Tom Blackstone

New tech could make crypto and Web3 wallets more convenient

Developers are working on ways to get rid of seed words and even private keys, while still keeping users in control. The foundation of the Web3 ecosystem is the wallet, an app or browser extension that lets users verify their web identities and authorize transactions. But using a wallet has always involved a steep learning curve. New users must learn to copy down their seed words and store them in a safe place, create a strong password to encrypt their keystore file, copy add

Federal Reserve's FedNow will integrate with Metal Blockchain

The integration will allow users to instantly convert cash to stablecoin for use in DeFi protocols. The Federal Reserve’s forthcoming instant payment service FedNow will be integrated with Metal Blockchain, according to a May 11 announcement from the Metal Blockchain team. The announcement said that the integration will allow Metal users to instantly convert funds to stablecoin and back again using FedNow’s “send/receive” function.Metal Blockchain’s listing in the FedNow Serv

Federal Reserve's FedNow will connect with Metal Blockchain

The integration will allow users to instantly convert cash to stablecoin for use in DeFi protocols. The Federal Reserve’s forthcoming instant payment service FedNow will be connected to Metal Blockchain, according to a May 11 announcement from the Metal Blockchain team. The announcement said that the integration will allow Metal users to instantly convert funds to stablecoin and back again using FedNow’s “send/receive” function.Metal Blockchain’s listing in the FedNow Service

New wallet uses Amazon hardware security modules to eliminate seed words

The newly launched crypto wallet by Kresus requires users to sign in with “magic links,” meaning password hashes don’t need to be stored. A new crypto wallet has just launched in Apple’s App Store store that uses Web2 trickery to ensure users don’t need to interact with seed phrases or passwords.According to a May 11 announcement from the app’s developer, Kresus, the new wallet stores users’ private keys in an Amazon Web Services Hardware Security Module (HSM) and uses “magic

Tether has $1.5B in Bitcoin reserves: BDO Italia

The financial advisory and accounting firm also revealed that Tether held roughly $3.4 billion worth of precious metals. BDO Italia's latest attestation report for Tether revealed that Bitcoin (BTC) made up approximately $1.5 billion of the stablecoin issuer's reserves, or roughly 2% of the total, at the end of the first quarter. The accounting firm did not list Bitcoin as a line item in previous reports.Without much fanfare, Tether has started reinvesting some of their profi

OKX just sent $60M in USDT, MASK token to Alameda Research

The fund transfer may be part of a recovery effort to repay creditors of the failed FTX crypto exchange. On May 9, crypto exchange OKX sent approximately $60 million worth of digital assets to wallets connected to failed hedge fund Alameda Research, according to data from crypto analytics platform Arkham Intelligence.Screenshot showing transfers from OKX to Alameda Research wallets. Source: Arkham Intelligence.The funds were spread out among 16 separate transactions and incl

Human ID project ‘Worldcoin’ launches gas-free wallet only for humans

The wallet relies on “World ID,” a protocol that verifies humanness through zero-knowledge proofs. Worldcoin, a project to identify humans and distinguish them from artificial intelligence, has launched a gas-free crypto wallet for verified humans, according to a May 8 announcement. The new wallet, called “World App,” works on Android and iOS operating systems. It currently runs on the Polygon (MATIC) network, allowing users to hold and transfer United States Dollar Coin (USD

T. Rowe Price, WisdomTree join Avalanche subnet for forex testing

If initial tests are successful, the firms will expand their activities into tokenized credit issuance and equities. Financial market firms T. Rowe Price Associates, WisdomTree, Wellington Management, and Cumberland have joined an Avalanche (AVAX) subnet to test the idea of blockchain-based foreign exchange, according to an announcement from the Avalanche team. The new subnet is called “Spruce,” and is part of Avalanche’s Evergreen Subnet ecosystem.Following last week’s Avala

Uniswap funds DAO incentive improvement project

The project will provide at least three proposals for Uniswap incentive mechanisms by June. Financial modeling platform Gauntlet has been awarded a grant from Uniswap Foundation to improve DAO incentive mechanisms, according to an announcement from Gauntlet.Very excited to announce our engagement with @gauntletnetwork and their new Applied Research Group! Gauntlet will be focused on designing and specifying incentive programs to benefit the Uniswap Protocol. https://t.co/RjzV

US share of global crypto developers fell 26% in 5 years — a16z

In 2018, nearly 40% of all crypto developers were based in the United States, whereas in 2022, this figure had fallen to less than 30%. The share of global crypto developers based in the United States declined by 26% from 2018 to 2022, according to a report from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z. The report, titled “State of Crypto 2023,” cited data from Electric Capital and SimilarWeb to support its findings.Today, we’re excited to share the 2023 S

South Korean crypto exchange GDAC hacked for nearly $14M

The exchange said that all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended as it performs emergency server maintenance. South Korean crypto exchange GDAC has been hacked for approximately $13.9 million worth of crypto. The exchange has halted all deposits and withdrawals and is performing emergency server maintenance in response to the attack, according to an April 10 announcement from GDAC CEO Han Seunghwan.Notice on #GDAC Exchange Hack Alert⚠️GDAC Exchange has officiall

NFT marketplace LooksRare launches V2, reducing fees from 2% to 0.5%

The previous version of the nonfungible token marketplace will be sunsetted by April 13, 2023. Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace LooksRare has upgraded to version 2, reducing fees by 75% and implementing several other features, according to an April 6 announcement from the company. ! Rolled out rn:- Fee dropped to 0.5%- Gas 50% cheaper than Blur- One-signature bulk listing- Buy 70+ NFTs at once- Sellers get ETH instead of WETHFull deets https://t.co/3XXGeGK2r2— LooksRa

Euler Finance attack: How it happened, and what can be learned

The Euler Finance exploit was the largest of Q1 2023, and the risk of a similar attack on other protocols remains. The March 13 flash loan attack against Euler Finance resulted in over $195 million in losses. It caused a contagion to spread through multiple decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, and at least 11 protocols other than Euler suffered losses due to the attack.Over the next 23 days, and to the great relief of many Euler users, the attacker returned all of the expl

Euler team denies on-chain sleuth was a suspect in hack case

The investigator claimed to be targeted as a suspect because they maintained a crypto security repo on GitHub. The pseudonymous Twitter user and blockchain investigator Officer’s Notes believes they may have been a suspect in the $195 million Euler Finance hack. In an April 4 Twitter thread, the security researcher stated, “Seems like I was a suspect in this case, as usual.”The Euler team has denied that Officer's Notes was a suspect, claiming instead that the researcher was

Masa announces soulbound ID tokens for Coinbase's Base Network

The token protocol can be used for a wide variety of applications, including membership badges, loyalty programs, decentralized captcha bots, and credit underwriting. Masa Finance’s soulbound tokens will soon be available on Coinbase’s Base network, according to an April 4 announcement from Masa Finance. The new tokens will allow users to link identifying and reputational characteristics to their wallet addresses, making credit underwriting possible on the blockchain, the com

Liquidity protocol Sentiment exploited for over $500K

More than $536,000 was drained from the Synapse Bridge on April 4, according to Ethereum blockchain data. Sentiment, an undercollateralized lending protocol, appears to have been exploited on April 4 for over $500,000 in crypto. Ethereum blockchain data shows a transaction that transferred 536,738.410031 USD Coin (USDC) from the Synapse Bridge, and this links up with a series of Arbitrum transactions draining coins from the Sentiment protocol. The wallet performing the attac

LayerZero raises $120M to expand cross-chain messaging efforts

The new funds will be used to increase headcount and expand the company’s presence in the Asia-Pacific region. Cross-chain messaging protocol developer LayerZero Labs has raised another $120 million, according to an Apr. 4 announcement. The company plans to use the capital to increase its headcount and expand its reach into the Asia-Pacific region. The company had previously raised $135 million in March 2022.pic.twitter.com/mhJgoovYis— LayerZero Labs (@LayerZero_Labs) April 4

73.3% of Q1 rug pulls happened on BNB Chain: Immunefi

Rug pulls and other frauds made up a small percentage of losses compared to hacks and exploits, the report stated. BNB Chain was the king of rug pulls in the first quarter of 2023, with over 73.3% of such scams in the entire crypto ecosystem happening on the network, according to an April 4 report from blockchain security firm Immunefi.The report, titled “Crypto Losses in Q1 2023,” investigated a variety of crypto hacks and scams in the first quarter of the year. It found tha

INX security token platform gets its first token from a public company, Greenbriar

INX security tokens exist on Ethereum and use the ERC-1404 standard. INX has launched its first securities token issued by a public company, according to an Apr. 3 announcement from the tokenization platform.Public company shares on the blockchain?Witness the future in action!Proud to team up with @Greenbriarcorp to tokenize its GEBRF traditional shares in an industry-first!https://t.co/sS4p5MIwa3— INX (@INX_Group) April 3, 2023 The new token represents shares of Greenbriar

Gnosis launches Hashi bridge aggregator to help prevent hacks

Bridge protocols LayerZero, Celer, Wormhole, LiFi, and others have already committed to implementing the new protocol. Gnosis, the team behind Gnosis Safe multi-sig and Gnosis Chain, has launched a hash oracle aggregator for blockchain bridges, according to an announcement from the company. In a conversation with Cointelegraph, Gnosis CEO Martin Köppelmann stated that the new aggregator should make bridges more secure by requiring more than one bridge to validate a withdrawal