Robert is a freelance researcher, with a background in information science currently interested in blockchain technology and technical developments in the field.
An economic exploit on PancakeBunny’s decentralised finance (DeFi) protocol was used on Wednesday which saw the attacker drain $45 million USD from the ecosystem.
Bunny Fam
Today at 10:34 UTC, PancakeBunny was attacked with an economic exploit that crashed the price of BUNNY.
None of the vaults have been compromised. Team Bunny is currently working on solutions and will provide a report as soon as possible.
To give a general update:
— pancakebunny.finance (@PancakeBunnyFin) May 20, 2021
How Did The Attack Happen?
According to the post-mortem analysis of the attack published by bunny, the attacker:
The exploiter staged (and exited) the attack using PancakeSwap (PCS)
By exploiting a difference in PCS pricing, the hacker intentionally manipulated the price of USDT/BNB and Bunny/BNB, acquiring a huge amount of Bunny through the use of Flash Loans.
The exploiter dumped all the Bunny in the market (Ethereum), causing the price of Bunny to plummet
The exploiter then exited the attack by paying back the remaining BNB (by having exploited the price difference from before) on PCS.
Flash loans allow anyone to borrow an unlimited supply of funds without providing any collateral as long as they pay back the sum in the same transaction.
Bunny price plummets after the executed exploit [poocoin]
The attack pumped the price of BUNNY from $150 to $240 before plummeting to $0 in just 30 minutes. No vaults were compromised in the event, with the main issue being the driven down price affecting all investors.
Moreover, we are committed to providing a solution by which we can restore the value lost by our community and restore their confidence in the project.
Bunny Finance
Bunny Fam
Team Bunny has outlined detailed post-mortem and plan for compensation process, new Token, new BUNNY emissions and new Bunny Pool in our Medium article. Please find the link below.
— pancakebunny.finance (@PancakeBunnyFin) May 20, 2021
Increased Attacks On DeFi
In April, crypto data aggregator Messari reported that flash loans had become the most popular attack vector in the DeFi ecosystem, accounting for roughly half of the $285 million worth of DeFi exploits identified on the Ethereum DeFi-market since 2019.
In February Messari calculated that over $284 million in DeFi was lost to hacks since 2019 đ±
At this point in time, the decentralized insurance industry only covers a fraction of TVL in DeFi. The need is ripe for the picking. pic.twitter.com/WkZVI0TuWb
In a white paper recently released by Galaxy Digital, a tech investment and research firm shows that Bitcoin’s annual energy consumption is considerably lower than that of gold and the largest players in the banking industry.
The team at Galaxy Digital Mining wrote an excellent white paper examining #bitcoinâs energy usage.
— Galaxy Digital Research (@glxyresearch) May 14, 2021
Bitcoin Production Uses Way Less Energy Than Gold Production
Auditing Bitcoin’s energy usage is quite simple compared to retrieving data for energy usage of the gold industry since this data is publicly disclosed.
Gold uses roughly 240.61 TWh/yr when using the standard conversion from GHG Emissions to kWh/yr using the global IEA carbon intensity multiplier. That’s just more than double that of Bitcoin, these estimates don’t include second order effects like production and discarding of vehicle tires and other materials used by the industry.
Banking uses an estimated 263.72 TWh/yr. This includes energy used by banking data centres, bank branches, ATMs, and card network’s data centres, which is discussed in-depth in the report. A comprehensive number would require individual banks to self-report on their electricity usage.
Bitcoin uses an estimated 113.89TWh/yr which is considerably lower than that of both other industries.
Estimated Annual Electricity Consumption of the Bitcoin Network [Galaxy Digital]
Kathy Wood also recently stated that 50% of Chinese bitcoin mining initiatives use renewable sources of energy as well as the fact that many use offset electricity.
Just cleaning up our wastage could power the Bitcoin network. The authors found that the amount of energy lost in transmission and distribution is 19.4x that of the Bitcoin network according to data from World Bank and IEA.
Bitcoin and Ethereum Will (Eventually) Go Eco-Friendly
Most new technologies that have high energy consumption eventually turn more eco-friendly, and we are starting to see Bitcoin and Ethereum take steps towards this.
The recent price drop of Bitcoin was linked to Elon Musk’s debate with Michael Saylor about Bitcoin’s environmental impact. Hopefully, this is something cryptocurrencies can address in the near future.
Pi Network, a mobile cryptocurrency mining app that leverages social connections, has been connected to a personal information data leak.
The Know Your Customer (KYC) checks of Vietnamese citizens were put up for sale on a hacker forum last week.
Personal Information Leaked
A local news outlet in Vietnam reported that an estimated 10,000 identity card information, home addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses were put up for sale on RaidForums, a database marketplace of breaches and leaks. The account selling the data admitted to accessing the data via Pi Network, and was selling the information for $9,000 USD payable in Bitcoin (BTC) or Litecoin (LTC).
The Vietnam Ministry of Public Security’s cybersecurity division has since launched an investigation into the matter, also making remove the post from the site in the meantime. An estimated 17 GB worth of Vietnamese personal information was put on the marketplace, potentially connected to up to 10,000 people according to a cybersecurity expert that contacted the account.
Leak Might Not Be From Pi
Some proponents of the network don’t believe that the Pi Network is to blame for the data breach, since the platform doesn’t directly verify its users’ info nor does it require pictures of identity cards. But basic information is required when registering on the Pi app.
The KYC of the Pi Network is processed through a third party called Yoti. The digital verification site accepts passports from 200+ countries, and Vietnam is indeed one of them. However, Vietnamese identity cards are not accepted.
To perform KYC verification on Pi Network, Vietnamese would need to use their passports. Only some users who used earlier versions of Pi could perform KYC verification using their driver licenses, but so far the system has yet to accept Vietnamese identity cards.
Phien Vo, Pi Network group moderator
This means that the identity card information could also have been leaked from another source. Authorities are trying to uncover the mystery.
Is The Network a Pi In The Sky?
Pi Network proposes a new method of mining its own cryptocurrency, using social connections rather than a Proof-of-Work approach like Bitcoin.
Instead of burning energy as proof of work cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin do, Pi secures its ledger when members vouch for each other as trustworthy. This forms a network of interlocking âsecurity circlesâ that determines who can execute transactions. This novel approach allows crypto mining on your phone by leveraging your existing social connections, with no financial cost, no battery drain and a light footprint on the planet.
Users have no access to their private/public keys (until mainnet launch)
Mining rates increase by referring other people and earlier members benefit from a higher mining rate (MLM-esque approach)
Pi app is designed to collect personal information (requires email, cellphone number, full names to register) and Pi crypto can only be claimed after successful KYC (with ID or Passport)
Pi Networkâs data collection approach is similar to other social networks like Facebook in the sense that they collect almost all data they can get from users and use them in optimizing advertising.
However, some of these issues are addressed in the white paper, for instance the token will be launched on exchanges when mainnet is launched. According to the community Pi is now in Phase 2, busy testing the Pi wallet.
17m+ Million Engaged Pioneers!
Mine at a higher rate while you can. The mining rate may halve or fall to zero at Mainnet and when Pi reaches 100m engaged Pioneers. Don't miss out! pic.twitter.com/ku9mIatsT7
The paper also stipulates that “Pi Node uses a different consensus algorithm based on the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP). In SCP, nodes form trusted groups (quorum slices) and only agree to transactions that those trusted nodes agree to.“. This is how your mining rates increase by adding contacts (people you know) to a larger security circle to form these trusted groups.
There seems to be a lot of speculation about the Pi Network, but it seems only time will tell how much utility the network actually has with the launch of its mainnet.
VeChain ReSea Project Muara Baru Jakarta https://www.dnv.com/news/resea-project-is-the-2nd-organization-certified-to-dnv-gl-s-reclaimed-plastic-traceability-standard-197214
VeChain blockchain technology is being used by a Danish ocean and river cleaning company operating in Indonesia. The community-driven project called ReSea will now be able to assure traceability and integrity for the waste removed and all the steps that follow.
The project certification is aimed at the collection of plastic by the community and then delivery to waste deposits. ReSea is the community-driven project, that uses VeChain technology for data collection and traceability, which is done according to DNV GL’s Chain of Custody standard to show compliance.
We are proud to power @DNVGLâs client, the sustainable pioneer @ReseaP to trace its ocean cleanup solution. By using #blockchain, all #sustainability efforts can be immutably stored and made visible. #VeChain will play an important role in stopping plastic pollution. https://t.co/gKh73om8hq
The significant ongoing cleanup around the world creates a growing market need to provide trust and transparency in claims. An independent third party like us can verify the origin and traceability of recovered plastic against established requirements in the standard. For ReSea Project, certification of its traceability system assures transparency of its entire plastic collection process,
Antonio Astone, Global Service Manager Assurance and Supply Chain in DNV GL [source]
VeChain’s Part In The Project
VeChain’s ToolChain platform will be utilised with its associated mobile app in order to collect, store, and monitor data at specified control points in the collection process. This will aid in the real-time validation of plastic collected by the initiative and securely the data on the blockchain.
The certification verifies the plastic extraction and quantities, which helps ensure fair compensation to the local collection cleanup team, like the local fishermen involved, and provides transparency into the collection process
Antonio Astone, Global service manager Assurance and Supply Chain in DNV GL[source]
305,239.62 kg of plastic waste from oceans and rivers are verified to be removed by @ReseaP using VeChain.#VeChain was used to collect, record, and monitor all the data securely. We strive to create real value using #blockchain technology. $VET$VTHOhttps://t.co/gyNx25CPB1
— VeChain Foundation (@vechainofficial) May 18, 2021
The high level of traceability provides proof of the plasticâs source and authenticity certified by an independent third-party (DNV GL) allows anyone to trace the plastic from its extraction point and view its journey to the waste bank. Through this a window is created where partners can see verified metrics of the efforts to keep oceans and rivers plastic free.
Here is just one of the examples of how blockchain technology can be leveraged to help solve environmental issues, offering a different perspective after recent concerns related to Bitcoin network power demands. By working with communities and empowering the individuals that live within them, projects like these can help better understand and rehabilitate scarred ecologies.
In the past week Bitcoin (BTC) has gone through a few price dips – the kind of situation that could scare new investors causing them to sell-off their assets in fear of losing everyting.
Has anything actually changed though? Has something triggered the drop in price? Is there a reason to panic?
The market has shown various times that when public sentiment about cryptocurrency lowers due to some public figure or negative news there are people who sell their assets. This looks like an emotional reaction with little regard for fundamentals.
In a post by Glassnode they state that there are “strong signals that short-term holders are leading with panic selling”. Bitcoin which is down to $44,757 USD at the time of writing from $55,000 USD one week ago is seemingly being driven by weak hands.
[…] weak hands traders have predictable buying and selling behaviors as they are driven by fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD).
While the long-term price action seems to be driven by the monetary preferences of the world changing from fiat money to crypto, short-term price action is driven by leverage and derivatives markets.
As the price of Bitcoin has dropped to around $44,000 USD, it looks like institutions are buying the dip. The recent three-month consolidation can be thought of as bitcoin simply moving from weak hands to strong ones.
Bitcoin: Number of Accumulation Addresses [Glassnode]
There is also an increase in accumulation addresses, which are thosethat have at least two incoming transactions but have never spent any coins. This suggests that long term investors are buying this dip too.
The Importance of Research
An important phrase in the crypto world is “Do Your Own Research” (DYOR), meant to encourage people to understand what they are buying so that they get to know the project or technology they are investing in. By not just following sentiment, investors can feel more secure about their decisions.
DYOR seems to be applicable beyond the crypto world – due to the amount of misinformation floating around, one needs to keep a keen eye on the sources, or get professional advice.
Operation “Hidden Treasure” was initiated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday in an effort to uncover the unreported crypto income of U.S. citizens and other illegal activities taking place on the platforms.
The IRS has recently started investigating various crypto platforms to try to discover illicit activities, ramping up its crypto-related auditing and guidance for individuals that own and trade cryptocurrency.
We take our legal obligations very seriously and engage with regulators and law enforcement in a collaborative fashion. (1/3) https://t.co/68UB1InOBK
Chainalysis, a blockchain forensics firm whose clients include U.S. federal agencies, concluded last year that among transactions that it examined, more funds tied to criminal activity flowed through Binance than any other crypto exchange. The firm tracked Bitcoin worth $2.8 billion USD that moved on to trading platforms in 2019. Chainalysis determined that roughly 27%, or $756 million, has been hidden on Binance. The exchange has assured regulators that they have done as much as possible to stay within the current regulatory framework.
We have worked hard to build a robust compliance program that incorporates anti-money laundering principles and tools used by financial institutions to detect and address suspicious activity. (2/3)
As recently reported by Bloomberg, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is also probing Binance (not registered with CTFC) to find out if it allowed U.S. residents to trade derivatives. The CFTC previously filed a civil lawsuit to halt the U.S. commodity derivatives business of BitMEX, which is one of the worldâs largest cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges. Exchanges are now, more than ever, under regulatory scrutiny.
The repercussion on Bitcoin price
Bitcoin (BTC) losses accelerated Thursday after Bloomberg reported the Binance investigation.
The "news" title is bad. Article itself isn't so bad actually (but who reads). It described how @binance collaborated with law enforcement agencies to fight bad players, but somehow made it look like a bad thing… đ€ Anyways. Back to work.
Many of the top cryptocurrencies dropped in price, down double digits. Bitcoin fell 10% after the news, continuing the negative run it experienced after Tesla announced it would stop accepting Bitcoin as payment for their vehicles.
Following Tesla’s suspension of Bitcoin payments due to energy implications, there have been many responses from the industry showing that the network can be operated in a more sustainable way.
After pinning the suspension of Bitcoin payments to its excessive power consumption in a tweet, the announcement sparked a Bitcoin (BTC) sell-off that dropped close to 13% of its value in 24 hours.
This could raise questions affecting the image of cryptos in the public eye, so various players in the industry have come forward to show that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies can be more environmentally friendly. For starters, the energy required to mine does not necessarily come from non-renewable sources. There are also other cryptocurrencies that use less electricity than Bitcoin (even at scale), thanks to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) or other consensus algorithms needing less computational power to function.
Green Changes Submitted To Enhance Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work Algorithm
Michael Dubrovsky, co-founder of Siphox and Powx, revealed that the nonprofit Powx has drafted a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) that aims to produce a âdurable, low energyâ Bitcoin Proof-of-Work (PoW) system.
We (at https://t.co/lpduPaC5FI) have had a draft of a Bitcoin Improvement ProposalâDurable, Low Energy Bitcoin PoWâfor a while now. Looks like the energy issue is finally getting some attention. Bitcoin can be made compatible w low-energy optical compute https://t.co/1p4afK4eMYpic.twitter.com/f8SUM5aJip
The paper details how the algorithm, dubbed âOptical Proof-of-Work (OPOW)â, could greatly reduce energy dependency by leveraging photonics.
Accelerating development of low-energy computing can be hardly called a waste. This technology has potential to drastically reduce data centers energy use in the future.
— ÊÊsÊoÊuÇd uÉpÆoq (@penkovsky) May 13, 2021
There are changes that can be implemented to the Bitcoin protocol to make it less energy-hungry however, due to its decentralised nature, upgrading it can be a lengthy process.
Bitcoin Mine in New York Going Carbon Neutral
Greenidge Generation, a New York-based bitcoin mining operation, has announced that they will be carbon neutral by the start of June following the media storm that concerned many people about the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining.
— Greenidge Generation (@GreenidgeLLC) May 14, 2021
Greenidge’s real estate is 150 acres in size and has an on-site and a power plant capable of generating over 100MW of clean energy an hour. The plant uses natural gas to generate electricity running at high levels of thermodynamic efficiency, thus lowering the cost of producing power.
The Greenridge Natural Gas Power Station [Twitter]
We are demonstrating we can provide the same critical transaction verification and processing services to secure the bitcoin network while maintaining a fully carbon neutral footprint. We call on others to join us in significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions now.
Jeffrey Kirt, CEO of Greenidge Generation Holdings [source]
On the first day of its futures markets, launched on 11 May, traders lost over 1.34 trillion Shiba Inu (SHIB) in just 24 hours.
Crypto exchange OKEx, which listed SHIB futures, oversaw nearly $40 million worth of liquidations. Also at the time of writing Bybt Liquidation Data shows that in the last 24 hours $82.36 million USD worth of SHIB has been liquidated.
Sib Price Chart by TradingView
Shiba Inu (SHIB) was launched as a Dogecoin competitor on the Ethereum blockchain last year. Early SHIB investors saw massive gains from the crypto as the price soared, as Crypto News predicted on 27th April in our coins to watch.
The coin has grown rapidly during its journey, hitting 10306.7% in the last 30 days and 989.5% in the last 7 days according to data on CoinGecko. Recently the coin has faced various problems brought on by mass liquidations from various parties.
Vitalik Donates SHIB To India’s COVID-19 Crypto Relief Fund
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin was given half the supply of SHIB after launch, but has removed 95 percent of liquidity from a SHIB Uniswap pool. Vitalik donated 500 ETH and about 50 trillion SHIB, worth around $1.14 billion USD at the time of transaction to the India COVID-Crypto Relief Fund.
We locked the 50% of the total supply to Uniswap and threw away the keys! The remaining 50% was burned to Vitalik Buterin.
shibatoken.com
Shiba Inu’s white paper â which was released on May 1 â cited the project’s co-founder who stated that Vitalik’s holdings as a “vulnerable point”. This was, in the view of the developers, another way to burn it. Anticipating that the Vitalik would not spend the tokens, by sending these tokens to him, they effectively removed them from circulation. But seeing as that isn’t the case, the crypto relief fund might sell the coins back to the market for USD, putting them back in circulation.
A live broadcast was scheduled for 12 May for the discussion of H.B. No. 4474 to take place. This bill aims to get cryptocurrency recognised under commercial law, to enable superior blockchain innovation and virtual currency regulation in Texas.
Clearing Up Regulatory Uncertainty
The bill is intended to clarify a few key definitions and concepts of virtual currency:
The definition of “virtual currency”
Control of a virtual currency
Rights of purchaser that obtains control of a virtual currency
Representative Tan Parker first introduced the bill in March, and the bill will now go to the Texan Senate to see if there are any proposed amendments, thereafter a final vote. Should the crypto legislation pass the senate, Texas Governor Greg Abbott can sign the bill into law.
Count me in as a crypto law proposal supporter.
It is increasingly being used for transactions and is beginning to go mainstream as an investment. (Fidelity, etc. trying to get Bitcoin ETF).
The importance of clarifying cryptocurrency laws and adding to legislation is paramount if a country wishes to house new and upcomming blockchain initiatives. With this move, Texas would be inviting companies to open up shop by reducing regulatory uncertainty.
Texas is already home to crypto mining firms BlockCap and Riot Blockchain. Both companies are also planning to expand their mining ventures in the state with the purchase of new facilities and equipment in the future. Texas is moving toward becoming a crypto-friendly state like Wyoming.
Texan Power Problems
Texas needs to sort out more than just its regulatory framework to become a crypto friendly state. If they want to increase the amount of Bitcoin mining initiatives they will also need to sort out issues with the power grid. Harsh winters in Texas usually have major repercussions for those on the grid.
Survey details the scope of last month's winter storm:
69% of those on the TX power grid lost power.
The avg time w/out power was 42 hrs.
3/4 of people struggled to get food.
9% stayed in their cars and 8% used gas stoves or cooktops to stay warm. https://t.co/5pxZjJcslF
During this year Bitcoin (BTC) has slowly been creeping closer to the transaction volume that Mastercard has been posting on an average day. In the last month Bitcoin has reached the Mastercard transaction volume average nine times.
It’s impossible to know how far Bitcoin adoption will go. If Bitcoins were accepted as widely as Visa or Mastercard, it could lead to increased use of the network.
Mastercard processed $6.3 trillion of payments in 2020.
That's $17.2 billion every day.
The Bitcoin network settled more than $17.2 billion on 9 separate days in the last month.
At the moment Bitcoin does not process close to as many transactions per day as Mastercard, yet they have reached the same volume multiple times. This means that Bitcoin transactions are larger but fewer whereas Mastercard processes many smaller transactions. If Bitcoin were to process as many transactions as Mastercard their volume would likely be considerably higher.
The Problem of Scaling
One of the issues with Bitcoin at the moment in is that the network only processes about 5 transactions per second (tps) and currently has a physical limit of 7 tps, due to the size-cap of the blocks transactions are stored on. Mastercard can process a whopping 5000 tps.
There are various technical reasons as well as policy reasons why Bitcoin can only process so few transactions compared to companies like Mastercard and Visa. It doesn’t look like Bitcoin isn’t trying to become a new Mastercard or Visa. However, Bitcoin SV (BSV) could make it, as BSV’s test network hit a new record of processing over 9000 transactions per second earlier in the year.
Lightning network is also a solution that aims to solve the problem of scalability for Bitcoin, through creating a second layer that only handles small transactions and thereby reducing the load on the blockchain. This is called the off-chain approach.
Cryptos Are Becoming More Popular for Everyday Use
According to Mastercard, 71% of people expect to use cashless services moving forward. This means that electronic methods of payment are becoming increasingly popular, and as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are becoming more mainstream people might prefer to use them.
Consumers are also increasingly showing interest in being able to spend crypto assets for everyday purchases. As global interest in cryptocurrencies as a payment method continues to accelerate, 4 in 10 people (40%) across North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific say they plan to use cryptocurrency in the next year.
