Author: Jody McDonald

Jody is a Brisbane-based freelance writer who specialises in writing about business, technology, and the future of work.

Categories
Crypto News NFTs

Lamborghini Launches NFT Collection to Celebrate its Founder

A museum dedicated to the founder of prestigious Italian supercar brand Lamborghini has partnered with crypto art platform Elysium Bridge to launch an NFT collection that will drop on September 25.

In what’s being touted as a “one-time event”, investors can now reserve their spot in line for the opportunity to “own unique pieces of supercar history in an unprecedented NFT drop”. 

The NFT drop will represent items from the Ferruccio Lamborghini Museum, which celebrates the life of company founder Ferruccio and was opened in 2014 by his son and heir, Tonino. The museum’s collection includes archival family photos and many of Ferruccio’s original mechanical creations, including the first Carioca tractor that kicked off the company in 1947, Ferruccio’s personal car collection, plus a helicopter prototype and offshore boat with Lamborghini engines.

Video tour of the Ferruccio Lamborghini Museum

Digital Drop Lets Investors Lambo Now

Lambo ownership has long been an aspirational symbol of success for crypto enthusiasts, and Elysium Bridge has widely used the “When Lambo” phrase in its promotion of the museum’s digital asset sale.

Elysium Bridge uses NFT technology to digitise art pieces and luxurious physical assets and replicate their value so that investors can own and trade digital assets instantaneously.

Lamborghini’s NFT drop follows an exclusive NFT auction of a design sketch held earlier this month by luxury car maker Porsche via the SuperRare platform. Also in August, German manufacturer Audi released an NFT collection of digital artworks in collaboration with xNFT Protocol.

Categories
Crypto News Social media

Twitter is Decentralising Social Media in Project ‘Bluesky’

Twitter’s plan to create a decentralised social web has progressed with the recruitment of a project lead. Software engineer Jay Graber will take the helm of Bluesky, which is actively recruiting additional developers.

CEO Jack Dorsey said that Graber’s appointment would speed up work to decentralise Twitter:

Graber’s career history includes software development on two crypto-based products: supply chain security and tracking platform Skuchain; and digital currency Zcash. She also founded Happening (happening.net), a site for social event creation and invitations.

Announcing her role in the Bluesky initiative, Graber said:

Over the past year, I’ve been working closely with a group of thinkers and builders from the decentralised social ecosystem. We published an ecosystem review in January, and my next step will be hiring for the Bluesky team.

Jay Graber, Bluesky project lead

What is Bluesky About?  

Back in 2019, Dorsey announced that Twitter would fund a small team to develop an open and decentralised standard for social media with the goal that Twitter would become a client of the standard. 

That idea become Bluesky, which states on its website that it will develop and drive the adoption of decentralised technologies to “re-build” the social web and return control of the social experience to users.

Throughout 2020-21, Twitter brought together people from different parts of the decentralisation community via a virtual forum to discuss the purpose and direction of Bluesky, and develop an ecosystem review. 

While the Bluesky entity is still being set up, it will operate independently from Twitter. 

Other recent examples of how decentralised networks are putting users in control include Dtravel, a platform that facilitates home-sharing, and cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift’s historic move to become fully decentralised, evolving into a community-owned platform.

Categories
Blockchain DeFi Tokens

DeFi Investor to Claim $17 Million ICX Tokens After Finding Coding Flaw in ICON Network

A Californian judge has upheld a legal claim by a cryptocurrency investor who exploited a coding flaw on the ICON decentralised network to amass 14 million ICX tokens worth almost US$17 million.

Staker Mark Shin filed a lawsuit against ICON for interfering with his property rights after the blockchain network discovered the error in its protocol and froze access to Shin’s ICX tokens.

In an order issued on August 9, US Federal District Judge William H. Orrick denied ICON’s attempt to dismiss the complaint, finding that Shin had “a plausible claim” – allowing the lawsuit to proceed.

DeFi Case Raises Novel Legal Issues

Shin amassed his huge stash of ICON’s native tokens by repeatedly exploiting a bug whereby the protocol added 25,000 newly minted ICX tokens to his account every time he initiated a redelegating process (transferring staked tokens between network nodes).

The judge said that while it was disputable whether common law property rights should apply to digital assets, Shin had made a case for his ownership of the tokens. As Judge Orrick stated:

Shin plausibly asserts that he has a stronger claim to possession of and title to the ICX tokens than ICON because he minted, created, and staked a claim to the ICX tokens on the blockchain.

Judge William H. Orrick

Denial of the motion to dismiss does not resolve the legitimacy of Shin’s ownership of the tokens. 

Exploitation and Hacks on Blockchain Platforms

A number of decentralised platforms have been compromised of late. Just this week Poly Network was the victim of the biggest DeFi heist in history, losing over US$600 million in a white-hat hack, though a portion of the funds have since been returned.

Last month, an unforeseen bug on Thorchain exposed the network to an attack that drained US$4.9 million worth of Ethereum from the protocol. Also in July, decentralised NFT platform Bondly Finance’s token crashed in value after an alleged exploit, although many suspect it was an exit scam. 

Categories
Australia Blockchain

Queensland Company HydroREC to Offer Blockchain Certifications for Renewable Energy

An Australian company based in Brisbane has been established to provide blockchain-enabled certification of green hydrogen projects.

HydroREC will develop solutions that help the green hydrogen industry independently validate claims about the origin and qualities of its products, to ensure people can be confident they’re buying or investing in hydrogen made using renewable energy. 

HydroREC’s solutions will be deployed on blockchain infrastructure from Smart Trade Networks, which is also a founding shareholder of the company.

Key Concerns for Green Hydrogen

According to Smart Trade Networks, fraudulent credentials, international incompatibility and duplicate selling are key concerns for green hydrogen, requiring greater transparency. They argue:

There is a crying need for global standards for credentials in this space, and for the credentialing processes and supporting claims, evidence and documents to be registered in a secure, transparent and publicly accessible data environment.

Smart Trade Networks, founding shareholder of HydroREC

HydroREC’s team has extensive experience in both renewable energy and technology systems. The company recently became a founding partner of the Zero Carbon Certification Scheme run by the Smart Energy Council – a peak body for the solar, storage, and smart energy sector.

The industry-led scheme will track green hydrogen product quality and the greenhouse gas emissions associated with its production.

Energy Space Ripe for Crypto and Blockchain Solutions

Renewable energy and emerging technologies appear to be a great match:

Categories
Australia Gaming NFTs

Aussie NFT Game Creator Makes 9x Profit Selling Virtual Land

Kieran Warwick, the Aussie co-founder of an NFT-based game, has shared news of the massive profit he made flipping a piece of virtual real estate. Warwick bought a $300 plot of ‘land’ in the popular blockchain game Axie Infinity and sold it for $28,000. 

Increasing the value of unique digital assets, represented by Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), is the cornerstone of play-to-earn games built on the blockchain. 

Warwick is a self-described ‘Yield Farmer’ and, with his brother Aaron, the co-founder of Illuvium, a decentralised strategy game and NFT collection built on the Ethereum network. He also worked closely with his other brother, Kain Warwick, to establish DeFi platform Synthetix.

Illuvium is a creature-based game similar to Pokemon where gamers capture creatures called Illuvials that are represented by NFTs, and also taps into DeFi users looking for yield farming opportunities.

Virtual plots of land in the Illuvium world could soon be a reality too, according to Kieran Warwick’s reply to a comment on his tweet:

Related article: 25+ Exciting Blockchain Enabled Games

Virtual Real Estate Has Real-World Value

The most expensive NFT real estate sale to date also involved Axie Infinity plots – nine rare plots were sold for 888 Ethereum, or around US$1.5 million, in February:

Games like Axie Infinity are also becoming a viable income source for some, especially in developing countries:

This guy says playing the game helped him afford a ‘real’ plot:

Technology is keeping pace to enable people to secure their digital assets too. In June, cryptocurrency hardware company Ledger announced it would use new funding to provide secure gateways to a growing ecosystem of NFTs, real estate, and other forms of value on the blockchain.

Categories
Banking CBDCs Crypto News Europe

European Central Bank Launches Digital Euro Project, Wants It to be More “Sustainable” Than Bitcoin

The European Central Bank has announced it will explore the possible creation of a digital euro, launching a two-year project to work on the design.

The project’s launch follows extensive groundwork from the bank including a digital euro report, public consultation, and experiments to assess the technological feasibility of a digital euro.

These experiments found the proposed digital euro core infrastructure would be environmentally friendly compared to the energy consumption of cryptos like Bitcoin. 

ECB has indicated a digital euro would complement cash rather than replace it, being a direct claim on the central bank that would reduce risks associated with digital payments and enable purchases across all EU countries. 

ECB President Christine Lagarde said: “Our work aims to ensure that in the digital age citizens and firms continue to have access to the safest form of money, central bank money.”

Potential Digital Euro Still Years Away

While the goal of the digital euro project is to be prepared for a digital currency, the ECB says the decision about whether or not to develop a digital euro would come at a later stage – and the development work could take an additional three years. 

ECB board member and chair of the high-level task force on a digital euro, Fabio Panetta, said the cautious approach was key to balancing progress with monetary and financial stability.

It [the project] will involve focus groups, interaction with financial intermediaries, prototyping and conceptual work. We will engage with all stakeholders. And we will continue to interact closely with other European institutions to define the necessary legislative framework.

Fabio Panetta, ECB

“Money and payments permeate our everyday lives and underpin the economy. Any changes stemming from technological innovation, if not properly designed, can become a source of disruption for our financial systems, economies and societies,” Panetta added.

How Advanced Are Major Nations with their Digital Currencies?  

A number of jurisdictions are running their own experiments in readiness for the adoption of digital versions of national currencies.

A digital dollar project being run by researchers from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and MIT already has at least two prototype platforms that allow users to store and make transactions using the currency. 

In April 2021, both the UK and Japan started exploring a central bank digital currency (CBDC), while China recently expanded on its initial CBDC work to trial paying some workers’ salaries in digital yuan.

Categories
Crypto News Markets Trading

New Stock Market Crypto Index Launches with 240 Coins

Assessing the market performance of cryptocurrencies just got easier for investors with S&P Dow Jones Indices launching a range of new crypto-focused indices.

The leading index provider added five products to benchmark the performance of emerging digital assets, building on three existing benchmarks released earlier this year that focused on Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

Foremost among the new indices is the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market (BDM) Index, which provides a wide snapshot of the cryptocurrency market and includes more than 240 coins at launch.

S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market Index Graph

In a statement announcing the indices launch, Peter Roffman, global head of innovation and strategy at S&P Dow Jones, said:

For more than a century, our indices have offered insight into how the markets are performing. Now, with the introduction of the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market Index, we’re providing that answer to cryptocurrency investors.

Peter Roffman, S&P Dow Jones Indices

The indices use pricing data provided by crypto software and data company Lukka.

Transparency Needed as Financial Markets Open the Door to Crypto

Indices offering transparent benchmarking for cryptos is another example of how financial markets are moving towards enabling investment in digital assets.

A growing number of countries are approving crypto-based EFTs to be listed on financial exchanges, including multiple Canadian funds, and Bitcoin EFTs in Brazil and Dubai. 

Although investor demand is high, many countries remain cautious about introducing crypto EFTs. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering a number of requests for crypto EFTs, including one filed by investment bank Goldman Sachs in March. The ASX said in May that it’s exploring the safeguards required to enable Australians to access a crypto-based EFT, because “these assets are broadly being sought by retail investors … ” 

Categories
Australia Blockchain

Aussie Government Blockchain Grants Program Invests $5.6 Million for Supply Chain Pilots

The federal government has funded two projects that will explore how blockchain can improve Australian supply chains by helping companies overcome regulatory hurdles.

Queensland technology company Everledger received A$3 million, while Convergence.Tech – which is based in Toronto, Canada, with an Australian office – received just over $2.6 million via the Blockchain Pilot Grants.

The grants aim to kickstart the adoption of blockchain technology to grow Australia’s economy, starting with a focus on simplifying supply chain compliance steps in key industries.

Announcing the grant recipients, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Christian Porter said:

The Blockchain Pilot Grants will demonstrate the potential for blockchain to help businesses to save money and cut red tape by improving processes such as tracking products throughout the supply chain and transferring customer information.

Christian Porter

Supporting Australia’s Critical Minerals and Food and Beverage Sectors

Eligibility for the grant required that projects were targeted towards demonstrating the potential of blockchain in the ‘Critical Minerals’ and ‘Food and Beverage’ sectors.

Everledger’s pilot will look at using blockchain to create ‘digital certificates’ for critical minerals that help the mining industry more easily meet compliance regulations. 

Convergence.Tech’s pilot will leverage blockchain technology to automate key reporting processes under Australia’s excise system – a commodity-based tax on goods including beer and spirits – to reduce compliance costs across the food and beverage industry’s supply chain.

The Australian government first flagged the grants in March when it announced funding to explore the feasibility of blockchain technologies to reduce regulatory burdens, in support of its National Blockchain Roadmap.

Categories
Blockchain Crypto Exchange Crypto News Crypto.com Sports

Crypto.com Partners with UFC for $175 Million in 10-Year Deal

Every UFC fighter who steps into the octagon will wear the logo of leading cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com under a historic new US$175 million sponsorship deal.

In addition to being announced as UFC’s official uniform partner, Crypto.com was also named UFC’s first-ever official cryptocurrency platform partner – a new sponsorship category for the organisation.

UFC President Dana White said the partnership made sense given the popularity of both brands. UFC is the highest-profile martial arts organisation with a global fan base of more than 625 million people.

No company has done more to grow the popularity of combat sports than UFC, and now we’re one of the biggest sports brands on the planet. We can help Crypto.com reach more people around the world through the strength of our brand.

UFC President Dana White

Crypto.com dubs itself “the world’s fastest-growing crypto app” and has more than 10 million users buying and selling more than 100 crypto assets.

Branded uniforms and other sponsored content covered by the deal will be introduced on July 10 when Conor McGregor takes on Dustin Poirier in Las Vegas. 

Crypto.com and UFC Embrace Blockchain to Engage

Crypto.com and UFC are both dipping their toe into blockchain-powered solutions to deliver content to their target audiences.

Crypto.com is collaborating with celebrities in sport and music to deliver exclusive content on an NFT marketplace, soon to be launched, while UFC will soon launch a UFC fan token in partnership with blockchain fintech provider Chiliz, to be made available on the fan engagement and rewards app Socios.

Categories
Australia Crypto News Scams

Latest Australian Crypto Scams Going Around in 2021

Investment scams involving bitcoin and other crypto assets are on the rise, leading to huge losses for many Australians and warnings from consumer protection agencies to be wary.

Record losses were recorded in June 2021 – mostly due to investment scams – according to Scamwatch, which is run by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC):

As well as using people’s interest in crypto as a lure, scammers are increasingly requesting that victims pay via bitcoin and other cryptos.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has seen an increase in reports from people losing money in crypto ‘investment opportunities’ that are usually outright scams. ASIC warns Aussies should be on alert because:

Offenders are difficult to catch and money lost on bitcoin scams can be difficult to recover, especially when offenders operate outside of Australia and all contact has been online.

ASIC

Types of Crypto Scams to Watch Out For

Investment scams:  

Scammers prey on people’s desire to make money fast with low risk, and often pressure investors to make decisions quickly without looking into the potential downsides or seeking independent advice. Investors are encouraged to sign up and deposit funds into accounts for crypto trading, either via a wallet or bank account – but the exchanges are fake. Scammers display fake data and no actual trading is taking place. Victims are encouraged to deposit more funds and when they ask to withdraw their money, the scammers either cease all contact or demand payment before funds can be released. 

Warning signs include:

  • Persistent calls or emails from strangers offering investment advice or hot tips
  • Ads for sites or seminars that promise ‘risk-free’ investments or how to ‘get rich quick’.

Romance scams:

Taking advantage of people looking for love is a growing area of scam activity. Scammers use dating apps and social media to connect and then manipulate victims into investing in fake crypto trading opportunities. 

Personal identity mining: 

Scammers attempt to obtain personal information (via romance and social media scams, phishing, hacking, malware and remote access scams) so they can steal your identity and access your online accounts. For crypto traders, this could enable access to trading wallets.

Illegal crypto mining:

The Australian Cyber Security Centre warns that cybercriminals are also attempting to hack into people’s computers via malware to illegally use their processing power for crypto mining. 

Read Our Guide on How to Avoid Bitcoin Scams

Learn more about common types of bitcoin scams and how to avoid being tricked into parting with your crypto.