Author: Caitlin Carey

Caitlin is a crypto evangelist with a deep curiosity and passion for learning and writing about everything to do with cryptocurrency. She has a background as a performing artist and songwriter and is a digital media enthusiast, with a bachelor degree in Multimedia.

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Blockchain Cryptocurrencies DeFi Gaming Market Analysis Solana

Solana Gains Steam, Breaking $100 to Become 8th Largest Crypto

Solana’s momentum is strong as it gained almost 50 percent in the past week, hitting new all-time highs daily in a steady upward climb.

Source: Coinmarketcap

From US$30 just a month ago, Solana has now reached a top of US$114 and doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. According to CoinGecko, Solana’s trading volume is currently at almost US$5 billion, with a market cap now just short of US$33 billion, coming for Dogecoin’s #7 spot, the meme coin with a current market cap of US$37 billion.

Solana Dubbed the ‘Ethereum Killer’

Solana solves the ‘Blockchain Trilemma’, which basically states that among the three factors of decentralisation, scalability and security, a blockchain network must sacrifice one to properly implement the other two. Solana has managed to find the answer to the issue of scalability without the need for layer-2 solutions.

Solana is a Proof of History (PoH) blockchain with much faster transaction speeds and lower transaction fees compared to Ethereum, currently the most popular smart contracts platform and blockchain of choice for the DeFi and NFT market. The Solana network boasts approximately 1,000 live transactions per second (with testnet numbers as high as 50,000 TPS).

It could soon become the choice for many dApps that will choose to build on the Solana network instead of Ethereum, which has been widely criticised for its network congestion, high gas fees, and lack of scalability. Recently launched Solana-based DEX, Mango Markets brought bullish news for Solana, as did the Degenerate Ape Academy NFT drop, a project based on Solana’s NFT marketplace, Solanart.

Major companies using blockchain technology are also adapting to the Solana network, as per July’s announcement by Australian renewable energy trading platform Power Ledger that it would migrate from Ethereum to Solana.

Categories
Crypto News Ethereum NFTs

Costly Mistake: Mutant Ape NFT Sold for 17 USDC Instead of 17 ETH Worth $54,000

Confusing USDC for ETH is a costly stupidity fee in the world of crypto and NFT trading. This kind of “accident” happens when you don’t pay attention, and there is no customer service desk to help you get a refund.

Mutant Ape #5275.

Last weekend, Mutant Ape #5275 sold for just $17 (0.0035 ETH) instead of 17 ETH (US$54,000) on OpenSea. Here is the transaction on Etherscan.

Floor price for the Ape is 7.95 ETH (US$24,200). The new owner of Mutant Ape #5275 scored the deal-of-a-lifetime discount after fooling the seller by cheekily sending through his purchase bid in USDC (instead of the usual transaction currency of ETH).

Mutant Ape #5275 Now on the Market for a Cool $18K

According to Etherscan and OpenSea, poor Douglass had spent about 2.87 ETH ($9,100), including fees, to mint Mutant Ape #5275 before mistakenly selling it to lucky recipient FungiblesV1 for only 17 USDC (instead of the 17 ETH he likely assumed). Only three hours later, he swiftly flipped the NFT for 5 ETH, making an easy profit of $15,900, which he then onsold to new owner Weevis who currently has a highest offer pending of 5.7691 ETH ($18,318.80).

The initial sale has raised the question of whether OpenSea should as a matter of course post a warning in the order of “are-you-sure-you-really-want-to-sell-this-NFT-for-a-99.9%-loss?“

Misfortunes such as this are sadly commonplace in the wild west of NFT collectibles. In early August, Crypto News Australia reported how another simple error led to a US$69,000 CryptoPunk selling for under one cent.

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Crypto Wallets Cryptocurrencies Hackers

Security Warning: Hackers Can Copy Your Clipboard to Gain Your Crypto Information

If you think storing your passwords and seed phrases in your notes on your computer is safe, think again. Your computer’s clipboard keeps this information and leaves you open to hackers who can intercept it. It’s called the “clipboard hack”.

The Clipboard Hack: How It Works

If you click on the wrong thing, or visit the wrong site, you can accidentally install a malware bug that can access your computer’s clipboard. Some malware is specifically designed to target crypto users.

When dealing in crypto, users are often copying and pasting addresses and passwords to exchange tokens from one wallet or exchange to another. Some malware bugs are designed to swap out the copied text – a wallet address, say – and replace it with their own, meaning if you aren’t careful you can accidentally send your crypto straight to a hacker instead of where you intended it to go.

To avoid falling victim to this, make sure to always double-check a pasted wallet address to ensure it matches the code you originally copied. Secondly, ensure you have an updated anti-malware solution to protect your digital assets from malicious actors. If you’re on a Mac, for example, you can use an anti-malware software such as MalwareBytes. Another way to protect yourself is to clear or disable your computer’s clipboard feature.

How to Clear/Disable Your Clipboard 

How to View & Manage Clipboard in Windows 10

How to Clear Your Windows 7 Clipboard

How to view and manage clipboard history on a Mac:

More Tips on Staying Safe

Here are some extra precautions you can take to keep safe when doing crypto transactions:

  1. Always lock your wallet when you are not using it. This will prevent other websites that you visit (that could be potentially dangerous) from connecting to it. Here’s how to do that in MetaMask:
Click on Accounts, top right corner, then select Lock

Lock your wallet with MetaMask

Your MetaMask Wallet is now locked until you login in again by entering your password

Unlock and back in business

2. Use a different browser for crypto; this way you avoid forgetting to lock your wallet and minimise your exposure to other insecurities. For example, you could use Chrome for day-to-day stuff and Brave specifically for crypto.

3. For extra peace of mind, close all other tabs except the one via which you connect your wallet. This way you avoid malicious pop-ups from other possibly dodgy website pages open on other tabs, which could intercept your wallet and steal your crypto. See below – this fake MetaMask pop-up, which looks almost identical to the real thing, tricks users into entering their password and giving full control of their wallet to the hacker.

Scam Alerts

There are so many scams to watch out for online; in crypto, even more so. Beware of fake crypto trading websites. Crypto News Australia has also reported on the latest Australian crypto scams going around in 2021.

Lastly, never store your seed phrases or passwords digitally on your computer or online; keep them safe as hard copies instead. Always be careful you are accessing the legitimate sites, apps and contract addresses. Double and triple-check everything. To be paranoid is to be aware.

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Crypto News Crypto Wallets NFTs Scams

Scam Alert: Fake OpenSea Support Staff Are Stealing Crypto and NFTs

OpenSea users are the latest victims in a phishing attack where scammers are posing as support staff in Discord to take over wallets and steal funds.

These fake support admins are targeting users who have asked for help and tricking them into giving access to their MetaMask wallet, resulting in the loss of everything in that wallet, including NFTs.

Breakdown of the OpenSea Scam

Here’s how it works. An OpenSea user in need of support requests help at OpenSea’s help centre or via the site’s Discord server. Scammers respond by sending private messages and inviting the user to a fake “OpenSea Support” server under their control (see image below).

After being walked through various troubleshooting steps, the fake OpenSea Support scammer asks the user to share their screen. They tell the victim that they need to resync their MetaMask Chrome extension with their MetaMask mobile app.

To synch your mobile MetaMask wallet with your Chrome extension, if you go to Settings > Advanced > Sync with your mobile phone, you enter your password and a QR code will be displayed. The scammer then screenshots this QR code and can sync it with the MetaMask app on their own mobile phone, without asking for your seed phrase or password (because you already entered it on your end).

Now scammers have full access to the victim’s MetaMask wallet and all the cryptocurrency and any NFT collectibles stored within it. They then transfer the user’s assets to their own wallets and there is nothing the real support staff can do to help get it back.

How to Avoid Getting Scammed

Always go through the official help desk ticket option for communicating with support staff to ensure you don’t lose all your crypto assets in your wallet to a dodgy scammer. As these scams are so popular right now, it is strongly advised that OpenSea users only open tickets through the site’s help centre and not use Discord or Twitter when seeking support.

This is a warning: never share your wallet’s recovery keys, password phrases or QR codes used for synchronising. Always be alert; if anyone direct-messages you through any platform they are most likely a scammer. Do not click on any links to an external server; this is a red flag. Real support staff will never directly message you, send you any link to click on, or ask you to share your screen or password, etc. These are all red flags. Go slowly and be careful out there, scammers are everywhere.

Scam Alert: The number of crypto scams continues to grow. Australians should be wary when dealing in crypto as phishing attacks, fake support staff, fake apps and fake sites are everywhere.

Categories
Bitcoin Crypto Hardware Wallets Crypto News Crypto Wallets Cryptocurrencies

Family that Invested in Bitcoin Early Keeps 74% in Secret Vaults Worldwide

The Dutch family who sold all their worldly possessions to go all-in on bitcoin are now happily living in Portugal (among other exotic places), sitting pretty on their fortune of digital gold which is being kept safely offline on multiple cold storage wallets.

Didi Taihuttu and family

Selling It All for the Bitcoin Dream

Didi Taihuttu, his wife and three children liquidated all their assets to buy as much bitcoin as they could in 2017 when the BTC price was just US$900. They won’t say exactly how much they have, but let’s do some rough maths. Say they invested just US$50,000 at $900/BTC. That’s 55.56 bitcoins multiplied by US$50,000 (approximate worth of bitcoin today), equating to about $2.8 million.

Decentralised Hidden Treasure vs Centralised Storage

The family stores almost three-quarters of its crypto fortune in secret vaults across four continents. The remaining wealth is kept liquid for more precarious bets, day trading, and risky GIGO (go-in-go-out) shorter-term investments. Taihuttu says he has two hiding spots in Europe, another two in Asia, one in South America and a sixth in Australia. The goal for the near future is to have a stash on each continent across the world. Taihuttu aims to do this so it is easier to access his holdings when and if he needs to.

There are, of course, other options for storing your cryptocurrency safely offline. Centralised vaults like Coinbase-owned Xapo offer high levels of security, but Taihuttu says it feels too centralised to him: “I prefer to live in a decentralised world where I have the responsibility to protect my capital.”

To learn more about what’s been dubbed the “Bitcoin Family”, follow them on their YouTube channel and Instagram page.

Click here to read more about why cold storage is a great solution for those with a large stash that they don’t intend to trade in the near future.

Categories
Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Ethereum NFTs

VISA Buys a CryptoPunk for $150k

VISA, the largest payment processor in the world, bought an Ethereum token. But why? Are they really interested in NFTs, or is it all just a big PR stunt?

The Punk bought by VISA

VISA bought CryptoPunk 7610 for 49.50 ETH (approximately US$149,939). The interesting thing about the transaction was that in order to purchase the CryptoPunk, Visa actually had to buy ETH to make the transaction. This is very bullish news for Ethereum, that companies as big as VISA are buying ETH to make transactional purchases.

Cuy Sheffield, VISA’s head of crypto, said in a company blog post that VISA wanted to “signal our support” for people involved in the NFT market.

Visa Enters a New Era of NFT-Commerce

VISA announced via Twitter: “We enter a new era of NFT-commerce, VISA welcomes CryptoPunk #7610 to our collection.”

We think NFTs will play an important role in the future of retail, social media, entertainment and commerce.

Cuy Sheffield, VISA’s head of crypto

Essentially what this means is that VISA is open to cryptocurrency. Crypto trader and YouTuber That Martini Guy says that by participating in the space, VISA is showing massive support for blockchain as a whole and adds: “This is one of the reasons why I’m so bullish and so confident on cryptocurrency in the long term. These companies know that they don’t have a choice. If everybody continues to use all of these systems, they have no choice but to adopt these systems.”

Since purchasing CryptoPunk #7610, the official VISA Twitter account has changed its profile pic to an Ethereum-based CryptoPunk NFT:

VISA Twitter profile – archive.is

It is no secret that VISA has major plans for cryptocurrency adoption. By getting on the NFT bandwagon and buying a Punk, this not only gets it some free press but also helps crypto reach the mainstream media. For more, read Crypto News Australia‘s recent story on the first Aussie VISA crypto debit card.

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Australia Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrency Law

Aussie Senator Says Crypto Regulation Could Attract “New Investment and Jobs”

Crypto is undoubtedly the most innovative and fastest-growing industry of our time and NSW Senator Andrew Bragg sees huge opportunities for Australia.

Bragg is advocating for a crypto-friendly country by implementing better regulation in order to provide incentives for new investors and create more job opportunities for Australians.

It might surprise you that the loudest voices calling for appropriate regulation are market participants. I have never heard so many people cry out for regulation.

Andrew Bragg, NSW Senator

Bragg is chair of the Senate committee on Australia as a technology and finance centre. “The Senate is developing policy options as we speak,” he says. “I cannot pre-empt what an appropriate framework will look like – that will be outlined in our final report, due to be released in October.”

The report will address important topics on Blockchain and how cryptocurrencies can promote investment in Australia and improve economic growth.

Crypto is Here to Stay and Needs Custom Regulation

There is more money in crypto than ever before as it reaches over US$2 trillion in marketcap. This sum contains both retail and institutional investors and a recent survey shows 43.7 percent of ETH is held by whales.

ASIC regulates digital assets to the extent that they are financial products which by definition causes confusion among investors. The ATO is attempting to apply existing tax standards to crypto­currency, which simply don’t fit. According to Senator Bragg, “All dimensions of this system have to be worked out: market arrangements, custodial rules, anti-money laundering laws, tax settings, and what to do with tokens, if anything.”

A major concern for the local community is the lack of a regulatory body, which many local crypto-company CEOs have already said is hurting the industry and has driven away potential offshore investors.

The problem is this: we cannot have an unregulated financial sector competing with a regulated one. Consumers are exposed to scams and fraud. Market participants run their operations flying blind. Australia misses out on investment due to the uncertainty. Unnecessary risk threatens the stability of the financial system.

Andrew Bragg, NSW Senator

Australia is Falling Behind Compared to Other Countries

The Australian government says it wants to establish Australia as a crypto-friendly economy, though compared to other countries it is fast falling behind and missing out on golden opportunities. Australia is simply not acting quickly enough to keep up the pace. If the country doesn’t get regulation right, it will be at a big disadvantage compared to the rest of the world and will miss out on a piece of the pie.

Other countries have adopted blockchain and established crypto regulations which have boosted their economies. The US, EU, Canada, the UK and Singapore are all in the process of implementing a comprehensive framework for regulation of digital assets and the crypto market.

Cryptocurrency is a Technology Revolution

Cryptocurrency adoption is still just getting started but it is growing faster than the revolution that was the internet. Prior to crypto, it was the fastest adoption of network technology in human history. Crypto has the same number of users as the internet had in 1997, and is growing at a rate of 113 percent each year. Crypto has around 140 million users, double the fastest adoption of any technology in history. Even if you lower an estimated rate of growth to around 80 percent, crypto will reach around 1 billion people by 2024.

According to Metcalf’s Law, the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of its users. At this rate, crypto is the biggest thing we have ever seen. It is changing the world as we know it.

Bragg says “crypto-assets have been allowed to flourish in an unregulated market. Now they are an indelible element of the financial system.” He adds that “by circumventing the gatekeepers of modern finance, cryptocurrency became a brand-new system and asset. Its development has given rise to more consumer choice and new jobs.”

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Bitcoin Crypto News Real Estate

Aussies Turn to Crypto as Wages Growth Lags in Australia

For many Australians, the dream of owning their own home is becoming more distant from reality as house prices soar and wages fail to keep pace with the CPI.

Wages have been out of step with inflation for years now and the cost of living in Australia continues to go up, with job insecurity also at an all-time high. Meanwhile the property market is booming as interest rates remain historically low.

For anyone looking to get into the housing market, accumulating enough money for a deposit has become an unfair race as prices are likely to grow well above 10 per cent in the time it takes to save. The chart below illustrates the problem:

Wages will not keep pace with the cost of living. When the cost of living is set to grow quicker than wages, families will be forced to make difficult decisions.

Jim Chalmers, shadow treasurer, Australian Labor Party

Australia Wage Growth Falls to 0.4% On Par with GFC Levels 

Wages growth in the June quarter fell to just 0.4 per cent, on par with the depths of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis which, until the Covid-19 recession in 2020 (now spilling well into 2021), was considered the most serious economic downturn since the 1930s Great Depression.

Last quarter wage data shows that at 1.7 percent, wages growth across 2020-21 was only just over half the 3 percent level the Reserve Bank of Australia considered necessary to lift inflation to within its target band and trigger a rise in interest rates. Additionally, real wages (the difference between wage growth and inflation) have fallen by 2.1 percent, the largest drop in 20 years.

Tokenised Real Estate is the Future

Increasing numbers have turned to cryptocurrency as a means to become financially free, or at least give it a go. Recent data shows that 40 percent of Australian millennials now prefer to invest in crypto over real estate. There is also a growing demand for workers choosing to be paid in crypto.

Because cryptocurrency is tokenised, it makes it an attractive asset class for millennials and anybody else who is curious about investing and trading, because you don’t have to buy a whole piece – you can just own a part of a bitcoin, for example.

As real estate investment now seems out of reach for many, crypto will help to revolutionise the industry and make it more accessible for those who want to buy property “shares”. Tokenisation of real estate is an inevitable next chapter in blockchain’s disruption of capital markets.

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Crypto News Crypto Wallets Cryptocurrencies Scams

MetaMask Wallet Hacked for $10k by Deceptive Discord Member

Dallas2626 posted a sad but not uncommon story on Reddit this week about how he lost US$10,000 from his MetaMask wallet from a scammer in Discord using the fake WalletConnect app.

Rule#1 in crypto: Never ever give out your private key or seed phrase or enter it to connect to a website or App that you don’t recognise.

Rule #2 in crypto: If someone messages you directly offering to “help” you, be warned – they are more than likely a scammer.

Rule #3 in crypto: Always double- and triple-check that the website (or app) you are on is legitimate by cross-checking the URL (or any addresses you are importing) and compare it to the project’s official channels – website, Medium, Twitter, or Telegram.

If you need a #4: Don’t trade crypto on your phone!

For poor Dallas2626 it is too late, but sharing his story will hopefully help others dodge a bullet next time a scammer strikes.

I got my wallet hacked last night and it was my fault… PSA from CryptoCurrency

Here’s a common scenario: you’re a crypto noob who invests in a project that you don’t fully understand. Looking for help, you go to the official group chat on Discord or Telegram to ask some questions. You might post something like: “Hey, can anyone please help me, I am new at this, how can I unstake my XYZ Tokens so they appear back in my MetaMask wallet?” A scammer who is trawling through these group chats all day every day, looking for victims, sees the perfect opportunity ripe for the taking.

The scammer sends you a message, which appears to be legit because they have even gone to the trouble of adding Admin or Help Desk to their name, details that help your brain overlook the first red-flag warning sign – they have direct-messaged you first.

Because you are so focused on fixing your problem, you thank them for helping you and let them lead you step-by-step down the path where you send them all your crypto. This usually involves you visiting some URL link they have sent you and/or entering your seed phrase or private key into a dodgy app or website that looks similar to the real thing (often with the same logos and graphic design, etc) except it’s not the official project, it’s a scam. It’s over so fast that before you realise what’s happened your wallet is empty and your crypto is gone.

Screenshot posted on Reddit: Dallas2626 and The Scammer

Do Not Give Anyone Your Private Keys

Scammers like the one who ensnared Dallas2026 often use the fake WalletConnect app. WalletConnect scams are everywhere. There is even a fake app in the Google Play store using the real WalletConnect logo. Some scam sites even have big red warnings, as the real WalletConnect site does.

WalletConnect Scam Warning

WalletConnect does not have a support team, so anyone contacting you purporting to be from WalletConnect is by definition a scammer. If you need to report a scammer site, WalletConnect has a Report Phishing Page where you can report a scam site URL to be blacklisted.

Watch the Crypto Wallet Scams – Fake WalletConnect Scam video below to further educate yourself.

If you have been scammed, you can try contacting Reclaim Crypto from the official WalletConnect website. With all the scams around WalletConnect though, honestly it could be better to just use MetaMask, which is quite a popular choice for crypto. Stay safe crypto kids!

For more on other types of crypto attacks, Crypto News Australia recently reported on “The Dusting Attack”.

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Australia Crypto News Crypto.com Cryptocurrency Tax

Crypto.com Launches Free Crypto Tax Software for Australia

Crypto.com has expanded its free Crypto Tax Reporting Service to Australia, making it easier for locals to file crypto tax returns.

Offering an alternative to Koinly, Crypto.com has tailored its Tax App to meet Australian tax requirements, working with professional tax advisers to ensure calculations are consistent with domestic laws for filing crypto taxes in Australia.

Click on the Try It Now link from Crypto.com’s blog, sign up and log in. From there, you can import your crypto data using the API Sync service or choose an alternative method. After a few minutes, you will see that all your crypto tax information has been imported. Now just export the file and download your tax reports and you’re done. Well, almost.

It May Be Free But It’s No Magic Bullet

Crypto.com promises to “make it easier to file crypto taxes at no cost”, but like Koinly, Crypto.com isn’t a magic bullet and doesn’t solve all crypto tax problems perfectly. Common issues arise with some transactions not importing correctly – which leaves you with the headache of tackling these errors manually.

Nevertheless, Crypto.com Tax is the first crypto tax product on the market to provide an entirely free service for anyone who needs to prepare their crypto tax, no matter how many transactions they have. Crypto.com Tax supports multiple wallets and exchanges.

For further tax tips, read Crypto News Australia‘s recent report on the Australian Tax Office’s free crypto tax fact sheet. And be aware that the ATO now targets Aussie crypto investors.