Latest Updates
KPMG Partners With Coin Metrics To Attract Institutions To Crypto & Blockchain
- The Big Four firm will integrate Coin Metrics' institutional products with its own Chain Fusion suit of tools as part of the collaboration.
- Among other things, the new solution will include the FARUM tools for managing risks in blockchain networks and ATLAS for collecting data.
The Harvest Finance Exploit
- An attacker managed to devise a scheme by which they were able to effectively steal $24 million in crypto assets using arbitrage between multiple DeFi platforms.
- After the exploit became known, TVL on Harvest Finance rapidly dropped as did the price of its native FARM token.
Latest Updates
LiveDoncho Karaivanov -
- TVL Stabilizes Around $400 Million After Harvest Finance lost $600 million in total value locked since the flash loan exploit was uncovered, the DeFi platform's assets have leveled off and have remained stable around the $400 million mark, according to DeFi Pulse.
- Arbitrageur Is Liqudating The Assets Using Kraken, Binance, Huobi, Others Harvest Finance have created a GitHub repository where people can trace how the funds move around. In their latest tweet, they have announced that the attacker is "money laundering BTC" through Flugsvamp 3.0, wpm_cash, coins.ph, Treddr, Kraken, Binance, and Huobi.
The Harvest Finance Exploit
- An attacker managed to devise a scheme by which they were able to effectively steal $24 million in crypto assets using arbitrage between multiple DeFi platforms.
- After the exploit became known, TVL on Harvest Finance rapidly dropped as did the price of its native FARM token.
Algorand-Backed Startup PlanetWatch Launches Global Air Quality Monitoring Network
- More than 100 air quality sensors have already been deployed in the cities of Milan and Taranto in Italy.
- Utilizing Algorand’s blockchain, PlanetWatch will strive to scale its operations and find various new partners willing to fight against air pollution.
J.P. Morgan’s Stablecoin To Be Used For Global Payments
- While the name of the firm has remained unknown, J. P. Morgan has revealed that a tech company is about to start using its JPM Coin in global payments.
- The banking giant has also created a dedicated business devoted to digital currency and blockchain work, called "Onyx".
Harvest Finance Exploit Explained, Team Announces Plan Of Action
- The attacker used a flash loan from Uniswap to fund his arbitrage scheme, profiting a total of $24 million in the end.
- The Harvest Finance team has announced a $100,000 reward for anyone who is able to convince the attacker to return the funds.
Toyota Experimenting With Digital Currencies, Blockchain
- The firm's IT arm is holding a large-scale crypto pilot involving 2,500 of its employees, which focuses on digital currency payments for benefits.
- Once the trial is over, Toyota is expected to move on to another pilot, this time involving its supply chain and business-to-business transactions.
PayPal Reportedly In Acquisition Talks With BitGo
- Considering PayPal's new crypto offering would in effect make it a custodian, the firm's reported interest in BitGo is not surprising.
- The anonymous sources did however say that a deal between the two is far from certain, and that "PayPal could opt to buy other targets".
R3 Partners With IBM To Scale Its Services Across Hybrid Cloud
- IBM will establish an R3 center of excellence to focus on developing interoperability solutions for blockchain networks.
- The company expressed their desire to further collaborate with other blockchain operators in order to advance their ecosystem.
VeriTX Partners With Algorand To Develop Digital Supply For Aircraft Parts
- The VeriTX platform claimed to have reduced order-to-delivery lead time from hundreds of days to mere hours.
- The company revealed further information on how it will digitize the manufacturing process of aircraft parts.
Binance Charity Assisted 20+ Countries In Their Fight Against COVID-19
- Binance Charity's "Crypto Against COVID" initiative was able to collect $4.3 million in crypto donations, which were used to purchase more than 1.5 million PPEs.
- The firm also used blockchain technology to make its process transparent, enabling donors to check up on their donations, and for what they were used.
IDEX 2.0 Launches, Fixes UX Issues, Plans To Eliminate All Gas Fees
- The upgrade started Phase 1 our of 3, allowing users to migrate their tokens from IDEX 1.0 to IDEX 2.0 with the help of supporting tools.
- The new platform is said to significantly lower transaction costs and number of failed transfers, with plans to completely remove gas fees in Phase 2.
Central Bank Of Bahamas First To Officially Launch CBDC
- The Central Bank of The Bahamas has become the first financial institution to go beyond a CBDC pilot program with the official release of its "Sand Dollar".
- The bank has stated that the transaction fees for the Sand Dollar will be "negligible", and that the digital currency is pegged to the Bahamian dollar.
- The Central Bank of The Bahamas has become the first financial institution to go beyond a CBDC pilot program with the official release of its "Sand Dollar".
- The bank has stated that the transaction fees for the Sand Dollar will be "negligible", and that the digital currency is pegged to the Bahamian dollar.
Editors' Picks
Your Friendly Neighborhood Bitcoin Mining Pool
- In the study, we included 16 major Bitcoin mining pools with 80 stratum server locations across 11 countries on 4 continents.
- The data shows that Asia, North America, and Europe is where almost all stratum servers reside, with 1 pool and 1 stratum server representing Australia.
Square Invests $50 Million In Bitcoin
- The payment firm was able to secure 4,709 Bitcoin at an average price of $10,600 per BTC, which is equal to 1% of Square's total assets.
- The firm has stated that BTC is "an instrument of economic empowerment" that can help the "world to participate in a global monetary system".
Estonia Begins CBDC Research
- Eesti Pank will look into KSI Blockchain, which is already a part of its e-government system.
- The project will last for two years and will be conducted in several phases, the first focusing on building a scalable, practical and secure platform.
The US Introduces New Crypto Exchanges Bill
- The bill will supposedly allow crypto exchanges to operate in the entire US under a single license, rather than applying in 49 states separately.
- While the SEC is currently responsible for the oversight of ICOs and token pre-sales, the introduction of the act might cause a shift in the status quo.
When Socialism Destroys a Country, Cryptocurrency Helps
- Socialist policies have destroyed Venezuela, despite the country having the largest oil reserve in the world.
- As hyperinflation made the Venezuelan Bolivar useless, troubled citizens turn to other currencies, including cryptocurrency, as a way to preserve their wealth.
The Full Story: Yam Finance’s Rise & Fall & Rise Again
- A bug in one line of code spoiled the launch of the DeFi project, bringing down the entire ecosystem after a stunning launch.
- Though many proclaimed the project dead, a two-phase migration plan is currently being put into action, resurrecting the protocol from the underworld.
US Postal Services File For Blockchain-Based Mail-In Voting Patent
- The USPS has proposed a number of different frameworks and concepts around its central idea of blockchain-based voting.
- The news follows recent comments from President Donald J. Trump concerning the funding of the mail service.
Opinion
Opinion: Why The $100,000 Harvest Finance Bounty Is Absurd
- Only if we put ourselves in the shoes of the attacker can we find a possible angle of negotiation in a bid to recover more from the 13 million USDC and 11 million USDT that were profited from the arbitrage scheme.
- Although the Harvest Finance team has acted responsibly in the face of an unprecedented-to-the-project crisis, their bounty reward initiative is naive.
Opinion: The Impact Of PayPal Entering The Crypto Market
- PayPal will expose cryptocurrency access to its 346 million user base and 26 million merchants worldwide.
- The news is a stamp of mainstream approval on cryptocurrency, but doesn't come without its downsides, including asset encapsulation and centralization, the latter seen by many as the enemy of what Bitcoin stands for.
The Crypto Market Is Preparing For Ethereum 2.0
- Several delays and a couple years of flying under the radar have set up Ethereum's Beacon Chain as a catalyst to a possible crypto market renaissance.
- Phase 0 launch is just around the corner and the market is preparing for the expected increase in demand for ETH.
Can Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Really Change The Global Economy?
- The robustness of trustless DeFi could be the improvement current financial systems need.
- With global change on the horizon, cryptocurrency could be at a turning point.
Is DeFi Sustainable?
- Although speculation largely drives DeFi at the moment, there is much more potential there to be extracted.
- Leading countries are already experimenting with concepts such as CBDC.
Opinion: Why The Brave Affiliate Link Antics Matter More Than You Think
- Brave replaced some URLs typed in the browser with affiliate links due to a setting that used to be enabled by default.
- The setting provides no indication that it has anything to do with affiliate links.
Follow This One Rule To Avoid Being Scammed
- Scammers' revenue has grown from "just" $400 million in 2017 to more than $4 billion in 2019.
- Following this one rule will help you identify the overwhelming majority of crypto schemes that many are still falling prey to.
In Other News
PayPal Partners With Paxos To Offer Crypto Payments In 2021
- Through this partnership, PayPal was able to obtain a conditional license from the NYDFS, enabling its customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
- PayPal customers will also be able to use crypto to shop in any of its 26 million merchants around the globe, starting from early 2021.
Unibright Announces New Token Model For UBT, Upgrades Payments System
- The new UBT token will be used as “integration gas” for Unibright services, calculated and managed by Provide Payments.
- Users will be able to buy the assets either directly from Provide or from exchanges and will have to transfer them to Unibright’s hot wallets in order to use their platform.
Kik & SEC Jointly Propose $5 Million Settlement To End ICO Lawsuit
- The proposed joint settlement is not final, and still requires approval from presiding judge Alvin Hellerstein.
- If approved, the settlement will enjoin the firm against future securities law violations, and make it pay a $5 million fine.
Poolin Announces Brand Upgrade, Advances The Mining Industry
- The new brands of the company include Poolin Mining Pool, Poolin Finance, Poolin Mining, and Mining Fund.
- The goal is to make Poolin an all-in-one platform for all things mining, including the mining itself, investment in DeFi, mining hosting, and mining investments.
Messaging Giant LINE Releases CBDC Development Platform
- The firm aims to support the development of a "customized CBDC", which would be able to reflect each bank's requirements.
- Some "major" Asian countries are reportedly in discussion with Line over the application of its CBDC platform.
Switzerland Opens Consultation Process For DLT Laws
- Scheduled to end in February 2021, the consultation process will be conducted among cantons, parties and other groups interested in blockchain and DLT.
- The Swiss government amended several existing finance and corporate laws last month to include provisions for blockchain and DLT.
China Successfully Completes CBDC Giveaway Trial, Some People Were Impressed, Others Not So Much
- Out of the 2 million people that applied to participate in the digital yuan giveaway, only 47,573 were able to receive a 200 yuan "red envelope".
- PBoC officials have claimed the project was so popular, that some winners topped their wallets for an additional 901,000 yuan.
Gaming Giant Atari To Launch An IEO On Bitcoin.com
- The asking price during the IEO will be more than 3 times higher than the price in the first presale round.
- The token will be used for payments in video games and DeFi use cases are also possible in the future.
Report: New York DFS Reveals Twitter Cybersecurity Issues
- After the Twitter hack earlier this year, the NY Department of Financial Services decided to further analyze the situation and make suggestions on how to prevent future security threats.
- The adequate response from regulated crypto companies supposedly blocked the theft of nearly $1.4 million worth of BTC.
Opinion: Why The $100,000 Harvest Finance Bounty Is Absurd
- Only if we put ourselves in the shoes of the attacker can we find a possible angle of negotiation in a bid to recover more from the 13 million USDC and 11 million USDT that were profited from the arbitrage scheme.
- Although the Harvest Finance team has acted responsibly in the face of an unprecedented-to-the-project crisis, their bounty reward initiative is naive.
Harvest Finance Exploit Explained, Team Announces Plan Of Action
- The attacker used a flash loan from Uniswap to fund his arbitrage scheme, profiting a total of $24 million in the end.
- The Harvest Finance team has announced a $100,000 reward for anyone who is able to convince the attacker to return the funds.
The Harvest Finance Exploit
- An attacker managed to devise a scheme by which they were able to effectively steal $24 million in crypto assets using arbitrage between multiple DeFi platforms.
- After the exploit became known, TVL on Harvest Finance rapidly dropped as did the price of its native FARM token.
Opinion: The Impact Of PayPal Entering The Crypto Market
- PayPal will expose cryptocurrency access to its 346 million user base and 26 million merchants worldwide.
- The news is a stamp of mainstream approval on cryptocurrency, but doesn't come without its downsides, including asset encapsulation and centralization, the latter seen by many as the enemy of what Bitcoin stands for.
KPMG Partners With Coin Metrics To Attract Institutions To Crypto & Blockchain
- The Big Four firm will integrate Coin Metrics' institutional products with its own Chain Fusion suit of tools as part of the collaboration.
- Among other things, the new solution will include the FARUM tools for managing risks in blockchain networks and ATLAS for collecting data.
Toyota Experimenting With Digital Currencies, Blockchain
- The firm's IT arm is holding a large-scale crypto pilot involving 2,500 of its employees, which focuses on digital currency payments for benefits.
- Once the trial is over, Toyota is expected to move on to another pilot, this time involving its supply chain and business-to-business transactions.
PayPal Reportedly In Acquisition Talks With BitGo
- Considering PayPal's new crypto offering would in effect make it a custodian, the firm's reported interest in BitGo is not surprising.
- The anonymous sources did however say that a deal between the two is far from certain, and that "PayPal could opt to buy other targets".
R3 Partners With IBM To Scale Its Services Across Hybrid Cloud
- IBM will establish an R3 center of excellence to focus on developing interoperability solutions for blockchain networks.
- The company expressed their desire to further collaborate with other blockchain operators in order to advance their ecosystem.
VeriTX Partners With Algorand To Develop Digital Supply For Aircraft Parts
- The VeriTX platform claimed to have reduced order-to-delivery lead time from hundreds of days to mere hours.
- The company revealed further information on how it will digitize the manufacturing process of aircraft parts.
Switzerland Opens Consultation Process For DLT Laws
- Scheduled to end in February 2021, the consultation process will be conducted among cantons, parties and other groups interested in blockchain and DLT.
- The Swiss government amended several existing finance and corporate laws last month to include provisions for blockchain and DLT.
G7 To Oppose Facebook’s Libra Until Properly Regulated
- Central bankers and finance ministers from the G7 said, in a draft statement, that Facebook's Libra should not launch until it's properly regulated.
- The team agreed "global stablecoins" could improve access to financial services, but that they could also undermine financial stability and consumer protection.
U.S. Department Оf Justice Releases Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework
- The framework will serve as grounds to bring more regulation into the growing crypto sector.
- Officials urge members of the industry to work together with regulators in order to set fair rules that will allow for the safe development of blockchain technology.
AMDAX Becomes First Crypto Company To Register With The Dutch Central Bank
- The exchange has become the first to register with the central bank after the Netherlands imposed the new AMLD5 regulations.
- AMDAX can now offer crypto custodial services and is ready to support investors with portfolios starting at 2.5 BTC.
Read More
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Opinion: Why The $100,000 Harvest Finance Bounty Is Absurd
- Only if we put ourselves in the shoes of the attacker can we find a possible angle of negotiation in a bid to recover more from the 13 million USDC and 11 million USDT that were profited from the arbitrage scheme.
- Although the Harvest Finance team has acted responsibly in the face of an unprecedented-to-the-project crisis, their bounty reward initiative is naive.
Harvest Finance Exploit Explained, Team Announces Plan Of Action
- The attacker used a flash loan from Uniswap to fund his arbitrage scheme, profiting a total of $24 million in the end.
- The Harvest Finance team has announced a $100,000 reward for anyone who is able to convince the attacker to return the funds.
The Harvest Finance Exploit
- An attacker managed to devise a scheme by which they were able to effectively steal $24 million in crypto assets using arbitrage between multiple DeFi platforms.
- After the exploit became known, TVL on Harvest Finance rapidly dropped as did the price of its native FARM token.
OKEx Suspends Crypto Withdrawals, Founder Goes Missing
- On Friday the exchange announced it had suspended all cryptocurrency withdrawals indefinitely as it went "out of touch" with a key holder.
- It is suspected the key holder is the founder of OKEx, Mingxing Xu, who, according to sources, was taken by the police a week ago, and hasn't been seen since.
Coinbase’s Crypto Community Fund Will Sponsor Two Bitcoin Core Developers
- The projects will be chosen based on their field of work and potential contribution to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
- Companies wanting to participate in the program must first fill out a form, which will later be evaluated by an advisory board.
Gemini Partners With U.K. Crypto Payments Processor BCB Group
- By using BCB's API, Gemini will be able to simplify its interactions with various banks, and reduce the need for manual intervention in transaction processing.
- Gemini will also be able to provide its U.K. clients with faster options when it comes to sending and receiving pounds.
G7 To Oppose Facebook’s Libra Until Properly Regulated
- Central bankers and finance ministers from the G7 said, in a draft statement, that Facebook's Libra should not launch until it's properly regulated.
- The team agreed "global stablecoins" could improve access to financial services, but that they could also undermine financial stability and consumer protection.
Centre Consortium Makes Algorand An Official Blockchain For USDC
- Algorand’s blockchain is said to bring significant improvements in terms of transaction scaling and speed to the USDC market.
- Circle’s APIs will aid developers in scaling their dapps on Algorand, enabling access to new powerful tools for building customer financial applications.
BCB Group Partners With Circle To Offer Stablecoin Payments
- BCB's partnership with Circle will allow the group to improve its infrastructure for efficient USDC payouts and settlements.
- The partnership was also spurred by a growing demand for dollar-pegged stablecoins.
Poolin Announces Brand Upgrade, Advances The Mining Industry
- The new brands of the company include Poolin Mining Pool, Poolin Finance, Poolin Mining, and Mining Fund.
- The goal is to make Poolin an all-in-one platform for all things mining, including the mining itself, investment in DeFi, mining hosting, and mining investments.
Coinbase’s Crypto Community Fund Will Sponsor Two Bitcoin Core Developers
- The projects will be chosen based on their field of work and potential contribution to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
- Companies wanting to participate in the program must first fill out a form, which will later be evaluated by an advisory board.
Marathon Partners With Beowulf Energy, Announces New Bitcoin Mining Data Center
- Marathon’s new Bitcoin Mining Center will be sustained by a Beowulf power facility located in Montana.
- The new partnership is said to facilitate heavy reductions in breakeven costs for Bitcoin production from the current $7,500 per token to $4,600.
Luxury Watch Maker Breitling Puts Timepieces On Ethereum
- Starting 13 October, all watches created by Brietling will come with a digital passport that certifies their origin through the use of blockchain technology.
- The company already trialed its digital passport in March, when it first partnered with Arianee to release a limited edition "Top Time" chronograph.
Ethereum 2019 Vs Ethereum 2020
- Ethereum was down 7.5% in 2019 overall due to version 2.0 delays, the trail of the bear market, and heavy criticism.
- In 2020, the story is different, with ETH already up 200% and the DeFi hype train at full speed.
Ethereum 2.0 Bug Bounty Program Goes Live
- The program was created with the aim to find and fix potential bugs in Phase 0 of Ethereum 2.0's beacon chain.
- Developers can start working on the attacknets and earn rewards for their discoveries, suggestions, and fixes.
Ripple Threatens To Move If SEC’s “Hostile” Attitude Doesn’t Change
- Ripple's executive chairman, Chris Larsen, voiced his opinion that the "hostile attitude" towards crypto can only hurt the U.S..
- While moving Ripple's headquarters would do little to lessen U.S. regulatory oversight, a softer host government would nonetheless help.
Santander Adds New Regions To Payments App In Collaboration With Ripple
- Built by Santander and Ripple, the One Pay FX international payments app is now available in 19 additional regions.
- The bank also enhanced its Ripple-powered payments system to allow instant transactions.
New Lawsuit Alleges XRP Sale Violated Security Laws
- The new allegations are coming from the same firm which unsuccessfully tried to sue crypto derivatives exchange FTX for $150 million in November 2019.
- The company, Bitcoin Manipulation Abatement, is looking to "recover damages" and obtain "compensatory damages".
Timeline: Craig Wright’s Story So Far
- Though the Australian has claimed, multiple times, that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, he has yet to provide any concrete proof.
- Wright's story has been revolving mostly around the debunking of multiple "proofs" of him being Satoshi, his role in the Bitcoin Cash split, a multi-billion dollar lawsuit, and his patent trolling company.
The Scheduled Bitcoin Cash Network Upgrade Is Complete
- Bitcoin Cash's planned network upgrade went without hiccups or attacks on the network.
- Three new features have been added, enhancing user experience and development capabilities alike.
Bitcoin ABC, Jiang Zhuoer Determined to Implement a Mining Tax on Bitcoin Cash
- Major ecosystem participants, including former supporters of the proposal, have publicly criticised the actions of the most popular Bitcoin Cash node implementation and its representatives.
- The latest iteration of the proposal features a 5% redistribution amount, a voting system and a whitelist of fund recipients.
Unibright Announces New Token Model For UBT, Upgrades Payments System
- The new UBT token will be used as “integration gas” for Unibright services, calculated and managed by Provide Payments.
- Users will be able to buy the assets either directly from Provide or from exchanges and will have to transfer them to Unibright’s hot wallets in order to use their platform.
Ocean Protocol Forks To Retrieve 21 Million OCEAN Stolen From KuCoin
- The organization encourages members of its community to support the hard fork.
- Users who want to transact with their OCEAN tokens will have to use different means in order to do so as it will take time for third-party providers to integrate with the new contract.
Aave V2 Will Bring Colossal Improvements
- After 8 months of preparations, the company finally launched the testnet of their new protocol.
- The platform brings about extensive improvements such as lower transaction costs, mortgage tokenisations, and better internal operations.
Gaming Giant Atari To Launch An IEO On Bitcoin.com
- The asking price during the IEO will be more than 3 times higher than the price in the first presale round.
- The token will be used for payments in video games and DeFi use cases are also possible in the future.
Binance Launchpad To Host Injective Protocol Public Token Sale
- Since Binance has shown strong support for the protocol throughout its development, Injective have decided on conducting their public sale on Binance Launchpad.
- The layer-2 protocol is expected to bring tremendous change in the DeFi space and show unmatched results in terms of on-chain transaction speed and gas fees.
BitMax Overtakes Binance, Becomes Most Profitable IEO Platform Amid Altcoins Bull Market
- Throughout the last 2 months, STAKE grew from $1 to $20, while DOS reached 40 times its IEO price.
- Those massive increases in value ensured BitMax's top spot as the most profitable IEO platform.
Kik & SEC Jointly Propose $5 Million Settlement To End ICO Lawsuit
- The proposed joint settlement is not final, and still requires approval from presiding judge Alvin Hellerstein.
- If approved, the settlement will enjoin the firm against future securities law violations, and make it pay a $5 million fine.