DeFi (Decentralised Finance) project Wonderland has seen its native token TIME collapse 60 percent after it was revealed it had been co-founded by Michael Patryn, also one of the co-founders of the now-defunct Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX.
0xSifu Steps Down as CEO of Wonderland
The co-founder and chief financial officer of the Avalanche-based DeFi protocol Wonderland had been known as OxSifu. A user by the name of zachxbt revealed OxSifu was actually Michael Patryn, who continually changed his identity – to the point of undergoing multiple facial surgeries – to avoid detection by police.
1/ This needs to be shared @0xSifu is the Co-founder of QuadrigaCX, Michael Patryn. If you are unfamiliar that is the Canadian exchange that collapsed in 2019 after the founder Gerald Cotten disappeared with $169m
Before he was Michael Patryn, OxSifu went by the name of Omar Dahini, then Omar Patryn. He was part of a criminal organisation called Shadowcrew, whose operations consisted of trafficking stolen credit and identity information using E-gold, a privacy-focused digital currency issued in 1996.
Two faces of Michael Patryn. Source: davidgerard.co.uk
QuadrigaCX was a Canadian crypto exchange owned and operated by Gerald Cotten, who died unexpectedly in 2018, his body cremated before anyone could verify his death. The eerie side is that he took with him more than US$160 million of investors’ money, but Omar (Patryn) and his wife ended up with the majority of the assets.
Everyone ‘Deserves a Second Chance’
Daniele Sesta, the other co-founder of Wonderland, said he knew about Patryn’s criminal past and the numerous Ponzi projects he had led. Despite Patryn’s long criminal record, Sesta decided to keep him on as Wonderland’s treasury manager.
I found out about this one month ago. I am of the opinion of giving second chances, as I have mentioned on Twitter. I’ve seen the community very divided about my choice of maintaining [Patryn] as the treasury manager after finding out who he was and his past.
Daniele Sesta, blog post
This sparked outrage in the Wonderland community, many of whom are accusing Sesta of being Patryn’s accomplice, or even being Patryn himself.
In 2005, he pled guilty to credit and bank fraud
In 2007, he admitted burglary, theft and computer fraud
In 2018, he and his partner “lost access” to $115M in customer funds
I agree that inmates deserve second chances but this is NOT about being convicted.
The voting process to remove Patryn from his positions ended on January 29. with the vote 87.56 percent in favour of removing OxSifu against 12.44 percent voting to keep him.
Sesta Swimming in Hot Water
Wonderland members on Twitter, Reddit, Discord, and all other social media channels related to the project, are now questioning Sesta’s legitimacy and his overall financial background.
An example of Reddit users being up in arms. Source: Reddit
Did Cotten Really Die?
Gerald Cotten reportedly died from Chrohn’s disease in 2018. The keys to the digital vault containing a massive fortune in Bitcoin were buried with him.
The event was so controversial that it was covered by worldwide media, even inspiring documentaries and movies. As Crypto News Australiareported last year, a documentary titled Dead Man Switch was screened at the Melbourne Film Festival in August, leaving a handful of questions unanswered – including whether he had faked his own death in an elaborate “exit scam”.
🤝 Join us in welcoming none other than… @warnermusic to The Sandbox! 🎶
Their LAND will be the first of its kind in the #Metaverse which will feature live concerts & music experiences from WMG’s huge roster of musical talent!
According to Sebastien Borget, chief operations officer and co-founder of The Sandbox, the partnership “brings the open metaverse one step forward in the direction of fan-owned and community-driven initiatives”.
We’re shaping The Sandbox as a fun entertainment destination where creators, fans and players can enjoy first-of-a-kind immersive experiences and be more closely connected to their favourite musical artists through non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Sebastien Borget, chief operations officer and co-founder, The Sandbox
Warners the First Major Music Label in the Metaverse
The unprecedented initiative, which marks Warners’ first foray into the NFT metaverse, will see WMG digital land in The Sandbox host concerts and other live experiences featuring artists represented by the label. The Warners roster includes Ed Sheeran, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coldplay, Madonna, Charli XCX, Kylie Minogue and Rita Ora.
The Sandbox will provide some of those artists with another outlet to engage with fans, experiment with virtual entertainment, and generate new revenue streams while reaching a global community.
Sandbox Now Rivals Decentraland
Digital land remains in high demand, and consistent high trading volume in The Sandbox has made it one of the most competitive rivals to Decentraland in the metaverse sphere. According to the company, The Sandbox will hold a LAND sale in March to allow music fans to buy LANDS adjacent to the WMG property.
During a single week in late November, investors purchased more than US$100 million worth of virtual land, the majority of it coming from The Sandbox.
Other Metaverse Musical Projects
In December, another new project called Animal Concerts announced the formation of a virtual touring company to host virtual live music events in the metaverse. Through that project, artists can earn up to 50 percent of revenues from both ticket and NFT sales.
Earlier this month, a new blockchain-based music platform built for creators and investors was announced, intending to address the biggest challenge facing artists in the music industry today: raising capital. Opulous, as it’s called, allows fans to bankroll their favourite artists by harnessing the power of DeFi. They can also benefit from music sales as part copyright owners, thanks to NFTs.
All of which helps goes some way to prove that the world of NFTs is not all about mindless frivolity and outrageous prices.
The Multichain hack drama is far from over as hackers are still draining millions of tokens from the protocol, with the biggest victim reportedly losing roughly US$1 million.
Multichain Announcement Prompts Further Compromises
As per a January 17 blog post, Multichain – a cross-chain router protocol – announced it had been compromised by several hackers who exploited various vulnerabilities in the protocol, stealing over US$1 million from several tokens. But the protocol’s announcement backfired as it only prompted the hackers to steal more funds, raising the total amount to roughly US$3 million:
Security firm Dedaub spotted six cross-chain tokens in the protocol that are still subject to vulnerabilities: Wrapped ETH (wETH), Peri Finance Token (Peri), Official Mars Token (OMT), Wrapped BNB (wBNB), Polygon (MATIC), and Avalanche (AVAX).
Hacker Wants to Return Funds But ‘Keep Tips’
One of the hackers stole US$1.4 million in the first round of attacks, while another offered to return 80 percent of the funds while keeping the rest as “tips for me saving your money”. One user lost almost US$1 million in the hack, and decided to offer US$150,000 in ETH to the white hacker to retrieve his funds.
What has Multichain users confused are the contradictory messages coming from the protocol’s Twitter account. On January 17, Multichain said that the critical vulnerabilities found in the six affected tokens had been “reported and fixed” by the team, but two days later it reminded users to revoke approvals of the tokens.
These mixed messages were spotted by Crypto Twitter figure ChainLinkGod, who said: “I can’t be the only one who’s incredibly confused by @MultichainOrg’s messaging here.”
I can’t be the only one who’s incredibly confused by @MultichainOrg’s messaging here
Multichain has since turned off the comments on its Twitter account. Users in the company’s Telegram group are reporting that no vulnerability has yet been fixed, and that the company is not doing anything to reimburse affected users.
This is one of several DeFi hacks so far this month. Two weeks ago, Tinyman, an Algorand-based decentralised trading platform, was hacked and drained for roughly US$3 million.
The Cosmos blockchain (ATOM), one of the OGs in the space, has seen exceptional growth in the past month through the sea of red washing over the market, thanks to its cross-chain approach and new decentralised exchange (DEX).
A Cross-Chain Future for Cosmos
Cosmos is a community-owned and operated blockchain, and one could say it functions as a layer 0 on which other blockchains can be built and liquidity shared between chains. Cosmos can connect and exchange data and assets with other sovereign blockchains; this is made possible by using the Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol (IBC).
This technology is now being used to connect various blockchains and is considered “the safest and most secure and decentralised way to move assets across different blockchains, unlocking interoperability across multiple chains”.
1/ We are glad to announce that we have approved a grant for @datachain_en to build a bridge between Harmony & @cosmos.
Datachain’s experience in building interoperability solutions using trustless intermediaries is peerless.
During the past month, the ATOM token has soared close to 90 percent from just over US$21 on December 14 to around $40.83 at the time of writing. With an estimated US$162 billion in digital assets under management and 262+ dApps and services, the chain is poised for further growth.
As more chains are bridged, the total trading volume will increase. Since the release of cross-chain bridges that connect the Cosmos (ATOM) ecosystem with other Ethereum (ETH) Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible networks, the trading volume has expanded considerably.
OSMO price and DEX trading volume. Source: Token Terminal
Ups and Downs for Osmosis
Osmosis (OSMO) is one of the first DEXs to service chains connected through the IBC, and has already begun benefiting from its position. One week ago it was in the top 3 DEXs, however, at the time of writing, the exchange had gone down to rank 12th.
OSMO’s massive increase in trading volume has also been one of the factors causing the price to surge 81 percent from a low of US$4.05 on December 17 to a new all-time high of US$9.57 on January 12.
Last year saw explosive growth in the non-fungible token (NFT) market, with interesting and innovative projects popping up left, right, and centre. The new year already looks promising with exhilarating projects up for launch in 2022.
Expantum is a next-generation play-and-earn strategy game that uniquely balances cutting-edge tokenomics and fun gameplay and is built on the Ethereum blockchain. In the Expantum metaverse, players can prove themselves as outstanding leaders at all stages of the game, and can build provinces and capitals while organising continuous production and supply of resources. Players can choose an optimal composition of an army and customise their set, creating alliances with other players for the sake of victory.
GANime
GANime: anime characters based on AI-generated NFT videos.
GANime is on-chain machine learning-generated anime characters built on the Ethereum blockchain, based on AI-generated anime NFT videos. Its creators call it fun and accessible for all.
Solice Metaverse
Solice: an interconnected metaverse of virtual worlds, NFTs and communities.
The Solice Metaverse is the first cross-platform virtual reality metaverse on the Solana blockchain where users can play, build, own, socialise and monetise their virtual experiences. Solice is an interconnected metaverse of virtual worlds, NFTs and communities with the aim of improving overall user experience.
Illuvium
Illuvium: join the quest to hunt and capture deity-like creatures.
An open-world RPG adventure game built atop the Ethereum blockchain, Illuvium is a journey across a vast landscape on a quest to hunt and capture deity-like creatures called Illuvials. More than 100 Illuvials populate this alien world, each possessing different affinities, classes and abilities. Creatures can be captured, fused and upgraded to more powerful forms.
Opulous
Opulous brings DeFi to the music industry and a fairer payment method for artists.
Opulous, built for creators and inventors, brings DeFi to the music industry, changing how artists access funding as well as providing a launchpad for the first music copyright-backed NFTs. Opulous offers DeFi loans backed by future royalties that will replace the unfair deals traditionally forced on promising new artists. The project is powered by cryptos, using future-proof blockchain and smart contract technology to connect investors and artists like never before.
A recent report by blockchain security firm CertiK has revealed that in its analysis of 1,737 decentralised finance (DeFi) projects, centralisation was the primary reason behind the vast majority of hacks, exploits and scams.
The amount of funds lost in DeFi in 2021 more than doubled the amount lost in 2020.
Security in this space has never been more important
According to the report, 2021 witnessed US$1.3 billion in crypto lost to 44 hacks, exploits or scams. This was approximately US$500 million more than 2020, however it is worth noting that 2021’s losses represent 0.05 percent of crypto’s total market capitalisation, compared to 2020 which was 17 percent.
While the percentage of total market capitalisation lost to hacks and exploits decreased in 2021, the rise in value locked meant the dollar value lost was greater than in 2020. This is a definite step forward, but it shows that the ecosystem still has progress to make before DeFi feels like a safe place in which to deploy capital.
CertiK Report
Total value lost to DeFi Hacks. Source: CertiK
CertiK noted that the majority of DeFi platforms exploited in 2021 were unaudited, a fact it found “disappointing” and which “highlights the amount of work to be done before DeFi is seen as a secure place to invest and innovate in”.
Nonetheless, DeFi’s incredible growth, in excess of 1,000 percent, “reflected the persistent demand for security solutions in a rapidly expanding industry”.
Different DeFi stacks. Source: @Funkmeister380 via Medium
DeFi by Name Only?
DeFi’s raison d’etre is to make financial products more readily accessible to a broader audience through distributed ledger technology. This suggests that it exists to specifically disintermediate middlemen such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks. However, as noted in the report, centralisation issues lay at the heart of most DeFi exploits:
By far the most common vulnerability found was centralisation risk. Single points of failure can be exploited by dedicated hackers and malicious insiders alike.
CertiK Report
To illustrate, as reported by Crypto News Australia, DeFi protocol bZx was exploited for more than U$55 million in November as the result of private key mismanagement. This was an example of privileged ownership (found in 76 out of 1,737 audits) that allowed the attacker to gain complete control of all contracts the key controlled.
As CertiK quite correctly notes:
Centralisation is antithetical to the ethos of DeFi and poses major security risks.
CertiK Report
Despite its promise and total value in DeFi increasing tenfold in 2021, the innumerable instances of DeFi hacks, leaks, exploits and breaches, as well as clear evidence of centralisation, suggests that DeFi in its current form remains some way out from achieving its intended goal of finance for everyone.
Agreed but I wonder how solvable that problem is ?
Defi’s claim is to be “Finance for everyone” but currently it’s finance for people who can read smart contracts or trust “centralised” auditing firms
Through 2021 into 2022, the excitement in decentralised finance (DeFi) has shifted to the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) market. These NFTs can be created from a piece of digital or real art, an in-game asset or represent value of pretty much anything.
NFTs can even be used to wrap other assets inside a smart vault (such as crypto tokens or a collection of NFTs). The marriage between NFTs and DeFi really is a match made in heaven, and together they are changing the face of finance and revolutionising the way we invest and trade digital assets.
What is a Yield NFT Protocol?
NFTs in their basic form do not earn yield, however when they are used to mint tokens and add to liquidity pools for DeFi, they can earn passive income often at high percentage returns. As DeFi and NFTs are absolutely booming right now, it’s good to know what’s out there and how you could be earning free money.
There are several projects that offer ROI opportunities if you hold NFTs. Here is a list of the 10 best yield-earning NFT DeFiplatforms that let you make money with NFTs:
1. NFTX
NFTX: A community-owned protocol for NFT index funds on Ethereum
NFTX is an innovative platform that allows users to create liquid markets for illiquid non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It allows the creation of ERC20 tokens pegged to NFT tokens. Users can deposit their NFTs into an NFTX vault and mint a fungible ERC20 token (vToken) that represents a claim on a random asset from within the vault. vTokens can be used to redeem a specific NFT from a vault. If you deposit a Punk, you get an ERC20 Punk. You can always redeem the ERC20 Punk for a random same category Punk. The ERC20 tokens are tradeable on Balancer pool PUNK- CORE. If you provide liquidity to the pool, you earn fees. So, NFTX enables you to get instant liquidity from your NFTs without having to sell them.
Benefits include:
LP and stake minted vTokens to earn yield rewards;
better distribution and price discovery for NFT projects;
instantly sell any NFT by minting it as an ERC20 and swapping via Sushiswap; and
increased liquidity for NFT investors and speculators.
NFTX allows owners to mint their NFT collections and earn yield while also offering pieces of those NFTs for sale as fractionalised tokens – allowing multiple investors to co-own a piece of the digital art. So, for example, if you wanted to buy a CryptoPunk but can’t afford it, you could just buy a portion of one instead. By doing this you can be part of the Punk/ETH liquidity pool and earn a staking APR % without having to own a whole Punk outright. At the time of writing, the APR on staking a Punk was 284.38%.
The NFTX project is a DAO governed by the $NFTX token. For NFTX minting tutorials, visit docs.nftx.org. Watch the NFTX: Fractionalised NFT investing video below to learn more:
2. Charged Particles
Charged Particles is a blockchain agnostic interest-bearing NFT and DeFi protocol.
Charged Particles is an innovative NFT minting platform that allows users to deposit any ERC tokens into any non-fungible token (NFT). NFTs can also hold other NFTs! Users can create an NFT that acts as a container for DeFi yield earning tokens, or create multi-tier NFT game assets with several items encapsulated in one single token. The possibilities are literally endless.
If you want, you can combine multiple NFTs and create a new NFT collection set on the platform. A scarce NFT (eg, art, collectibles, virtual real estate, in-game items, etc) can now be transformed into a basket holding a number of other tokens. You can fuse an interest-bearing token like ‘aDai’ with your scarce NFT, configure principal and program interest. The platform is absolutely NFT agnostic, so you decide what will be your charged particle. Customisable time-locks and programmable yield offer infinite abilities for creativity.
Charged Particles is a DAO governed by the $IONX token. To read more on Charged Particles, go to docs.charged.fi. Watch the video below to learn more about what you can do on the Charged Particles platform:
3. DeFiFarms
DeFiFarms is the First NFT-enhanced DeFi Yield Farm!
DeFiFarms is an NFTs protocol, powerful automaticliquidity acquisition yieldfarm and AMM decentralised exchange running on Binance Smart Chain. The governance token of the platform is $DEFIY.
NFTs are the new financial technology. The potential of NFTs and the ERC-721 standard in DeFi is endless. DEFIY’s goal is to be a pioneer and one of the first to have this potential be seen by the masses. The cryptosphere moves fast, and before anyone knows it NFTs will be implemented in every new DeFi project.
DeFiFarms uses NFTs to wrap your stake, which you can burn to unstake or simply sell on the DeFiFarms marketplace. This can mitigate impermanent loss if you deem selling the NFT would earn you more than leaving it staked.
Compared to other crypto projects on the market today, here’s what makes DeFiFarms different:
Automatic Liquidity
Automatic Burning Mechanism
Harvest Lock
Anti-Whale
Redistribution of deposit costs
Affiliate Marketing Program
Incentives when Trading
Watch the What is DeFiFarms video below to learn more:
4. Meme
Farm limited edition NFTs
MEME is an experimental protocol mashing up some of the most exciting innovations in DeFi and crypto collectibles. Put your $MEME to work by farming exclusive NFT memes. Stake LP tokens for access to Meme’s batch of legendary cards.
Meme is a passionate community experimenting at the intersection of DeFi and NFTs. Users can stake meme tokens to earnrewards and claim limited-edition NFT art and collectibles. When you stake $MEME tokens, you farm pineapples. When you have farmed enough pineapples you can redeem them for NFTs. Pineapples are non-transferable, and are only redeemable for NFTs on the Meme marketplace. Users can also stake NFTs they already own on Meme, from partner projects, to farm pineapples and claim more NFTs.
$MEME is the native token for Meme.
5. SuperFarm
SuperFarm is a passionate community building at the intersection of NFTs and DeFi
SuperFarm empowers NFT creators, collectors and traders to participate in an NFT marketplace that is open and accessible to all.
Currently Super Farm only has an NFT launchpad and NFT farming available, but the roadmap for 2022 includes NFT generation, an NFT marketplace and trading.
Bonus: Sidus, The City of NFT Heroes
Sidus is a play-to-earn gaming model that brings NFT collectibles and yield farming together under one metaverse
NFT Heroes is a collection of 7,500 unique NFTavatars. Users can buy Original NFT Heroes for 0.055 ETH each. Heroes must modify their stats and equipment to create Rare Heroes and Legendary Heroes NFTs through upgrade cards that randomly appear on the project’s website and OpenSea.io once a week.
Gaming Metaverse
The game allows users to be involved in the creative process by customising their own NFT Heroes. Each avatar is its owner’s ticket into the NFT ecosystem, where they can craft, play, trade and earn. The game includes fighting battles, in the same vein as Mortal Kombat.
NFT Yield Farming
Sidus offers Galaxy staking in three tiers: Original, Rare and Legendary. By stakingNFTs, NFT Heroes can farmNFTStokens, which is the native token of the NFT marketplace NFT STARS. These tokens can be used to upgrade players avatars’ armour and buy weapons. Heroes will have real value and provide owners with the opportunity to sell multiple assets simultaneously on the marketplace.
Sidus NFT Heroes were created by NFT256 and include more than 500 artists previously involved in Disney, Sony and Marvel projects. To read more, visit the project’s medium page.
Bonus 2: Star Atlas
Star Atlas is a grand strategy game of space exploration, territorial conquest, political domination, and more
Star Atlas is a virtual gaming metaverse that combines blockchain technology, real-time graphics, and multiplayer video games to offer a unique gaming experience. Not only is Star Atlas enjoyable to play, but it gives players the opportunity to generate real-world revenue by earning in-game tokens and selling unique NFT assets.
Star Atlas is a grand strategy hybrid space game with serverless MMO gameplay. All gameplay will be real-time, and it will use the blockchain to give players ownership over in-game items, add economic-based gameplay mechanics, and implement an economic system inspired by decentralised finance. The game’s governance token is POLIS. Star Atlas is built on the Solana blockchain. To learn more, read the medium here.
A crypto collateral loan is perhaps one of the newest loan types to hit the peer-to-peer crypto lending scene. Emerging cryptocurrency loans services allow any crypto holders to become either the borrower or the lender, offering you the opportunity to bring utility to dormant funds or wallets.
Crypto loans Australia do not operate identically to bank loans; rather, these loans can be carried out through a blockchain platform. Essentially, the borrower offers their crypto as collateral for a loan, which the lender will then deposit to provide the loan funds.
Many of the available marketplaces for these transactions permit borrowers and lenders to search through each other’s offers for the best deals. Using crypto as collateral allows lenders to offer low loan to value ratios (LTVs); therefore, there will be plenty of collateral in circulation even if the market were to fall.
We have compiled a list of the top 10 crypto collateral loan services in Australia, to help you identify some of the best options in circulation.
FiFit describes its service as ‘crypto-backed business solutions’. This company is looking to work with businesses that seek access to extra cash without selling off their assets. FiFit’s process involves validating the company profile and cash requirements against their lending criteria and then providing a secure address for your crypto transfer.
To qualify, you will need to be an active Australian registered company with appropriate bitcoin backed assets. If you qualify, applications can be placed online 24/7.
Oasis is a lending platform that is willing to trade with multiple cryptocurrencies. However, the notable aspect of Oasis is its use of Dai. Dai is described as a ‘smarter digital currency for everyone’. As its value consistently tracks that of the US dollar, Dai claims to be less volatile than other digital currencies on the market.
The Dai wallet operates on the Ethereum blockchain. To complete transactions, you will require ‘gas’, which is an ETH fee – this fee is sent to the miners who maintain the Ethereum blockchain.
There’s no better way to describe Compound than how it describes itself. Compound is an ‘algorithmic, autonomous interest rate protocol’ designed to enable developers to access a plethora of financial applications. Compound is managed by a decentralised community of people in possession of $COMP tokens. It allows you to borrow from many digital currencies, including Ether and Dai.
On the Compound website you can see the market overview, including the top-performing currencies. You can also view the total supply volume and the total borrow volume. When you borrow or lend, you are contributing to the ‘liquidity pool’ rather than borrowing or lending to an individual.
Aave’s liquidity protocol has a similar feel to that of Compound. Described as being open-source and non-custodial, Aave allows its users to earn interest on their deposits and borrowing assets. You can borrow from a handful of digital assets, whether they are stablecoins or altcoins. Putting your assets into the liquidity pool allows users to earn a form of passive income from the repaid interest.
The interest rate on an asset that is in low supply is likely to be higher than that of more readily available assets. To borrow, the collateral you put down in exchange must be of an equivalent loan amount.
If you’re looking for a creative take on a crypto collateral loan, Alchemix has a fantasy-type feel to its platform. The trailer for this lender has a very magical vibe, as do the services it is offering. Alchemix is bringing you the opportunity to spend and save simultaneously, as these loans ‘repay themselves’ over time.
Alchemix has big plans for progression, so much so that one of its eventual plans is to create a recipe book for new users. This should outline various yield strategies that vary by risk to ensure a smooth path to generating good returns.
Binance is already a big name in the crypto world, and it is continuing to thrive in the field of crypto loans. Providing you are a registered Binance user, you can start borrowing. The loan terms are measured in days, ranging from a seven-day turnaround to 180 days. However, as interest is calculated on the hours you borrow for, paying in advance could be beneficial.
Binance Loans supports several collateral options; however, what you can borrow and what you can use as collateral may vary, so ensure you check the full list.
Nebeus is helping you use your crypto to fund daily expenses for more costly ventures, rather than requiring you to sell your assets for more money. Helping you to ‘bridge your crypto and your cash’, Nebeus lets you go beyond just loans. The platform also offers services such as cryptocurrency insurance, a crypto exchange, and crypto renting.
The crypto you put down for a loan can be insured by a $100 million policy, meaning you can have peace of mind that your deposit is safe. Alternatively, you can rent your crypto to the service and earn passive income from this.
Helio is the lending service boasting the widest array of deposit options and loan structures on the market. Helping you to shop around for the loan that will fit you best, Helio has some unique points of interest. One of these is crypto solutions to home ownership, meaning if you’d like to put crypto down as a house deposit, you can.
Helio is also offering the potential to use real-estate NFTs as loan collateral. There are a variety of options available and, at the end of the day, you will still own any crypto you put down as collateral.
When it comes to crypto loans Australia, Bitcoin Dealers can help you leverage your crypto for a loan that meets your needs. Despite having Bitcoin in their name, these guys will buy and sell with a handful of the major cryptocurrencies. Another cool aspect of this company is that you get the option to get off the computer and visit them in-branch if you wish.
Bitcoin Dealers will only lend to companies or sole traders. However, if you are an individual looking to sell your crypto, you can bring it to these guys in exchange for cash.
For approval within 24 hours and the quick transfer of funds, you may want to investigate Matias Group. Not only are its services claimed to be fast, it also has a particularly handy tool on its site – a loan calculator. To use this tool, you’ll simply need to input the amount you’d like to borrow, your loan term, and the currency you’ll be using as your asset.
From there, the calculator will tell you your LTV and the amount of your digital asset you will need to provide. It will also provide some rough estimates for your monthly and total interest, helping to highlight exactly what you can expect from your loan.
Conclusion
There are several pros and cons when considering a crypto collateral loan you should consider, there are very few strings attached, they often don’t require a credit check, and can grant fast access to cash. However, crypto-backed loans also can be more volatile, some offer poor rates for borrowers compared to traditional finance options, you might get margin called, and there might be a higher risk of encountering a scam.
Crypto loans Australia generally allow you to take the role of the lender as well as borrower. You can then take advantage of placing your crypto into staking liquidity pools to generate yield income.
Engagement with any aspects of the new DeFi industry has risks associated and thorough research must be done before even considering to participate in this space. This list is meant as a starting point down the path of introducing you to options for crypto collateral loans within Australia.
In its annual Crypto Crime report, New York-based blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has reported that although the percentage of illicit crypto transactions fell drastically in 2021, their dollar value surged significantly.
As per the Chainalysis report, the value of crimes involving cryptos surged to a new high of US$14 billion in 2021. This represents an increase of 79 percent from US$7.8 billion reported in 2020, which is mainly due to the upward spiral in crypto prices experienced in 2021.
Year-to-year comparison of illicit share of all cryptocurrency transaction volume. Source: Chainalysis
Although the dollar value appears to be astronomical, the activity represents a mere 0.15 percent of the total of US$15.8 trillion in crypto transaction volumes over the year – the lowest percentage ever recorded. To put this in perspective, the illicit share of crypto transaction volume in 2019 was 3.37 percent, and 0.62 percent in 2020.
DeFi Scams and Rug Pulls Main Drivers of Crypto Crime
The Chainalysis report attributes the growth in the volume of scams and legitimate crypto transactions to the boom in decentralised finance (DeFi). While scams accounted for the largest share in 2021, rising 82 percent to US$7.8 billion, nearly US$3 million of the total crime value came from rug pulls.
DeFi protocols have become the primary target for cryptocurrency crimes. Source: Chainalysis
Aside from rug pulls, DeFi platforms were also widely used for money laundering and were targeted by hackers for large-scale theft.
As Chainalysis head of research Kim Grauer noted: “DeFi services were hacked at rates that we’ve never seen before. Not only are people using DeFi to carry out crime, they’re also targeting DeFi for crime.”
Grauer added that DeFi platform protocols were often hacked because it’s a new industry and a lot of the code is open-source, exposing vulnerabilities.
In 2021, US$2.2 billion worth of cryptos was stolen from DeFi protocols, which accounts for two-thirds of all cryptos stolen in 2021 – this figure represents a 516 percent increase on the numbers reported in 2020.
Illuvium, a multibillion-dollar GameFi company, has drained its liquidity pools after finding a security flaw that could have ended in billions of dollars lost through exploits. And while it seems like a drastic action, the move has been praised by the Illivium community.
Attackers Steal Some Funds Before Team Plugs Breach
At 2pm ET on January 4, the team behind Illuvium drained all the funds of the sILV/ETH Uniswap V3 pool to prevent a major security breach from being executed, though the attackers were able to steal some of the funds in the pool before the team got their hands on it.
The hackers went on to create a fake Illuvium Twitter account posing as a support centre for users, which had already been reported by the real Illuvium account:
The vulnerability has been fixed within the staking V2 contracts and we expect to have them launched shortly. $ILV holders will have time before the Land Sale to claim their $sILV. We're very sorry for the inconvenience. Ensuring the DAO is protected is our main priority. (2/2)
In a message in the project’s official Discord channel, Illuvium co-founder Kieran Warwick said the team would ensure future bugs are prevented by implementing several security measures, such as three independent audits per contract, a bug bounty program, and additional contract testing.
In a closing note, Illuvium will reimburse sILV owners once it gets a snapshot of them. While the sILV pool had been created by a DAO, the team, including Warwick, used it to trade in it.
The Illuvium community has praised the company’s action instead of condemning it. The DeFi community has been subject to attack in the past, with big blows such as last month’s BadgerDAO $120 million exploit. Now it appears that malicious actors are flocking to the GameFi community to see if they can cash a few more bucks out of investors’ pockets.
