 videos in 2022: “There are common themes in all of these videos: free code and huge returns. Successful runners won’t give away free code on a social media site, they will sell it for a large amount on underground forums.” The scam itself genera...
Magic Eden follows OpenSea with NFT royalty enforcement tool
Magic Eden, a Solana-based nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, has become the latest platform to release a tool allowing creators to enforce royalties on their collections. It follows the announcement of a similar tool from rival NFT marketplace OpenSea in early November. According to a Dec. 1 statement, the open-source royalty enforcement tool is built on top of Solana’s SPL token standard and is called the Open Creator Protocol (OCP). This will allow royalty enforcement for new collections that opt-in to the standard starting Dec. 2. Lu previously floated the idea of NFTs designed to enforce royalties at Solana’s Breakpoint 2022 conference on Nov. 5, citing the need for NFT creators to have a “sustained revenue model.” Creators who use OCP will also be able to ban marketplaces tha...
Clearing company tests out securities transaction settlements on blockchain networks
The Digital Dollar Project (DDP) and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) released the results of their Security Settlement Pilot project Nov. 30. The project tested a simulated digital U.S. dollar in transactions with tokenized securities on a blockchain network under real-world conditions. The project was designed “to better understand the implications of a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) on post-trade settlement,” especially on DvP (delivery versus payment) settlements, sometimes called atomic settlements, that ensure securities transfers only take place simultaneously or nearly simultaneously with payment. No U.S. CBDC has been developed or even authorized yet. DTCC managing director Jennifer Peve wrote in her company’s foreword: “These efforts, which ...
P2P Financial Systems panel: Crypto core values and transparency are critical for DeFi
As one of the main growing sub-sectors in the crypto industry, decentralized finance (DeFi) has faced a challenging year amid market dynamics, cyberattacks and regulatory uncertainty. Its future demands more transparency and clarity in the regulatory landscape, according to a panel discussion at the International Workshop on P2P Financial Systems 2022 on Dec. 1. Moderated by Cointelegraph’s editor-in-chief Kristina Cornèr with Gaspard Pedruzzi, CEO of APWine; Daniel Perez, co-founder of Mero; Hugo Philion, CEO of Flare, and Niall Roche, CTO-in-residence at the University College London School of Management as panelists, the discussion focused on the DeFi future among a disruptive landscape worldwide. Perez emphasized the need for transparency for DeFi’s long-term success, as we...
MATIC attack: How smart crypto traders “got out” before a 35% price drop
Disparities in information access and data analytics technology are what give institutional players an edge over regular retail investors in the digital asset space. The core idea behind Markets Pro, Cointelegraph’s crypto-intelligence platform powered by data analytics firm The Tie, is to equalize the information asymmetries present in the cryptocurrency market. Markets Pro bridges the gap of these asymmetries with its world-class functionality: the quant-style VORTECS™ Score. The VORTECS™ Score is an algorithmic comparison of several key market metrics for each coin utilizing years of historical data that assesses whether the outlook for an asset is bullish, bearish or neutral at any given moment based on the historical record of price action. The VORTECS™ Score is d...
US Senate committee hearing on FTX fail brings gaps in regulatory authority to light
United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair Rostin Behnam told a Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee meeting Dec. 1 that his agency’s regulations contain “core elements that have served the markets for decades.” But as the fallout from the FTX collapse gets sorted out, notable gaps in current legislation have come to light, Behnam and the senators agreed. Sen. Tina Smith called the FTX collapse “shocking, not surprising,” and said that future crises will continue to occur as long as regulatory gaps remain. Behnam pointed out that the Securities and Exchange Commission has the authority to require basic safeguards be in place, such as separation of house and customer money and best execution of investment trades. “We know how to do this,” Behnam said. Non...
Party-to-earn: Blockchain breaking down the doors in electronic music community
Electronic music is big business. According to a report by the International Music Summit, in 2021, the electronic music sector was valued at $6 billion dollars and that sector is poised for significant further growth. That $6 billion dollar figure marks a 71% increase from the industry’s valuation in 2020, which was understandably much smaller due to the effects of the pandemic. While revenue is down from where it was in 2019, barring further massive disruptions, the industry is on pace in 2022 to surpass its pre-pandemic heights. This should be great news for artists and music lovers alike, but there is a caveat. As electronic music continues to flourish, access to festivals and concerts — the heart of the electronic music scene — has become increasingly exclusive. The price of concert t...
Socios boss’ goal? To knock crypto out of the park
What is a sports fan’s dream come true? To be the announcer at an AC Milan home game, in front of 75,000 roaring Rossoneri fans? To play a football match on the hallowed turf of your beloved FC Barcelona? To tour the garage of an F1 team pre-race, then watch the Monza Grand Prix from a VIP box? These are some of the biggest rewards handed out as incentives to join Chiliz, or CHZ-based, fan token schemes on Socios.com. There are also lesser, but still desirable prizes, like meeting your sports idols, choosing the music to be played when your team scores a goal, or voting on the design of next year’s team strip. Socios.com has now partnered with over 170 sporting clubs across 25 countries and 10 sports, including American football, soccer, basketball, cricket, esports, ice hockey, mixed mart...
