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Central bankers blame the victims in order to divide and rule

USAGAG — Thu, 04 May 2023 07:36:00 +0000

The world's central bankers seem to have lost faith that they can fix the inflation they caused, so they are moving on to Plan B: blaming the people. That's why we fight.

Last week, Huw Pill, the head of the Bank of England's economics department, said the quiet part out loud: "British households and businesses need to accept that they are poorer and stop asking for pay raises and raising prices."

In the UK, inflation is currently in the double digits, and food prices have gone up 19% in the last year. So if you don't get a raise, you might have to skip a meal.

A poll from a large British insurance company found that rising prices could force 57% of small businesses in Britain to close.

So, you commoners need to stop eating and shut down your family business so we can keep stealing from you.

Central Bank Divide and Control

The Guardian says that central bankers have a word for this kind of mass scapegoating: "Greedflation."

So, the fact that central bankers printed trillions of dollars and gave them to states, bankers, and, surely by accident, the rich at the fastest rate in 50 years had nothing to do with double-digit inflation.

So much so that, as of last year, one in every four pounds and almost one in every three dollars had been made in the past three years.

So, the lenders say, "Well, that was just a bunch of luck." What's really going on is that people have become greedy for some strange reason. You see, they weren't greedy before, but now they are, and this needs to stop.

The beauty of the "Greedflation" story is that it not only avoids blaming central banks for their systemic theft, but it also pits the masses against each other while the rich use central banks to steal money.

They are very honest about it: A few weeks ago, the European Central Bank asked on Twitter, "What really causes inflation? Earnings or profits?"

Get it, voter? Is it the greedy business people on the right or the greedy workers on the left?

They do this because if they can get half of the country to blame the other half, the bankers and politicians who really caused the problem can't be blamed. While we fight, they can go back to taking our life savings and hopes for the future.

It makes you wonder if Americans, Britons, and Europeans aren't really trying to kill each other. That maybe we all agree the system is broken, but our leaders do everything they can to make us fight with each other.

This divide between the masses has been going on for a long time, at least since the Federal Reserve was created and since Western governments took on an activist role that turned them from responsible guardians of the common good—fixing potholes, dredging ports, the "night watchman" state—into existential political footballs in the service of the elite that could be used against the masses.

During the last financial crisis, they used this plan to perfection. They took the right-wing Tea Party and the left-wing Occupy Movement away from the bankers who had just stolen from the country and turned them against each other. They'll definitely try again.

And what do you have to do with it? Make do with less, take one for the team, and fight your neighbor so that the rich can keep stealing from all of us and our children.

The Mother of All Greed: Government

So, what makes inflation happen? Yes, this is greed, but it's government greed. In the form of printing trillions of dollars to buy votes and bribe people to accept lockdowns and other forms of authoritarianism.

Then, when people were hurt by the resulting inflation, central bankers around the world raised interest rates to crush the private economy. By getting rid of the rest of us, they keep the door open for record deficits.

We lose our jobs so that governments can keep spending money, buying votes, and rewarding their friends and backers.

The answer is simple. In fact, shrinking the government is so easy that it will never happen. Reduce deficits to zero and use the money saved to get rid of the bureaucrats and regulators who are holding back job creation, innovation, and small companies, which are becoming more and more rare.

This could be done as soon as tomorrow by central banks. By standing up and telling their leaders, "No more." No more trillion-dollar debts being paid for by the central bank, and no more crushing the people to make ends meet for the central bank.

There's no chance that this will happen, of course. Not until people ask for it, either because they are angry or because they are desperate.

One might hope people do get angry. Before they can't lose anymore.

Used routers often have corporate secrets already on them

USAGAG — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 14:54:00 +0000

You know that before you sell your phone or laptop or give it to your cousin, you should wipe it clean. After all, there's a lot of important personal information on there that should stay under your control. Businesses and other institutions need to do the same thing and delete their information from PCs, computers, and network equipment so it doesn't get into the wrong hands. Next week, though, researchers from the security company ESET will show at the RSA security conference in San Francisco that more than half of the used business routers they bought to test had been left untouched by their previous owners. And the devices were full of knowledge about networks, passwords, and private information about the institutions they had belonged to.

The researchers bought 18 used routers made by Cisco, Fortinet, and Juniper Networks. Each router was a different model. Nine of them were exactly as their owners had left them and could be used, but only five had been cleaned properly. Two of the devices were encrypted, one was broken, and one was a copy of another.

All nine of the unprotected devices had credentials for the organization's VPN, credentials for another secure network communication service, or hashed root user passwords. All of them had enough information to figure out who the previous owner or person in charge of the router was.

Eight of the nine unprotected devices had router-to-router authentication keys and information about how the router connected to specific apps used by the previous owner. Four devices revealed credentials for connecting to the networks of other organizations, such as trusted partners, collaborators, or other third parties. Three of them had information on how a third party could join to the network of the previous owner. And two of them directly held customer information.

"A core router touches everything in the organization, so I know everything about the applications and the way the organization works. This makes it very, very easy to pretend to be the organization," says Cameron Camp, the ESET security expert who led the project. "In one case, this large group had special information about one of the largest accounting firms and a direct peering relationship with that company. And that's when it starts to scare me, because we're experts and we're here to help, but where are the rest of those routers?"

The biggest risk is that thieves or even government-backed hackers could use the wealth of information on the devices to their advantage. On dark web markets and criminal sites, logins to corporate apps and networks and encryption keys are very valuable. Attackers can also sell information about people that can be used to steal their identities or for other scams.

Information about how a corporate network works and how an organization is set up digitally is also very useful, whether you're doing reconnaissance to start a ransomware attack or planning an espionage campaign. For example, routers could show that an organization is using old versions of apps or operating systems that have exploitable flaws. This would be like giving hackers a map of how they could attack the organization. The researchers even found information about the physical protection of the previous owners' offices on some of the routers.

Since used equipment is cheaper, it might be possible for hackers to buy used devices, mine them for information and network access, and then use or sell the information they find. The ESET researchers say that they debated whether or not to share their results because they didn't want to give cybercriminals new ideas. However, they decided that it was more important to raise awareness about the issue.

Camp says, "One of my biggest worries is that if someone bad isn't doing this, it's almost hacker malpractice, since it would be so easy and clear."

Even though 18 routers are a small sample of the millions of corporate networking devices that are for sale on the resale market around the world, other researchers say they've seen the same problems over and over again in their own work.

Wyatt Ford, engineering manager at Red Balloon Security, an internet-of-things security company, says, "We've bought all kinds of embedded devices online from eBay and other secondhand sellers, and we've seen a lot that haven't been digitally wiped." "These devices can have a lot of information on them that bad people can use to plan and carry out attacks."

Ford says that, like ESET, hackers from Red Balloon have found passwords and other credentials and information that could be used to find out who someone is. Some information, like usernames and configuration files, is usually saved in plaintext and is easy to access. Passwords and configuration files, on the other hand, are often kept safe by being stored as scrambled cryptographic hashes. But Ford says that even data that has been hashed could still be at risk.

"We found password hashes on a device and cracked them offline. You'd be surprised by how many people still use their cats as passwords," he says. "And even things that seem harmless, like source code, commit history, network configurations, routing rules, etc., can be used to learn more about an organization, its people, and its network topology."

The ESET researchers say that companies may think they are being responsible when they hire an outside company to handle their devices. companies that get rid of e-waste or even device-sanitization services that claim to wipe large amounts of business devices so they can be sold again. But it's possible that these third parties don't do what they say they do. Camp also says that more groups could use encryption and other security features that most routers already have to reduce the damage that could be done if devices that haven't been wiped get out into the world.

Camp and his coworkers tried to get in touch with the old owners of the used routers they bought to let them know that their devices were now out in the wild sending their data. Some were thankful for the information, but others didn't seem to care about the warnings or didn't have a way for experts to report security issues.

"We used trusted ways to get in touch with some companies, but we found that a lot of other companies are much harder to reach," says Camp. "That's very scary.

Sona9 App Download - India Review | Android and iOS | Free Apk

GameBoy — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 02:15:00 +0000

Sona9 India

Sona9 bookmaker is currently the most popular betting site in India. In addition, it has already gained a good reputation among Indian users, which is already an important advantage and this is not surprising, because the Sona9 bookmaker has the most technologically advanced ways to protect the confidential information of its users. In addition, users are presented with a large selection of a wide variety of sports disciplines to bet on, as well as only the best casino games are available, which ensures that Sona9 bettors can always find what suits them. It should also be noted that the Sona9 betting platform has created a special mobile application for two operating systems: Android and IOS, with which you can bet even more conveniently and faster, the reason for this is that the Sona9 app has a very good optimization. We will talk more about the Sona9 mobile application in the same article, but for now, we would like to answer the question of why we recommend that you bet on the Sona9 bookmaker:

Firstly, it offers many different bonuses not only for new users, but also for users who have been on the platform for a long time. Secondly, it will be very convenient for you to place bets in this particular bookmaker, because both the official website and the mobile application have an intuitive interface and beautiful design, there are no extra functions, everything is extremely simple, and such mandatory processes as deposits and withdrawals funds, the procedure for creating your account, etc., are very simplified so that you can quickly go through all the processes and move on to sports betting. We will not describe all the advantages of the Sona9 betting platform for a long time, because all this will be described in detail in this article.

Mobile App Sona9

As mentioned earlier, the Sona9 bookmaker has a mobile application specially designed for betting and casino games. This application was developed by Sona9 specifically for its users, because everyone who has ever tried to place a bet using a mobile application knows that this method is much more convenient, pleasant and faster. This is due to the fact that in order to place a bet, you just need to take out your mobile device and enter the application, no additional steps are required!

As it is the most efficient way to complete all necessary betting procedures, this mobile application is especially suitable for people who like to bet and do so on a regular basis. Why do we suggest that you download the Sona9 app on your mobile device? Everything is very easy to understand! Take a look at some of the comments that users of the Sona9 bookmaker leave most often to get an idea of what they think of the mobile application developed by Sona9:

The Sona9 mobile app is much faster than the mobile version of the site, due to the fact that it uses much less data and does not require a very good internet connection.
The mobile application is compatible with both Android and iOS operating systems at the same time, which allows you to download it without any problems and difficulties;
The Sona9 mobile app is incredibly easy to download and set up and will take you no more than a couple of minutes to get it up and running on your mobile device;
Because the Sona9 mobile app takes up very little space on your smartphone, you don't need to delete anything to make room for it to be downloaded to your device.

You can get more information about the Sona9 mobile app by going to their official website and following the steps required to download it, which we will also detail in this article.

How to Download the Sona9 Mobile App to Your Android Device

In order to start betting with the Sona9 mobile app, you need to go through the download process, but how to do it quickly and easily? To go through this procedure, you may need our detailed instructions, thanks to which you can easily and without unnecessary actions get the Sona9 mobile application on your device, the instruction is a little lower:

Go to the official website of the Sona9 bookmaker using your browser;
On the main page of the site, find the mobile phone icon and click on it;
From the list of suggested operating systems, choose Android;
Click on the "download" button and wait for the process of downloading and installing the apk file to your mobile device;
Complete the application download process.

You should be aware that in order to get the Sona9 mobile app on your device, you need to grant access to download apps from unknown sources, this is necessary in order for you to be able to get an app that is not downloaded from the Play Market on your device, you have nothing to worry about, because this is a standard and absolutely safe procedure, you can provide download access in the settings of your mobile device.

Please be careful when downloading the Sona9 mobile application, download it only from the official website of the bookmaker, as downloading and downloading the application from an unknown site can lead you to scammers or viruses that can harm your device.

How to Download the Sona9 Mobile App to Your iOS Device

In order for you to be able to download the Sona9 mobile application on your iPhone or iPad or any other iOS device, we have also compiled a special instruction that will help you do this in less than two minutes of your time, it is written a little below:

Go to the official website of the Sona9 bookmaker using your browser;
On the main page of the site, find the mobile phone icon and click on it;
From the list of suggested operating systems, choose IOS;
You will be redirected to the App Store, where you will need to continue downloading the mobile;
Complete the application download process.

That's all! Everything is extremely simple and clear, after that, you will easily go through the rest of the processes necessary to work with the Sona9 betting platform, and we, in turn, will be happy to help you with this!

How to Create an Account

Before you start betting or playing at the casino, you need to remember that the procedure for creating your gaming account is mandatory, because without it you will not be able to work on the Sona9 platform. Let's see how you can go through this process step by step:

Open the Sona9 mobile application on your mobile device or go to the official website of the bookmaker using your browser;
On the main page in the upper right corner of your screen, you can notice the "register" button, click on it;
Enter your personal information such as name, phone number, email, etc. in the required fields;
Create a password that you will use when logging into your account;
Finish registration.

Everything is very simple and understandable even without instructions, and after completing the registration procedure, you will be able to use all the opportunities offered by the Sona9 bookmaker.

Payments Methods

As mentioned earlier, the Sona9 bookmaker offers a wide range of payment methods, allowing customers to choose the most convenient method for them personally. It is strongly recommended not to skip the step of getting acquainted with all the available payment methods that are available at the Sona9 bookmaker. This is necessary so that you can immediately determine which payment method is ideal for your requirements, and skipping this step will prevent you from doing so. For this reason, we have compiled a list that covers the payment options most commonly used by customers of the Sona9 betting platform, including: UPI, Visa, MasterCard, IMPS, Paytm, Bitcoin, GooglePay, PhonePe, and much more!

You may also go to the official website of the Sona9 bookmaker if you want to familiarize yourself with all of the different payment options and finish this stage completely.

Sona9 Support

Sona9 support team is not only excellent at their job, but they are also ready to help each user at any time and answer any questions they may have. This is one of the main advantages of the Sona9 bookmaker, and it is for this reason that the well-coordinated work of the customer support service of the Sona9 bookmaker should be noted. The support team is active 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in order to make it easier and more efficient for players who are facing problems and want to find a solution to these problems. Because sooner or later everyone may encounter a problem that they cannot solve on their own, or this process will take a very long and difficult time, therefore, the Sona9 support service is a good indicator of this betting site. So that there are fewer such situations and users can simply enjoy sports betting, there is an excellent Sona9 support service that will definitely attract you with its professionalism and approach. Players will have three options for contacting support: via email, social media, or live chat. This is for the convenience of players, so let's take a look at the differences between the two so you can choose the one that works best for you:

Email is by far the most commonly used means of electronic communication, as a result, there is no need to dwell on its description, since almost everyone uses this tool. According to the data, this means of communication is used much more often than others. Visit the Sona9 official website to find the help email address and then send an email to that address along with a detailed explanation of the issue you are experiencing. That's all you need to contact support using your email account;
The Sona9 bookmaker recognizes the importance of social networks, as well as their widespread use in the modern world. To keep up with the times and meet the demands of its customers, the bookmaker has created customer support profiles on popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Links to these and other social networks can be found on the official website of the Sona9 bookmaker.
Now we will move on to the most effective method of communication among those listed above, namely live chat, because this method is the most effective. Since this is the fastest method with an average response time of less than two minutes, you can contact him if you have a problem or question that you need to resolve immediately.

You can also use the special FAQ section, which will help you find the answer to your question yourself. Since this section contains answers to questions that are most often asked to the Sona9 bookmaker, we recommend that you first go to this section, and only then contact the support service. You can access this section by going to the official website of the Sona9 bookmaker.

Shares of Coinbase fall 11% because of a hot report on inflation

USAGAG — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 15:30:00 +0000

Bitcoin and other stocks that depended on the success of cryptocurrencies also took a hit. Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital, and Microstrategy all went down by about 5%, while Block (formerly Square) went down by about 7%.

The new inflation numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also sent the markets in general down. But crypto stocks fell more than major indices like the Nasdaq Composite, which fell by about 1.5%, and the S&P 500, which fell by about 0.8%.

In the past few months, when inflation has gone up, Wall Street has been very unstable. That's because if inflation news is bad, the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates even more, which would slow economic growth even more.

With Thursday's CPI data, it's likely that the Fed will raise interest rates by 0.75 percentage points in both November and December. This makes investors less interested in riskier assets like cryptocurrencies and equities related to cryptocurrencies.

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Minecraft YouTuber Technoblade died after being told he had cancer

USAGAG — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 08:15:00 +0000

Techoblade's father shared a message from his son about the streamer's death in a YouTube video called "so long, nerds."

"Hi everyone, this is Technoblade," the message said. "If you are looking at this. I am dead."

Technoblade kept his real name a secret from his fans, but he told them in the video that it was Alexander.

"Thanks to everyone who has liked and shared my work over the years. If I had a hundred more chances at life, I think I would always choose to be Technoblade again, because those were the best years of my life."

His father says that about eight hours before he died, Technoblade wrote his last message to his fans.

In an emotional statement, he said, "I don't think he said everything he wanted to say, but I think he got the main points."

"He was the best kid anyone could ever want. I miss Technoblade.

Technoblade’s father read his son’s last message to his fans on his YouTube channel.

YouTube

“Thank you to all of you, for everything. You meant a lot to him.”

Techno’s family is now running his merch store if fans want to continue to support him and his channel.

“In honor of his memory, a portion of the proceeds from all online orders will be donated to a wonderful organization called curesarcoma.org.

“Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.”

CANCER DIAGNOSIS

His cancer was made public in August 2021, when Techno said that he started having pain in his arm in July and took a few days off to heal because he thought it was from playing video games too much.

But after a few days, he noticed that his shoulder was swollen and thought he had broken a bone. He went to the hospital to get checked out.

“They performed a couple of scans and told me the reason my arm hurts is because I have cancer,” he explained in his latest video.

“That really couldn’t have gone worse.”

FAMILY STATEMENT

The video ended with a statement from Techo's family, which e-sports gamer Jake Lucky also posted on Twitter.

"Technoblade's family wanted everyone to know how much he loved and respected his fans and coworkers.

"From the first time Technoblade was online, he was always thinking of ways to entertain and reward his audience. He gave away online prizes, encouraged good sportsmanship, and, most of all, shared his Minecraft adventures to make people laugh and have a good time.

Technoblade went public with his cancer diagnosis in August 2021.

YouTube

“Even after his eventual successes he somehow managed to keep his good-natured humility, competing with an endearing balance between confidence and self-deprecating wit.”

The statement explained that despite his over 10million subscribers, Techo worked to keep his identity private.

"We ask that you continue to respect his wishes to keep his and his family's privacy safe."

Several people who make online content posted tributes, including Ludwig, who has more than 3 million subscribers.

"For the past hour, I've been rewatching Technoblade's," he wrote.

"Even when things were hard, he was so funny and humble. I will always admire him."

"I am really heartbroken. Settled, who streams Runescape, said, "I've seen almost every Technoblade video over the years."

"Such a brave man to go through all that. You kept a lot of people happy and entertained them, king."

Dream, a Minecraft streamer, wrote a touching message about Techo on the community tab of his YouTube page.

"Rest in peace, Technoblade. I wouldn't be half the person I am without you and your never-ending positivity to inspire, challenge, and lift me up.

"Everyone will miss you, and the good things you did will live on and stay in our hearts. Technoblade really doesn't end."

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Merit Circle pays $1.75M; DAO votes Yield Guild Games out

Sam byFord — Fri, 17 Jun 2022 15:08:00 +0000

Merit Circle DAO and Yield Guild Games came to a settlement for $1.75 million (YGG).
Members of the DAO voted to end their contract with Yield Guild Games.
By coming to an agreement, the two sides were able to avoid going to court.

Members of Merit Circle's DAO overwhelmingly voted "to terminate the financial obligations [of] the Merit Circle DAO," claiming that YGG was not "adding value" to the company. The DAO also proposed that YGG only receive a refund of their initial $175,000 investment, making a total profit of zero dollars and zero cents.

That community vote put the company's development team, Merit Circle Ltd, in jeopardy. Merit Circle claims they were bound to follow out the DAO's intentions, but the vote endorsed a course of action that it describes as a "clear contractual violation."

Merit Circle DAO effectively forced Merit Circle to go to court with its own investors.

To make sense of the argument, USA GAG met with Clayton Roche, Head of Communications and Community at optimistic oracle provider UMA. According to Roche, problems develop when contracts seek to span many realms, such as the legal world and Web3.

In such cases, the norms of engagement remain hazy, and mistakes are possible.

"Whether there is a disagreement, it is unclear in which universe it might be settled, or if the relevant parties could even be invited to the table," said Roche, who is concerned about the consequences of abruptly excluding investors. "If things go wrong, we may see DAOs or investors hesitant to collaborate in the future owing to instances like this one."

Roche was not the only one to recognize a broader risk for crypto projects and their DAOs. While Merit Circle worked to remedy the problem, the DAO's choice to effectively rug yank its early investors was backfiring on social media.

"I'm not a member of this DAO, nor am I familiar with YGG, but it's difficult to see this as anything other than a horrific stain on web3's reputation," Tim Connors remarked in a Twitter thread that received over 1,500 retweets.

Connors, the CEO of education platform 101.xyz, went on to say that "if we want this business to survive, we'll need to engage with the off-chain world as well." This involves upholding legal obligations to investors."

Fortunately for all parties, Merit Circle and YGG confirmed their agreement in a joint statement made this Tuesday.

"While the legal matter may undoubtedly be discussed at length, all parties thought it was preferable to settle," they stated in a Medium post.

The settlement paid YGG $0.32 for each Merit Circle (MC) token they held, totaling $1.75 million on their initial $175,000 investment. While this is a substantial sum, it is still far less than YGG would have been entitled to.

As of press time, MC coins were trading at $0.7341.

Unexplored territories

Although DAOs have been used in the cryptosphere for some years, their widespread adoption is a relatively recent phenomena. There are certainly some kinks to work out, as with any new system or technology.

The disagreement between Merit Circle and YGG may be the first of its type, but it is unlikely to be the final time that members of the community inadvertently step on legal ground. Litigation appears to be nearly unavoidable in such cases. It's the type of problem that DAOs will naturally want to avoid.

"The greatest option would be to make the contracts completely DeFi native," Roche suggests. "With the assistance of an optimistic oracle, it is feasible to build on-chain contracts that define strategic support, including what occurs if such support is not provided." This transparently and uniformly enforces the whole procedure."

With the exception of the elegance of a onchain solution, credit must go to the teams at Merit Circle and YGG for successfully resolving a potentially ugly issue with both sides remaining reasonably undamaged.

This may not be Merit Circle's greatest hour, but in the midst of the crypto market's implosion, a near-miss tale must definitely rate as a dazzling success.

DAO gives $5M to YGG, breaching contract

Stephen Jones — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 02:33:00 +0000

The Merit Circle DAO voted in favor of removing one of its seed investors and returning their initial investment in May. According to the proposal, Yield Guild Games did not provide enough value beyond their financial investment. Merit Circle Ltd and Yield Guild Games released a joint statement today.

The Concept

The MIP-13 proposal "sought to demonstrate the lack of value YGG has provided the DAO since becoming a seed investor." It goes on,

“It also aims to cancel YGG’s SAFT, refund their initial investment, and remove their MC seed tokens. The author of this proposal, proposes to find a solution to terminate the financial obligations the Merit Circle DAO has with YGG, through removing YGG’s seed tokens and refunding their initial 175K USDC contribution.”

According to the proposal's notes, "YGG and YGG co-founder Gabby Dizon invested $175k at a price of $0.032, giving them a total of 5,468,750 MC tokens." By refunding YGG in USDC, it would forfeit unrealized gains since the token peaked at $0.99 on May 28, the day the proposal was approved. After YGG agreed to settle out of court to avoid a lengthy trial, the proposal was later updated with the following paragraph.

“Merit Circle ltd has argued for a clause, that will give time for Merit Circle ltd and YGG to propose a solution that would be more beneficial for the DAO and all parties involved in case of a YES vote. Author deemed this a fair ask and accepted the clause.”

In an update to the community forum post where the proposal was initially suggested, the author states:

“it is worth mentioning that YGG didn’t even have a governance account, or any governance posts until two weeks ago. We’re talking over half a year of nothing.”

The Counterproposal

With support from Yield Guild Games, MIP-14 was submitted by Merit Circle Ltd as a counterproposal in alignment with the amendment to MIP-13.

“In light of the recently passed proposal (MIP-13), the Merit Circle DAO is obliged to renegotiate the terms of the financial agreements made between the DAO and Yield Guild Games.

This proposal votes on the following;

The Merit Circle DAO buys out the YGG and Nifty Fund allocation, a total of 5,468,750 $MC tokens at 0.32$. For a total of $1,750,000 USDC.

A legal agreement will be signed, enforcing the buy-out offer legally and protecting both sides against future litigation.”

Yield Guild Games accepted 30 cents on the dollar and a tenfold return on investment. Merit Circle (MC) has a daily volume of $4.6 million, according to our coin data. As a result, if Yield Guild Games tried to sell its 5.4 million unlocked tokens on the open market, the price would most likely crash. As a result, $0.32 per token may not be such a bad deal as it appears if it intended to liquidate.

The Legal Controversy

Merit Circle DAO was founded by Merit Circle Ltd, which was funded by Yield Guild Games. Due to a lack of value, Merit Circle DAO determined that Yield Guild Game's initial investment should be returned.

Because Yield Guild Games invested in Merit Circle Ltd rather than Merit Circle DAO, the legal implications of the decision are unclear. If Merit Circle DAO has the legal authority to manage Yield Guild Games' funds, there is a layer of separation that could put Yield Guild Games' capital at risk. Merit Circle DAO did not vote to withdraw Yield Guild Games' investment, but instead returned it at its original value.

It is unlikely that a legal precedent has been established to define the contractual obligations of a DAO and its founding company. The uncertain legal landscape and the prospect of a protracted legal battle most likely influenced the decision to settle. Merit Circle Ltd stated in the MIP-14 forum post that "both parties have given it their all to work things out in a friendly but professional manner."

Merit Circle Ltd and Merit Circle DAO did not appear to be completely aligned, at least publicly. Merit Circle Ltd asserts that

“It is clear there needs to be a more clear alignment between the absolute power of the DAO and the agreements it makes in the past, present and future.”

It is possible that Merit Circle Ltd DAO members were unaware of the implications of MIP-13, as it stated when it was passed, "what may appear beneficial for an organization at first glance can bring serious adverse effects in the long run."

The Joint Declaration

Merit Circle Ltd and Yield Guild Games issued a joint statement on June 14, 2021, some 16 days after MIP-13 passed, adding that value beyond fiscal support "was not a requirement of the original SAFT that was signed by Merit Circle Ltd and Yield Guild Games." It goes on to say, "Yield Guild Games added value in many different ways, even though they were not frequently called upon to do so."

The statement recognizes the "danger that a precedent like this could set for the Merit Circle DAO and the industry as a whole if agreements are not followed and investors are not respected." It also details the five most important contributions Yield Guild Games has made to Merit Circle since its investment. The contributions are said to include assistance in raising additional funds, the use of the YGG brand, the offering of additional funds, and industry advice

Legal Consequences

Yield Guild Games will be paid $0.32, and any "formal relationship between the Merit Circle DAO and Yield Guild Games" will be dissolved. The entire debate revolves around whether or not this formal relationship existed legally. However, including this clause eliminates the possibility of future litigation.

While this incident did not end up in court, it does highlight a potential risk for investors when it comes to DAO-based projects. Would Yield Guild Games have been successful in court? We'll never know, but perhaps more DAOs will now test the limits of this strange new digital world.

GAMEFI PLATFORM DEA EXPANDS IN JAPAN

Stephen Jones — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 14:35:00 +0000

The ever-hungry DEA is introducing its native DEP (DEAPcoin) token in Japan in an effort to establish itself as the leading marketplace for the Web3 GameFi metaverse. This also helps establish PlayMining, one of the GameFi industry's fastest-growing NFT game platforms, as a destination of choice for Japanese gaming aficionados.

PlayMining has now surpassed 2,3 million registered users in Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia. The platform promises to link producers and users directly by using GameFi's foundations.

Obtaining a DEAPcoin listing on the BITPOINT market represents a key initial step. Unique to this listing is that the platform facilitates user access to the token and assures appropriate liquidity.

DEA will explore further partnerships for its NFT marketplace, and it has already signed many agreements with well-known manga artists, including as Ume and Aam Shibata. In addition, former Minister of Justice Takashi Yamashita and Kosotsu Shien Kai Chairman Satoshi Takemura endorse the plan.

This development follows DEA's recent statement that the Singapore-based blockchain business has secured over $12 million in investment.

Statistics indicate that the Play to Earn model has experienced a meteoric spike in popularity, and in-game NFTs currently account for more than 20% of the entire NFT trade volume. This provided play-to-earn blockchain gaming principles fresh life, allowing them to proliferate across verticals even while prices remained static.

The industry as a whole was able to continue expanding, achieving 2,7 million daily unique active wallets tied to dapps. This year, venture capital firms have already invested $27 billion in companies operating in the industry, providing a sense of how large it has become.

In response to the news, DEA CEO Kozo Yamada stated, "Japan provides a tremendous possibility for GameFi and PlayMining, given the sheer size of the market and the tech-savvy nature of its population. We are honored to have the backing of the Liberal Democratic Party and local groups such as "Kosotsu Shien Kai," which see the great potential of Web3 ecosystems, as we strive to create an impact on the market.

Gala Gaming establishes alliance with Fortnite developer Epic Games amid Valve ban on blockchain games

Stephen Jones — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 14:26:00 +0000

Gala Games (GALA), a blockchain-based gaming platform, and Epic Games have agreed to distribute Gala's tiles on the Epic Games Store.

Gala Games will introduce Web3 to the public.

The Epic Games Store is a storefront for PC and Mac compatible games that debuted in 2018.

The publishing agreement will make Gala's Web3 products accessible to more than 194 million Epic Games Store customers, separating it from competing gaming token platforms.

“Gala will bring web3 games to the masses, exposing millions of gamers to this new genre of entertainment and solidifying Gala’s place as the leader in the burgeoning Web3 games industry.”

John Osvald, president of Gala Games, stated that the relationship with Epic Games will increase the validity of blockchain gaming. He went on to say that the transaction represents "a turning moment" for gamers unfamiliar with the notion of digital ownership, i.e. NFT gaming.

“Easy access to Web3 games is a turning point for those players who have not yet seen how digital ownership can enrich the gaming experience.”

Recently, NFT gaming has been subjected to scathing criticism, with players describing the notion as an attempt to extort as much money as possible from consumers. In addition, proponents of this position assert that selling video games removes the joy and escape features.

GRIT is the first game to be released on the Epic Games Store.

Epic Games is best known for creating the incredibly popular battle royale video game Fortnite. For the Chapter 2 Season 5 finale in December 2020, the game reached its peak concurrent user count of 15.3 million.

There are currently around 3 million concurrent users, according to estimates.

Fortnite is still the most popular game in the world based on the number of active monthly players, surpassing Minecraft and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

The first game on the Epic Games Store will be Gala Games' GRIT, which aims to replicate this game's success. Similar to Fortnite, GRIT is a battle royale game with a Wild West setting.

Taking on Bitcoin's Quantum Threat

USAGAG — Sat, 04 Jun 2022 09:31:00 +0000

Andreas Antonopoulos, that great oracle of this field, has one of my favorite descriptions of Bitcoin. It was dubbed a "sewer rat" by him.

The unfavorable comparison made by Antonopoulos is essentially a declaration of admiration. He means Bitcoin is a survivor; it has developed high resilience to threats as a result of its exposure to them, similar to how germ exposure helps people grow immune systems. It has weathered numerous crises, ranging from Mt. Gox to China's mining ban, and has emerged stronger as a result, with increased hashrate, improved economic security, expanding user numbers, lower transaction prices, and more efficient processing.

In many ways, Bitcoin's leaderless, amorphous ecosystem resembles Nassim Taleb's concept of a "anti-fragile" system (although Taleb recently became quite a prominent Bitcoin critic). It gives cause to expect that Bitcoin will recover from its recent setbacks in the cryptocurrency markets.

As many ardent supporters will tell you, Bitcoin's long-term viability is largely determined by how difficult it is to change its protocol. Significant code changes require overwhelming consensus among both users and miners, as we learned during the block size debates, when a lobbying campaign by powerful groups failed to gain support to raise Bitcoin's data capacity. This gives the system confidence and encourages people to believe in the demonstrated scarcity it promises.

Still, it would be naïve to believe that Bitcoin is completely unaffected by external dangers. In reality, quantum technologies, which have received far too little attention in the past, now loom larger than ever. In this situation, Bitcoin's "hard to alter" trait may turn out to be a flaw rather than a feature.

It's been a long time coming

Quantum computing has been on the horizon for four decades, but it has been postponed due to the extremely difficult engineering barrier that must be overcome before it can realize the supercomputing capabilities it promises at scale. Because of the lengthy process, some individuals, including many in the bitcoin business, believe it will never happen.

However, computer scientists have lately realized that the field's calculating approaches can be used in conjunction with graphic processing units (GPU). They envision significant applications without needing to wait for the construction of a full-fledged quantum computer.

This has sparked interest in the potential for speedy processing of large datasets to speed up research in fields like battery technology. It has also raised concerns that attackers using quantum techniques could break the encryption mechanisms that underpin our digital economy.

As a result, a group of scientists is collaborating to develop a set of open "post-quantum cryptography" standards to "quantum-proof" modern computer systems. A group of these experts published a recent article in Nature outlining a transition strategy backed by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and its international counterparts.

Last month, a Biden administration letter identified "important initiatives needed to sustain the nation's competitive advantage in quantum information science (QIS) while limiting the threats of quantum computers to the nation's cyber, economic, and national security," according to the memo. It instructed agencies to take "particular actions as the United States embarks on a multi-year process of transitioning vulnerable computer systems to quantum-resistant cryptography."

One of the scientists behind this effort, Jack Hidary, CEO of Sandbox AQ, is now on a quest to persuade crypto developer groups to begin the likely lengthy process of migrating to post-quantum standards before existing blockchain protocols become obsolete.

"This process of altering all the blockchains might take four or five years, and that's part of the understanding of why we have to start this process now," he said in an interview that aired last week as part of the "Money Reimagined" podcast's special World Economic Forum edition.

Bitcoin's sewer rat toughness won't help it here. Despite the fact that its key pair method is based on Elliptic Curve cryptography (ECC), which is an enhancement over the widely used RSA system of public key cryptography, research has indicated that EEC will not be able to withstand quantum computing, according to Hidary.

That implies a third party may perform a super-fast "brute force" quantum calculation to swiftly reveal the private key you've been keeping hidden in order to unlock and transact with bitcoins on the public blockchain.

Is it better to act now, later, or never?

Will blockchain developers be willing to invest?

All that is required to upgrade the coding on a company-owned website is for the CEO or chief technology officer to issue an order to their staff to do so. However, you can't make a significant modification to a globally dispersed, decentralized, open-source protocol whose value is based on a network of users unless a large enough majority of participants agrees to the change.

We know that reaching consensus in Bitcoin is particularly difficult and time-consuming – partly because there is so much money at stake – not only because of the block size wars, but also because of how long it took for less-contentious upgrades like Taproot to be implemented.

If these computational advancements offer such a serious existential threat, one would expect quick change. People, one would think, will protect what they have invested in.

However, such an improvement necessitates far more than a few lines of code. It entails a complete reworking of the cryptographic underpinning, as well as the participation of all participants in the Bitcoin economy. To get everyone on board, there will be a lot of meetings and a lot of arguing on Twitter and IRC. Bitcoin's aversion to change could be a stumbling block.

Some people will undoubtedly be suspicious of these scientists who make threats and promises. Hidary's, for example, provides services to help blockchain developers tackle these issues. Is this patch really as critical as he claims? The battles, accusations, and conspiracy theories are making my brain throb.

The truth is that no one knows how long quantum will take to evolve and become accessible enough to pose a threat to blockchains. Can the community, however, afford to wait?

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Cryptography's anonymous culture may be dwindling

GAG Guy — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 16:11:00 +0000

Many principles popularized in the early days of the internet have been passed down to crypto.

Since the inception of Bitcoin (BTC), many users in the crypto sector have been anonymous, as utilizing this digital currency provides a degree of anonymity as long as no one knows the user's public address. The exact identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator, is still unknown.

The most recent wave of innovation, led by decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible token (NFT) projects, has been led by anonymous teams who keep their right to anonymity.

Anonymous individual 0xngmi, the creator of the DeFi analytics dashboard DefiLlama, has released a bug bounty on his identity. Rather than announcing the search to identify flaws in the DefiLlama code, he offered 1 Ether (ETH) to anyone who could reveal his identity and explain how they discovered it. At the time of writing, no one had been able to figure out who he was.

0xngmi has also been training people who want to be anonymous with a "How to Stay Anon" guide, which is a collaborative document that contributors can add to and alter to better.

Navigating through Crypto Twitter reveals a plethora of pseudonymous "celebrities" who, solely based on their reputations, have a digital persona with a sizable following.

The DeFi Edge, another Twitter account that remains nameless, stated the reasons for his decision to keep the account anonymous. For the time being, the founder of the namesake DeFi analysis site has declined to reveal their identify, but has provided some small details:

Why I've chosen to remain anonymous for now, and why I might semi-doxxed myself later: pic.twitter.com/OGZLmU9Nte
— The DeFi Edge 🗡️ (@thedefiedge) March 11, 2022

As the industry transitions to Web3 and a slew of new talent is attracted to the ecosystem, a growing number of players have decided to take a different strategy. They can later divulge certain aspects of their physical self to become pseudonymous, or they can reveal their genuine identity entirely.

Following the recent Terra collapse, a man showed up at Do Kwon's home in Seoul only to discover his wife answering the door, according to the BBC. In these times of difficulty, Terra's 30-year-old founder has been active on Crypto Twitter, using his actual name to promote his system and connect with the community. While revealing his true name to the public may have helped him build trust with investors and the community, it also put him at risk in real life. These are just a few of the reasons why many entrepreneurs in the industry prefer to stay nameless.

Protecting anonymity and avoiding being doxxed has become an essential issue of the new cultural and technological revolution taking place in online society, which is a perpetual conflict between the open flow of information and the individual's privacy.

One of the most contentious identity reveals occurred when writer Kate Notopoulos published a story titled "We revealed the genuine names of Bored Ape Yacht Club's pseudonymous founders," in which she uncovered the identities using publicly available Yuga Labs records.

Protestors in Guy Fawkes masks. In the internet age the mask has become a symbol associated with anonymity and privacy.

Doxxing is the act of revealing someone's identify

Doxxing, which is usually referred to as a hostile action carried out over the internet, refers to the ability to track out a person and reveal private information about that person or organization. Although the term was coined by extremist groups to threaten and intimidate marginalized people online, it now has a broader meaning that includes revealing one's identity without having exclusively extremist implications.

Charlotte Fang was recently identified as the person behind the anonymous account Miya, according to 0xngmi. Milady Maker, the founder of the NFT art project, is accused of using a pseudonymous internet presence to disseminate hate speech against minorities on social media.

Charlotte had to stand aside from the project after being identified as the person behind the pseudonymous account purportedly related to an online cult, while Milady Maker's floor price fell.

Anonymous teams are in charge of fortunes

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) have made it possible for a large number of people to contribute to a project's governance while remaining anonymous. The bulk of these initiatives have anonymous founders and contributors, either for safety reasons or to dodge legislation. In recent years, this has been the norm.

Grug, a Twitter pseudonym, explained to Cointelegraph why he chose to remain anonymous as CapitalGrug and the importance of being judged entirely on performance and ideas:

"I believe the main reason I selected anonymity was to be able to engage in and contribute to the same type of irreverent culture that I found so appealing about crypto from the beginning."

Many good performers in the area have remained anonymous, adding value to initiatives and communities by preventing other distinguishing features from influencing people's opinions of their persona.

Being anonymous can be a good option for people looking for a fresh start, but it can also allow harmful actors to penetrate the space.

Michael Patryn, the co-founder of now-defunct crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, was revealed as 0xSifu, the founder of Defi protocol Wonderland, back in January.

The scandal-plagued exchange's co-founder had already been sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison in the United States for identity theft and credit card fraud. Patryn is not even his real name; he apparently changed his identity from Omar Dhanani after his prison sentence and before launching QuadrigaCX.

With this news, the Wonderland protocol came crashing down, and the argument over whether anonymous teams should be permitted to handle big quantities of money erupted. Even Danielle Sesta, co-founder of Wonderland, believes that anonymous teams will become obsolete in favor of teams whose full identities are known.

Redefining the concept of anonymity

Although there has been a shift toward transparency in crypto in recent years, the ethos of anonymity remains entrenched. As Grug pointed out, one does not have to be entirely anonymous in the space.

"For example, our money is all anonymous, despite the fact that we've all been doxxed." People who pull out their phones to follow me on Twitter during events are usually anonymous."

Identity, whether public or private, is a complex subject with which we all grapple. The key to a more rich and diversified crypto community will be finding a balance between complete anonymity and a public identity.

To this point, anonymous culture in crypto has proven to be beneficial, as it reduces bias and allows people to fully express themselves. Bad actors can use this to get a fresh start, which could be problematic if they continue to act viciously. However, if they become productive members of society and contribute to the environment, it may be demonstrated that people deserve a second chance.

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How to Work in the Metaverse and Web3 ?

GAG Guy — Tue, 31 May 2022 15:47:00 +0000

Is it possible for you to work in the Metaverse?

The Metaverse is the next significant career path, with companies like Meta, Roblox, Microsoft, OpenSea, The Sandbox (SAND), and many others helping to build it. So, if you want to learn how to get a job in the Metaverse, you must first understand what your function will entail. Your employment will entail a mix of blockchain, artificial intelligence, 5G, gaming, and other Web3 technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality.

Learn the fundamentals of gaining a job in the Metaverse and Web3 fields in this essay.

Develop the necessary skill set

The first step in investigating Metaverse professions is to acquire the necessary skills and information. A 3D character artist working on avatars, for example, will need to be familiar with Blender, Maya, Cinema 4D, and have some experience with skins and games. Most Metaverse positions, especially those requiring engineering, need a competitive skill set, including knowledge of NodeJS, Javascript, API integrations, and React.

Applying to a university that offers free metaverse-related courses or learning, or using financial aid on platforms like Coursera and edX, can help you develop the following skills. Finding entry-level Metaverse jobs or internships requires networking with like-minded people. Meetup.com is a good place to look for local metaverse events. You can also meet people during hackathons, such as those held by MIT Reality Hack.
In the Metaverse, you may build your brand, increase your visibility, and make money.

Start creating your brand and making sure your portfolio is up to date after you've acquired the appropriate skill set. At TheMetaverseJobs.com, you can look for employment openings in the Metaverse. Start writing in-depth, intelligent pieces on the Metaverse and get them published on platforms like Cointelegraph, Forbes, or other notable media in your jurisdiction to get noticed in the sector.

It's important to remember that writing for reputable journals involves accepting bylines as guest pieces with no monetary compensation. So, how can you profit from the Metaverse? In the Metaverse, there are a plethora of additional ways to get money. For example, in games like Axie Infinity (AXS), players can win smooth love potion or SLP tokens by fighting monsters or other players. Players can also profit by selling their nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

Another approach to make money in virtual worlds is to host metaverse events. For example, live performances by well-known singers can draw large crowds, and organizers may charge consumers in the form of bought tickets. Due to the rush of brands and companies looking for a Metaverse presence, many architects and designers are producing 3D representations of structures; as a result, you can make money as a metaverse architect or designer.

What jobs are available in the Metaverse and Web3?

Remote Web3, Metaverse, and NFT jobs, to mention a few, are available in the crypto business. You can learn more about such jobs here, as well as income ranges for Web3 developers and Metaverse jobs in particular.

If you want to learn how to get a job in Web3, keep in mind that most crypto jobs require:

NFT social media and community manager, content writers and editors, blockchain developers, frontend and backend engineers, media reporters, growth marketing managers, project managers, and gamification strategists are among the most in-demand job titles in the Metaverse and Web3 field. In addition, various scholarships for women are offered in Web3, such as the Girl with Secrets (GWS) program. The GWS scholarship program provides free educational sessions, podcasts, and hackathon participation.

Alternatively, you can seek and apply for employment in the blockchain industry at cryptocurrencyjobs.co. It is emphasized once again that you must make yourself prominent by engaging in community forums, industry-led events, and hackathons in order to secure a job in Web3 or any other crypto job.

In the Web3 space, there are numerous opportunities, but blockchain enthusiasts should stay current on industry standards and apply for Metaverse internships or NFT positions as soon as feasible.

What are the different options for job applications in the Metaverse and Web3?

While there are still a few barriers to overcome until the virtual job market is teeming with chances, the Metaverse is likely to evolve slowly and smoothly.

The more people who use the internet become accustomed to integrating technology more deeply into their daily lives, the more opportunities will arise. Web3's development would most likely be transitional, with more access to creative employment as technology and culture advance, similar to how the internet grew gradually.

Being an early adopter is simple in retrospect. However, there are a number of risks, including missed opportunities in terms of time, money, and attention. It's expensive and time-consuming to keep up with the latest crypto innovations, such as new applications or protocols. Despite this, the advantages of working in the Web3 domain, such as higher pay and more opportunity for learning, outweigh the disadvantages. The numerous ways to immerse yourself in the Metaverse and Web3 worlds are described here.

Become an intern and make a cryptocurrency pal

Interning is the most efficient approach to determine whether or not you appreciate a specific area. If you're a student at any level and have the chance to intern, this is definitely the ideal option because you'll learn about the Web3 field while gaining some practical experience.

Find someone who shares your enthusiasm and collaborate with them on any of the crypto-related topics. Learning from your peers is a terrific approach to dispel your concerns, gain confidence, become more innovative, and keep updated about the crypto world's potential.

Take advantage of no-cost mentoring opportunities

If you wish to work in the Web3 domain, you should start by building or polishing your abilities by enrolling in the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center's 18-week DLT Talents program, which focuses on the professional development of women in the blockchain ecosystem. DeFi Talents is another program that trains participants for a career in the decentralized finance (DeFi) area.

You will gain access to a variety of job prospects in the Metaverse and Web3 industries through such programs. Furthermore, you will be able to keep up with industrial trends and take the necessary action on time.

Join a DAO and participate in crypto communities

Furthermore, Web3 is all about the community, and in the crypto realm, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are the most popular community-owned company model. DAOs with a focus on the community support automation, which relieves humans of tiresome and unpleasant tasks, most of which are related to bureaucracy, while boosting quick decision-making.

This technology enables individuals to access a virtual environment using low-cost gadgets, hang out, and build communities. Hiring managers may locate motivated candidates in these communities, and job seekers can apply for open opportunities. To learn about career prospects in the crypto field, join a DAO or participate in the Discord groups of other DeFi projects.

Sushi, Index Coop, Rarible, and Yearn, for example, have separate working groups for different people. Developing experience and demonstrating that you can add value to a product/protocol in a DAO is a fantastic way to get experience, boost your visibility, and create a portfolio while also potentially receiving compensation from the DAO.

Maintain a presence on CryptoTwitter and apply for affiliate programs

Moreover, some businesses require assistance with technical consultation, product development, and administrative tasks. Stay tuned to Twitter to learn more about these groups. On CryptoTwitter, participants and those who ask meaningful questions are valued. You should do the following as a crypto enthusiast:

CryptoTwitter frequently posts job openings, recent crypto trends, and tips and tactics for getting hired in Web3, all of which can help you obtain a job in the Metaverse. Additionally, remaining active on CryptoTwitter and contributing back to the community can provide you with more opportunities.

Additionally, apply to become a partner with one of the best blockchain organizations. For example, Algorand (ALGO) has a growing network of collaborators and partners who are supporting the blockchain ecosystem in every way. Alternatively, you can sign up for job notifications from your preferred firms, such as Microsoft or Meta, to be informed about potential job openings in the Web3 field.

Choosing a hobby and participating in it

After you have a decent understanding of the skill set you can bring in, you may start looking for work. And picking the exact area of Web3 in which you are most enthusiastic is the first step toward discovering those great possibilities.

Stay active on CryptoTwitter, join Discord communities, or join a DAO in your spare time to get involved in the crypto sector, as explained above. In the decentralized world, becoming a helpful and valued member increases your visibility and helps you acquire a desired job.

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In the Metaverse, There Are New Ways to Make Money

GAG Guy — Thu, 26 May 2022 07:59:00 +0000

Bad business models are avoided in an open metaverse

Here's a simple fact: the decentralized web, also known as Web 3, will develop tremendously throughout this decade, but it won't have any real influence until the next. Web 3 has the potential to fundamentally alter the internet's identity, utility, and equitable revenue structures. When that time arrives, the internet will mostly be run through decentralized nodes, allowing token economies to exercise their full potential.

Enterprises, tech billionaires, and nation-states, on the other hand, will continue to dominate and influence the outdated and centralized internet (Web 2). CBDCs [central bank digital currency] and readily surveilled identity protocols are likely to be integrated by today's internet giants over time.

Web 2 might potentially serve as a portal for individuals and platforms to access the open metaverse, but only time will tell how technology develops. In such a society, today's technological manipulations and injustices – such as business models built on exploitation of users' free personal data - will be ridiculed and difficult to implement. In the end, the metaverse and the promise of token economies will fuel a multiplicity of hitherto unimaginable monetization methods. Let's keep learning and growing.

— Irina Karagyaur, Unique Network Advertising's head of metaverse growth, done tastefully

Advertising and other traditional internet business models are likely to survive in the metaverse. However, if we build the foundations correctly, one's privacy may be safeguarded in the metaverse using blockchain-adjacent technologies like decentralized identity and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP). However, utilizing these types of privacy and identification technologies, particularly ZKPs, may come with the added complication of slower latency [since] performing a zero-knowledge proof can be computationally costly.

Recommendation engines work in real time on the internet, connecting viewers to the most appropriate ad spot in a fraction of a second. Companies will need to devise ingenious solutions since ZKPs can increase delay of many seconds or minutes. In a decentralized metaverse, recommendation engines (which aren't only for adverts, but also for directing users to new experiences, events, or people) will calculate suggestions even if you're out of sight of the virtual banner in the geographical context or entirely offline.

As a consequence, meaningful suggestions for products, services, or experiences tailored to the individual may be made while maintaining privacy rights and providing complete transparency into why and how this recommendation engine decided to show me what it did, if requested. These types of events, I believe, are likely to occur in the metaverse. While we can still produce value for infrastructure providers using tried and true business models from "yesterday's internet," we can do it with more style and taste.

— SupraOracles CEO Joshua Tobkin

DeFi, meet the Metaverse

The metaverse is quickly becoming one of the numerous locations where people's digital and real-life identities collide. More social, gaming, and financial firms will begin to migrate into the metaverse, bringing their products and services there, as they understand the unique connection they can make with their people via the metaverse.

This will result in the introduction of means for consumers to transact with their crypto in the metaverse for decentralized finance, a sector that eliminates gatekeepers from economic instruments. This might include things like sending tokens to pals and communicating with staking pools. Much of the enthusiasm stems from what is potential but has yet to be accomplished.

— Teller Finance's founder and CEO, Ryan Berkun

Identifying your tribe

It's in our nature to want for a sense of belonging and connection. We establish groups based on shared interests, values, and experiences. The metaverse is just a new manifestation of our identity, reflecting the things that people are interested in and want to be associated with. Many metaverses will exist to serve certain affinities.

Individuals will be able to travel between metaverses, bringing their identities and assets with them (financial, data or otherwise). Sports enthusiasts will be able to play games and discuss their experiences with others who share their interests. Music fans will be able to discover and connect with new musicians in ways that were previously impossible to achieve owing to dispersed fan groups that made it difficult to meet up in person. Fashion businesses will be able to preview collections, obtain feedback on new goods, and offer their commodities in a more personal way, as their regional retail footprint will no longer be a constraint.

In many respects, the internet has enabled each of us to "find our tribe," or a community of people who share our beliefs and interests. This fosters a sense of belonging and understanding, both of which are extremely good to one's sense of self. If all exposure to new ideas and ways of being is eliminated, it can lead to social cracks and deadly echo chambers. To preserve the future health of our societies, we will require serious creativity on how to solve for both connectivity and cross-pollination.

— Tara Fung, CEO of Gesso Labs and co-founder of Co:Create

A benefit to the general population

Since the commencement of the [coronavirus] epidemic, we've all been living in the first incarnation of the metaverse. The normalcy of being online, living on Zoom calls, and forming intimate connections with individuals we've never met before illustrates how rooted the "actual" metaverse will be in our daily lives. Because the metaverse will function as a utility, unlike what Facebook/Meta [FB] is promoting, it will be classified as a public benefit, similar to internet access.

As with utilizing the internet, there will be several advantages to be enjoyed, but there will also be risks to be considered. This emphasizes the necessity of having solutions easily available to assist users in protecting their privacy, enhancing security and resilience, and removing the hurdles of an outmoded username-password login approach for a secure and user-friendly experience.

— John Jefferies, Blocknative's chief marketing officer

Connected, modular, and collaborative

Neal Stephenson invented the word "metaverse" in his 1992 sci-fi novel "Snow Crash." The metaverse is portrayed in the book as an immersive replacement to the internet, similar to the Oculus-connected version we know today. It delves on anarcho-capitalist themes, such as individuals rejecting the dollar in favor of less regulated "electronic currencies," and nation-states being "decentralized" and replaced with private entities.

It was difficult not to think of Stephenson's dystopian ideas when Facebook renamed to Meta in October. Meta's embrace of the metaverse reveals its long-term goals: to create an immersive, high-fidelity extension of the current web – that is, a platform steered and maintained by a few large corporations, fueled by ad-funded content and gaming models, and underpinned by Facebook's existing social graph.

In contrast to Meta's centrally managed metaverse, builders from all over the world are collaborating to lay the groundwork for a new ecosystem: the hyperverse. The hyperverse, also known as Web 3, is a gradually decentralized web as well as a linked, composable, and collaborative internet. It's a nonlinear digital environment. It is supported by blockchain technology, which operates as a permanent and permissionless shared infrastructure layer, and contains multimedia, community, and financial protocols.

This movement symbolizes a redistribution of ownership across a network of interconnected technology, media, and protocols, reshaping online power relations. From music, video, storytelling, art, and games to tokenized incentive systems and programmable money, it has a wide range of uses.

To enable this transformation, new organizational models such as DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) are developing, realigning platform incentives toward producing community value. The objective is to reopen the internet via collaborative economics, which will be accomplished by combining traditional companies with DAOs, traditional incentives with tokenized models, and traditional technology with blockchain-enabled systems.

— Timshel, a key BitDAO contributor

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Will Reality Punish Andreessen Horowitz's Massive New Crypto Fund?

USAGAG — Thu, 26 May 2022 07:54:00 +0000

We're in the midst of a terrible bear market in the stock market, thanks in part to inflation forcing the Federal Reserve of the United States to raise interest rates. The effects have been particularly severe for "growth" or "innovation" assets, such as mostly technology-focused shares like Tesla (TSLA), which has down 42% since early April. Tesla is also indicative of many other companies' reliance on a charismatic frontman to create an ambitious, often extravagant, story.

Despite this, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a startup capital firm, is betting big on swing-for-the-fences innovation and charisma-driven storytelling, this time in cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

On Tuesday, it was announced that a16z led a $70 million investment round for a new firm founded by Adam Neumann, the disgraced former CEO and founder of WeWork (WE). The initiative is named Flowcarbon, and it is a blockchain service that will pretend to sell, trade, and track carbon credits. A16z also announced the launch of a new $4.5 billion crypto and blockchain investment fund this morning.

This round of money feels like it belongs in a different age. In fact, it's very possible that the rise was already begun before the economy deteriorated to the point that it is currently. Because, while Neumann has a knack for creating buzz and headlines, he has never truly produced the one thing that matters now that interest rates are rising: actual net revenue, dubbed "profit," the long-forgotten performance indicator.

To recap, Neumann founded WeWork in 2010, taking advantage of the post-Great Recession real estate slump to sign long-term leases on office space and then rent modest units to entrepreneurs and contractors. Many critics pointed out that this strategy was risky and might not be viable in the long run.

When WeWork sought to go public in 2019, naysayers were vindicated: both the general financials and the details of the WeWork business were so damning that the IPO (initial public offering) was canceled, and Neumann was fired as CEO. Investors lost billions of dollars in paper worth, making this one of the worst corporate catastrophes in recent memory.

In retrospect, it was a foreshadowing of the current wave of failures in overleveraged wagers on the future. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is down 14% from its high during the coronavirus outbreak, but that's nothing compared to the havoc in the IT sector. The torrent of SPAC (short for special-purpose acquisition company) offerings from Chamath Palihapitiya is down 70% from its peak. The ARKK Innovation exchange-traded fund, which Cathie Wood manages, is down 60%. Netflix (NFLX) is down 73 percent, Uber (UBER) is down 56 percent, and Coinbase (COIN) is down 81 percent.

The common thread here is that they are cash-strapped or barely profitable businesses focused on creating products that may or may not earn money in the future. For the greater part of a decade, such businesses have been able to stay afloat because to low borrowing costs and a lack of better choices for investors. Borrowing will become harder, more costly, and unattainable for the least profitable growing enterprises when safe assets begin to generate even modestly greater returns.

Of course, it isn't just about saving money. You need to tell folks a compelling tale about what you're going to accomplish with the money if you want them to keep lending you money. According to Ycharts, this has been the key to Tesla stock's success, with CEO Elon Musk's cult of personality helping to boost the stock's price-to-earnings ratio as high as 688-to-1. A stock with a 20-to-1 P/E ratio is typically thought to be pricey.

Flowcarbon by Neumann falls clearly under the "speculative bets" category. A blockchain-based tool for monitoring carbon credits isn't completely without usefulness. It seems fair to believe that additional nations will install or extend carbon credit schemes over the next decade or two, and this is the type of international situation where a trustless blockchain may be beneficial, at least on the surface. However, there are many unknowns along the way to that future — and even if it does, Flowcarbon will face competition from programs like KlimaDAO.

As a result, it's probable that Neumann had a key role in the campaign, which also involves a private token sale. But why is it, given that he's a well-known blunder as a company CEO and has no expertise with blockchain? One thing to keep in mind is that a significant chunk of the Flowcarbon investment was likely arranged before the full depth of the continuing equities market disaster was known. Backers may have believed they were still operating under the 2010-2021 market norms, when a charismatic figure like Neumann was all it took to create a bullish narrative and propel asset values higher.

However, this may no longer be the case, as many investors, both in crypto and stocks, are prioritizing actual returns. Because so few crypto enterprises or protocols can be termed "profitable," this is an important factor as a16z prepares to launch its new $4.5 billion crypto venture fund. In fact, because they basically print their own internal scrip, determining what a blockchain project's true "profit" is can be tricky.

On a recent edition of Bloomberg's "Odd Lots" podcast, Tezos co-founder Arthur Breitman identified this problem using the metaphor of a small village. He likened many blockchains to towns with a lot of internal economic activity, such as eateries that cater to residents (aka ecosystem users). What counts, according to Breitman, is whether a chain or service has external demand for its services from individuals or entities that don't already "dwell" there - what would be deemed "exports" in the "town" metaphor.

The question of what really defines a blockchain "export" deserves a much lengthier discussion. Large blocks of tokens sold to speculators should not be counted, while some blockchain companies do regard those transactions as regular income. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are the simplest example of an export, at least when purchased for personal collection rather than speculation.

But one thing is certain: crypto enterprises will no longer be able to get away with creating their own money. They'll have to find out how to make some money, which isn't apparent to me whether Adam Neumann or a16z are up to the task.

Over $7 billion has been taken out of Tether, prompting further concerns about the stablecoin's support

USAGAG — Tue, 17 May 2022 16:10:00 +0000

Investors have pulled more than $7 billion out of tether after it briefly lost its dollar peg, raising new concerns about the reserves that support the world's largest stablecoin.

According to CoinGecko data, Tether's circulating supply has dropped from around $83 billion a week ago to less than $76 billion on Tuesday.

The so-called stablecoin is supposed to be worth $1 at all times. However, amid concern at the collapse of a competitor coin called terraUSD, its price fell as low as 95 cents on Thursday.

Most stablecoins are backed by currency reserves, with the intention of providing sufficient collateral in the event that users elect to withdraw their funds. However, terraUSD, or UST, is part of a new breed of "algorithmic" stablecoins that try to base their dollar peg on code. Investors' skepticism of cryptocurrency has put that to the test recently.

Tether formerly claimed that all of its tokens were backed one-to-one by dollars held in a bank. Following a settlement with the New York attorney general, the corporation revealed that it supported its token with a variety of other assets, including commercial paper, a type of short-term, unsecured debt issued by businesses.

The situation has brought the issue of reserves behind tether to the forefront once more. Cash accounted for about $4.2 billion of Tether's assets when it was last declared. The great majority of its holdings — $34.5 billion — were unnamed Treasury notes with a maturity of less than three months, while commercial paper accounted for $24.2 billion.

Tether's quarterly "attestations" are signed by MHA Cayman, a Cayman Islands-based company with only three workers, according to its LinkedIn page.

Tether has been subjected to several demands for a complete audit of its reserves. The business informed CNBC in July 2021 that it would create one in "months." It still hasn't done so.

Tether did not respond to CNBC's request for comment when contacted for this piece.

Tether's chief technology officer, Paolo Ardoino, responded to a Twitter user who demanded a complete audit by saying the token was "totally backed" and had redeemed $7 billion in the previous 48 hours.

"If the market wishes, we can keep going; we have all the liquidity to manage large redemptions and pay everyone 1-to-1," he said.

@paoloardoino

With all due respect sir, when $USDT audit report?

We're scared due to the $UST collapse and the market wants spot #Bitcoin ETFs.

Regulators, institutions, and crypto investors are waiting for your response on whether $75B worth of USDT is fully-backed or not.
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) May 17, 2022

In a further tweet, Ardoino said Tether is still working on an audit. “Hopefully regulators will push more auditing firms to be more crypto friendly,” he said.

We have redeemed 7B in 48h, without the blink of an eye. How many institutions can do the same?
We can keep going if the market wants, we have all the liquidity to handle big redemptions and pay all 1-to-1.
Yes, Tether is fully backed.
— Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) May 17, 2022

Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have been startled by the destabilization of tokens whose sole job is to maintain a consistent price. Last Monday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned of the dangers to financial stability if stablecoins are allowed to develop unchecked, and urged Congress to pass regulation by the end of 2022.

The current upheaval in crypto markets should serve as a "wake-up call" for global regulators, according to Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau. If cryptocurrency is left uncontrolled, Villeroy believes it would destabilize the banking system, particularly stablecoins, which he claims are "misnamed."

Meanwhile, European Central Bank Executive Board Member Fabio Panetta stated that stablecoins such as tether are "susceptible to runs," alluding to widespread exodus of customers from a financial institution. With new guidelines known as the Markets in Crypto-assets Regulation, or MiCA for short, the European Union plans to bring stablecoins under rigorous regulatory monitoring.

Crypto exchanges, not ordinary investors, are taking billions of dollars out of Tether in wholesale trades, according to Frances Coppola, an independent economist. Tether has a $100,000 minimum withdrawal to convert tethers to dollars, according to the company's website.

"The exchanges are its customers," Coppola added. "Traders, dabblers, and small investors buy tokens from exchanges."

Tether is an important aspect of the cryptocurrency industry, supporting daily trades worth billions of dollars. During periods of high cryptocurrency volatility, investors frequently park their funds in the token.

Tether will have "minimal difficulty" selling down its Treasury assets, according to Monsur Hussain, head of financial institutions research at Fitch Ratings.

However, the source of those assets is unknown. Tether's technology head refused to reveal specifics on its Treasury holdings in a recent interview with the Financial Times, stating the company "doesn't want to give our secret sauce."

Anxiety surrounding tether appears to have fuelled demand for alternative currencies such as Circle's USDC and Binance's BUSD, whose market values have grown by about 8% and 4% in the last week, respectively. This is because these coins are considered "safer" than tether, according to experts.

While not yet substantial enough to destabilize US money markets, Carol Alexander, a finance professor at Sussex University, believes Tether's ownership of US Treasurys will become "very worrisome" in the future.

"Suppose instead of $80 billion, we have $200 billion, and the majority of it is in liquid US government securities," she explained. "Then a tether meltdown would have a significant influence on US money markets, effectively tipping the entire world into recession."

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The Creator of the iPod Warns Against Facebook's Metaverse: 'We don't require any additional technology between us.'

USAGAG — Mon, 16 May 2022 16:14:00 +0000

BBC News reports that Tony Fadell, the creator of Apple’s iPod, the future of Facebook's metaverse (now known as Meta) and the perils of online trolling on the network were explored.

Working purely in a virtual setting, according to Fadell, eliminates the capacity to "see into the other person's face." "When you put technology between that human connection, poison occurs," he continued.

(JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Fadell believes the metaverse's technology has promise, but he is concerned about the platform's potential social impact. "When you can't look into the other person's face, you can't see their eyes," Fadell explained.

"At that point, it gets disintermediated, and you have the ability to generate more trolls, people who hide behind things and then exploit that to gain attention." "We need to reclaim that human connection; we don't need any more technology between us," he continued.

The metaverse, according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, will be "an embodied internet where instead of just watching material — you are in it," and that people should not live through "tiny, luminous rectangles" like their phones.

This isn't the first time Fadell has expressed concern that internet anonymity could lead to harassment and abuse. "We had the same problem with text-based commenting and blogs, we've had it with videos, and now we'll have it with the metaverse," he explained.

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DeFi attacks are on the rise; will the industry be able to keep up?

GAG Guy — Sun, 15 May 2022 04:50:00 +0000

In the last few months, the decentralized finance (DeFi) business has lost over a billion dollars to hackers, and the situation appears to be out of control.

According to the most recent figures, $1.6 billion in cryptocurrencies were stolen from DeFi platforms in the first quarter of 2022. Furthermore, approximately 90% of all stolen crypto comes from exploited DeFi protocols.

These data illustrate a severe scenario that, if neglected, is likely to worsen in the long run.

Why hackers prefer DeFi platforms

Hackers have increased their activities targeting DeFi systems in recent years. The large volume of funds held by decentralized financial platforms is one of the key reasons that these groups are drawn to the sector. Each month, top DeFi platforms conduct billions of dollars in transactions. As a result, the rewards are substantial for hackers who can carry out effective attacks.

The fact that the majority of DeFi protocol codes are open source makes them even more vulnerable to cybersecurity threats.

This is because open source applications are open to public scrutiny and can be inspected by anybody with an internet connection. As a result, they are easily exploited. Because of this intrinsic trait, hackers can evaluate DeFi apps for integrity concerns and plot heists ahead of time.

Some DeFi developers have additionally exacerbated the matter by ignoring platform security audit reports issued by qualified cybersecurity services. Some development teams also launch DeFi solutions without conducting rigorous security testing. This raises the likelihood of coding errors.

The interconnection of ecosystems is another chink in the DeFi security armor. Cross-bridges are commonly used to connect DeFi platforms, increasing convenience and versatility.

While cross-bridges improve user experience, they also connect vast networks of distributed ledgers with varied levels of security. DeFi hackers can use this multiplex arrangement to leverage the capabilities of numerous platforms to magnify attacks on specific platforms. It also enables them to seamlessly transfer illicit payments across numerous decentralized networks.

Aside from the concerns stated above, DeFi platforms are vulnerable to insider sabotage.

Security breaches

Hackers are employing a variety of tactics to get access to weak DeFi perimeter systems.

Security breaches are widespread in the DeFi industry. According to the 2022 Chainalysis research, security failures are responsible for nearly 35% of all stolen cryptocurrency in the last two years.

Many of these are the result of bad code. Hackers frequently devote large energy to discovering systemic coding faults that enable them to carry out these types of assaults, and they typically use powerful bug tracker tools to assist them achieve this.

Tracking down networks with unpatched security problems that have already been exposed but have yet to be implemented is another popular approach employed by threat actors to search out vulnerable platforms.

This approach was reportedly utilized by the hackers behind the recent Wormhole DeFi hack assault, which resulted in the theft of approximately $325 million in digital tokens. An examination of code contributions revealed that a vulnerability fix posted to the platform's GitHub repository had been abused prior to its deployment.

Because of the error, the intruders were able to falsify a system signature, allowing the minting of 120,000 Wrapped Ether (wETH) tokens worth $325 million. The hackers later sold the wETH for approximately $250 million in Ether (ETH). The swapped Ethereum currencies came from the platform's settlement reserves, resulting in losses.

Wormhole functions as a link between chains. Users can spend their deposited coins in wrapped tokens across chains. This is performed by minting Wormhole-wrapped tokens, which eliminate the need to directly swap or convert the deposited money.

Flash loan attacks

Flash loans are unsecured DeFi loans with no credit checks required. They allow investors and traders to borrow money quickly.

Flash loans are typically employed to take advantage of arbitrage opportunities in connected DeFi ecosystems due to their convenience.

Lending processes are targeted and subverted in flash loan assaults utilizing price manipulation techniques that produce false price differences. This enables undesirable actors to acquire assets at drastically reduced prices. Most flash loan assaults take minutes, if not seconds, to complete and include numerous interconnected DeFi protocols.

One method used by attackers to manipulate asset values is to target vulnerable price oracles. DeFi pricing oracles, for example, obtain their rates from respected exchanges and trade sites. Hackers, for example, can modify the source sites to deceive Oracles into temporarily reducing the value of selected asset rates, causing them to trade at lower prices than the rest of the market.

Attackers then purchase the assets at depressed prices and swiftly sell them at the floating exchange rate. They can multiply their earnings by using leveraged tokens obtained through flash loans.

In addition to price manipulation, some attackers have been able to carry out flash loan attacks by hijacking DeFi voting processes. Beanstalk DeFi recently suffered a $182 million loss after an attacker exploited a flaw in its governance system.

As a basic element, the Beanstalk development team added a governance structure that allowed members to vote on platform updates. This configuration is popular in the DeFi business because it promotes democracy. The platform's voting rights were set to be proportional to the value of native tokens possessed.

According to a study of the incident, the attackers got a flash loan using the Aave DeFi protocol to obtain about $1 billion in assets. This gave them a 67 percent majority in the voting governance system, allowing them to authorize the transfer of assets to their address unilaterally. After repaying the flash loan and related surcharges, the culprits made off with approximately $80 million in digital currencies.

According to Chainalysis, over $360 million in crypto currencies were stolen from DeFi platforms in 2021 through flash loans.

Where does stolen crypto go?

Hackers have historically utilized centralized exchanges to launder stolen assets, but they are increasingly being replaced by DeFi platforms. In 2021, cybercriminals delivered around 17% of all illicit crypto to DeFi networks, a huge increase from 2% in 2020.

According to market analysts, the change to DeFi protocols is due to the widespread implementation of more strict Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies. The procedures jeopardize cybercriminals' desire for anonymity. Most DeFi solutions skip these critical steps.

Cooperation with the authorities

Centralized exchanges are also collaborating with authorities to combat cybercrime more than ever before. In April, the Binance exchange helped recover $5.8 million in stolen cryptocurrencies that were part of a $625 million stockpile taken from Axie Infinity. The funds were initially sent to Tornado Cash.

Tornado Cash is a token anonymization service that conceals the source of cash by fragmenting on-chain linkages used to track transactional addresses.

However, a part of the stolen cash were traced back to Binance by blockchain analytics firms. The loot was housed in 86 exchange addresses.

Following the event, a spokeswoman for the US Treasury Department stated that crypto exchanges that handle money from blacklisted crypto addresses face sanctions.

Tornado Cash appears to be working with authorities to prevent the transmission of stolen funds to its network. The company has stated that it will implement a monitoring tool to assist in the identification and blocking of embargoed wallets.

The authorities appear to be making some success in seizing stolen assets. Earlier this year, the US Department of Justice reported the seizure of $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency and the arrest of two people involved in the money laundering. The funds were part of the $4.5 billion stolen from the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange in 2016.

The cryptocurrency seizure was one of the largest ever recorded.

DeFi CEOs speak about the current situation

Eric Chen, CEO and co-founder of Injective Labs — an interoperable smart contracts platform specialized for decentralized finance applications — told Cointelegraph exclusively earlier this week that there is hope that the problems can be resolved.

"We are watching the tide recede as more stringent security rules are implemented." DeFi projects will be able to prevent common exploit risks in the future with thorough testing and other security infrastructures in place," he stated.

Chen offered a summary of the efforts his network was taking to prevent hack attacks:

“Injective ensures a more tightly defined application-centric security model compared to traditional Ethereum Virtual Machine-based DeFi applications. The design of the blockchain and the logic of core modules protect Injective from common exploits such as re-entrancy, maximum extractable value and flash loans. Applications built on top of Injective are able to benefit from the security measures that are implemented in the blockchain on the consensus level.”

Cointelegraph also had the chance to speak with Konstantin Boyko-Romanovsky, CEO and founder of Allnodes — a non-custodial hosting and staking platform — about the increase in hack incidences. Regarding the main catalysts behind the trend, he said:

“No doubt it will take some time to lower the risk of DeFi hacks. It is unlikely, however, that it will happen overnight. There is a lingering sense of a race in DeFi. Everyone seems to be in a hurry, including the project founders. The market is evolving faster than the speed at which programmers write code. Good players who take every precaution are in the minority.”

He also provided some insight on procedures that would help counteract the problem:

“The code must get better and smart contracts must be thoroughly audited, that’s for sure. In addition, users should be constantly reminded of cautious etiquette online. Identifying any flaws can be attractively incentivized. This, in turn, might promote healthier conduct across a particular protocol.”

The DeFi industry is having a hard time thwarting hack attacks. There is, however, hope that increased monitoring from the authorities and greater cooperation among exchanges will help curb the scourge.

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A terrible crypto trader was sentenced to 42 months in prison for fraud, pretending to be a complete gun

GAG Guy — Thu, 12 May 2022 09:11:00 +0000

On May 11, a crypto trader was sentenced to 42 months in jail for managing a series of cryptocurrency funds that claimed to offer significant profits but were really losing money and functioned as a Ponzi scam.

The DOJ said that Jeremy Spence, 25, had defrauded investors out of millions of dollars by making false claims, including that "Spence's crypto trading had been tremendously lucrative while, in fact, Spence's trading had been persistently losing."

United States District Judge Lewis Kaplan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York handed down the judgement to Spence, who ran the social media channels for a crypto investment fraud dubbed "Coin Signals." Spence was also given a three-year supervised release term and was forced to repay his victims $2.8 million.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) detained Spence in January 2021, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed separate civil charges against him (CFTC).

Spence pled guilty to commodities fraud in November 2021 for defrauding over $5 million from unknowing crypto investors by fraudulently claiming that several cryptocurrency funds he created between November 2017 and April 2019 were profitable when they were really losing money.

According to one example offered by the DOJ, Spence claimed in an online chat forum that one of the funds had achieved a 148 percent return that month.

According to Law360, the case was presided over by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who said:

"The thing I was struck by was the stupidity of the people you gulled into investing with you, there are real-life consequences to these shenanigans and they are serious."

Investors looking to benefit would send bitcoin to Spence to invest, but because his transactions were losing money, he generated phony account balances to disguise the losses. Spence began conducting a Ponzi scheme in which monies from new investors were used to compensate previous investors, with estimates of roughly $2 million in cryptocurrencies dispersed in this manner.

Spence informed Judge Kaplan in a statement that he is "mortified" by his own actions, apologized to his investors, and claimed he was unqualified to trade the amount he was paid, adding that he "entered a world that [he] was utterly unprepared for."

Spence's legal counsel were contacted for comment, but did not respond within the time frame offered.

This Billion-Dollar Crypto Loan Is Simple to Get, but It's Gone Flash

USAGAG — Sun, 08 May 2022 15:58:00 +0000

In April, a hacker used a sophisticated tool to plunder the decentralized stablecoin platform Beanstalk: a $1 billion loan taken out with no collateral, no evidence of income, and no identity verification. The loan had to be paid back in under a second, yet that was all it took to steal tens of millions of dollars.

The hacker used a flash loan, which is a low-cost, quick, and anonymous form of cryptocurrency lending.

Such short-term loans can be useful for traders looking to profit on price differences between cryptocurrencies on different exchanges. They are similar to the financing that an investment bank may lend to an investment fund to make bets on various equities or currencies in that respect.

However, there is a downside to flash loans. Flash loans have been used in a number of recent thefts. A hacker utilized a flash loan to help steal about $80 million from a decentralized finance platform called Rari Capital, in addition to the heist Beanstalk revealed last month. In October, a hacker exploited a flash loan to help steal $130 million from Cream Finance's website.

Decentralized finance, or DeFi, is an emerging component of the bitcoin industry that provides funding and liquidity to market participants. Flash loans are similar in some ways to the financing that banks might provide to algorithmic traders that trade in milliseconds.

A DeFi platform, such as Aave or Uniswap, is a piece of software that enables individuals to create and maintain programs. Users of the various apps and services deposit cryptocurrency into their respective accounts. The pools from which flash loans are made are the platform's combined assets.

Smart contracts, which are pieces of code written to automate an agreement, handle services like borrowing and lending. In traditional finance, these would be used in place of a loan or bank application.

However, flash loans are not a retail instrument. Someone must be able to code and execute a contract in order to use a flash loan. For example, the Beanstalk hack's flash-loan section required over two dozen steps.

The repayment time is what gives a flash loan its name: It happens fairly instantly. A flash loan is one that is given and repaid in one transaction. The loan's life cycle is roughly equivalent to how long it takes a computer to perform a transaction.

That is a short period of time. However, in an automated society, simply making a trade is sufficient.

Conditions are included into the smart contract that ensure payback. If the borrower fails to repay the loan, the contract invalidate the transaction and any market move it was linked to before it is confirmed. It's as if the loan never existed, and it's an all-or-nothing situation. Lenders face virtually little credit risk as a result of this.

Because there is no credit risk, the maximum amount that can be borrowed is determined solely by the amount of money kept on a DeFi platform. For example, Aave has around $21 billion in liquidity spread throughout its services, which is kept in a variety of cryptocurrencies.

In theory, flash loans allow consumers to use borrowed cash in the same way that financiers do in traditional markets, such as when an activist investor uses finance to acquire a company or when George Soros famously bet against the British pound using borrowed funds.

However, their speed, lack of collateral requirements, and anonymity make them extremely different in practice. "They offer up the opportunity for things you wouldn't be able to achieve in traditional markets and weren't possible in crypto before," said Max Galka, the founder and CEO of crypto-analytics business Elementus.

There are multiple DeFi platforms that enable fast loans, but the largest is Aave, which is where the loans originated. According to Elementus, Aave has executed 52,000 flash loans worth $15.6 billion in market value since 2020. A minor fee is charged to borrowers for the loan.

When compared to the $1.8 trillion total value of the crypto market, this is a minor sum. However, even a few hundred million dollars can be used to influence or assault some of the cryptocurrency market's smaller and less liquid assets.

According to Hassan Bassiri, a fund manager at the crypto-focused investment management Arca, "the potential for misconduct is immense for coders who understand how to leverage flash loans." Because DeFi is such a young subject, many services have inadequate security or poorly written code, or both, increasing the risk of abuse.

Mr. Bassiri stated, "You're not going to make $80 million in 30 seconds of work performing arbitrage." "The evil uses are so much more profitable."

A hacker used a flash loan to temporarily take over a crypto project in the Beanstalk incident. Beanstalk is a stablecoin platform in which the investors are also the owners. Each token is tethered to the US dollar. Each token purchaser receives a voting share. Changes to the platform can be proposed and voted on by investors.

The hacker proposed sending money from Beanstalk to Ukraine as aid a day before the attack, but the code instead directed to a wallet controlled by the hacker.

The Beanstalk hacker borrowed $1 billion in multiple different crypto denominations via a flash loan on the Aave platform, which he used to buy into Beanstalk and temporarily take control of the voting mechanism. The founders of Beanstalk declined to comment. A request for comment from Aave was not returned.

The hacker had to accomplish several things quickly with a computer program at the time of the attack: take out the flash loan, acquire enough tokens to give the individual a voting majority, and vote to accept the plan from the day before. The hacker then transferred the funds to another account and sold the Beanstalk tokens to settle the loan.

In the blink of an eye, the hacker drained nearly $76 million in cryptocurrencies.

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Related Video:

Plain conversation about NFTs: what they were and what they are now

GAG Guy — Sun, 08 May 2022 15:15:00 +0000

Since its introduction in 2014, there has been a lot of hype and misconceptions regarding nonfungible tokens (NFTs), especially since the total market cap has surpassed $24 billion. It's impossible to open a news feed without seeing a story on nonfungible tokens. For beginners... and for readers who've read a dozen such articles but still don't get it, these invariably include the necessary "An NFT is a" paragraph. You've come to the right place if you're one of the latter.

NFTs can be quite useful and significant, and they're only becoming better. However, both NFT believers and skeptics have a tendency to simplify, hype up, and occasionally get things wrong. Here are some claims concerning NFTs that you may have heard, both pro and con:

NFTs are a scam.
You can turn your art into an NFT to prevent it from being copied.
NFTs are just a fad.
Each NFT is a proof of authenticity for a “one-of-a-kind” item.
NFTs are bad for the environment.

To begin with, no, NFTs are not a con. Although scammers use email, we do not consider email to be a fraud. Second, no, NFTs aren't a trend, however it's unclear whether any one line of digital collectibles will prove to be a long-lasting set of cultural relics or a craze of techno-social groupthink. Third, while certain current blockchains have issues with energy usage — for the time being - anyone whining about it is probably clueless. Finally, be wary of anyone who claims that you can turn your art into an NFT, that NFTs can prevent your art from being reproduced, or that they can establish that a work of art is truly "one of a kind." None of it is true, and it was developed by people who know how to manipulate public opinion.

Are NFTs considered digital assets? Yes. Because "anything recognized as having worth" is the definition of an asset, an NFT is a digital asset if people are prepared to buy it. The willingness to acquire anything doesn't have to be founded on any type of objective reality, like the art collector's decision to buy a Monet painting — or a Maurizio Cattelan "Banana" duct-taped to a wall (for a cool $120,000).

Here's the deal: When an art collector purchases a rotting banana duct-taped to a wall, they know exactly what they're getting. If you're going to buy a digital banana that an NFT has literally duct-taped to a public blockchain, it's best to know exactly what you're getting — and what you're not getting.

This is usually where you learn everything there is to know about nonfungibility. When the lingo is stripped away, an NFT is just a record of something: a claim of ownership, a time-stamped transaction receipt, or a contract. We agree that NFTs aren't universally interchangeable, just as we agree that only the bearer of a ticket to Seat 24A of a sporting event gets to sit there. And we agree that no duplicate records exist (or should exist) that make the same claims about the same thing. That's all there is to "nonfungible."

The value of NFTs

What you need to know about NFTs is how they become valuable. Unlike a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH), an NFT's value is frequently derived from its claim on something that isn't controlled by the blockchain: a digital image file, a house deed, or an exclusive club membership card. As a result, the owner of an NFT must contend with the ambiguous relationship between the blockchain record of ownership and the thing they ostensibly possess, which is not on the blockchain.

Consider this: Would you buy an NFT only for its own sake, a blockchain record containing only a single string of data and no relation to a digital or physical asset? Are you uninterested? What if we told you it was one-of-a-kind, that it was once owned by Beyoncé, and that others are lining up to buy it for a higher price? ?

When you "own" an NFT, what exactly do you own? The principles of possession and control over something are present in nearly all legal formulations of ownership. If you use an NFT as a ticket for seat 24A, you have the agreed-upon right to sit there. Nobody else is allowed to sit there, and if they do, you can wave your ticket at them and demand them to leave.

Things get complicated when an NFT is used to represent a digital work of art. In this situation, the NFT usually includes a link to a public media file on the internet, which anybody can view and copy. At least with actual art, frauds are difficult. In the realm of 1s and 0s, however, exact duplicates are a piece of cake. As a result, the transaction receipt is the only item you can own and control in this case: only you can decide to pay someone else money to insert their ID into the owner field of the NFT record. But how valuable is that? In many circumstances, you don't have ownership or control over the artwork. It is impossible to prevent someone from copying it. You can't stop them from doing something you or the artist don't like, like putting a derogatory word over it. You can't even stop somebody from making a separate NFT record, pointing it towards the same artwork, and claiming ownership in the same way your NFT does.

Many digital collectable merchants believe that it doesn't matter if they don't own or control the original object, the work of art. They argue that the lack of control over people producing copies and spreading them throughout the internet is an advantage to the NFT owner, and you have to admire their bravado. Let's be clear about something. People freely supporting another person's work may be beneficial, but widespread uncontrolled misappropriation, debasement, and unauthorized commercial exploitation of other people's intellectual efforts are not.

NFT evangelists have recently shifted their focus to the benefits of community and the use of NFTs as access tickets to a variety of online and in-person experiences. This includes anything from private clubs to virtual performances in the metaverse to chat rooms where you may interact with creators, other fans, and celebrities. This is perfectly OK. An NFT may be a complicated and expensive way to manage tickets for the time being, but it is a genuine and potentially helpful method, especially when they grow cheaper and easier to use. NFTs can effectively solve issues like ticket forgery and scalping.

The evolution of NFTs

NFTs are transforming. With the introduction of emerging NFT standards like Ethereum's new EIP-4910 (a compatible extension to the ERC-721 standard that will form the backbone of most NFTs as of 2022), we will be able to make far more powerful claims than previously possible, claims that grant possession and control and are enforceable by the NFT's smart contract.

Let's flip the sporting event ticket example on its head to demonstrate how that works. Instead of purchasing an NFT for seat 24A, what if the NFT represented an agreement that only you can offer that seat to others, not just for that game, but for all games in the future? The NFT's smart contract can provide the owner complete control over collecting payments in exchange for allowing people to sit in that seat as long as sales are limited to bitcoin transactions. The seat owner does not have to be the stadium or the league in this case. In this scenario, the stadium could franchise each seat and use the NFT's smart contract to ensure that not only do the NFT holders get paid by each person sitting in 24A, but that the venue, the league, and even even the players get a part of the money as well. This is license rights management, which is a reasonable use case for NFTs.

That's exactly the point. Artists' rights are something that NFTs can represent and help enforce. Rights of collectors The right to distribute, resell, and receive royalties on items. And if the money changing hands in all of this is managed on the same blockchain as the NFT, then this seemingly insignificant digital transaction receipt and the smart contract that governs it gain real power and operational efficiency, potentially changing the economics of the arts and entertainment industry.

Now, scalability, privacy, and functionality are being added to developers' services using techniques like zero-knowledge cryptography and new smart contracts like those based on EIP-4910.

Using NFTs in this way creates the groundwork for artists to earn a living more consistently and predictably by enlisting the help of their fans as promoters and distributors, giving them a stake in the game...a franchise, if you will. Instead of trying to persuade people that an NFT is worth more money if they buy it as a right to produce authorized copies and distribute them, they can buy the NFT as a right to reprint and distribute it. An artist and their collectors, influencers, and promoters can earn passive income from royalties on over 11,000 digital prints and the revenues they obtain from 10 first-generation digital prints. Holders of such an NFT get genuine, enforceable ownership.

All of this may now be done directly on the blockchain, without the use of third-party marketplace exchanges or centralized services, thanks to new NFT standards. Imagine being able to copy a simple embed code from your NFT into your own gallery website — similar to how you might with a YouTube video, but without having to rely on YouTube to serve up the video — and sell it right there (whether it's a work of art, a concert pass, or a ticket to the big game) without having to use any other platform.

Finally, the exaggeration used to characterize NFTs is understandable, and there will be much more as they develop. It is a part of the tale you are purchasing. You're purchasing a story these days, whether it's a new Tesla, a painting of a can of soup, or even a digital banana NFT-taped to the blockchain wall. So it's possible that the hype merchants get one thing right while getting everything else wrong. The values that a society develops can be extremely valuable. After all, how much would you be ready to pay for an NFT if we could persuade you that it's just a digital sales receipt published on a public internet bulletin board, rather than a beneficial instrument for improving creators' financial life while building more inclusive and engaged digital communities?

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