Author: Jana Serfontein

Jana has keen interest in what cryptocurrencies have to offer in regards to NGO’s, governments and the financial system. And is also intrigued with the psychological effect that cryptocurrencies have on society.

Categories
Australia Bitcoin Crypto.com Payments South Australia

South Aussie Service Station Partners with Crypto.com to Accept Crypto

Australia’s On the Run (OTR) petrol stations and convenience stores will be accepting crypto payments as soon as July 2022. The move comes as Peregrine Corporation, a South Australian group of companies, teams up with global exchange giant Crypto.com to introduce cryptocurrency payments in all its OTR stores:

Move Makes Peregrine the Largest Australian Business to Accept Crypto Payments

Peregrine is the largest privately owned company in South Australia and is best known for its OTR convenience store/petrol station outlets, of which it has more than 170 across South Australia and Victoria. This move will allow customers to pay for fuel, snacks, and even Subway in more than 30 different cryptocurrencies. Once the system is finalised in July, Peregrine will become the largest business in the country to accept in-store crypto payments.

Peregrine is working with Singapore-based exchange Crypto.com to implement its Pay Merchant service as its payment settlement layer. Datamesh, a Sydney-based payments systems provider, will roll out point-of-sale terminals allowing shoppers to pay via the Crypto.com application with their crypto holdings.

Yasser Shahin, executive chairman of Peregrine Corporation, said:

The growth and mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrency adoption in Australia and the rest of the world have been phenomenal and has offered us a clear opportunity to tap into the momentum of this fast-growing space for the benefit of our customers.

Yasser Shahin, executive chairman, Peregrine Corporation

Karl Mohan, Crypto.com general manager Asia and Pacific, describes the deal as a “landmark partnership”, adding that it enables the crypto company to “walk the talk on what we set out to do when we first launched in Australia – support our customers to pay with cryptocurrencies at real-time market prices and avoid the cost and hassle of fiat conversions”.

Australia’s Foray into Crypto Retail Payments

Last year, Crypto News Australia reported that Australian companies were starting to accept Bitcoin as a payment option for their services. Companies from various industries are getting in on crypto payments; they include NBN Internet RSP Luantel, Queensland Solar and Lighting, Broadwater Build Perth Building Company, Dream PC Australia, and Pet Parlour Australian Online Pet Shop. However, in a new report published this year, it was found that Bitcoin payments have declined while other cryptos surged in payment usage.

Categories
Crypto News NFTs OpenSea

Leak Shows Users Will Soon be Able to Trade NFTs on OpenSea Using Credit Cards

Popular NFT marketplace OpenSea has launched direct payments on its platform via MoonPay, thereby simplifying the process of acquiring NFTs for those who don’t own cryptocurrencies.

According to OpenSea, collectors will be able to pay directly via Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Apple Pay and Google Pay, among others:

Sail the OpenSea on a Credit Card

This move, which will undoubtedly bring newcomers to the NFT space, is the result of a partnership with MoonPay, a fintech player that builds payment infrastructure in the crypto space. As it stands, OpenSea users are required to leverage crypto assets such as ether to purchase NFTs on the marketplace:

The MoonPay integration will change this going forward, and OpenSea visitors will have the ability to choose from an assortment of payment options. MoonPay is also the company that has worked with many celebrities to facilitate Bored Ape NFT purchases for the likes of rapper Wiz Khalifa and ageing pop star Madonna.

Many are excited by OpenSea’s new venture, but some are not altogether convinced it will succeed:

OpenSea Expands its Reach into the NFT Space

Just recently, OpenSea announced it would be supporting the blockchain network Solana (SOL), after a myriad of rumours, speculation and leaked images had hinted the platform would soon add SOL and Phantom Wallet support. OpenSea is the leading NFT project in terms of sales volume, accruing US$23.5 billion since its inception. It is followed by fellow NFT marketplace LooksRare, which has recorded US$18.16 billion in total sales volume.

Categories
Bored Ape Yacht Club Hackers Illegal NFTs Scams Tokens

$APE Drops 20% Following Bored Ape Yacht Club Discord Hack

ApeCoin has dropped 8 percent after the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) Discord servers suffered a phishing scam. The governance token behind the world’s largest NFT collection has plunged after news of the phishing attack was confirmed.

APE Witnesses Massive Fluctuations

APE fell from roughly US$14 on March 31 and at some point reached US$12.8, according to CoinMarketCap. The tokens were airdropped to Bored Ape and Mutant Ape NFT holders on March 16 and will serve as the governance token for the project’s newly launched decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO). APE will allow its holders to vote on the project’s roadmap and upcoming proposals.

Since the token launched, the price action has been rather volatile with APE going as high as US$39.4, before settling at a range between US$14 and $16.  

An unknown hacker gained access to the official Discord meant to host members of BAYC, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and Mutant Ape Kennel Club, three NFTs from Yuga Labs. The attackers posted a phishing link in the Mutant Ape Kennel channel disguised as a “stealth NFT mint”, which was used to steal Mutant Ape Yacht Club #8662 from one user:

No ‘April Fools Stealth Mints’

The team at BAYC indicated in a tweet that it had “caught” the issue immediately but cautioned users not to mint any NFT using a link posted on its Discord, and indicated to users that it had no April Fools stealth mints. According to several reports, clicking on the link would result in losing the respective holders’ NFTs. It has been reported that the hacker may have carried out the attacker via Ticket Tool, a popular Discord bot that automatically generates support tickets:

Twitter users have also warned of a similar exploit on the Discord server of Doodles, another NFT collection, but at the time of writing this had not yet been confirmed:

Categories
Chiliz FTX NFTs Sports

Chiliz (CHZ) Surges Amid Launch of Testnet Enabling Sports Brands to Mint NFTs

Chiliz, creator of the fan token Socios, is inviting brands to build alongside it on Chiliz Chain 2.0 blockchain network, which launched its first testnet on March 31.

The digital asset sporting project has announced the launch of the Scoville testnet for its newly established layer-1 blockchain network, Chiliz Chain 2.0, also known as CC2.

CC2 is aiming to advance the Web3 capabilities of high-profile sporting and entertainment firms to create NFTs and fan tokens, and construct DeFi applications and play-to-earn games along with implementing a range of programs and services for their community:

Chiliz Scores High on the Scoville Scale

Chiliz has defined the fan token market with its Socios platform, signing football heavyweights such as FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus, along with the UFC, F1 teams and esports clubs, with more than 130 partners in total. Argentinian football superstar Lionel Messi has signed on as the new face of the platform.

Chiliz grabbed the attention of the crypto world when its native token CHZ grew 7,000 percent in three months amid major sports partnerships. The token also pumped after a partnership with FTX was announced in September 2021.

CC2 to Run on Brand-New Blockchain BNB

The firm has bigger ambitions beyond fan tokens, which is the reason it is developing a second-generation blockchain to allow other sports and entertainment brands to build all sorts of Web3 applications alongside Socios. A rollout for a planned mainnet is scheduled for later in 2022. With CC2, the firm will shift away from its current blockchain that is forked from Ethereum to a brand-new one built on the BNB Chain.

According to chief strategy officer Max Rabinovitch, it has always been Chiliz’s plan to expand from its initial fan token focus into the wider crypto ecosystem – to let IP holders and other builders tap into a broader platform powered by the CHZ token. The broader fan token ecosystem generates billions in monthly trading volume, with the largest listed fan token, Socios’s Manchester City FC (CITY) token having a market cap of over US$58 million.

Categories
Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

NFT Artist XCOPY Raises $24 Million in Minutes From Latest Drop

NFT artist XCOPY released an open edition art piece last week, raising US$24 million in a matter of minutes. As part of the drop, several other auctions of more limited XCOPY artwork ran alongside.

Most of the funds came from mints of his Max Pain piece, sold as an open edition, but a series of ranked auctions also brought in a generous amount of money.

Max Pain Sells For a Painful Price

XCOPY has again proven that high-value NFT artwork is not going anywhere fast. The London-based NFT artist launched his ‘Max Pain and Frens’ NFT drop via Nifty Gateway. The total amount raised from the drop sits at a comfortable US$24.4 million, with over US$23 million of that coming from the headline act.

Max Pain NFT. Source: Nifty Gateway

The sale for Max Pain opened at 22:30 UTC, with patrons having a window of just 10 minutes to mint an NFT, with no maximum limit on the amount that could be minted. In total, 7,394 NFTs were minted at a hefty US$3,108 each.

Along with Max Pain, two auctions for more limited XCOPY pieces went ahead. The first, entitled Waster, was launched in an edition of six and used a ranked auction system. The top six bids, ranging from US$101,000 down to $91,000, received NFTs.

Waster NFT. Source: Nifty Gateway

Along with Max Pain and Waster, another limited edition piece named Damager Luxe used the same auction system, with a winning bid of US$79,999.

Damager Luxe. Source: Nifty Gateway

Fans who held five NFTs supported on Nifty Gateway’s marketplace could also enter a raffle to purchase one of 24 Gourmet Spicy pieces for US$1.

Gourmet Spicy NFT. Source: Nifty Gateway

Also, in a follow-up to XCOPY’s last open edition drop, Afterburn holders could burn either one or two of their NFTs to receive a selection of other previously unreleased works. Afterburn was released in March 2021 for US$999 in a five-minute open edition with two other NFTs.  

NFTs Fetch Exorbitant Prices

Last year, two transactions caught the attention of the NFT community for the masses of money involved. An Axie Infinity land plot sold for US$2.5 million, a record for the game. Beeple, another NFT artist known for the inflated amounts his artworks sell for, sold programmable artwork for a whopping US$29 million. Those two cases only add to the amazing feats XCOPY has achieved.

Categories
Australia Blockchain Crypto News DAO DeFi Immutable X Maple NFTs Synthetix

Australian Web3 Ecosystem Is Growing Fast, Driven By Crypto and Blockchain Technology

The Australian Web3 ecosystem has grown immensely over the past couple of years and is driven by cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

The emergence of NFTs, DeFi, and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) has expanded the space. The days of ICO token raises have been superseded by building meaningful communities. Notable communities/projects in the space include Immutable, Synthetix, Sigma Prime, Maple Finance, and DAOunder, all of which have helped garner increasing interest in the ecosystem.

Australia web3 economy. Source: crypblizz

The branding surrounding Web3 has made the space more inviting than the nuanced word ‘crypto’ would have suggested a few years ago.

Aussie Blockchain History in Brief

  • pre-bitcoin 1970 -2000s: cypherpunk movement;
  • 2009 – 2013: the birth of Bitcoin and underground knowledge of the space;
  • 2014 – 2016: Ethereum launches and early adopters spring up;
  • 2017 – 2018: ICO boom and an influx of capital and interest;
  • 2018 – 2020: ‘DeFi Summer’, where projects started to build the foundations for decentralised finance;
  • 2021: NFTs, DeFi and DAO boom interest; and
  • 2022: who knows?

The following categories summarise the activities within the Australian Web3 ecosystem:

Communities/DAOs

These form the backbone that brings people together, and with recent events, many communities have moved online to Discord. In-person events such as Blockchain Week show that people are willing to meet in real life again. By bringing it all together, people feel a sense of community and the ecosystem grows accordingly.

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)/Gaming

NFTs took 2021 by storm and a lot of people are forking out vast amounts of money for expensive JPEGs. However, a lot of great Aussie projects such as Immutable, which was recently valued at US$3.5 billion, and Illuvium have also been making waves in the Web3 ecosystem.

Decentralised Finance (DeFi)

DeFi is such a vast category that it can be been broken down into the following:

  • Layer 1 blockchains: Fantom, Algorand, ThorChain;
  • Finance layer: Synthetix, Ren Protocol, Maple Finance, Zeta Markets and Drift;
  • Infrastructure: Rocket Pool, Chainflip, Sigma Prime; and
  • Identity: ArcX and BronID.

Venture Capital

Over the past two years, traditional Web2 funds have been spinning off an extra allocation into the space. Airtree, for example, launched a US$50 million Web3 fund, which is a very healthy sign for the growth of this sector.

Media

The right kind of media is essential in this growing space, with click-bait schemes popping up left, right and centre. Influencers who are voicing their opinions in this space can be invaluable.

Legal/Regulatory/Government

Bodies like Blockchain Australia are helping form relationships and policies within the ecosystem. Collaboration between these associations and regulatory bodies will accelerate the adoption process.

Exchanges and Retail Investors

Retail investors use these exchange platforms to enter the Web3 markets. BTC Markets, Independent Reserves, Coinjar and Coinstop are some of the first Australian native exchanges.

Categories
Bitcoin Markets Stablecoins Terra

Terra’s Stablecoin UST Market Cap Rises 700% in Past 6 Months

The market capitalisation of the algorithmic stablecoin Terra (UST) has soared in comparison to its longer-running counterpart DAI. Year-to-date, UST’s market cap has increased 700 percent, while DAI’s is up 5.7 percent.

Market capitalisation of UT vs DAI. Source: Galaxy Digital Research

What is Terra?

Terra is a blockchain protocol underpinned by a suite of decentralised stablecoins, the most popular being TerraUSD, or UST, an algorithmic stablecoin that runs on its own Tendermint blockchain. The stablecoins maintain their peg via a coin called LUNA, a volatile cryptocurrency whose elasticity of supply keeps the price of the stablecoin in check.

Voted to Burn

UST trended upwards sharply over the November-December period, starting at under US$3 billion in November. The reason for the major uptake in gains came in mid-November after the Terra community voted to burn 89 million LUNA that had been accumulated in the Terra treasury in exchange for UST. According to the founder of Terra Do Kwon, US$2.7 billion had been minted in this way.

UST Now Interacts With BTC Directly

To understand how Bitcoin links with UST, the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) announced last week that it would be buying US$10 billion worth of Bitcoin, stating that:

As an algorithmic stablecoin, UST’s peg is maintained by a series of open market operations, arbitrage incentives, and countercyclical levers within the Terra protocol to offset market forces pushing the UST peg above or below one USD. LUNA, Terra’s reserve, staking and governance asset, retains an elastic supply to help neutralise directional market pressures impacting the peg.

LFG announcement

Simply put, Bitcoin is used to restore the UST’s peg parity to the US dollar at times when there are market sell-offs.

Categories
Bitcoin Bitcoin Mining Crypto News

US Energy Giant ExxonMobil is Mining Bitcoin With Natural Gas 

ExxonMobil is diverting some of the natural gas it has no use for to power cryptocurrency mining operations in North Dakota. The oil and gas behemoth has partnered with Crusoe Energy Systems to convert the gas into mobile generators used for mining operations onsite:

It’s a Win-Win Situation

Launched in January 2021, the joint company is already looking to set up similar operations in Alaska, Nigeria, Argentina, Guyana and Germany, according to Bloomberg. In October last year, Texas led the way in using natural gas flares for mining bitcoin.

The project uses excess natural gas that would have been burned off via the flaring process and is now being put to use to help energy-intensive crypto mining operations find a source of power that would otherwise be wasted. Flared gas will be provided to bitcoin miners at other sites across the globe:

Crusoe Energy Systems is the pioneer of using wasted gas to power bitcoin mining operations and is now taking gas from an oil well pad in the Bakken shale basin of the northern US to power mobile generators used for bitcoin mining operations.

Crusoe Energy is now globally recognised for its “innovative” solution to flaring, which has become standard industry practice due to a lack of transportation infrastructure.

Twitterverse Goes Off in Response

According to ExxonMobil spokeswoman Sarag Nordin, “[We] continuously evaluate emerging technologies aimed at reducing flaring volumes across our operations.” She added that the company’s emissions reduction plan was expected to achieve World Bank Zero Routine Flaring by 2030.

The Twitterverse went crazy when the news was published:

Categories
Glitch Scams Solana

Cashio Token Plummets to Zero Amid $28 Million ‘Infinite Mint Glitch’

Cashio, a Solana-based algorithmic stablecoin project, has been exploited for US$52.8 million in an “infinite mint glitch”. Following the attack, the project’s total locked value (TVL) dropped from over US$28 million to US$579,701, and the project’s stablecoin CASH took a nosedive from US$1 to zero.

Cashio developer oxGhostChain took to Twitter to warn people “not to mint any CASH” and added that the team “are investigating the issue and we believe we have found the root cause. Please withdraw your funds from pools. We will publish a postmortem ASAP”:

$28m Loss Just the Beginning

The attack was initially believed to have only siphoned off US$28 million from Cashio’s protocol, but after investigations the results were bleak, as was the reaction on Twitter:

CASH price drop following the attack. Source: DeFi Llama

Ongoing Tale of Woe for Solana

Anyone can mint tokens on the platform by depositing liquidity tokens for the two stablecoins USDC and USDT from the Saber platform. Thereafter, users can redeem the stablecoin for the underlying liquidity tokens.

Solana seems to be experiencing ever more difficulties. Along with this latest exploit, the Solana network was down temporarily in January after experiencing a DDoS attack.

Categories
DeFi Illegal NFTs Scams Tokens

Crypto Venture Capitalist Loses $1.7 Million in NFT Hot Wallet Phishing Attack

Arthur Cheong, founder of DeFi and Web3-focused crypto venture capitalist firm Defiance Capital, tweeted this week that a hacker had stolen over US$1.7 million worth of NFTs from his crypto wallet.

Pieces stolen include five CloneXs, 17 Azukis, 33 Second Selfs, two Hedgies and two Tsubasa NFTs, according to security firm PeckShield. A total of 59 NFTs were stolen.

Cheong said the unknown hacker compromised his device using a technique known as ‘spear phishing’:

Earlier this month, an unknown hacker began draining NFTs from an Ethereum wallet owned by Cheong, which he later confirmed on Twitter. The hacker then proceeded to sell the stolen NFTs on OpenSea and also transferred other tokens such as wETH, Lido DAO, LooksRare and DYDX to their wallet.

As it stands, the perpetrator’s wallet currently contains about 585 ETH, or around US$1.7 million, that can all be traced back to Cheong’s wallet. This figure may increase as the hacker appears to be still moving funds out of Cheong’s account:

Spear Phishing Email Likely Suspect

Cheong said the hacker used what is called a ‘spear phishing’ email to deploy malware on his device, which then proceeded to extract the seed phrase to his crypto wallet:

Phishing Attacks on the Rise

This is sadly not a unique incident, with the incidence of phishing scams rising dramatically this year. In January, OpenSea lost US$3 million in stolen NFTs. In a similar fashion, US$790,000 worth of Rare Bear NFTs were stolen in a brazen phishing attack just last week.