Crypto news
Web3 sees 15 new scam smart contracts an hour: Solidus Labs
The Web3 and cryptocurrency space is seeing a significant amount of smart contract scams proliferating, with blockchain risk monitoring firm Solidus Labs saying it has detected on average 15 newly deployed scams every hour. Solidus Labs said on Oct. 27 that it had been monitoring 12 blockchains including Ethereum, Polygon and BNB Chain since Oct. 10, and in that time, had detected 188,525 smart contract scams. Former United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) director, Kathy Kraninger, who is now Solidus’ vice president of regulatory affairs, said in the statement that “while some of the big rug pulls and scams make the news […] the full picture stemming from our data shows the vast majority of these scams go unnoticed.” The firm also shed some light on the number...
Visa’s trademark applications suggest more involvement in crypto space
Major credit card company Visa may be planning to explore digital wallet services based on two recent trademark applications. According to records submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Oct. 22, the Visa International Service Association filed two applications for its character mark to be used in software “to view, access, store, monitor, manage, trade, send, receive, transmit, and exchange” crypto assets and nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. The filings also suggested the credit card company may be exploring a move into the metaverse, with its namesake used in “virtual environments in which users can interact for recreational, leisure or entertainment purposes.” VISA has filed 2 trademark applications claiming plans for: ▶️ Managing Digital, Virtual, ...
Axelar partners with Polygon to deliver cross-chain communication to Polygon Supernets
Cross-chain platform Axelar has announced a partnership with Polygon to deliver secure cross-chain communications to Polygon Supernets. The company said that Axelar’s partnership with Polygon will serve as infrastructure for an interoperable internet of dedicated Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) blockchains powered by Polygon Edge. Speaking with Cointelegraph, CEO and co-founder of Axelar Sergey Gorbunov shared that this partnership is important to the Web3 ecosystem because the industry needs to scale from thousands of developers to millions. According to Gorbunov: “Application-specific chains are critical infrastructure for that step, but they present huge challenges without interoperability. Axelar and Polygon Supernets are enabling developers to build on chains that make it easy to...
Solana-based protocol seeking to decentralize ride-sharing raises $9M
The ride-sharing industry is poised for another paradigm shift with Web3 protocols, allowing new companies and drivers to bid for rides using a matching algorithm, according to the Decentralized Engineering Cooperation (DEC) — the company behind the Solana-based protocol TRIP that enables mobility-based applications. According to DEC, on the TRIP platform, companies and riders can collaborate and compete in a shared marketplace. The protocol also rewards the most active participants with a stake in its governance for both drivers and customers. The first company to operate on TRIP is Teleport, a decentralized ride-sharing application set to be launched in December and run by the parent company DEC. On Oct. 27, DEC announced a $9 million seed round co-led by Foundation Capital and Road Capi...
TV streaming providers should start relying on NFTs
Subscription-based services have become so ubiquitous it’s hard to remember a time when they weren’t the norm. Streaming companies have sought to take advantage of that norm by fleecing consumers for everything they’re worth — just look at Netflix’s decision to start running advertisements. Another benefit of leveraging NFT technology is that streaming services can increasingly be used to create communities. As with all consumer culture in the digital world, we are what we consume. NFTs, however, have the potential to make the relationship between the consumer and what is consumed far more profound. There is a solution to streaming “churn” A decade ago, who would have thought digital communities based on families of JPEGs would become billion-dollar enterprises? From Bored Apes to Pa...
MintMe.com Coin Secures 25 Million Dollars Investment Commitment From GEM Digital Limited
Belize City, Belize, 27th October, 2022, Chainwire GEM Digital Limited commits 25 Million Dollars to MintMe.com Coin. MINTME rose by over 50,000% in the last two years, and such news will only speed up its march to the top. MintMe, with over 70 000 users growing against the bear market, was built to serve as an alternative to fiat crowdfunding services. It allows users to create a unique token representing their brand or idea and have their fans and followers buy them as a means of donation. MintMe works as an electronic marketplace for these tokens, and it also has a traditional crypto exchange market within its services. Thirty developers have been working tirelessly for over a year on a new, not yet released MintMe 2.0 version. It will include many ground-...
Metacade Plans Unveiled. Why It Might Be the Next Big Thing in the Crypto Space
One of the latest tokens to hit the metaverse scene is within a play to earn gaming project called Metacade. It’s a platform that aims to be the leading hub for everything Web3, by putting the community first at its core. Social media circles have been speculating that it could become one of the best new platforms coming into the metaverse in late 2022, and in this article, we’re going to dive into why it could also be a great early investment opportunity for crypto enthusiasts. What is Play2Earn? First of all, what is Play2Earn, and why should you care? A Play2Earn (or P2E) game is one that lets players earn in-game assets that can be sold for real-world money. A game like Axie Infinity, for example, allows players to acquire Axies, which they then battle with to win Smooth Love Potion (S...
Building community resilience to crises through mutual aid and Web3
It seems that every time one turns on the TV, something, somewhere, is going catastrophically wrong. Whether it be Hurricane Ian tearing through Cuba and Florida, war raging in Eastern Europe, or floods devastating Pakistan, there has been no shortage of crises in 2022 — both natural and human-caused. And as the climate continues to warm, extreme weather events and other natural disasters are only expected to occur more frequently, which may also potentially lead to greater overall regional and global instability. In response, some groups working to build decentralized community resilience are now turning to blockchain and Web3 tools to help strengthen their initiatives. The United States experienced one of its worst natural disasters in modern history when the Category 5 Hurricane K...
Coinbase, Alameda-backed Mara launches African crypto wallet service
Some 2 million users in Nigeria and Kenya are set to be onboarded to a new cryptocurrency wallet backed by the likes of Coinbase Ventures and Alameda Research. Mara is a digital financial ecosystem project that is kickstarting its journey with the launch of a cryptocurrency wallet for signed-up users in Nigeria. A portion of the waitlist will be onboarded through an invite-only process starting on Oct. 27, followed by the onboarding of users in Kenya and Ghana. The project is backed by cryptocurrency industry heavyweights, having raised $23 million in a fundraising round headlined by Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research, Huobi and several other investors and venture capitalists. The Mara wallet will offer cryptocurrency brokerage services through its app, allowing users to buy, send, ...
ConsenSys commits $2.4M annually to launch MetaMask Grants DAO
Blockchain technology firm ConsenSys will spend $2.4 million annually to fund its newly launched MetaMask Grants DAO aimed at driving further development of the Web3 ecosystem. The fund will be led by MetaMask employees who will manage the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The DAO will be responsible for issuing grants to developers working outside of ConsenSys that are building products and services within MetaMask’s ecosystem and the wider Web3 space. The project will initially run for 12 months to assess its viability and success, with the DAO processing votes and proposals publicly through SnapShot on the Codefi Activate platform. ConsenSys is committing $600,000 per quarter in an effort to drive decentralization and adoption of Web3 mechanisms and business models. MetaMask’...
Core Scientific reveals financial distress in SEC filing, says its end may be near
Bitcoin miner Core Scientific filed forms with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Oct. 26 indicating that will not make payments due in late October and early November. The company blamed low Bitcoin prices, increased electricity costs, an increase in the global Bitcoin hash rate and litigation with the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius for the situation. The payments the company will skip would have gone to equipment and other financing and two promissory notes. Its creditors may decide to exercise remedies such as accelerating the debt or suing the company, it noted. Those actions, in turn, could result in “events of default under the Company’s other indebtedness agreements” and more creditor remedies against the company. It adds: “The Company anticipates that exi...
Phishing scammer Monkey Drainer has pilfered as much as $1M in ETH
An alleged phishing scammer going by the pseudonym Monkey Drainer has reportedly swiped around $1 million worth of Ether (ETH) via dubious copycat nonfungible token (NFT) minting websites this week. Well-known blockchain sleuth ZachXBT was one of the first to track and highlight the activity, outlining on Oct. 26 that: “Over the past 24 hrs ~700 ETH ($1m) has been stolen by the phishing scammer known as Monkey Drainer. They recently surpassed 7300 transactions from their drainer wallet after being around for only a few months.” “The two largest victims over the past day include 0x02a & 0x626 who collectively lost $370k from signing transactions on malicious phishing sites,” ZachXBT added. The blockchain scam investigator also went on to assert that longer term, Monkey Drainer has...
