Astar Network recently announced it had secured over US$22 million in a fundraising round led by industry-leading crypto companies and angel investors.
Astar Making Waves in DeFi Space
There’s been a lot of movement within the Polkadot ecosystem since the Parachain auctions started in January this year. Hundreds of projects are still competing to secure a slot over the next two years or so.
One of these Polkadot-based projects is Astar Network, a multi-chain DeFi protocol that’s calling the attention of retailers and institutional investors alike due to its wide range of innovative Web3 solutions and financial incentives:
— Astar Network | WASM + EVM HUB on Polkadot (@AstarNetwork) January 28, 2022
TVL Hits an ATH
The total value locked (TVL) in Astar has reached an all-time high of US$1.3 billion, making it the eighth-largest EVM blockchain. This signals growing interest for the project.
There are now over 100,000+ unique wallet addresses on the ecosystem, a bigger inflow of users, and more decentralised protocols are building on the network, whose TVL now sits at US$1.24 billion.
Source: DeFi Llama
Astar has been hosting numerous protocols since the launch of its mainnet (there are more than 40+ dApps as of now) and it’s planning to host 15 more in April – a month the project has proclaimed as the “Astar Season”:
Astar is an ambitious protocol that aims to create a broad, self-sustaining ecosystem with top-quality dApps and better financial incentives for users and developers. Along with its support for bridges, Astar allows developers to deploy existing Solidity and Polkadot native smart contracts on its network.
The next step for the Astar protocol is to create a multi-chain smart contract hub, which the company says is now in progress:
I participated in ASTER crowdloan via pokerdot js org. Can you please show me how to claim my ASTER token. Thank you
This past weekend marked a momentous occasion in Bitcoin’s history as supply issuance crossed the 90 percent mark. As the 19 millionth block was mined, Bitcoin Takeover founder Vlad Costea commented: “There are only 2 million BTC left to mine in the next 118 years!”
In and among celebrations on Twitter, many users took the opportunity to comment on Bitcoin’s remarkably well-designed inflation model. As illustrated above, the bulk of Bitcoin’s 21 million hard cap issuance is front-loaded in the early years.
With the block reward halving every four years, and the next being scheduled in 2024, Bitcoin’s scarcity is becoming increasingly self-evident:
The first 19 million #Bitcoin were mined in 13 years. The next 2 million will take 120 years!
19M (90.48%) #bitcoin are mined. In 2028 it will be 98.44%. The scarcity is hard to understand so just buy something just in case you understand it later. pic.twitter.com/aZqlwzAS2o
— Bitcoin is Freedom🟠 (@Bitcoin_Norway) April 2, 2022
Between now and the year 2140 the #BTC supply will grow from 19 million ➡️ 21 million.
That is a total inflation of 10.5% over the next 118 years. #Crypto
Which is lower than the current actual yearly inflation rate in the USA. 🤯
To recap, mining difficulty is a relative measure of how difficult it is to find a new block. This is adjusted on a periodic basis correlated to the hash power being deployed by the network. The greater Bitcoin’s hash power, the more difficult it becomes to find blocks.
Amid the excitement of Bitcoin reaching the historic 90 percent issuance rate, the network also recorded its highest mining difficulty to date, rising 4.31 percent to 28.59 trillion. Notably, mining difficulty is up 100.6 percent from its 2021 low of 13.68 trillion.
BTC mining difficulty all time. Source: BTC.com
A recent illustration was in 2021, when China banned Bitcoin mining (again), resulting in the network difficulty reducing by 16 percent as significant hash power was taken offline.
The long and short of it is that an all-time high for mining difficulty makes it more difficult than ever for Bitcoin miners to “find” blocks, making the network even more robust and secure than before. Remarkably, this is the second time in three weeks it has reached such a milestone.
The mining difficulty of the Bitcoin network has reached a new high of 27.97T, which is the second time in three weeks that the Bitcoin mining difficulty has hit an all-time high. In the previous month, the computing power was 190.71 EH/s, and the mining difficulty reached 26.7 pic.twitter.com/W9f7Y4Ok09
Inverse Finance, a decentralised lending protocol built on Ethereum, has lost over US$15 million in the latest multimillion-dollar DeFi hack of the year. Hackers were able to lean on an exploit and take out massive loans and get away through Tornado Cash.
As spotted by blockchain analytics firm PeckShield, the lending protocol had 4300 ETH stolen:
The hackers targeted Inverse’s Anchor (ANC) money market by artificially manipulating token prices to borrow loans against extremely low collateral:
This morning Inverse Finance's money market, Anchor, was subject to a capital-intensive manipulation of the INV/ETH price oracle on Sushiswap, resulting in a sharp rise in the price of INV which subsequently enabled the attacker to borrow $15.6 million in DOLA, ETH, WBTC, & YFI
The hackers were funded with 901 ETH (US$3 million) from Tornado Cash in order to pull off the exploit. By tricking the price oracle into thinking the native INV token was at a much higher price, massive loans were then taken out on Anchor using INV as collateral.
List of stolen crypto. Source: EtherScan
This was done by injecting the funds into several trading pairs on SushiSwap, inflating the price of INV. A representative from PeckShield told CoinDeskthat “the attack was high-risk, since the $3 million worth of crypto used to trick the price oracle would have been completely lost if the price of INV [had fallen] back to normal levels before the attacker took out the loans”.
Inverse’s Plan of Action
Inverse has since paused all borrowing and stated in a thread that a plan would be sent to governance to “ensure all wallets impacted by the price manipulation are repaid 100 percent”, adding that it would not mint new INV to repay affected users, which might affect its already falling price.
A bounty has been made available to the hacker but no further updates have been issued. To minimise the risk of future problems like this one, a representative for the protocol added that it is working with Chainlink to build a new INV oracle.
Let’s take a closer look at today’s altcoins showing breakout signals. We’ll explain what the coin is, then dive into the trading charts and provide some analysis to help you decide.
1. DefiChain (DFI)
DeFiChain DFI is a blockchain platform built with the mission of maximising the full potential of DeFi within the Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem. The software platform is supported by a distributed network of computers and is designed to facilitate fast and transparent transactions. The development team positions DeFiChain as an innovative blockchain project and offers solutions to problems like scalability, security and decentralisation.
DFI Price Analysis
At the time of writing, DFI is ranked the 207th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$4.58. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
DFI has climbed 109.51% from its late January low and is nearing its range high.
The price is currently encountering resistance near $4.750, where December’s breakdown began. This level could continue to provide resistance.
After bulls reached this resistance, the price saw a sharp 15.2% sell-off to support near $3.923, just above the consolidation that began the last leg upward. This level could provide support again.
More aggressive bulls might hunt closer possible support levels near $4.115, where the sell-off wicked through an inefficiently traded area, and from $4.472 to $4.330, where the 9 EMA and April monthly open converge.
Selling may intensify since the price is nearing its yearly range highs. However, if the price breaks its closest resistance, bulls may be eyeing the two bearish rejections near $5.764 as the next target.
2. IRISnet (IRIS)
Irisnet IRIS is a service protocol and cryptocurrency, officially launched on March 1, 2019. The primary purpose of the IRISnet protocol is to provide a blockchain-based, open network to small and medium businesses that are offering a wide variety of services, with the protocol aiming to employ different public and consortium blockchains to bring the power of decentralised, open networks to thousands of businesses and freelance service providers. Interestingly, IRISnet was named after Iris, the personification of the rainbow and the messenger of the Gods in Greek mythology.
IRIS Price Analysis
At the time of writing, IRIS is ranked the 420th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$0.07611. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
IRIS climbed nearly 66% after it ran bulls’ stops near a cluster of lows at $0.05133.
The price might find support in the current area, from $0.07636 to $0.07310. Here, the price consolidated before February’s sell-off.
Further below, $0.06525 to $0.06056 may offer more substantial support. The 9, 18 and 40 EMAs have created a bullish cross in this zone. It also has confluence with the 61.8-78.6% retracement levels of the current move and marks the consolidation high before the recent rally.
While the current level could also provide resistance, the price may reach slightly beyond, near $0.08532. This level is near the 2022 yearly open and a significant consolidation low that preceded January’s breakdown.
If this price breaks this resistance, bulls might next watch the area near $0.09808. At this level, the monthly chart shows the last significant consolidation before December’s breakdown.
If the market turns aggressively bearish, bears may enter with a hopeful short target near $0.04625. A move to this level would run bulls’ stops under all higher-timeframe swing lows into the origin of January 2021’s rally.
3. MoBox (MBOX)
MoBox MBOX is an NFT gaming ecosystem built on Binance Smart Chain, a community-driven platform empowering users by rewarding them for their engagement and enjoyment. It combines yield farming in DeFi with gaming NFTs, creating a free-to-play, play-to-earn gaming model. MOBOX Platform combines DeFi and Gaming NFTs, creating a truly free-to-play and play-to-earn ecosystem.
MBOX Price Analysis
At the time of writing, MBOX is ranked the 184th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$3.75. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
Last week, MBOX broke a key swing high to the upside, reaching resistance beginning near $4.289.
This area could continue to provide resistance, although it’s reasonable to expect the price to reach slightly above to an area between $4.729 and $5.222. This area is near the 2022 yearly open. It also shows an overlap of inefficient higher-timeframe trading and December’s consolidation, which spawned a strong move downward.
As of now, the first probable support may be near $3.393. This area provided support last week. It also overlaps the consolidation high before February’s drop, contains the 9 EMA, and is an inefficiently traded area.
If the support near $3.393 fails, bulls might eye $2.519 as the next possible support. This level has confluence with the 78.6% retracement level, saw the bullish cross of the 9, 18 and 40 EMAs, and is inefficiently traded on higher timeframes.
These coins have high liquidity on Binance Exchange, so that could help with trading on AUD/USDT/BTC pairs. And if you’re looking at buying and HODLing cryptos, then Swyftx Exchange is an easy-to-use popular choice in Australia.
Crypto hardware wallet company Trezor has confirmed that some of its users were the target of a phishing attack over the weekend. Trezor tweeted that it was investigating “a potential data breach of an opt-in newsletter hosted on MailChimp” and warned users to avoid opening emails from “[email protected]”.
MailChimp have confirmed that their service has been compromised by an insider targeting crypto companies.
We have managed to take the phishing domain offline. We are trying to determine how many email addresses have been affected. 1/
“We will not be communicating by newsletter until the situation is resolved,” Trezor advised in a later post. “Do not open any emails appearing to come from Trezor until further notice. Please ensure you are using anonymous email addresses for bitcoin-related activity.”
Fake Security Breach Used as Bait
Trezor users shared warnings and screenshots of the phishing attempt from April 2, some noting it was a bare-faced ruse to induce users to download malicious code under the guise of Trezor’s Suite desktop app by alleging a fake security breach at the company:
Hey @Trezor, I just got an email from you or someone spoofing you that Trezor Suite might be compromised due to a hack. The email contains a link to download a newer version. Is that a legit email or a phishing email? Did you guys get hacked and find out about it today?
DeFi protocol Ola Finance has called on users to resist pointing fingers of blame and asked the community instead to focus on the growth of the project, as it addressed a US$3.6 million hack via Twitter on April 1.
The attack took place on Fuse Lending, Ola’s implementation on the Fuse blockchain:
1/2 Standing together, @ola_finance and @voltfinance remain united in our efforts to compensate users suffering from the latest exploit.
All projects accept responsibility and ask our communities to focus on the next steps of growth, rather than assigning blame.
The incident involved a “re-entrancy bug”, which is a commonly known culprit at the heart of DeFi attacks. The smart contract vulnerability enables hackers to make repeated calls to a protocol in order to steal assets, without having to pay back borrowed funds.
The attack began by mixing funds through Tornado Cash, making the crypto hard to trace. The funds were then withdrawn over the Fuse Bridge and transferred to the Fuse network (Ola’s decentralised lending platform). The hacker used the assets as collateral to take out loans, and by exploiting the re-entrancy bug was able to then remove the starting funds without having to repay the loans.
This process was repeated several times across different Ola pools. The hacker then transferred the drained assets to wallets on Ethereum and BNB Chain. In total, the hacker holds US$3 million on Ethereum and another US$637,000 on BNB Chain.
Official Report Forthcoming
Ola tweeted that it would soon publish an “official report detailing the exploit”. For now it has responsibly paused the use of the Fuse network lending protocol while looking into rectifying the bad code.
Let’s take a closer look at today’s altcoins showing breakout signals. We’ll explain what the coin is, then dive into the trading charts and provide some analysis to help you decide.
1. Dego Finance (DEGO)
Dego Finance DEGO is a decentralised ecosystem that offers a diverse combination of the non-fungible token (NFT) and decentralised finance (DeFi) tools. It is an independent, open NFT ecosystem. Any user is allowed to launch an NFT and initiate mining, auctions and trading, covering the entire lifecycle of the product. Dego’s NFT protocol is a cross-chain, second-layer infrastructure for blockchain projects that can be leveraged for user acquisition and token distribution.
DEGO Price Analysis
At the time of writing, DEGO is ranked the 660th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$3.92. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
During March, bulls enjoyed 65% gains at DEGO‘s peak before the price confirmed strong resistance beginning at $10.25.
The 1-Day chart shows that support may be forming between $4.15 and $4.00, near the weekly open. Aggressive bulls could enter in this area, although safer entries may be found much further below near $3.89 and $3.78 after a sweep of the current consolidation’s swing lows.
The last swing high near $4.10 provides a likely first target if the price does bounce from this region. Beyond this swing high, the 1.0 extension near $4.35 and the 2.0 extension near $4.60 may provide the next major targets.
2. Polkadot (DOT)
Polkadot DOT is an open-source sharding multichain protocol that facilitates the cross-chain transfer of any data or asset types, not just tokens, thereby making a wide range of blockchains interoperable with each other. Polkadot’s native DOT token serves three clear purposes: providing network governance and operations, and creating parachains by bonding. The Polkadot protocol connects public and private chains, permissionless networks, oracles, and future technologies, allowing these independent blockchains to trustlessly share information and transactions through the Polkadot relay chain.
DOT Price Analysis
At the time of writing, DOT is ranked the 11th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$23.06. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
DOT has retraced nearly 50% during Q1, showing little sign of interest from buyers.
March’s consolidation at possible support from $22.68 to $24.57 broke down with the rest of the market last month, turning this into likely resistance on future retests. This area now has confluence with the 9 and 18 EMAs.
If market conditions turn and this resistance breaks, an area near the midpoint of January’s consolidation range, near $27.70, and the monthly high near $31.88 may see profit-taking from bulls.
The first test of possible support near $19.70 showed some sensitivity. Still, continued bearishness in the market will likely cause a break of this level.
A break of this support might continue to drop to the next possible support near $17.66, running stops under the Q3 2021 swing low.
If this level gives support and begins a consolidation forming a bottom, bulls might wait for a wick below to possible support from $16.55 to $16.00.
3. Celo (CELO)
Celo is a blockchain ecosystem focused on increasing cryptocurrency adoption among smartphone users. The network also allows for the creation of smart contracts and decentralised applications (DApps) as part of decentralised finance (DeFi). The platform has two native tokens. CELO is a proof-of-stake (PoS) token used for transaction fees, governance participation and related activities. In the future, the platform aims to host various stablecoins, with one, the Celo Dollar (CUSD), already in use.
CELO Price Analysis
At the time of writing, CELO is ranked the 70th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$3.69. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:
CELO has continued its rally through the daily gap between $3.70 and $3.62, turning this region into an area of possible support.
However, a stop run under the relatively equal lows at $3.54 could form a wick below this level, potentially reaching an untapped daily gap beginning near $3.47.
Resistance starting at $3.80 has seen significant profit-taking, shown by the long upper wicks on the daily candles. A break of this resistance may reach the next significant swing high at $3.95, continue into probable resistance just above, and possibly set new monthly highs at $4.16.
These coins have high liquidity on Binance Exchange, so that could help with trading on AUD/USDT/BTC pairs. And if you’re looking at buying and HODLing cryptos, then Swyftx Exchange is an easy-to-use popular choice in Australia.
The new course, which will equip graduates with a Diploma of Applied Blockchain, will enable real-world applications in the arts, banking and business sectors.
According to its TAFE overview, the course is designed for experienced professionals with basic experience in business planning, blockchain and distributed ledger technologies wanting to formalise or further their skills in this area.
Recent workforce data from LinkedIn identified blockchain as the most in-demand hard skill of 2020, with qualified professionals in the field in high demand.
Among other specifics, the TAFE course will cover how to:
develop a blockchain business model implementation plan;
apply big data and blockchain technologies to the Internet of Things (IoT);
develop a team business model that aligns team operations with a blockchain business model;
identify and apply big data to enable marketing strategies within a blockchain ecosystem; and
develop, monitor and maintain a governance policy within a blockchain network.
Successful completion of the course will allow graduates to seek work in a range of management or operational roles applying blockchain technologies within new and existing organisations.
How to Apply
To apply and learn more about study options for the TAFE Queensland Diploma of Applied Blockchain, visit TAFE’s website.
According to Austin Lewinsmith, co-founder of Blockchain Collective, a partner of TAFE Queensland, “Blockchain technology will underpin the development of the Web 3.0 revolution because it provides highly effective, efficient and secure ways of managing data.’’
European Union lawmakers have voted in favour of controversial proposals that require exchanges to collect personal data from individuals who transact more than EUR 1,000 using unhosted wallets.
BREAKING: The ECON & LIBE committees of the EU Parliament voted in favor of the FTR compromises D & E that crack down on “unhosted” wallets.
Entire regulation draft to be voted on later today, but will certainly go through.
Breakdown of the vote & more updates in this thread.
It seems like a majority of (most) MEPs from S&D, GUE, Greens & Renew voted in favor, while a minority of (most) MEPs from EPP & ID voted against. ECR seems more split (tbd).
The underlying justification behind the proposals is that they intend to extend anti-money laundering (AML) requirements that apply to conventional payments over EUR 1,000 to the crypto sector. As Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong noted, however, the burden imposed on exchanges would be extremely onerous:
4/ This means before you can send or receive crypto from a self-hosted wallet, Coinbase will be required to collect, store, and verify information on the other party, which is a not our customer, before the transfer is allowed.
— Brian Armstrong – barmstrong.eth (@brian_armstrong) March 30, 2022
5/ Moreover, any time you receive 1,000 euros or more in crypto from a self-hosted wallet, Coinbase will be required to report you to the authorities. This applies even if there is no indication of suspicious activity.
— Brian Armstrong – barmstrong.eth (@brian_armstrong) March 30, 2022
5/ Moreover, any time you receive 1,000 euros or more in crypto from a self-hosted wallet, Coinbase will be required to report you to the authorities. This applies even if there is no indication of suspicious activity.
— Brian Armstrong – barmstrong.eth (@brian_armstrong) March 30, 2022
Most of the pushback from industry is because non-custodial wallets aren’t necessarily customers, with commentators describing the measures as “anti-innovation and anti-privacy”.
Referring to Chainalysis data showing that less than 0.05 percent of crypto volume was related to crime, hardware wallet provider Ledger argued that the proposals were neither necessary nor proportionate. It further noted that they reduced financial freedom, consumer protection and financial inclusion, and put Europe at a competitive disadvantage relative to other jurisdictions.
The next battle is clearly over unhosted wallets and for now it appears as if the regulators are in the driving seat. Importantly, the laws have not been enacted and still need to go through tripartite meetings between the EU Parliament, European Commission, and European Council.
Despite expectations that little will derail the proposals in question, if there is one thing we know about the crypto sector it’s that it will never go down without a fight.
Quantum phenomena are strange things to wrap your head around, with the applications thereof even more so. Some believe that quantum computers will become advanced enough to break current cryptography, endangering trillions of dollars and the blockchains that secure it.
Quantum computing is said to be the next iteration of advanced computation that will completely blow conventional computers out of the water. Due to the nature of the technology, problems can be solved orders of magnitude faster than on a regular computer.
A Looming Quantum Threat?
Theoretically, a quantum computer can ‘easily’ solve the problem of finding the prime factors of large numbers exponentially faster than any classical scheme. This would make these computers exceptionally good at prime factorisation, which is at the heart of breaking the commonly used RSA-based cryptography.
However, building a quantum computer that could crack RSA codes would require many millions, if not billions, of qubits. This means that cracking cryptography is currently way beyond the scope of current computing power.
Quantum Computers Still a Long Way Off
In an article written for Technology Review, Sankar Das Sarma – a condensed matter theory physicist and quantum information expert – states that some of the hype and speculation around this revolutionary technology has “disturbed ” him.
When fully realised, quantum computers stand to change the world in ways we can barely even imagine, but at this stage we are “no closer to having a quantum computer that can solve a problem that anybody cares about. It is akin to trying to make today’s best smartphones using vacuum tubes from the early 1900s,” Das Sarma writes.
Currently, the most advanced quantum computers have dozens of decohering qubits, nothing remotely close to the possible billions required to crack RSA cryptography:
Bitcoin’s cryptography is likely to stay impenetrable, as quantum computing is far from being able to solve any important problems right now….Read more: https://t.co/59Ffllab4o
I am all for hope and am a big believer in quantum computing as a potentially disruptive technology, but to claim that it would start producing millions of dollars of profit for real companies selling services or products in the near future is very perplexing to me.
Sankar Das Sarma
Even though the problem lies in the distant future, some projects have already started preparing for the threat quantum computers might pose. In 2020, for example, Australia’s CSIRO and Monash University started working on a “quantum-proof” blockchain protocol.
