Category: Crypto Wallets

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Coinbase Crypto Exchange Crypto Wallets NFTs

Apple Blocks Coinbase NFT Transfers Over In-App Purchase Dispute

Leading cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase said it’s been forced to remove non-fungible token (NFT) transactions from the iOS version of its wallet app, following Apple’s decision to apply its ‘Apple tax’ to these transactions.

Coinbase said the NFT feature had been disabled to get around a block on its latest app release due to Apple’s transaction fees policy.

Apple’s policy doesn’t straight-up ban NFT transfers, but it does require that 30 percent of the gas fees — the blockchain network fees paid by users to process the transactions — are paid directly to Apple. 

Complying is Impossible: Coinbase Boss

Coinbase’s official Twitter account posted a thread on Thursday explaining why the NFT functionality had been removed from its iOS wallet app. Coinbase pointed out that it was not possible for it to comply with Apple’s policy as Apple’s in-app purchase system doesn’t currently support crypto.

The thread also likened Apple’s policy to “trying to take a cut of fees for every email that gets sent over open internet protocols.”

Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, tweeted that conversations with Apple had recently started to become “absurd” as Coinbase struggled to navigate what they consider nonsensical policies imposed by Apple.

Cryptosphere Reacts

On Twitter, many users have expressed their frustration with what they perceive as excessive greed interfering with the growth of crypto.

Others pointed to Solana’s soon-to-be-released Saga phone as a potential way around Apple’s policies.

Apple announced in October that NFT in-app transactions would be subject to the same 30 percent fee as all other types of in-app transactions. Apple’s insistence on applying their tax to NFT transactions has meant that NFT marketplaces and other crypto-centric functionality has remained largely absent from its App Store. 

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Crypto Exchange Crypto Wallets Regulation Russia

Several Crypto Exchanges Close Russian Accounts Following EU Sanctions

cryptocurrency on a russian flag

A number of cryptocurrency exchanges, including Bitcoin.com, LocalBitcoins and Crypto.com, have reportedly opted to stop serving Russia-based customers following a raft of new sanctions enacted by the European Union against Russia on October 6th.

This news follows an earlier move by the blockchain-focussed developer Dapper Labs’ to ban Russian citizens from accessing its services. With numerous major exchanges set to follow suit, Russian residents’ access to crypto markets seems severely restricted.

New Sanctions Further Restrict Russian Access to Crypto

Previous sanctions had limited the value of crypto transfers between EU nations and Russia to €10,000, or approximately US$9,700. These new sanctions go much further, essentially banning the provision of crypto-asset wallet services to any person residing in Russia:

“Decision (CFSP) 2022/1909 removes the threshold for the existing prohibition on the provision of crypto-asset wallet, account or custody services to Russian persons and residents, thereby banning the provision of such services regardless of the total value of such crypto-assets…It shall be prohibited to provide crypto-asset wallet, account or custody services to Russian nationals or natural persons residing in Russia, or legal persons, entities or bodies established in Russia.” 

Offical Journal of the European Union, Volume 65

It’s unclear if this ban includes non-custodial wallets, such as those offered by Bitcoin.com and Crypto.com, or if it’s limited to custodial wallets held on exchanges and used by customers for trading.

Exchanges Set to Block Russian Customers Starting This Month

According to reports in the Russian media, Bitcoin.com gave Russia-based customers until October 27th to remove their assets from the exchange. After the deadline, Bitcoin.com will block customers from accessing their accounts.

Peer-to-peer crypto exchange, LocalBitcoins, blocked access to its services by Russian residents on October 7th, the day after the new sanctions were announced.

Many other exchanges will follow, with most major exchanges, including Binance and Coinbase, reportedly working towards complying with the new sanctions as quickly as possible. Having said that, it’s not currently known exactly when Russian access to most exchanges will end, as it could take some time to safely and effectively implement the restrictions.

Could Any Exchanges Defy The Sanctions?

It’s unclear whether any crypto exchanges intend to defy the new restrictions and continue offering services to Russian residents. 

Bitfinex has previously expressed opposition to EU sanctions against Russians. In March of this year, Bitfinex CTO Paulo Ardoino, expressed concern about cutting services to Russia, saying Bitfinex was prepared to safeguard customers’ access to their accounts unless ordered to do otherwise by regulatory agencies.

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Australia Crypto Wallets Cryptocurrency Law Cryptocurrency Tax Gaming

Northern Territory Moves to Regulate Crypto Gambling

Cryptocurrency is about to join crocs and Kakadu as one of the three defining features of Australia’s Northern Territory, with plans afoot to include crypto betting as part of the Top End’s regulated gambling industry.

The Australian Northern Territory Racing Commission (NTRC) is seeking input and feedback from gambling licensees on how the regulatory landscape might change in order to get crypto betting off the ground in the NT.

With gambling in Australia regulated by states and territories rather than at federal level, the NTRC oversees all betting interests that are licensed in the NT, including global concerns such as Betfair, Entain Group, Draft Kings and Sportsbet.

Contents of Private Document Made Public

Julian Hoskins, principal of one of Australia’s largest gambling law and regulatory consultancies, Senet, has seen a private document circulated among licensees and chose to shed light on its contents:

Any licensee, for example a sports bookmaker licensed in the Northern Territory, who wants to accept cryptocurrency for billing or paying wages needs permission to do so. And there are certain conditions attached to that.

Julian Hoskins, Senet

“It is clear from the conceptual framework that they are looking at cryptocurrency gambling and not simply exchanging [crypto] for fiat,” Hoskins added, pointing out that gamblers will most likely have to place fiat and crypto bets separately on the one platform as the two financial instruments will not be interchangeable for gambling.

Given the popularity of crypto, I imagine it would be very popular as an alternative to fiat. I think it has the potential to be quite material.

Julian Hoskins, Senet

Other States Likely to Follow Suit

Hoskins says that if this model went according to plan in the Northern Territory, gambling regulators in other states would likely follow suit, while also noting that strict identification requirements have been proposed to maintain compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. As such, gamblers will most likely have to have their crypto wallet addresses verified, with any winnings sent back to the same wallet that made the initial deposit.

According to the document, the NTRC has recommended monthly crypto deposit limits of A$2,000 for the first 12 months, with a maximum bet of A$5,000 per month.

Mindil Beach Casino, Perth, NT. Source: mindilbeachcasinoresort.com.au

Hoskins, who is a gambling industry lawyer, also explained that local gambling companies will be required by law to maintain crypto wallets that contain enough funds to fully collateralise customers’ wagering amounts, as is common in fiat-based gambling.

As for the tax implications of using volatile crypto assets to gamble, Hoskins said he was not sure “how that would be handled”, which suggests the NTRC is still considering such issues.

This all comes just days after the recently elected federal government outlined its approach to crypto regulation, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers announcing a “token mapping” exercise that is expected to help “identify how crypto assets and related services should be regulated”.

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Crypto News Crypto Wallets Metaverse NFTs Sports

Real Madrid and Barcelona FC Team Up for Metaverse Activities

Despite their innate differences and fierce rivalry on the pitch, Spanish football superclubs FC Barcelona and Real Madrid have filed a joint metaverse trademark application encompassing virtual reality gaming/clothing and crypto transaction management software:

Both Clubs to Offer Crypto Wallets

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid filed the application over a week ago but the news has only just been confirmed by trademarks lawyer Mike Kondoudis. The filing indicates that both clubs may be interested in offering their own cryptocurrency wallets.

The alliance has raised eyebrows in that each team represents totally different values. FC Barcelona symbolises the separatist Catalan region, while Real Madrid is linked to the royal family and represents traditional Spanish culture and nationalism.

The derby between the clubs is known as “El Clasico” and is one of football’s premier events. Both clubs have a global fanbase and are the world’s two most followed sports teams on social media.

Back on the Crypto Bandwagon

News of the joint venture has also created interest in light of the fact that FC Barcelona, along with English Premier League champions Manchester City, discarded its crypto sponsors last year in controversial circumstances.

In the case of FC Barcelona, the club announced it had cancelled a deal with NFT marketplace Ownix after the arrest of one of its consultants, Moshe Hogeg, owner of Israeli football team Beitar Jerusalem, for suspected crypto fraud.

Also in November 2021, the Catalan club announced it would be auctioning non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of memorable moments from the club’s 122 years in the game. It was whispered at the time that the auction would serve to offset a debt crisis afflicting the club.

Fan Tokens Part of Metaverse Strategy

Earlier this year, FT Barcelona confirmed music streaming giant Spotify as its jersey sponsor. It also issued its own fan token and has since been linked with fan engagement token company Socios.com in a US$100 million deal to reshape the strategies of the club in the Web3 and metaverse space.

In 2020, Real Madrid partnered with NFT collectible company Sorare and the following year announced it would issue Smart Tickets in the form of NFTs for its audience in partnership with LAVA.

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Crypto Exchange Crypto News Crypto Wallets Zipmex

Zipmex Announces Plans to Release a ‘Specific Amount’ of ETH and BTC

Embattled Asia Pacific exchange Zipmex has announced it will enable its Z Wallet customers to partially withdraw some of their Bitcoin and Ether holdings.

After details of its liquidity crisis emerged last month, Zipmex has named August 11 and 16 as respective dates for releasing “a specific amount” of ether and bitcoin.

Crypto Twitter Questions Zipmex Wording

Predictably, Crypto Twitter was quick to query the vagueness of the Zipmex announcement:

Restructure a Work in Progress

On July 20, Zipmex halted withdrawals from the platform, citing exposure to Babel Finance and Celsius. Following a restructuring plan, the exchange has been working with customers and regulators to ensure funds are returned. Last week, it announced withdrawals for altcoins including Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA) and Ripple (XRP).

Zipmex operates in four countries – Singapore, Australia, Indonesia and Thailand – and offers both spot trading for cryptocurrencies and interest on deposits.

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Crypto News Crypto Wallets Hackers Solana Trust Wallet

Solana Mobile Wallet Exploited, Millions Drained from Over 8,000 Users

Solana users this week reported that their funds had been drained from more than 8,000 internet-connected “hot” wallets, including Phantom, Slope, and TrustWallet, amassing losses exceeding US$5 million according to blockchain auditing firm OtterSec:

Hardware Wallets Not Compromised

No evidence was found that the Solana protocol or its cryptography were compromised, nor were its hardware wallets. According to a Solana Status Tweet, engineers from across several ecosystems, in conjunction with audit and security firms, were continuing to investigate the “root cause” of the attack:

Blockchain investigation firm PeckShield posted on August 2 that the hack was most likely due to a “supply chain issue”, which was exploited to steal user private keys behind the affected wallets. The exact cause of the attack remains unclear, although it appears that mobile wallet users were impacted most. The attackers were able to sign transactions on behalf of users, suggesting that a trusted third-party service might have been compromised.

The Solana Status Twitter account shared its preliminary findings via developers and security auditors, saying that “it appears affected addresses were at one point created, imported, or used in Slope mobile wallet applications”:

The thread continued: “This exploit was isolated to one wallet on Solana, and hardware wallets used by Slope remain secure … While the details of exactly how this occurred are still under investigation, private key information was inadvertently transmitted to an application monitoring service.”

Yet Another Setback for Solana

Over the past nine months, Solana has suffered some severe downtime on its network caused by “excessive duplicate transactions” and “high levels of congestion”. It also suffered a distributed denial-of-service attack in December last year that jammed the network and led to huge delays, leading many to question the security of the network.

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Crypto Wallets Ethereum MetaMask Scams

MetaMask Users Warned of New Phishing Campaign Targeting Users

Crypto security firm Halborn has warned of a new email phishing campaign targeting MetaMask users. 

In a blog post published July 28, Halborn’s technical education specialist Luis Lubeck analysed the phishing email and highlighted red flags users should look out for to keep their digital assets safe from these types of scams.

How the Scam Works

This latest scam involves an email, ostensibly from MetaMask, asking the recipient to verify their MetaMask wallet’s seed phrase. The recipient is told the seed phrase is needed by MetaMask in order to comply with regulations and that failure to comply will result in their wallet being “restricted”:

Screenshot of the phishing scam email received by MetaMask users.

Clicking on the button to verify the seed phrase takes recipients to a fraudulent imitation of the MetaMask website where they are prompted to input their seed phrase. If the user complies, the scammers gain full access to the wallet, allowing them to steal the user’s assets.

Red Flags and Warning Signs

Lubeck cautioned that to an inexperienced, casual crypto user not paying close attention, the email could appear legitimate. However, he highlighted some important red flags, including:

  • the sending address not being from a legitimate MetaMask domain, but rather from ‘metamaks.auction’;
  • the lack of personalisation, such as the recipient’s real name or other identifying information; and
  • the call to action button linking not to MetaMask’s website, but to a fraudulent URL.

Lubeck stressed that the best defence against phishing attacks is to be extra careful when receiving email requests related to crypto accounts or wallets:

The best defence against phishing attacks like these is to stay vigilant when receiving emails and think twice before doing anything that seems a bit unusual or potentially suspicious. 

Luis Lubeck, technical education specialist, Halborn

MetaMask Frequent Target of Scammers

Due to its status as the most popular wallet for Ethereum, MetaMask is often targeted by scammers. 

In April, MetaMask warned Apple users to disable iCloud backups after it was revealed their MetaMask seed phrases were being automatically backed up to the cloud storage service and then targeted in phishing attacks. In one case, a user lost over US$600,000 worth of assets to this scam.

In November 2021, a Reddit user reported his friend had lost 38 ETH to another MetaMask scam in which a paid Google ad directed users to a fake MetaMask website to install a fraudulent version of the browser extension, allowing scammers to steal users’ assets.

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Crypto News Crypto Wallets Cryptocurrency Law Hackers NFTs

UK Court Rules That Lawsuits Can Be Served Via NFTs

In what is a legal precedent for the High Court of England and Wales, a plaintiff has been granted permission to file a lawsuit against anonymous defendants by means of an NFT drop.

The move will allow Fabrizio D’Aloia, founder of Italy-based online gaming company Microgame, to serve legal documents on people who are not known by name but connected via two digital wallets:

Joanna Bailey, an associate of Giambrone & Partners LLP who are representing D’Aloia, described the precedent as “significant” in a sector where scams and hacks can often only be tied to wallet addresses and not their actual individual owners:

This is so important because it shows the court’s willingness to adapt to new technologies and embrace the blockchain and actually step in to help consumers where previous legislation and regulators simply could not …

Joanna Bailey, associate, Giambrone & Partners LLP

D’Aloia claimed to have been lured by an online brokerage into depositing about 2.1 million USDT and 230,000 USDC into two wallets that turned out to be fraudulent. The court ruling, said Bailey, allows D’Aloia to sue those responsible for the fraudulent platform by sending court documents via an NFT drop to the two wallets.

Other Legal Firsts Involving NFTs

Such specified usage of an NFT drop follows a world-first international hacking case last month where a defendant was served with a temporary restraining order by means of an NFT.

A month earlier, the UK High Court of Justice ruled to recognise NFTs as private property, hailed as a “landmark” in the ongoing battle against fraud in the crypto space.

However, the catch in that ruling was that the conferred private property status did not extend to the underlying content represented by an NFT.

Civil Procedure Rules in the UK have previously allowed for lawsuits and legal documents to be served using Instagram, Facebook, and a contact form on a website. Until now, the only other means were via personal services, “snail” mail, dropped off at a physical address, or by sending a fax or another type of “electronic communication”.

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Crypto News Crypto Wallets Gaming NFTs

GameStop Goes Live with its Much-Anticipated NFT Marketplace

American video game retail chain GameStop has officially launched its long-awaited Ethereum-based NFT marketplace.

The marketplace is running on both the Ethereum mainnet and layer-2 scaling solution Loopring and is hosting various artwork projects, with plans to branch into video games.

Another Start for GameStop

GameStop entered a partnership with Immutable X in February to guarantee future funding (in the form of IMX tokens) for its marketplace. A potential US$150 million in IMX has been negotiated but can only be accessed by GameStop once it reaches certain milestones.

For now, artworks are the only products on the marketplace; however, GameStop is set on the NFT gaming space and plans to bring NFTs to video games. The partnership with Immutable X has created a US$100 million token ‘grant’ fund in hopes of attracting game developers to the marketplace.

GameStop Now a Fully Fledged Crypto Player

In May 2021, GameStop announced development plans for an NFT platform on Ethereum and a new token ($GME). This move accelerated its evolution from a simple retail chain into the crypto industry proper.

Almost exactly a year later, GameStop launched its crypto and NFT wallet, branching further into the digital assets sector. It came in the form of an Ethereum-based browser extension, downloadable from the Chrome Web Store. The wallet is self-custodial and designed with the most recent marketplace addition in mind:

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Crypto News Crypto Wallets Metaverse

Meta Calls It Quits on Crypto Wallet ‘Novi’ After Just 10 Months

Meta Platforms has issued a notice to the users of its crypto project, Novi, recommending they withdraw their funds without delay. This follows the announcement that Meta will cease the Novi project after the introduction of a digital wallet for the metaverse.

Deposits Close July 21

Novi, a digital wallet that offers fee-free instant money transfers using crypto, will be ‘ending soon’ according to Meta. The current form of the Novi project has been available for barely 10 months. However, its first phase – Calibra, the wallet for Meta’s Libra stablecoin – became available in 2019.

September 1 will mark the end for the wallet, with users no longer able to add money to their Novi accounts from July 21. The project’s end will also mean that Novi for Whatsapp will no longer function.

Funds remaining in accounts after September 1 will be transferred to the debit cards/bank attached to users’ Novi accounts.

In place of the Novi project, Meta is introducing the Metaverse digital wallet. This wallet will allow metaverse players to securely manage their identity, possessions, and payments. Meta seems to be placing the emphasis, yet again, on the potential of the metaverse:

You can expect to see more from us in the Web3 space because we are very optimistic about the value these technologies can bring to people and businesses in the metaverse.

Meta statement

In October 2021, the Novi wallet began trials across a select group in the US. Meta touted the ease of sending and receiving money – a process that could take place instantly, securely, and with no fees. Meta’s head of crypto and fintech at Novi, Stephane Kasriel, announced the rollout on December 9.