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Crypto News DeFi Ethereum Gas Mining

Ethereum Miner Returns $22 Million After DeversiFi’s Erroneous Gas Fee

The decentralised exchange (DEX) DeversiFi mistakenly paid a fee of US$22 million for a transaction that should have been a fraction of the cost. The miner altruistically returned the funds seeing it was accidental, showing the cooperative side of the crypto community.

On September 27, “a deposit transaction was made by a DeversiFi hardware wallet from the main DeversiFi user interface with an erroneously high gas fee”, the exchange tweeted. The transaction was done through DeversiFi for Bitfinex in order to save on transaction fees.

This transaction was to deposit funds on the DeversiFi L2 solution. These transactions are extremely rare and third-party companies [usually] cover the costs of such integrations.

Bitfinex representative
The erroneous transaction: Etherscan

The details of the transaction can be seen on Etherscan where block 13307440 had a transaction fee of over $22 million for a $100,000 deposit transaction.

All You Need To Do Is Ask

While working on discovering the cause, the DeversiFi team said it reached out to Binance. The miner’s address continually routes funds to the centralised exchange; this is generally done to sell mined ETH.

Binance agreed to give the miner DeversiFi’s contact information, and the miner agreed to return the funds “after a few emails back and forth”. DeversiFi pushed for the miner to keep 50 ETH as a reward.

This was a show of crypto community spirit, given that because of the nature of the blockchain the miner could have kept the funds, and it’s unlikely any legal proceedings could have compelled him to return them.

While the mining pool that received the gas fee is anonymous, it is currently ranked ninth among the largest Ethereum miners and is responsible for roughly 3.1 percent of the network’s hash rate, according to Etherscan.

What Caused the Problem?

In a postmortem blog post on September 28, DeversiFi said that the exceedingly high gas fee was due to an error caused by a calculation mess-up in how the EthereumJS library processes decimals.

The team also said it worked with hardware wallet provider Ledger on a bug patch, and that the bug could only apply to large wallets such as theirs.

The team also wrote that DeversiFi has implemented “additional safety and sanity checks to ensure gas fees associated with transactions could not exceed unrealistic thresholds”. The new checks aim to “protect against user error, extreme network fee spikes” to serve as “an additional layer of protection against any future coding error”.

No customer funds on DeversiFi are at risk and this is an internal issue for DeversiFi to resolve, and operations are running as usual.

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Bitcoin Coinbase Crypto Exchange Crypto News Ethereum Payments

US Workers Can Now Get Paid in Crypto Through Coinbase

Coinbase will soon offer the option of employees’ paycheques being paid directly into their accounts on the crypto exchange. Customers will be able to deposit “as much or as little” of their salary as they like when the feature rolls out in the next few weeks.

Until recently, this option had been available only to a handful of people, such as celebrity athletes and employees at crypto companies. But this is changing. On September 27, Prakash Hariramani, senior director of product at Coinbase, announced a new “get paid in crypto” service that will allow almost everyone in the US who is paid by direct deposit to receive all or part of their wages in dollars, bitcoin, ethereum or other cryptos.

Both options will be free with no service fee, but Coinbase will earn a small profit in the form of a spread for those who opt to be directly paid in crypto.

The “Future of Payroll”

Coinbase calls this new feature the “future of payroll”, and explains exactly how the service will work:

You can set up a direct deposit in just a few steps without leaving the Coinbase app. Find your current payroll company or employer and we’ll automatically update your paycheque allocation. If you’d prefer to set up a direct deposit manually, we’ll provide instructions on what to share with your HR department or employer payroll website.

Coinbase

Earn Cryptos Faster and More Efficiently

Citing “time-consuming and inconvenient” frequent transfers as part of the reason for offering this new service, Coinbase says that direct deposits will allow users a faster and more efficient way of earning crypto rewards.

Having already partnered with US-based firms such as Fortress Investment Group, Nansen, SuperRare Labs and M31 Capital to roll out direct deposits for “employees throughout the creator economy and financial services”, the exchange hopes more will come.

As you begin to do more with your crypto from staking to spending to sending, we’re also making it easier for businesses to pay their employees in crypto.

Prakash Hariramani, senior director of product, Coinbase

Last year the exchange announced that the Coinbase Card had been connected to the Visa network, allowing users to shop just as they would normally with the difference that their purchase would be funded through cryptos. The use-value of this card is still a contested subject as crypto purchases trigger tax headaches and are associated with transaction fees, in this case running at 2.75 percent.

To address these issues, Coinbase offers a reward system that pays 1 percent in BTC on each purchase and up to 4 percent back in some other cryptos.

Coinbase Abandons the Lending Ship Following SEC Threats

The move from Coinbase comes only a week after the exchange announced it would no longer be pursuing its crypto lending program, Lend. Initially intended to offer partial returns on deposits of the stablecoin USDC, the exchange has had to abandon the plan after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) threatened the company with a lawsuit. The SEC issued an immediate warning saying the product is seen as a “security”.

Users of the exchange welcome the news in light of recent issues experienced on the platform. For example, Coinbase failed during the market dip on September 7, delaying or even cancelling transactions issued during that time.

The company is also facing a class-action lawsuit relating to claims it apparently failed to disclose relevant information before being listed on the NASDAQ in April this year.

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Crime Crypto News Ethereum Institutions

ETH Developer Pleads Guilty to Helping North Korea Use Blockchain to Evade Sanctions

Virgil Griffith, a prominent Ethereum developer and one of the most recognised names in the crypto industry, has pleaded guilty to a federal charge accusing him of conspiring with the North Korean government to evade US sanctions law.

Two-Year Legal Battle Not Yet Over

Griffith’s September 27 appearance in the Southern District of New York courthouse ended a long battle with US authorities. Griffith had been arrested in November 2019 shortly after giving a keynote speech in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. 

The reason for his arrest, according to prosecutors, was that the subject of Griffith’s presentation was how to launder money and evade sanctions using blockchain technology. While awaiting trial on house arrest, in July Griffith apparently violated the terms of his bail and was taken into custody.

Defence Lawyer’s Testimony Thwarted

According to Ethan Lou, a journalist who claims to know Griffith, he tried to seek legal advice on how best to prove his innocence. Griffith also tried to access his Coinbase account to pay his lawyers but access was denied numerous times. According to Lou, the court wanted a lawyer’s testimony to show Virgil tried to seek legal advice, but the lawyer was based in Singapore and was unable to travel.

Now that Griffith has pleaded guilty, US authorities have imposed a six-year prison penalty. The formal sentencing is expected to take place in January 2022. Needless to say, the case has raised a lot of eyebrows in the crypto community. “Unclear what new development caused this guilty plea,” tweeted Lou. “One possible reason is the barring of the remote testimony of an Ethereum Foundation lawyer.”

It is unknown what prompted the guilty plea. Griffith faced a charge of “conspiracy to violate” sanctions laws, meaning he was accused of trying to help North Korea but not actually helping the rogue state, giving the prosecution the green light to proceed without providing any tangible evidence.

Seven months ago, the US Department of Justice charged three North Korean hackers allegedly involved with cybercrimes that caused over US$1.3 billion in damages. These actors were said to have helped the North Korean government by stealing cryptocurrencies to fund its nuclear program.

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Blockchain Crypto News Ethereum Gaming NFTs

Atari’s ‘Father of Video Games’ is Diving into Augmented Reality NFTs

Nolan Bushnell and Zai Ortiz are releasing an augmented reality NFT experience with the MakersPlace on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. The Arcade OG series will be a range of collectibles from the arcade era inspired by Computer Space and PONG, two of Atari’s earliest creations.

Bushnell, founder of well-known game company Atari and referred to as the “Father of the Video Game Industry”, has recently made his debut in the NFT space. Together, he and frequent collaborator Ortiz, a Hollywood visual effects director with 20 years’ experience, plan to launch the Arcade OG NFT Series.

The duo has been pioneering the field of digital works for decades, with Nolan even being praised by Newsweek as one of the “50 Men That Changed America”. Ortiz is the founder of studio Dark Matter and is credited for influencing modern AI design through his work in feature films such as TRON: Legacy and Iron Man 2, as well as in games.

When Bushnell encountered non-fungible tokens for the first time, his “initial wash on NFTs was: really?” However, as he saw what he describes as “the transition” from all analogue media to digital becoming more prevalent, Bushnell decided to participate, stating that he was “fascinated by the math of it – I went through all the white papers”.

Details of the NFT Offering

The team plans to bring back some of the early-day gaming machines as digital augmented reality (AR) collectibles available on the Bushnell section of MakersPlace.

I decided if I did it, I wanted it to be really cool and feel like my brand, which is about being an innovator […] I needed it to be something more than what was out there, not just slapping my name and image onto something.

Nolan Bushnell

The MakersPlace release offers ownership of five original, immersive videos, which take the viewer from the arcade and into Computer Space (both single-player and two-player versions) and Pong (both table-top and arcade versions).

Each of the five NFTs comes with ownership of a one-of-a-kind AR experience, which allows the owner to place a full-scale rendering of their console in any environment.

The drop will take place on October 12 at 3:30 PST. Meanwhile, the others will be single-edition collectibles to be auctioned to the highest bidder with bonus perks included. For instance, a single-edition red “Pong” NFT will be paired with a visit with Bushnell to the Two Bit Circus arcade and entertainment centre in Los Angeles, while a yellow “Computer Space” NFT will come with a signed and unopened Atari 2600 game console.

At this point in time there’s a lot of stuff we can do that just needs a little more thought and effort, and then I hope we can blow your socks off every six months with a new sock-blower-offer.

Nolan Bushnell

Using AR for NFTs is no new feat; similar technology has been used in the $500,000 Mars House, a virtual estate on Mars created by artist Krista Kim.

Atari Explores Blockchain

Atari has been exploring various avenues in the blockchain space, with its new console even able to utilise blockchain technology.

The Atari VCS ecosystem is designed to work with and facilitate the use of blockchain technology, with games, payments, NFTs and tokens all coming to the Atari VCS.

Atari VCS

Besides NFTs and blockchain-enabled consoles, Atari has also been looking into the premium accommodation business in Australia, trying to expand the company by creating an “all-in-one luxurious and entertaining experience” for visitors.

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Crypto Art Crypto News Ethereum NFTs

Time Magazine NFT Disaster Highlights Problem with Mint Bots

When Time magazine announced a new collection of NFTs offering “unlimited access” to its website throughout 2023, all 4,676 tokens tied to the digital artworks sold out in minutes.

But the sale rush also clogged the Ethereum blockchain, sending gas fees through the roof. So much so that buyers spent almost four times as much on transaction fees as they did on the NFTs themselves.

Dubbed “TIMEPieces”, each token in the collection was priced at .1 ETH, or around US$310. But because of the exorbitant transaction fees, one address paid US$70,000 for just 10 Time NFTs.

Scalping Arrives in the Crypto Space

In a mirror image of what happens when highly sought-after concert tickets are snapped up by automated “bots” and on-sold at inflated prices (otherwise known as “scalping”), the 100 addresses with the most NFTs now own around 24 percent of the total minted supply.

The Ethereum blockchain complicates the issue with what it calls a “priority fee”, an incentive payment to miners to accept their transactions ahead of other users who haven’t put up as much cash. Users who can afford those fees can effectively jump the queue as too many people try to use the network at once, causing it to crash.

Buyers Don’t Know What They’ve Bought

The ultimate irony with the NFTs in Time’s collection is that they simply point to a red Time logo rather than an actual digital artwork, so at the time of writing buyers still didn’t know exactly what they’d bought.

With masterful understatement, TIME Inc president Keith Grossman said that the high fees and inequitable distribution of Time‘s NFTs were probably “not ideal”.

I think we learned a lot about gas in general. There are things that you can’t control … in the gas space. We’re going to make sure that the next time that we do this, everything that we have seen that went wrong, or that didn’t go as we planned, is fixed.

Keith Grossman, president, TIME Inc

In June this year, US television news network CNN showed Time how it’s done by sharing “moments” from its archives as NFTs. CNN used the Flow blockchain, which seems to have handled the demand far more comfortably than Ethereum did in Time‘s case.

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Australia Bitcoin Economics Ethereum Gold Markets Worldwide

‘Rich Dad’ Author Robert Kiyosaki Warns of Global Financial Crash Looming

Author Robert Kiyosaki has been outspoken on Twitter, expressing his take on the current economic situation, America’s leadership, and a fear that the world is headed for “the biggest crash in world history”. He urges citizens to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, gold, and silver.

Concerns over US spending and approval of a monumental stimulus package are driving fear and uncertainty over the value of a dollar. Inflation is looming as the US continues to enter money into circulation. Bitcoin and other cryptos are gaining value, while the US Dollar (USD) continues to lose.

In a video posted to YouTube, the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad expresses his views on the current world economy, his disapproval of US monetary policy, and the benefits of crypto.

US Dollar is Losing Its Purchasing Power – Buy Bitcoin

Since 1900, the USD has lost about 97 percent of its purchasing power. This means that whatever used to cost US$1 now costs US$31 – keep in mind that inflation affects this estimate.  

The US recently approved a stimulus package to the value of US$1.9 trillion, which suggests that the purchasing power of the USD against bitcoin may decline even further. When comparing the USD price against the Satoshi, which is 100 millionths of a bitcoin, it appears that since the inception of BTC the USD is losing up to 99 percent of its purchasing value each year. The US$1,400 stimulus cheque that the US Government is handing out to every citizen is likely to continue this trend.

Australia Is Turning to Crypto

The worrying US economic situation is being observed all over the world, and Australia is feeling it too. Many Australians are turning to crypto as wages fail to keep up with the consumer price index (CPI), the cost of living continues to increase, and job insecurity is at an all-time high.

Figures from Australian Bureau of Statistics indicate that the CPI has been rising consistently over the past 10 years.

The Australian CPI quarterly change. Source: ABS

The number of Australians turning to crypto to become financially free is on the rise, keeping pace with the demand for workers to be paid in crypto and millennials turning away from traditional avenues of investing, such as property, instead opting for crypto.

Take Note from Venezuela

Venezuela is a prime example of what happens when hyperinflation sets in. The Latin American country’s currency, the bolĂ­var, is the world’s weakest and literally no longer worth the paper it is printed on. Creative artists have instead started turning the notes into bags and wallets, which they can sell for more than the currency is worth.

Venezuela is now ranked third in terms of bitcoin adoption and joins many Latin American countries to take the crypto route. Extremely high levels of inflation are forcing nations to turn to crypto as their native currencies continue to lose purchasing power.

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Bitcoin Cardano Crypto News Ethereum Markets Ripple Solana Trading

$2.5 Billion Longs Liquidated As Crypto Market Sees Sudden Drop

Over the past two days, more than US$2.5 billion longs have been liquidated as the crypto market sees yet another drop.

Traders woke up to a rough Monday as the crypto market saw up to double-digit percentage losses across the board. The sudden drop saw Solana, Cardano and Ripple (XRP) drop millions from their market caps, and Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) plunge 10.4 and 14.7 percent respectively over the past seven days, according to data from CoinGecko.

What are Liquidations?

Liquidations occur when traders borrow excess capital from exchanges or brokerages to place bigger bets on the assets they trade, known as margin trading or trading futures.

Traders pay a fixed fee for borrowing while exchanges close out these positions at a predetermined price. If a trader’s collateral is equal to the loss on that position, a trade then becomes ‘liquidated’.

Of all the traders liquidated in the past few days, a shocking 91 percent of them were in the ‘long’ market. Being in the long market means traders had put on positions betting on higher asset prices.

According to data from Bybt, 136,690 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours, while the total value of liquidations during that period reached over US$635 million.

Total liquidations observed. Source: Bybt

Investors REKT

Liquidations of US$236 million BTC and US$216 million ETH were recorded, while large-cap altcoins such as Solana (SOL) and XRP saw liquidations worth US$26 million and US$17 million respectively in that 24-hour period.

The largest single liquidation order took place on Bitfinex-ETH, to the value of US$14.52 million.

The dip has investors confused and fuming as the market drop comes only days after BTC had reached a “Golden Cross”. One Reddit user aptly described his dismay at the situation:

The golden cross is a chart pattern that is generally seen as an indicator of bullish price action to come, but this is not always the case. Given the market is more mature, diminishing returns ought to be expected.

Investors should approach with caution, and not rely on a single indicator to guide them. Many factors influence the price, none of which is predictable.

Just a ‘Bit’ Too Soon

September is proving itself to be a worthy opponent to those finding their way in the crypto market.

Investors are still reeling from the previous round of liquidations on September 7, in which over US$3.7 billion worth of cryptos were liquidated after BTC and other major altcoins tanked.

During that period, a total of 375,824 traders were forced out of the market after becoming overleveraged as sudden crypto price drops were experienced.

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Ethereum Fantasy Sports NFTs Sorare

Sorare Raises $680 Million to Expand Blockchain-Based Fantasy Football Game

Sorare, the NFT-based fantasy football game, has recently ended its latest fundraising round to the count of US$680 million. The capital gained from the Series B funding round provides the means to create the next giant in sports entertainment.

A Historic Fundraiser

The record-breaking funding round is the largest in the history of French tech and the biggest in Europe for a Series B.

The fundraiser was joined by several interested parties, including Atomico, Bessemer Ventures, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and football players Gerard Piqué, Rio Ferdinand, Antoine Griezmann and César Azpilicueta.

In February, the platform announced it had raised US$50 million in Series A funding from renowned investors such as Benchmark (investor in Twitter, Snap, Instagram or Discord), Antoine Griezmann, Rio Ferdinand, Oliver Bierhoff, Alexis Ohanian and Gary Vaynerchuck.

This shows a massive increase in interest from investors towards the fantasy football game.

Sorare Growing Fast

Sorare’s user base has grown by 900 percent in the past year, with 177 officially licensed clubs including some of the most famous in Europe, such as Real Madrid, Liverpool and Juventus, 6000 licensed footballers, and 600,000 registered users making waves in the NFT and sports industry. Check out Crypto News Australia‘s independent review of the football trading card game.

The Sorare platform.

The platform has also recently signed a five-year partnership with La Liga and is looking to give back to the people by lending support to community led-football programs, aspiring entrepreneurs, and women in sport.

Sorare Set For Major Expansion

This funding will help deliver its key objective, which is to create the next world champion in sports entertainment by leveraging NFTs. To achieve this, the funds have been allocated to:

  • Sign new partnerships: bringing the top 20 football leagues onboard along with the top 50 national teams.
  • Speed up mobile and marketing: the fantasy game will be a mobile first experience that fans globally can play.
  • Expand into new sports: Sorare has received interest from leagues and fans worldwide to replicate its model in other sports, and plans to roll out new sports in 2022.

Built on the Ethereum blockchain, the platform used to suffer high transaction costs at high volume, though with layer-2 technology called Starkware it has helped to scale transactions and keep gas fees low to curb the problem.

Crypto News Australia also has a guide for beginners and fans who are interested in fantasy football, with the twist of trading and selling NFTs to gain added value from the hobby.

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Crypto News Ethereum NFTs

Snoop Dogg Reveals He Owns $17 Million worth of NFTs

American rapper Snoop Dogg is in the headlines after revealing he’s the person behind the Twitter handle Cozomo de’ Medici – until now, the mystery owner of a US$17 million NFT collection.

In a September 21 tweet, the superstar US rapper revealed his alter ego, an NFT collector who joined Twitter only last month. 

At that time, the account didn’t have any ties to the rapper as such, and its pseudonymous owner steadily tweeted about his journey as a collector and the large sums of money spent on his NFT collection.

As per DappRadar’s portfolio estimate tool, de’ Medici’s wallet stores US$17 million worth of collectibles. Cozomo’s wallet also owns the Snoop x Nyan Cat NFT that the rapper is currently using as his profile pic.

Superstar Rapper Rubs Shoulders With CryptoPunks

Snoop first flagged his interest in crypto assets in an April interview with Vanity Fair magazine. His portfolio consists mainly of CryptoPunks – a series of unique avatars and the first NFTs developed on the Ethereum blockchain, the most valuable of which is priced at US$4.6 million based on current market value. He also owns 10 Meebits, a series of unique 3D voxel characters, and several pieces of Tom Sachs Rocket Factory NFTs, the same collection that beer giant Budweiser bought into last month.

Snoop’s own NFT collection has been released on crypto exchange and NFT marketplace Crypto.com, with the first NFT titled “A Journey With the Dogg”. Crypto.com has put together numerous artists keen to explore the emerging NFTs market. As well as the Dogg, they include Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One, Axel Mansoor, Lionel Richie and more.

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Crypto News Ethereum NFTs

Crypto Portfolio NFT Wrapper Project Emblem Vault Pumps 225%

The non-fungible token (NFT) project Emblem Vault has soared 225 percent over the past month to become the second-largest NFT project by sales volume as reported by NFT data aggregator CryptoSlam.

NFT Ranking by Sales Volume. Source: CryptoSlam

What is Emblem Vault? 

Launched by Emblem Finance on Bitcoin and Ethereum in September 2020, Emblem Vault is a tokenised multi-asset wallet that wraps crypto portfolios into a single NFT token.

Emblem Vault collection on Open Sea

Each Emblem Vault is an Ethereum-based NFT that functions as a multi-asset wallet allowing users to move around and trade entire portfolios of NFTs and traditional cryptos, including those from other chains, as a single token.

Emblem wraps up tokens as modern ERC-721 NFTs. These are the same type of token trading on popular NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, though Emblem allows collectors to trade NFTs that predate the ERC-721 NFT standards.

NFT Boom Continues

Emblem Vault has gained traction as the NFT boom continues. Sales volumes have made immense gains as more people continue to discover the project, and collectors are seeking out OG NFTs.

Pepe the Frog, one of the classic NFTs, has appeared in Emblem Vault. A vintage RarePepe NFT that portrays a cartoon ‘Pepe’ of Satoshi Nakomoto sold for 144 ETH, worth around US$490,000 at the time. And EthPepe, a ‘Pepe’ portraying Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, sold for a whopping 100 Wrapped Ethereum (WETH), worth about US$300,000.  

Emblem Vault still lags US$9.5 million behind the biggest NFT project, Axie Infinity. Yet the project is still US$4 million ahead of other NFT projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club, which sold a collection of NFTs for almost US$25 million earlier this month.