Category: NFTs

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Blockchain NFTs Polygon Terra

Terra-Based Projects Begin Mass Exodus to Polygon After Terra Implosion

More than 48 projects originally built on the Terra blockchain have begun to migrate to Polygon in the wake of Terra’s sudden collapse in May:

According to Polygon Studios CEO Ryan Wyatt, some of the projects migrating to Polygon include the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OnePlanet, the multiverse platform Lunaverse, and the play-to-earn-game Derby Stars.

OnePlanet’s Ark*One Initiative Spurs Migration

Following Terra’s collapse, OnePlanet launched an initiative known as Ark*One, whose purpose was to save innovative NFT projects built on the failed blockchain. Ark*One has been a driving force behind the migration from Terra to Polygon, with 48 NFT projects comprising 90 NFT collections having applied for financial and technical support through the initiative.

Applications to Ark*One closed on June 15. This date also marked the end of Polygon Studios’ financial support to the initiative. However, Ark*One will continue providing technical support to projects wanting to migrate from Terra to Polygon.

Why Polygon?

One of the main reasons so many Terra projects have chosen to migrate to Polygon is that it offered substantial financial support to entice projects. In the weeks after Terra’s collapse, Polygon Studios launched a multimillion-dollar fund specifically to attract projects from Terra onto the Polygon blockchain.

OnePlanet has also cited several reasons Polygon was an attractive destination, beyond simple financial support, writing in a blog post:

Taking into consideration the key factors such as mass adoption, market opportunities, stability and foundation-level support, we found that Polygon is currently the most prominent chain with so many big projects and entities onboarding … Moreover, Polygon has the low gas fee of $0.0025 on average and high throughput of being able to process up to 7,000 transactions per second, which shows huge potentiality to bring a larger audience to the chain. 

OnePlanet blog
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Blockchain NFTs Polygon Reddit Social media

Reddit Launches NFT Avatars, But Won’t Call Them NFTs

Popular social media platform Reddit will launch a new NFT avatar collection in the coming weeks leveraging the Polygon blockchain – however, it has avoided any reference to non-fungible tokens, instead exclusively using the term “collectible avatars”:

As well as being blockchain-based, the new collectible avatars’ primary difference from Reddit’s existing avatars is that they’ll be available for individual sale – all other Reddit avatars are either free or are made available when a user subscribes to Reddit Premium.

And despite their being blockchain-based, Reddit users will not need to have any cryptocurrencies or a crypto wallet to buy and store the new avatars.

There has been speculation as far back as October 2021 that Reddit may be planning to launch its own NFT platform when it posted a job ad for a senior backend engineer with NFT expertise. Since then, Reddit has added other NFT-based features, such as the ability for users to change their profile picture to an NFT, which launched in January of this year.

Reddit’s ‘Collectible Avatars’ Created by Artists

Reddit’s new avatars will be created by some of the platform’s most passionate independent artists. Participating artists will receive payment each time one of their avatars is purchased and will also be entitled to royalties from secondary sales of their avatars on external NFT marketplaces.

Purchasers of the new NFT-based avatars will acquire usage rights to the artwork both on Reddit and outside of the platform. 

Reddit also says users who purchase one of the new collectible avatars will receive unique benefits on the platform, however the only specific benefit mentioned in the announcement was owners’ profile pictures having a “glow-like effect” when they appear in the comments section of posts.

Potential Benefits in Blockchain Tech

Reddit says it chose to use the Polygon blockchain for its new NFT-based avatars because of the network’s relatively low transaction costs and stated commitment to sustainability measures.

Reddit users will be able to use their local fiat currency to purchase the new NFT-based avatars and they’ll be able to store them in Reddit’s built-in crypto wallet, which is known as the Vault. 

Using blockchain technology to power its new avatars provides several benefits, Reddit says, writing in its announcement:

Right now, blockchain technology provides purchasers with ownership and portability of their collectible avatar, and provides artists with a way to have their work live beyond the virtual walls of Reddit (and be compensated for future sales of their art).

Reddit team

It also sees blockchain as a technology with potential to further empower communities built on its platform:

We see blockchain as one way to bring more empowerment and independence to communities on Reddit. Reddit has always been a model for what decentralisation could look like online; our communities are self-built and run, and as part of our mission to better empower our communities, we are exploring tools to help them be even more self-sustaining and self-governed.

Reddit team
Categories
Crypto News DeFi Hackers NFTs

NFT Lender ‘Omni’ Exploited for $1.4m in Reentrancy Attack

In circumstances similar to early May’s US$80 million exploit of DeFi platform Rari Capital, NFT money market platform Omni lost 1300 ETH (about US$1.43 million) in a flash loan reentrancy attack last weekend:

According to a tweet from blockchain security firm PeckShield, the July 10 attack took the form of a hacker using NFTs from a collection called Doodles as collateral to borrow wrapped ETH (WETH). The hacker exploited the reentrancy vulnerability by withdrawing all but one of the Doodle NFTs. This triggered a malicious callback function enabling the hacker to use the borrowed funds to buy even more Doodles before liquidating the loan position.

Hacker Uses Borrowed WETH to Buy More NFTs

The remaining NFT was never going to cover the debt position, which is where the reentrancy came in – the attacker was able to use the borrowed WETH to buy more NFTs prior to liquidating the loan.

According to a statement from Omni, the exploit did not impact any customers as only internal testing funds were affected, since the platform is still in beta testing mode and has since paused all operations pending a thorough investigation:

Data from Etherscan shows the hacker has already laundered the funds via Tornado Cash. This increasingly common modus operandi was also deployed when MM.Finance, the largest DeFi exchange on Cronos, had a vulnerability in its Domain Name System exploited in May, less than a week after the Rari Capital hack.

Categories
Crypto News NFTs

Lamborghini-Backed Racing Team Adopts NFT Authentication for Car Parts

GT racing team Vincenzo Sospiri Racing (VSR) is partnering with NFT platform Go2NFT for a project that certifies racing car parts. The NFTs will aid in monitoring and ensuring car part quality, with the collaboration offering room to extend this technology to merchandising:

Sospiri Personally Endorses Pilot Scheme

Go2NFT’s pilot scheme will utilise NFT tech to authenticate factory parts, with racing champion Vincenzo Sospiri himself stating that VSR, Go2NFT, and the blockchain platform Skey Network will be building cars with verified provenance:

https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/italian-driver-vincenzo-sospiri-sits-on-his-car-in-pit-row-news-photo/51659371

This also brings great responsibility to ensure that we can securely authenticate and audit every part of our racing fleet to monitor performance and ensure provenance.

Vincenzo Sospiri, VSR

Boris Ejsymont, chief business officer of Go2NFT, understands the challenges brands face in protecting their intellectual property, and says that NFTs offer a solution. For more information on the tech behind this project, check out Go2NFT’s video below:

NFTs Rev Up the Auto World

This isn’t Lamborghini’s first dip into NFTs. In August 2021, the company celebrated its founder, Ferruccio Lamborghini, with the launch of an NFT collection, a collaboration between the Ferruccio Lamborghini Museum and crypto art platform Elysium Bridge. Touted as a “one-time event”, the collection offered investors the chance to “own unique pieces of supercar history in an unprecedented NFT drop”.

But it’s not just performance cars that are experimenting with NFTs. Alfa Romeo’s latest SUV, the Tonale, enables customers to track and store its maintenance records. This, more practical, approach to documenting vehicle data will add much-needed transparency and efficiency to record-keeping.

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Market Analysis Markets NFTs

NFTs Hammered by Crypto Market Downturn, Sales Down 92% Since January High

NFT sales have hit a 12-month low amid the turmoil of the cryptocurrency market crash. Sales of NFTs totalled just over US$1 billion in June, compared to a market peak of US$12.6 billion in January.

Has the Bubble Finally Burst?

June sales of NFTs amounted to their worst performance since the same month last year when sales were US$684 million, according to data from research firm Chainalysis. The cryptocurrency market, which was worth US$3 trillion in November 2021, has dropped below US$1 trillion and the decline in NFTs is linked to crypto’s broader malaise:

It is important to note that dollar volumes were so high given that prices of altcoins had been on the rise. In June, when the market crash occurred, the dollar value of traded NFTs plummeted along with the prices of the coins.

According to Chainalysis economist Ethan McMahon, “Times like this inevitably lead to consolidation within the affected markets, and for NFTs we will likely see a pullback in terms of the collections and types of NFTs that reach prominence.”

New Collections Launched Despite Downturn

In the period between May and June, 18,000 new NFT collections were launched despite declining interest:

Numbers of NFT collections launched since 2018. Source: IntoTheBlock

OpenSea continues to dominate the space when it comes to NFT trading and remains highly favoured among investors. While other networks such as Solana have also fuelled the network, contenders such as LooksRare – which was only launched this year – stole market share from OpenSea, but only momentarily. OpenSea maintains more than 55 percent of all NFT volume recorded for June, while LooksRare accounts for 32.45 percent:

2022 NFT marketplace monthly volume decline. Source: The Block
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Australia NFTs

Australia’s First NFT-Ticketed Music Festival Launches For ‘The Grass Is Greener’ 2022

An annual all-ages music, food and art festival kicking off again later this year in an expanded format will be the first major Australian event to integrate NFTs into its ticketing via a limited-edition 1,111 NFT collection:

Dates Added for Canberra and Geelong

The Grass Is Greener 2022 travelling festival starts its 2022 season on the Gold Coast on October 22, followed by its first-ever show in Canberra on October 23. The festival, inaugurated in 2016, will also take place in Cairns, far north Queensland, on October 29 and then conclude in Geelong, Victoria, on October 30.

Grass Is Greener NFTs will grant owners access to the event itself and its unique on-site experiences, including Lifetime Ticket NFTs, Backstage Pass NFTs and “much more”. Organisers also tout multiple themed stages and an upgraded VIP experience.

Grass is Greener NFT Collection. Source: Grass is Greener via Twitter

Where to Sign Up

Artists already announced for the 2022 travelling festival include Ty Dolla $ign, VNSSA, Pnau, Sticky Fingers, Onefour, Maya Jane Coles and Boo Seeka. For the complete lineup appearing at each event, visit The Grass is Greener’s official website.

The NFT mint is scheduled for 08h00 (AEST) on July 12, 2022, and those interested in participating are encouraged to joined the event’s Discord group.

Sticky Fingers are on the bill for The Grass Is Greener 2022. Source: abc.net.au

In Other NFT Music News

The Grass Is Greener festival’s NFT ticketing innovation is arguably the biggest news on the music-related NFT front since blockchain-based platform Opulous announced its world-first music copyright-backed NFTs in January this year, allowing fans to bankroll their favourite artists by harnessing the power of DeFi.

And for those fans who’d rather experience music events in the metaverse, a month earlier Animal Concerts launched a virtual touring company to host “live” music events via Web3. Through this project, artists will be able to earn up to 50 percent of their revenues from both virtual ticket and NFT sales.

Categories
Australia Axie Infinity Crypto News NFTs Surveys

Australia Ranks 8th in ‘Most Interested in NFTs’, Report

Whether they love ’em or hate ’em, it’s clear Australians are highly curious about non-fungible tokens after ranking eighth globally for NFT interest according to an analysis conducted by online lender CashNetUSA.

Based on Google search volume and Twitter sentiment collected in March 2022, the analysis identified that Singaporeans were most likely to search for information about NFTs. The US, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand also made the top 10 on monthly search volume figures:

Top 10 countries by interest in NFTs. Source: CashNetUSA

A similar exploration of NFT search queries in 50 countries by the NFT Club website in May placed Australia second in terms of interest in NFTs, with Taiwan taking out the top spot.

Australians Positive Towards NFTs, Favouring Axie Infinity

In terms of positive and negative sentiment towards NFTs, CashNetUSA found Eastern European countries were the most passionate on both counts. People in Montenegro were most likely to post pro-NFT tweets, while Twitter users in Poland were most likely to be anti-NFTs. 

A higher number of Australians expressed positive views of NFTs, according to the analysis: for every 1,000 tweets, 539 were found to show “love” for NFTs compared to just 79 expressing “hate”.

Among Australian NFT enthusiasts, the most popular NFT collectible community is Axie Infinity. The Vietnam-origin gaming platform dominates globally when it comes to most-Googled collectibles, ranking first in 112 countries. Decentraland, Sorare, and Bored Ape Yacht Club also featured on the list of popular NFT communities. 

Of course, Australian investors are more likely to feel the love for NFTs when they make gains, like the Aussie owner of a Bored Ape who was being offered up to US$5 million for the NFT he purchased for just US$300.

Categories
Crypto News NFTs Scams

Hackers Take Over British Army’s YouTube, Twitter to Promote NFTs

The British Army is investigating a hack that occurred on its Twitter and YouTube accounts last week, the BBC has reported. It seems the hacker used the accounts to promote NFT collections.

After the attacker gained control of the British Army’s Twitter feed, he or she renamed it to “psssssd” and “Bapesclan”, changed the profile pic to an ape-like joker, and promoted several NFT collections to the Army’s 365,000 followers.

The Twitter feed can be found on web.archive:

On the other hand, the Army’s YouTube channel was plagued with edited videos of billionaires such as Elon Musk, creating a false impression that they were promoting the scam.

Trolling the British Government

The organisation managed to regain full control of both accounts by July 3. While there was no real damage done by the hack, one could see the incident as simply a move to troll people, specifically a UK government organisation.

An Army spokesperson told the BBC: “Whilst we have now resolved the issue an investigation is ongoing and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

Intercepting YouTube accounts to promote NFT and crypto scams has become a common practice for hackers, according to Google’s Threat Analysis Group. Most recently, Beeple – a popular digital artist and NFT creator – had his Twitter account hacked, resulting in a US$438,000 loss to a phishing scam.

Categories
Football NFTs Sorare Sports

Sorare Football NFT Surge 795% After Signing Superstar Kylian Mbappe

Sales of Sorare NFTs have surged 795 percent in the 24 hours since adding French football superstar Kylian Mbappé as an investor and ambassador.

Mbappé is the latest athlete to join the NFT space, and this also marks the first time Sorare has signed a player as an ambassador. Sorare has also pledged to support Mbappé’s charity, Inspired by KM, as part of the deal.

Sorare NFT Sales Soar by $6.6m

According to data from CryptoSlam, Sorare NFTs saw a significant surge in the secondary market. In the 24 hours following the announcement, Sorare registered over US$6.6 million worth of NFT sales, an increase of almost 800 percent.

Sorare founder Nicolas Julia tweeted: “Kylian is becoming our exclusive, long-term ambassador as well as a major investor. Together, we’ll bring Sorare to millions of fans. Kylian will accelerate our mission to unite sports fans across the globe around a player-owned gaming experience.”

Nicolas added: “Kylian is more than a football player. He’s a global icon who carries strong values on and off the pitch. Together, we’ll [also] help underprivileged groups start their businesses and learn about Web3.”

Sorare has signed more than 250 international football teams and claims to have over two million users. The company claims it has brought in more than US$346 million in all-time sales, and in September last year raised US$680 million in a Series B funding round to help turn it into the next sports entertainment giant.

Categories
Australia Bitcoin Bored Ape Yacht Club Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Investing NFTs

Brisbane Man’s Crypto Bet Enabled Him to Buy a Home Mortgage-Free

In less than a decade, Brisbane IT specialist Joe Bridge turned a small-time household crypto mining hobby into an A$1.2 million profit that enabled him to buy a house outright along with two motorcycles and a pair of boats.

Bridge, now 38, was a law student living at home in 2013 when he installed mining software on three computers and used 10 graphics cards to generate Litecoin and Dogecoin.

Traded $LTC and $DOGE for ‘More Than a Dozen’ BTC

Although the power bills at his parents’ house in Paddington, in Brisbane’s inner west, ramped up to over A$600 per month, Bridge mined enough $LTC and $DOGE to trade it for “more than a dozen” bitcoins. He held on to the BTC until 2017 when the price began to spike, then invested some of his stash on motorbikes and boats.

Joe Bridge at his Clontarf home with one of his motorcycles. Source: ABC News / Alex Papp

By the time bitcoin hit its all-time high in November 2021, Bridge was able to cash out A$880,000 for a house at seaside Clontarf in Brisbane’s northeast, and still had enough left over to pay a $290,000 capital gains tax bill.

Cautionary Advice for Would-Be Investors

No longer active as a crypto investor, Bridge has cautionary advice for anyone thinking of buying the current dip in bitcoin’s price. “I think it’s a dangerous time to be getting into it,” he told ABC News last week. “I would imagine it’s possible [to still make money], though. [But] would I recommend it? No. I’m not currently participating.”

I do think there will be a shake-out and the speculative bubble that surrounds [cryptocurrency] will disappear. Perhaps from the ashes of that, something with real utility to humanity may arise, but there’s a lot of debate about what product that is. I don’t think it’s bitcoin.

Joe Bridge, IT consultant in financial software, former crypto investor
Crypto market cap since November 2021. Source: CoinMarketCap

More than a million Australians now own some form of cryptocurrency, according to a Roy Morgan survey conducted in February this year. However, chances are that none of them will ever get as lucky as Australian NFT collector Steve Morlando, who in May was able to turn US$300 into a whopping US$5 million when he bought a rare Bored Ape for what amounted to 0.01 percent of its then-current value.

Like Joe Bridge, Morlando plans to hang on to his investment “for a minimum of 10 years”.