Category: Blockchain

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Australia Blockchain Crypto News Industries Regulation

ASX’s Long-Awaited Blockchain CHESS Replacement Goes Into Testing

ASX Prices Climb as Bitcoin Price Plummets On Anzac Weekend
A board displaying stock prices is seen at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in Sydney, Australia, February 9, 2018. REUTERS/David Gray

Yesterday, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) announced the opening of the first of the Industry Test Environments (ITE1) for its blockchain post-trade replacement solution, CHESS.

The upgraded CHESS system has undergone some rigorous tests to ensure it can deal with Australia’s increasingly large share market. This is a major step towards the new CHESS equities clearing and settlement system going live in 2023.

The Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS) is the core system that performs the processes of clearing, settlement, asset regulation, and other post-trade services that are critical to the orderly functioning of the market. ITE1 gives CHESS users their first exposure to ASX’s fully integrated external solution, which includes Digital Asset’s DAML smart contract development capability and VMware’s DLT platform. The solution uses Digital Asset’s DAML smart contract language and VMWare’s blockchain.

The New System Available in 2022

ITE1 will open for software providers, third-party vendors who supply software to CHESS users, and organisations developing in-house systems. The ITE2 will open in April 2022 for market participants and other CHESS users. The announcement is for developers, while end-users will be able to access another iteration (ITE2) of the test environment from the same date, while the launch date is planned for April 2023.

This is truly a step in the right direction as the project has already been delayed three times. In September 2018 ASX pushed the live date to late 2020, but it was extended to April 2022. The extension was given to allow participants and regulators to cope with the volatility of early pandemic trading, and then to allow the new system to be redesigned to accommodate a massive increase in trading volumes.

Tim Hogben, the ASX group executive for securities and payments, said in a media statement:

Today’s opening is a significant step on the journey towards the go-live for the CHESS replacement system in April 2023. Together, we’ve entered a new and exciting phase of the project.

Tim Hogben, ASX

He added that the system would generate valuable feedback for ASX on the state of the new and developing system, with software providers testing functional and non-functional workflows across all connectivity access channels.

A Keen Eye Will Be Kept on CHESS

Hogben described the CHESS replacement project as a key pillar in ASX’s strategy to “build an exchange for the future and deliver world-leading infrastructure to the Australian market”.

Given that the CHESS replacement project involves groundbreaking technology, it is sure to garner a lot of attention. As a result of the hype around CHESS, ITE1 will be closely watched by many financial markets worldwide as the world considers its own long-term technology solution upgrade.

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Blockchain Crypto News DeFi Ethereum Scams

$31 Million Stolen in MonoX DeFi Hack

The decentralised finance (DeFi) market has been hit by yet another hack, with US$31 million in a variety of cryptos stolen from MonoX Finance in the latest episode.

MonoX released a statement in which it apologised to users and regretted its security measures had somehow been breached:

First, we want to extend immediate, sincerest apologies toward the incident and we assure you our entire team and partners are all working on this right now. Security of users’ funds is of utmost importance to us and we have had multiple security audits and a security adviser firm that work with us on an ongoing basis. However, unfortunately, we were still exploited.

DeFi Déjà Vu

The hacker attached MonoX Finance’s smart contracts, exploiting the single token liquidity platform and draining the funds of tokens across Ethereum and Polygon.

MonoX, which launched last month on Polygon and Ethereum, is a DeFi platform that offers liquidity pools in which traders can place their tokens and receive tokens in return. Rather than a standard pool model, MonoX pools function by grouping a deposited token “into a virtual pair with our virtual cash stablecoin (vCASH)”.

The hack netted US$18.2 million in wrapped ether (WETH) and US$10.5 million in Polygon (MATIC). Polygon, formerly Matic, is a proof-of-stake blockchain that helps take some of the load from the Ethereum blockchain. Other tokens taken included WBTC, LINK, GHST, DUCK, MIM and IMX.

In August, the largest DeFi hack on record took place on the Poly Network, a multi-chain platform that provides interoperability between blockchains. The attack, which took place on the Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum and Polygon, siphoned off a record-breaking US$600 million.

‘REKT By Their Own Token’

The hack was made possible via price manipulation of the project’s native token, MONO. The platform explained that the price of MONO tokens was artificially boosted, enabling the hacker to use tokens to buy the other assets in the pools at much cheaper rates.

Hacks, Hacks, and More Hacks

DeFi hacks have become increasingly prevalent, with devastating effects on a range of projects. Earlier this year, Zabu Finance, a DeFi project built atop the Avalanche blockchain, was exploited for around US$3.2 million worth of its native token, Zabu, plummeting its price to zero in minutes.

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Blockchain Crypto News DeFi Gaming NFTs Solana

MonkeyBall Play-to-Earn NFT Game Set to Launch on Solana Blockchain

MonkeyBall, the next-gen esports metaverse that enables players to create, play, compete and earn, is ready for kickoff. Based on the Solana blockchain, the play-to-earn soccer game combines high-production values, multiplayer gaming, NFTs, and decentralised finance.

Monkeys are the teams’ players, introduced by NFT assets owned by game players. The Monkeys serve as an income generator, allowing a player to earn MonkeyBucks ($MBS) by winning matches.

MonkeyBall.com

The Three Modes of MonkeyBall

  • Player vs Environment: This is a training mode to increase your Monkey’s overall abilities and allow you to practise and develop your in-game Monkey’s soccer skills.
  • Player vs Player: This mode is the classic game where each player controls the entire team of soccer monkeys.
  • Team vs Team: In this mode, each team is being played and controlled by multiple players at a time.

MonkeyBall will do an NFT drop (of the game’s Monkeys) in December, with the in-game launch set for release in the first quarter of 2022. The IDO is currently open. Check the MonkeyBall website for more information.

MonkeyBucks ($MBS) is the in-game currency powering the game economy. Players can earn MBS by interacting in the game: completing missions, winning matches, watching games as spectators, or hosting games in their stadiums. You can also spend MBS to breed new Monkeys and buy consumable game items (NFTs) in the game’s store.

There is major hype surrounding the pre-release of this game, as you can see by the sharp increase in the price of the StarLaunch token, $STARS. Starlaunch is the launchpad for MonkeyBall.

STARS Price Chart. Source: Coingecko

Watch the video below to learn how to get into the MonkeyBall IDO, launching on StarLaunch next week.

As the NFT space continues to grow, and excessively high fees continue to plague the Ethereum network, we are increasingly seeing Solana challenge Ethereum for NFT project launches.

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Blockchain Crypto News Ethereum NFTs Play to Earn Solana

First Projects Set to Launch on ‘StarLaunch’, Solana’s IDO Launchpad

The creators of CardStarter have delivered “StarLaunch”, an initial DEX offering (IDO) launchpad for the Solana (SOL) blockchain, and new Solana based projects are ready to launch.

StarLaunch is an incubator for blockchain projects built atop Solana, which aims to connect them with their community of backers. As the first insured IDO launchpad and incubator for Solana blockchain projects, its stated goal is to connect its “community of backers with trusted and thoroughly vetted Solana blockchain projects”.

What is an IDO?

An initial DEX offering platform, or IDO platform, is one where crypto projects are listed and work as an investor pool. Investors can then invest in projects listed on the launchpad with the IDO model, whereby the crypto coin or token is launched via a decentralised liquidity exchange to fund the projects.

Think of an IDO as a sort of decentralised and permissionless crowdfunding platform, which now opens up a whole new way of fundraising in the cryptosphere.

About StarLaunch

starlaunch.com website

The StarLaunch model could be compared with that of Polkastarter which has been successful at crowdfunding Polkadot-based projects in a similar way over the past year or so. Check out the StarLaunch Slide Deck to learn more about the project.

StarLaunch promotes these three key aspects:

  • Selective listing – employing stringent and formulaic project vetting.
  • Insurance fund – offering insurance to protect its community. Your IDO investments are insured for the first three months after staking.
  • Propulsion program – offering advisory support for its approved projects.

For comparison, and to see what sets StarLaunch apart, this table will prove insightful:

Comparison between StarLaunch and CardStarter. Source: StarLaunch

The $STARS token itself has seen quite an increase, rising from under US$3 to more than US$15 within the past week or so.

STARS/USD – source coinmarketcap.com

How to Participate

Disclaimer: Before you get started with these new projects and tokens, please understand that you may lose all your capital. DeFi projects get rugged all the time and some investors lose everything.

In order to get started with StarLaunch, stake your $STARS tokens to generate $N2H4, which is the token used to participate in the initial IDOs that launch on the platform.

So a typical process for option 1 might look like this:

  1. Do your own research
  2. Make your plan
  3. Complete KYC on starlaunch.com
  4. Buy SOL (from your exchange or such)
  5. Send SOL to your Solana Phantom wallet (or such)
  6. Use Raydium.io to swap SOL into STARS (or such)
  7. Go to app.starlaunch.com and stake your STARS
  8. When the IDO launches, you can stake your $N2H4 into the project

There is a more detailed explanation of everything on the Starlaunch blog post.

IDOs Set to Launch Soon

It has been announced that MonkeyBall, a SOL-powered play-to-earn game, has been selected as the launch partner of StarLaunch, courtesy of the game’s large community, investor backing and strong fundamentals, all of which cement it as a top play-to-earn game in the future.

We’ll keep you updated on any other IDOs set to launch on the platform as soon as we find out about them.

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Blockchain Crypto News Ethereum Gaming Hackers NFTs Scams

Blockchain Gaming Company ‘Animoca’ to Repay Users 265 ETH After Fake NFT Discord Hack

Hong Kong-based gaming software and venture capital firm Animoca Brands has reassured victims of the recent hack of its upcoming “Phantom Galaxies” game’s Discord Server that the company intends to cover their losses.

Losses incurred totalled 265 Ether (ETH), worth about US$1.1 million. The details of the reimbursement have yet to be announced, according to the company’s website.

Fraudulent Minting Leaves Users Out of Pocket

The “Phantom Galaxies” game, which is being developed by Animoca Brands’ Australian-based subsidiary, Blowfish Studios, was hacked at around 3am on November 19. The hack involved stolen money in a fraudulent non-fungible token (NFT) sale on Discord.

The hack involved 1,571 fake minting transactions over the course of three hours. According to Animoca, there was no evidence that smart contracts were compromised, and no money was stolen from the game, its developer, or its publisher. Hackers directed users to a website charging users a 0.1 ETH fee, which then sent the funds to the hackers’ Ethereum address.

The Phantom Galaxies Discord server has about 94,000 members to date. Animoca Brands has said the method of compensation for their lost ETH will be determined following discussions within the Phantom Galaxies community. Both Animoca and Blowfish took to Twitter to apologise to their users:

Hacks and Scams on the Rise

Hacks on Discord are becoming increasingly common. Similar to this hack, earlier in the year MetaMask wallet was hacked for US$10,000 by a deceptive Discord member. One user lost about US$10,000 from their MetaMask Wallet at the hands of a scammer in Discord using a fake WalletConnect app.

Last month, Crypto News Australia reported on a 17-year-old who sold fake NFTs in a US$500,000 scam. Iconic Sol, an NFT project built on the Solana (SOL) blockchain, had apparently rugged investors after failing to deliver the promised NFTs and disappeared with US$500,000.

The teenager had promised to deliver 8,000 NFT artworks on the project’s Discord channel, and some of the tokens were supposed to be available in a presale on October 1. A total of 2,000 NFTs were up for grabs for a price of 0.5 SOL each, and many of them sold out quickly.

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Blockchain Crypto News Ethereum Gaming Metaverse

Metaverse Tokens Are Soaring – Let’s Take a Closer Look at Them

With Facebook rebranding to Meta amid news of celebrity partnerships including Snoop Dogg entering The Sandbox, tokens of metaverse virtual realities and blockchain-based games are on fire and have been outperforming the market as a whole.

Move over meme coins, the metaverse is now dominating the buzz across the crypto market. Here are three of the top performers:

Axie Infinity (AXS)

The most impressive performer of all has been Axie Infinity, a P2E (Play-to-Earn) NFT-based online video game developed by Vietnamese studio Sky Mavis. Axie Infinity is “a digital nation” where players can “battle, collect, and earn”.

Analytics firm CoinGecko reported that ASX was the second-best performing asset of the market in Q3 2021. The game’s native token AXS has soared accordingly, printing an all-time high of US$164.90 from only $4 at the end of June. AXS is up about 113,003 percent in a single year, and with a market cap just shy of $10 billion ($9,213,638,614), it’s currently ranked #23 in the market.

$AXS price chart. Source: CoinGecko

Decentraland (MANA)

Decentraland is a 3D virtual reality world where players can use the game’s native token, MANA, to buy in-game items such as virtual land and costumes for their avatars. Users also have governance rights and can vote on future developments in Decentraland.

The price of $MANA has increased 572.4 percent in the past 30 days and has printed its all-time high of US$5.46. It is currently ranked #34 and has a market cap of almost US$7 billion.

$MANA price chart. Source: CoinGecko

The Sandbox (SAND)

The Sandbox is a P2P (play-to-earn) blockchain-based virtual world developed by Pixowl. Players in The Sandbox can explore digital universes within the metaverse. It is a world where users can interact with each other, build their own spaces and even attend Snoop Dogg concerts and visit the rapper’s own virtual mansion. Players can also monetise their in-game assets by trading NFTs created within the game and earn SAND tokens just by spending time in the metaverse.

In the past 30 days, the $SAND token has shot up 847.2 percent and is at its all-time high, printing US$8.01. It is currently ranked just after Decentraland at #35 and has a market cap of around US$6.5 billion.

$SAND price chart. Source: CoinGecko
Categories
Australia Blockchain Crypto News DeFi

Australian Senator Says ‘Crypto is Here to Stay’

Many in the Aussie crypto world may not have heard much about Liberal Senator Jane Hume, the Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and the Digital Economy. That is until she voiced her views on crypto at the Australian Financial Review Super & Wealth Summit held in Sydney this past Monday.

Australia, Crypto is ‘Here to Stay’

Hume, who also serves as Minister for Women’s Economic Security, spoke of embracing innovation and “encouraging personal responsibility and informed consent”. This she saw as important as driving Australia forward from an innovation and economic perspective.

Referring to the Senate Committee’s report, she noted that 17 percent of Australians are investing in cryptocurrency.

This is an asset class that has captured hearts and minds, but beyond that ‑ whatever you might personally think ‑ it’s a technology that’s not going away any time soon.

Senator Jane Hume

One of the key areas she identified as having “huge opportunities” was decentralised finance (DeFi). After commending industry for embracing blockchain specifically, she stressed the role of government in encouraging innovation. Hume also added “as an industry, and as a government, we need to acknowledge this is not a fad. We should tread cautiously, but not fearfully”.

The Senator’s Personal View

Speaking to her personal views, Hume cautioned against being left behind the curve.

Don’t be the person who thought the iPhone would never take off because people would prefer to have their music and telephone on separate devices. Don’t be the person who was still doing their financial models by hand in 2001, rather than using Excel. Don’t be the person in 1995 who said the internet was just a place for geeks and criminals and would never become mainstream. And don’t be the person who argued that email was a passing fad.

Senator Jane Hume

Hume commented that if the past two to three decades had proved anything, it was that “innovation begins as disruption and ends as a household name”.

Overall, the response from the crypto community has been very positive:

Blockchain Australia CEO Steve Vallas shared the industry’s sentiments when he commented that the speech sent a “very strong signal” to both the market and policymakers, that treasury was taking the industry seriously.

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Blockchain Crypto News Cryptocurrencies DeFi

Elrond Up 60% in a Week Amid Liquidity Incentive Program Announcement

Elrond Gold is inarguably one of the best performers in crypto this year, especially in the past few months, the EGLD token has seen tremendous growth amid the company’s latest announcements with Maiar DEX.

The big price rally began on November 19 after the announcement of a US$1.29 billion liquidity incentive, launched by Maiar Exchange – Elrond’s native decentralised exchange. EGLD pumped from US$300 all the way to record a new all-time high of $545.64.

CoinGecko

Elrond Gold the New King of DeFi

Elrond is set to make its mark in DeFi with one of the largest incentive programs to date. The Maiar DEX will use its utility and governance token – MEX – to transfer funding to users of the exchange who provide liquidity in EGLD, MEX and USDC.

By distributing Maiar DEX ownership to the next billion users, we [are laying] the foundation for a truly global financial system that is accessible to everyone, everywhere.

Beniamin Mincu, founder and CEO, Elrond Gold  

Maiar DEX is a fully community-owned DeFi platform that has already distributed ownership to more than 60,000 accounts in the form of claimable MEX tokens.

In the first month of distribution the exchange will distribute US$282 million. The project will then have follow-up programs “aimed at the users of the largest DeFi platforms in the ecosystem”, according to Elrond CEO Beniamin Mincu. Customers could “claim MEX tokens proportionally to their activity involving products such as Uniswap, PancakeSwap or SushiSwap”.

Can Maiar DEX Drive DeFi Adoption and Bring Crypto to the Mainstream?

Maiar DEX has also released a highly intuitive, well-designed and extremely easy-to-use app that allows you to get a secure crypto wallet instantly with just a phone number. Perhaps this will be the product that will drive DeFi adoption and bring crypto to the mainstream?

Elrond Gold is incredibly fast: the PoS (proof-of-stake) network uses an adaptive state sharding technology that helps to improve speeds by slicing blocks into smaller pieces, or “shards”. The high throughput blockchain can scale beyond 100,000 transactions per second.

In February, Crypto News Australia reported on Elrond’s CEO tweeting at Elon Musk, explaining the technology of Elrond’s blockchain and how it could improve transactions for self-driving Teslas.

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Blockchain Gaming NFTs Tokens

Blockchain Gaming Token GALA Up 360% in a Week Following NFT Drop Announcement

Gala Games (GALA) has gone ga-ga, with the gaming token’s price skyrocketing by over 360 percent in seven days. The surge comes as investors welcome exploding interest in decentralised games, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse sector.

The main driver of Gala’s price hike is its impending Miranda VOX drop, due December 6. The NFT series contains “magical creatures from the realm of Mirandus”: elves, rogue halflings, fierce orcs, stalwart dwarves, plus “surprise” creatures from the Mirandus bestiary will emerge from Gala’s mysterious VOX boxes on the due date.

Creatures from the Mirandus bestiary. Source: Gala Games

Instead of being sold through the CollectVOX website, these VOX boxes will be purchasable directly from the Gala Games store, thus avoiding the usual Ethereum gas wars.

If you’re new to Gala Games, you’ll need to create an account, and then purchase some GALA tokens and some ETH (for network fees).

‘Blockchain Games You’ll Actually Want to Play’: Gala

With its stated mission being to to make “blockchain games you’ll actually want to play”, Gala Games claims to give players control over their virtual domain. GALA is used as a means of exchange between gamers and the coins can be used to pay for items within the platform.

Created in 2019 by Eric Schiermeyer, one of the co-founders of mobile games company Zynga, which developed the likes of Mafia Wars and Farmville, Gala has 1.3 million active users. According to the company manifesto:

We are truly building the largest decentralised gaming platform in the world. Decentralisation means putting the power, the responsibility and the rewards into the players’ hands.

Gala Games

Gala players are able to own NFTs that allow them to vote on new games and thus influence how they are run. The GALA token can be used to purchase these NFTs, as well as in-game items.

What’s Behind GALA’s Surge in Price

Gala’s year-on-year performance. Source: capital.com

According to the Global Gaming Market 2021-2025 report published by ReportLinker, the gaming sector is expected to grow by US$125.6 billion from 2021 to 2025, which will favour the likes of Gala.

Many have attributed Gala’s breakout performance to its being listed on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance, Mandala, OKEx, Huobi Global and Bitget.

Last week, Crypto News Australia reported how another NFT and gaming token, WAX, had soared 215 percent in a month on the back of unprecedented user growth.

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Blockchain Crypto News Crypto Wallets Investing

Square Publishes Whitepaper for its Decentralised Bitcoin Exchange

Digital payments giant Square has released a whitepaper through its new TBD division introducing tbDEX, a decentralised crypto exchange that aims to “create ubiquitous and accessible on-ramps and off-ramps that allow the average individual to benefit from crypto innovation”.

The tbDEX protocol will be an easily accessible crypto exchange that aims to bridge users from fiat currencies to Bitcoin and other digital crypto assets.

The vast majority of people receive wages and pay for goods and services in fiat currency. They must pay taxes in fiat currency. So how do we unleash the potential of Bitcoin and decentralised financial infrastructure when most of us still live in a world of fiat? To do so, we need to build bridges between the fiat and cryptocurrency worlds…

Square’s whitepaper

tbDEX Will Not Be Completely Decentralised

While most decentralised exchanges (DEXs) include a governance token, tbDEX will not utilise a trustless model – instead, it will operate as a message protocol designed to facilitate trust relationships without relying on a federation to control access.

The tbDEX also intends to include features that will generally disqualify it from being considered a completely decentralised exchange. For example, to appease regulators, tbDEX will comply with customer identification regulation such as know-your-customer (KYC) checks. 

There is also controversy surrounding the whitepaper’s proposal to include blockchain analytic solutions, which will either be built into the exchange or operate through the use of a third party, in order to track transactions on the platform. To prevent illicit business activities, such a system would allow authorities to cross-reference payment IDs and public wallet addresses with users’ KYC information to reveal personal identities behind transacting parties.

Potential Game Changer

Bringing some regulation to the crypto space does have its benefits, however; these more centralised features would allow for chargebacks on tbDEX, allowing Square to reverse transactions if needed. This is a game changer as it could potentially protect investors from suffering financial loss (which previously has been irreversible) in the event of a rug-pull scam.

Square CEO Jack Dorsey (also CEO of Twitter) has been active in the crypto space over the years, speaking as a guest at crypto conferences around the world and promoting his companies’ products, such as Square’s crypto-friendly mobile payment application, Cash App.