Author: Robert Drage

Robert is a freelance researcher, with a background in information science currently interested in blockchain technology and technical developments in the field.

Categories
Blockchain Crypto News DeFi Travel

Decentralised Accommodation Site Grows 120 Times Faster Than Airbnb

Dtravel, a new decentralised travel platform in the home-sharing economy, has already recorded massive growth. On July 21, the company announced it had signed on over 200,000 properties in more than 2000 cities since last month’s launch.

Dtravel’s goal is to have over one million listings within its first 12 months of operation. At the current rate of expansion it has acquired listings 120 times faster than Airbnb, which took two and a half years to acquire 50,000 listed properties.

The company combines efforts from former executives of Airbnb, Expedia, and Binance-backed Travala.com. The platform aims to enhance short- and long-term stays, which can be paid for in cryptocurrency and by traditional methods.

The platform will be governed by the Dtravel Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) and users who hold TRVL tokens. Tokens can be staked to qualify for rewards, book stays and participate in platform governance.

This is done by leveraging decentralised finance (DeFi) blockchain technology to facilitate smart contracts, which cuts out the middleman and acts as the backbone of the platform.

Recently, ShapeShift crypto exchange also decentralised the company and left operations to the DAO. Australian lawmakers are in the process of establishing DAOs as their own entity.

With travel starting to rebound and a record level of interest in blockchain technologies like cryptocurrencies, Dtravel gives eager people what has been missing to date: control and ownership over their own travel experiences. By allowing guests and hosts full participation in their experiences and in the economy they are creating, Dtravel fulfils the true mission of sharing economies.

Jochem Wijnands, founder, TRVL

Dtravel already has partnerships with large property managers Ministry of Villas and In Residence. More partnerships are being finalised and will be announced soon.

Home-Sharing Economy in the Hands of the People

Among current problems with the home-sharing economy are that a handful of centralised corporations dominate it, and that it is categorised by high fees, impersonal communication mediated by companies, and a lack of crypto payment options.

Dtravel wants to solve these problems by “putting ownership, control, and decision-making back into the hands of users through blockchain technology”. By doing this it has reduced fees – which can run as high as 20 percent – down to 7.5 percent, allowing hosts to earn more per booking.

Additionally, TRVL tokens can be used to align the company with the economic interests of its users, not just those of the organisation and its shareholders.

The next generation of hosts want a true sharing economy, not a shareholder economy. Dtravel is the opposite of a centralised company; decision-making power and value within the platform are shared by members of the community, meaning hosts and guests.

Luke Kim, marketing lead, Dtravel

The Dtravel main network launch, along with the booking platform, will be ready for use by both hosts and guests by Q3 2021.

Categories
Binance Binance Australia Crypto News Regulation

Binance To Stop Support For Stock Tokens

Various jurisdictions, including Hong Kong and Lithuania, have issued warnings to Binance for trading in stock tokens for which it is not licensed to conduct such “regulated activity”.

On July 16, Binance announced that the exchange has halted selling its digital tokens that were linked to shares of companies, known as “stock tokens” that could be purchased for shares of publicly traded companies including Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, and Tesla Inc.

Stock tokens are now unavailable for purchase on Binance.com, and they will no longer support any stock tokens after October 14, 2021. Binance users holding stock tokens can hold them over the next 90 days, but will not be able to sell positions after that date.

Today, we are announcing that we will be winding down support for stock tokens on Binance.com to shift our commercial focus to other product offerings.

Binance

UK, Japan, Germany, Hong Kong, Lithuania Issue Warnings

The decision comes against the backdrop of an ongoing regulatory crackdown, with Hong Kong becoming the latest to declare “no entity in the Binance group is licensed or registered to conduct ‘regulated activity’ in Hong Kong”.

The list includes regulatory bodies in Italy, Lithuania, the UK, Japan and Germany issuing warnings that the crypto exchange is not licensed to be offering regulated services in their markets.

Binance has been under the microscope of various regulators, one of the reasons being that it is by far the largest crypto exchange, handling the majority of trade volume. As Binance offers a wide range of services, from cryptocurrency spot and derivatives trading to digital wallets and staking, regulators want to keep an eye out and make sure no laws are broken.

Binance Australia

Some products and services are offered by Binance.com within Australia, but not by Binance Australia (BAU) which is the operating company within Australia. Crypto News Australia contacted Binance.com to comment on the matter:

Just like to first clarify that stock tokens are sold and issued by CM-Equity AG. It was a commercial decision to cease support for stock tokens on Binance.com. As Binance grows as a part of the community, we are continually evaluating our offerings and we believe that shifting our focus to other product offerings will better serve our users, and we are committed to making this transition as straightforward as possible for those affected.

We take our legal obligations very seriously and engage with regulators and law enforcement in a collaborative fashion. We don’t comment on specific matters or inquiries.

Binance spokesperson

Crypto Regulation Is a Journey

In a letter by Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, he stated that compliance is a “journey” and that most of the applications of DeFi have not yet been put into law or regulatory frameworks. However, CZ added that Binance is committed to putting more systems in place to protect its users, and to work with law enforcement and regulatory bodies.

More regulations are, in fact, positive signs that an industry is maturing, because this sets the foundation for a broader population to feel safe to participate in crypto […] When the car was first invented, there weren’t any traffic laws, traffic lights or even safety belts. Laws and guidelines were developed along the way as the cars were running on the road.

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, Binance CEO

Categories
Coinbase Crypto News Scams

Family Loses $75,000 in Crypto via Coinbase SIM Card Swap Scam

A US family of four has had their crypto savings drained through a fraudulent SIM-swap. Their Coinbase account holding US$75,000 was emptied in a matter of seconds, leaving them with almost nothing.

GoFundMe page of Florida family who were victims of a SIM-swap scam. Source: GoFundMe

Identity Fraud Facilitates SIM-Swap Scam

The family, who requested anonymity, said that the stolen crypto investments were intended for their two children’s university fund. “John” and “Lisa” were the victims of a SIM swap/hijack that allowed attackers to fake their identity and move the funds.

In a report filed with the Palm Bay Police in Florida, John wrote: “I know I had over $70,000. My wife checked with our family T-Mobile plan and the company confirmed someone swapped my SIM card at approximately 3:48pm [on May 9].”

Coinbase investigators said the account “was accessed from a Windows 10 device and the [given] IP address by entering your password, a two-step verification SMS code sent to your verified mobile number, and completing the new device confirmation requirement via email”. Coinbase has also recently warned users of fake SMS confirmation scams. Below is an example from last year:

Coinbase is insured, but because the thieves in this case were able to access the account using the proper smartphone security protocol, the lost money will not be reissued. The Florida couple has set up a GoFundMe account in a last effort to recoup their lost savings.

The Imperative to Protect Personal Identifiable Information

John’s SIM was “hijacked” by thieves who were able to match his SIM card to a new device after somehow getting hold of his credentials and enacting the SIM-swap via the log-in process.

Special agent Caroline O’Brien of Palm Bay Police warned that through social engineering or by using social media to obtain personal information that is displayed publicly, thieves can convince service providers they are the actual account holder.

Cybercriminals are monitoring social media to target crypto accounts because the funds are irreversible and nearly untraceable. In Australia, some of the latest crypto scams to look out for are listed here. In 2020 alone, an estimated A$26 million in bitcoin was lost to scams.

Using Two Authentication Methods Beats an SMS Code Login Alone

Individuals who bank, trade, or make credit card purchases with their smartphones could also be affected by this exploit. Consumers should ask their phone carrier for additional security measures, including:

  • a 16-digit PIN
  • voice print authentication
  • facial authentication
  • two-factor authentication in which a code is sent to you, and you send the code back from your smartphone

These measures can help individuals by placing more obstacles between their accounts and potential attackers.

Categories
China Crypto Art NFTs

Chinese Internet Giant Supports Real Estate NFTs in its Entrepreneur Festival

Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Taobao is unveiling its self-proclaimed “socialist cyberpunk” housing digital collection as nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in a first-time event showcasing NFTs at the Taobao Maker Festival, which concludes on July 25.

Huang Heshan, a Chinese digital artist and creator of the “Bu Tu Backyard”, is a star of this year’s festival, held in Shanghai. The annual event celebrating Chinese language, artwork and entrepreneurship will display the “Bu Tu Gardens” as part of his “Toorich City Series”.

Toorich luxury villas. Source: Toorich

With more than 1,000 virtual structures available for purchase, interested individuals can choose from 10 “luxury single-family villas”, 300 “high-end units”, and 1,000 “umbrella” parasols. However, these will not be purchasable with cryptocurrency as payment will need to be made in Chinese Yuan.

Toorich high-end units. Source: Toorich

These NFTs are purely artistic works but with the technology expanding, crypto-driven virtual real estate has seen a massive upsurge in interest. Binance’s NFT marketplace recently hosted its ‘100 Creators’ campaign and Australians are also in on the act, with an NFT art exhibition held in Adelaide earlier this year.

NFT Technology Facilitates Art and Artists

The partnership of NEAR protocol and Web3Games was essential to the creation of the Toorich City Series NFTs. Each time an artist casts an NFT on the chain, a certain fee is required. The low casting cost is one of the reasons Huang Heshan chose to cooperate with NEAR.

If I were to issue the NFTs on legacy blockchain platforms, it would cost me a few hundred US dollars to issue each NFT, whereas on NEAR, an environmentally friendly blockchain platform, minting an NFT could cost below 1 cent.

Huang Heshan

The technical standard of an NFT not only helps to better determine the copyright or ownership but can also benefit artists by including a royalty-sharing function. NEAR has played an important role in lowering the barriers for the use of blockchain technology and promoting the use of NFT technology by the mainstream.

I thought that the concepts of blockchain and NFT would be very complicated, and it would be very troublesome to operate, but the result was unexpected.

Huang Heshan

NFTs are still a niche technology, but applications are numerous in the art world. Mintbase, NEAR’s NFT platform, has provided technical support for next month’s German music festival Wilde Moehre, integrating the real world with the virtual world. The tickets for this festival, to be held from August 6-9, were also made into NFTs through Mintbase, resulting in reduced channel loss and the elimination of fake tickets and ticket resellers.

NFTs are beyond just digital collectibles. As an innovative technology, they can power many use cases across different industries. NEAR’s goal is to bridge the users of today’s internet to the blockchain-based web of the future.

Amos Zhang, general manager, NEAR Asia
Categories
Bitcoin Crypto News Crypto Wallets

640 Bitcoins Just Moved From Dormant Satoshi Era Wallet

After nearly a decade, a wallet containing 791 bitcoin (BTC) has become active. The Satoshi era wallet drew the attention of Whale Alert by making a transaction worth over US$21 million.

A transaction was recently spotted by Whale Alert, an analytics system that reports on “large and interesting” transactions across various blockchains. The activity from a dormant wallet such as this, moving over US$21 million worth of bitcoin, isn’t something we see every day.

Whale Alert’s attention was caught by the 640 BTC transaction coming from a dormant Satoshi era wallet. Further investigation found that the wallet was used to store bitcoin mined back in 2011 and 2012. At that time bitcoin was trading at around US$5 and is currently around US$31,000, making a nice little retirement fund for someone today.

Could It Be One of Satoshi’s Wallets?

Some suspect that the wallet may be one of many owned by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym for the founder of the Bitcoin network, who was estimated to have mined 1,125,150 bitcoin up to block 54,316.

According to FXStreet, it’s likely that the wallet belongs to Satoshi since it was created around the same time as many others that belong to the mysterious creator. Some have tried to claim this title, among them Australian programmer Dr Craig Wright, who was recently part of a lawsuit regarding the Bitcoin whitepaper.

It’s nearly impossible to know who the real owner of the wallet is, especially if they don’t want to be known, and there’s a good chance we never will. Some Twitter users made jokes about the wallet owner who finally remembered the passwords after nine years.

Categories
Crypto News DeFi Ethereum Hackers

DeFi Project Thorchain Attacked, Draining $4.9 Million Worth of Ethereum

Thorchain has suffered a second attack, draining millions in assets from the protocol. The attack was brought on by an unforeseen exploit in the ETH Bifrost allowing for an intuitive attack vector.

Initially it was thought that close to 13,000 Ethereum (ETH) had been stolen but according to an update posted by Runebase, it is now estimated at about 2,500 ETH. The update also stated that “the discrepancy may be due to additional loss from arbitrageurs taking advantage of the price manipulation”.

While the treasury has the funds to cover the stolen amount, we request the attacker get in contact with the team to discuss return of funds and a bounty commensurate with the discovery.

Thorchain Telegram administrator

Other protocols like Rari have also been able to reimburse their proponents after being hacked.

Decentralised Community Protecting the Network

When trying to attack an open-source decentralised protocol, you’re not just attacking the developers but the community as well. Communities and node administrators have various incentives to protect the network, not just for the value they have pumped in, but the value they get out from time and effort spent building and securing the network.

The issue was discovered by a community developer and when anonymous nodes started voluntarily using the “make halt” command to stop their nodes, the emergency was made clear. Once more than a third of the nodes had been halted, the network itself was halted. This was a decentralised action taken by node operators to protect the network.

DeFi Targeted by Attackers

As DeFi is one of the more recent innovations in blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT), much of what is happening in the space is innovative. In spaces such as these, there will always be room for improvement and considerations not yet made, but as the space matures so will the knowledge and experience of risks.

So far this year, millions have been stolen in DeFi hacks, in various ways ranging from coding errors to rug pulls. Thorchain was in good stead after its price dropped only 14 percent following the attack. Other tokens like FinNexus (FNX) had dropped 90 percent after being hacked.

As the space matures many lessons will be learnt, but as these exploits occur developers are documenting and fixing them, strengthening protocols and best practices. In the long run, this will work to the advantage of the crypto industry as a whole.

Categories
Bitcoin Bitcoin Mining Crypto News

Nuclear Powered Bitcoin Mining Might Soon Be a Reality in Ohio

As the green Bitcoin trend continues, the spotlight now shines on nuclear power as a means of generating sustainable, carbon-free energy for bitcoin mining.

Energy Harbor Corp, an independent power producer, stated earlier this week that it had entered into a five-year partnership with Standard Power. The deal is to provide carbon-free electricity from its nuclear fleet to Standard Power’s Bitcoin (BTC) mining centre, which is set to begin at the end of this year, according to a press release.

We are happy to partner with customers who are focused on minimising their impact on the environment while driving a new clean energy future in our local Ohio economy.

John Judge, Energy Harbor President and CEO

The collaboration will allow Standard Power, a hosting provider for bitcoin miners and other data-processing companies, to turn an abandoned paper mill in Coshocton, Ohio, into a mining facility.

We selected Ohio because of its low electricity costs with availability of carbon-free sources of energy.  By partnering with Energy Harbor, we have proactively structured our hosting capabilities to ensure that 100 percent of the power associated with this facility is carbon-free.

Maxim Serezhin, Standard Power CEO

Not the Only Nuclear Game in Town

Oklo, a nuclear fission startup, also has plans to provide clean power to its new bitcoin mining partner, Compass. With a 20-year contract, Oklo plans to supply Compass with 150 megawatts of clean power in the first phase of the partnership.

Compass operates hosting facilities where individual miners can have their miners set up and operated for them, and it is working to be 100 percent carbon free.

Oklo is part of a wave of companies developing smaller reactors that it claims would be faster and cheaper to build than conventional nuclear plants. Such reactors could be relatively small and would generate a lot of power without harmful emissions.

The company is still in the process of being approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its small reactors, which could run on radioactive waste. The first Oklo reactors will be deployed in 2023 or 2024 and the costs will be “considerably” less than the energy sources Compass plugs into now, according to Compass founder and CEO Whit Gibbs.

Assuming it receives approval, Oklo will be looking at sites in Idaho, as well as in Alaska.

Bitcoin Energy Concerns Spurring Green Partnerships

During the past few months, the Bitcoin network’s contentious power consumption has received a lot of attention from mainstream media. In turn, this has sparked numerous green partnerships such as those mentioned above, as well as last month’s news of Square investing in solar bitcoin mining.

Bitcoin miners are constantly trying to find ways to decrease their operational costs. By directing themselves toward the cheapest energy sources available, they can ensure lower operating costs, increase longevity, and add security to the Bitcoin network.

The incentives that Bitcoin offers in return, by just running a program on a machine, have caught the attention of both power producers and tech companies alike.

Categories
Airdrop DeFi Shapeshift

Crypto Exchange ShapeShift Decentralises Entire Company in Largest Airdrop in History

ShapeShift, a non-custodial cryptocurrency exchange, is completing its long-awaited evolution into a “community-owned and governed crypto platform” by executing a historical airdrop to over 1 million ShapeShift customers and members of the broader DeFi community.

According to a post by ShapeShift, the exchange that prides itself on privacy and transparency is moving to become fully decentralised. This process begins by dismantling its corporate structure and putting power into the hands of users and FOX holders. In coming months, its entire codebase and technology will be open-sourced.

Although it currently employs 65 people, soon ShapeShift will have no employees, no bank accounts and no CEO in somewhere between four and 12 months’ time, according to founder and CEO Erik Voorhees.

A foundation will be established to oversee the decentralisation into a fully community-owned project, and as sufficient decentralisation is achieved this foundation has a mandate to dissolve away.

FOX to Become One of the Most Widely Distributed Tokens

This is one of the largest airdrops to ever take place, with over 60 percent (1,000,001,337 tokens) of the total FOX supply being allocated to over 1 million ShapeShift customers and members of the broader DeFi community, making FOX one of the most widely distributed tokens in history. This means that at the current price of FOX, $820,001,096 worth of value will be distributed to the community.

It has become clear to us that decentralisation is the only way to achieve borderless, immutable finance. Therefore, decentralising ShapeShift is how we choose to maintain fidelity to the principles first established by Satoshi and the Bitcoin whitepaper.

ShapeShift official statement

Every customer who has ever traded $1 or more of ETH or any ERC-20 token through ShapeShift prior to June 9, 2021 is eligible. Over 120,000 decentralised finance (DeFi) users from other platforms, including THORChain, Curve, Balancer and Uniswap, will also be eligible to collect FOX tokens through the airdrop.

Users who get the airdrop and want to earn more are also able to take part in liquidity mining from July 16. 

Reasons for Decentralising the Company

This process of moving from centralised shareholder or board member governance to a community-based governance is an unprecedented move by any company to this degree.

Through this transition, the intention is to build a powerful community around an open-source, self-custody, multi-chain crypto platform for the world.

ShapeShift statement

As the company open-sources and decentralises itself, FOX tokens will give holders the ability to direct the future of the project by voting, submitting proposals, and governing the ShapeShift DAO.

This means that holders will be able to decide:

  • which protocols and assets to integrate
  • how to spend or invest funds in the ShapeShift DAO (funding new initiatives, building new services or products)
  • adding or changing fees
  • any other ideas contributed by our customers and community

Inspired by the broader DeFi community, we’ll now help pioneer a new model of economic coordination for the 21st century. No corporate entity, no banks and no borders. The tools are ready. Our customers, and the broader crypto community, are now the primary stakeholders of a decentralised, open-source digital asset platform for the world.

Erik Voorhees, founder and CEO, ShapeShift
Categories
Crypto News Cryptocurrency Law Institutions Regulation

Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) Framework Officially Approved in the US

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) are now legally recognised as businesses entities in the state of Wyoming, US.

The passing of the bill that took effect on July 1 has been praised by Wyoming’s Secretary of State, Edward Buchanan, as another step for the state to remain on the cutting edge of business technology.

The Merchant Advisory Group (MAG), which represents 165 of the largest merchants in the US, also expressed its support of the DAO filing.

Shortly afterwards, the American CryptoFed DAO was officially the first to be legally recognised as a distinct form of limited liability company (LLC). American CryptoFed is aiming to create “a monetary system with zero inflation, zero deflation, and zero transaction costs”, looking to stabilise currency and be immune to government votes on changing resource values as a separate entity.

Ideally we’ll see more money put into the coffers of local governments in a way that then allows them to hopefully fill more potholes and do more kinds of projects, without having that cut into their profitability of that transaction.

Mark Gordon, Governor of Wyoming

What Is a DAO?

The developers of the DAO believed they could eliminate human error or manipulation of investor funds by placing decision-making power in the hands of an automated system and a crowd-sourced process, which drastically lowers management costs.

By using a open-source blockchain protocol governed by a set of rules, which were created by its elected members, it can automatically execute certain actions with smart contracts without the need for intermediaries checking if requirements have been met.

Participants are not obligated by a legal contract, but rather incentivised by rewards in the form of native asset tokens that help them work towards a unified goal. Decentralised exchange (DEX) platforms such as Compound (COMP), yearn.finance (YFI) and Uniswap (UNI) are dependent on DAOs for governance. 

Wyoming, the Most Crypto-Friendly State in the Union

This move is another demonstration of Wyoming trying to lead the way as the most crypto-friendly state in the US. Its Senate representatives have made it very clear that they are crypto-positive and have already passed 23 laws to clear up regulation around digital assets and related fields, including crypto mining.

Major crypto companies Ripple and Kraken have both set up operations there, along with 50 smaller LLCs with “bitcoin” in their names. 

Wyoming is the leading digital assets jurisdiction in the USA, and now with this DAO law, Wyoming is arguably the top blockchain jurisdiction in the world.

Marian Orr, CEO, American CryptoFed DAO

The state has been busy trying to attract companies that play a role in the crypto or blockchain industry, especially bitcoin miners.

Categories
Australia Investing Scams

ASIC Cautions Investors Against “Finfluencers”

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has cautioned new and young investors about the risks of taking advice from social media and finfluencers.

So-called “finfluencers” have been circulating on YouTube and social media platforms Instagram and TikTok claiming they can “help you on your journey to financial freedom” while technically “not giving financial advice”.

While social media can be okay as a means of getting background information … relying on it comes with a degree of risk […] Advice may not be licensed and you may get information on something that is inaccurate.

Somer Taylor, senior manager of retail complex products and investor protection, ASIC

Last month, ASIC chairman Joe Longo told a parliamentary committee hearing that social media influencers giving financial advice was an “area of big concern” for the agency.

Young People and Newcomers Are Most Vulnerable

A large number of millennials and generation Zs have turned to investing in cryptocurrencies and equities to generate wealth. And since investing in crypto has so few barriers, people can easily buy in. For first-time investors with some computer savvy and extra cash, it might seem like quite the opportunity.

[New market entrants] have been engaged in short-term speculation rather than long-term wealth creation.

ASX 

In 2020, more than 435,000 investors placed their first trade on the ASX, with almost half of these investors aged between 25 and 39, and 18 percent under 25. These under-40s are recognised as a tech-savvy age group. However, in this age of information overload, it can be difficult to know who and what to trust.

There have been instances of Instagram influencers orchestrating their own scams, stealing from the followers they were supposedly helping. An influencer might be paid to promote a certain product or idea, manipulating assets or even markets, pumping and dumping assets for individual gain. There have been many examples of investors getting scammed, even by semi-reputable e-sports influencers.

Australians lost millions to bitcoin scams in 2020, and following a recent report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the amount of money lost to scams involving bitcoin since the start of this year already equals the entire losses of 2020.  

Most people don’t understand cryptocurrency; they just hear the buzz around it … and they need to do their research.

Delia Rickard, deputy chair, ACCC

Pump and dump activity has long been a problem in the local share market as well as the crypto market. Somer Taylor, ASIC’s senior manager of retail complex products and investor protection, says she has witnessed a sharp increase during the pandemic with a wave of new participants entering the market.

International Finfluencers Not Subject to Australian Laws

In Australia, anyone giving financial advice must have an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL). However, the finfluencers with the biggest social media followings are from overseas and not subject to Australian laws. The ASX has warned investors to vet their sources of information before acting on it.

With TikTok’s #moneytok getting more than 7.6 billion page views and #stocktok 1.3 billion, there is an overabundance of finance-related information being shared. Many companies even collaborate with influencers on marketing campaigns.

It’s unfortunate that many companies are being led to believe that building ‘advocacy’ with these types of finfluencers is the right way to engage with investors.

Sarah Lenard, managing partner, strategic consultancy Advisir

Some think they can give financial advice as long as they add the disclaimer “this isn’t financial advice”. But the penalty for giving unlicensed advice in Australia is up to five years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $133,200 for an individual and 10 times that for businesses.