BNB Chain confirms BSC halt due to ‘potential exploit’

October 7, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Binance

Rumors of a significant hack on the BNB Chain were confirmed by the blockchain's team, with all deposits and withdrawals suspended on the network.

BNB Chain (BNB) the blockchain of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, was paused on Oct. 6 due to what it states is “irregular activity” on the network with the team having determined a potential exploit.

The official Twitter account of the BNB Chain announced the temporary pause, soon after adding it had found a possible exploit. Binance provided an update that the blockchain was “under maintenance” suspending all deposits and withdrawals.

To confirm, we have suspended BSC after having determined a potential exploit.

All systems are now contained, and we are immediately investigating the potential vulnerability. We know the Community will assist and help freeze any transfers.

All funds are safe.
— BNB Chain (@BNBCHAIN) October 6, 2022

Rumors had swirled on Twitter that the network had undergone a significant hack, with on-chain analytics showing alleged attackers exploiting roughly two million BNB, the chains native coin, a value of nearly $600 million.

Hi, @BNBCHAIN Apparently, two huge reward claims
with each claiming 1M BNB and in total ~$586M rewards are claimed from its token hub. (https://t.co/mMg8o0u7fj) https://t.co/FxRHDdvuPg pic.twitter.com/GSrLSSyRNR
— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) October 6, 2022

It's unclear at this time how the exploit was undertaken or the total value stolen, BNB Chain says its systems are contained, and user funds are safe whilst it investigates the potential vulnerability.

BNB rallies 39% despite smart contract deposits dropping 28% — Should investors be worried?

August 4, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Binance

BNB Chain's total value locked dropped more significantly than its competitors, but the network’s decentralized applications are not fading out.

Cryptocurrencies’ total market capitalization bounced from $860 billion on June 30 to the current $1.03 trillion, a 20.6% relief in five weeks. Ether (ETH) might have been the absolute leader among the largest smart contract chains, but BNB managed to gain 39% over that period.

*BNB (blue) vs. Ether (orange), AVAX (cyan), SOL (yellow). Source: TradingView*

BNB token’s year-to-date performance remains negative by 43%, but the current $49.5 billion market capitalization ranks it the third largest, excluding stablecoins. Furthermore, the leading decentralized application (DApp) is PancakeSwap — 843,630 active addresses in the past seven days — which runs on BNB Chain.

The token serves primarily as a utility asset within the Binance exchange ecosystem, enabling traders to earn discounts or participate in token offers. So, technically, the BNB token does not give ownership rights or dividends to any Binance-owned company or service.

However, according to Bloomberg, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating whether the initial coin offering (ICO) of BNB tokens in 2017 consisted of a sale of unregistered securities. A digital asset may fall under the SEC’s scrutiny if buyers intend to profit from the efforts of a company or project funded by the capital raise.

To understand whether BNB's 39% rally in five weeks is justified, investors should analyze network use, including smart contract deposits, active users and decentralized applications adoption.

Mixed data from smart contract deposits and DApp usage

BNB Chain‘s primary decentralized application metric started to display weakness earlier in May as the network‘s total value locked (TVL) dropped below 24 million BNB.

*BNB Chain network Total Value Locked, BNB millions. Source: Defi Llama*

The chart above shows how BNB Chain‘s DApp deposits saw a 28% decline in three months as the indicator reached its lowest level since April 2021. As a comparison, Ethereum‘s TVL currently stands at 24.4 million ETH, an 11% decline over the same period. Moreover, another DApp competitor, Solana (SOL), saw a 2% TVL decrease to 50.2 million SOL.

On the bright side, on Aug. 3, the Binance exchange announced the launch of its first-ever token aimed at certifying verified user status on the platform. Binance Account Bound (BAB) token is a decentralized identity tool displayed to indicate that a wallet’s owner has passed Know Your Customer (KYC) verification on the exchange.

To confirm whether this drop in TVL should be concerning, one should analyze DApp usage metrics. Some DApps are not financially intensive, so the value deposited is irrelevant.

*BNB Chain's most used DApps over seven days. Source: DappRadar*

As shown by DappRadar data, on Aug. 4, the number of BNB Chain network addresses interacting with decentralized applications gained 17% on average. The only negative change was SecondLive, a metaverse using decentralized finance and NFT technologies.

Increased DApps use is not backed by additional addresses

Growing interest in BNB Chain DApps was not reflected in active network addresses, which peaked at 2.27 million on Dec. 1, 2021, and has recently averaged slightly over 900,000.

*Active BNB smart chain addresses. Source: BSCScan*

Even though BNB Chain’s TVL has been hit hardest compared to similar smart contract platforms, there is solid network usage in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and games. Both Era7: Game of Truth and MOBOX: NFT Farmer rank in the top 10 DApps across every blockchain covered by DappRadar.

The above data suggest that BNB Chain’s TVL is losing ground versus competing chains, but investors should not be concerned because DApps activity in the network remains strong. As long as the Binance exchange does not face severe impediments in supporting the BNB Chain, there is little reason to be bearish on the BNB token.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Stats Show Over 53,000 Wrapped Bitcoins Were Removed From Circulation in the Last 3 Months

July 24, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Blockchain-based games see an uptick in users despite bear market conditions

July 12, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Altcoin Watch

Data shows blockchain-based gaming protocols registered a steady uptick in daily active users and transactions despite the current bear market conditions.

Bear markets are always tough, but one of the positives is they clear the clutter and this allows legitimate projects to stand out.

While most investors are focused on the latest CeFi and DeFi scandal, the blockchain gaming sector has quietly weathered the storm better than other niches of the market.

*Total number of unique active wallets interacting with smart contracts. Source: DappRadar*

As shown on the chart above, all sectors of the market have experienced a noticeable decline in active users, but the gaming sector has proven to be the most resilient at retaining users as the bear market intensified.

Transactions continue to rise

Further proof of the continued engagement by gamers can be found by looking at the number of transactions occurring in the top sectors of the market.

*Total number of transactions sent to smart contracts. Source: DappRadar*

With a current count of 173.17 million, the number of gaming-related transactions is significantly higher than any other sector of the market with the second closest sector being decentralized finance with 8.86 million.

As for which protocols contribute the most to the transaction count, WAX, Hive, BNB Smart Chain (BSC), Solana and Ronin are the most active, led by WAX with a current transaction count of 158.23 million.

*Total number of transactions per protocol. Source: DappRadar*

While the total value transacted remains dominated by exchanges, a growing number of users currently active in the crypto ecosystem can be found in the gaming sector.

WAX and BSC attract new users

Data shows that users are specifically drawn to WAX and Binance Smart Chain which saw 2.94 million and 2.49 million users.

*Total number of unique users per protocol. Source: DappRadar*

Alien Worlds on WAX and BNB Chain currently holds the top spot with 196,700 users, followed by Splinterlands with 147,820 active users. It’s also worth noting that the top three games in terms of active users operate on WAX.

*Top 6 games by the number of active users. Source: DappRadar*

While it has fallen far down the list, Axie Infinity has consistently been one of the most active games for the past year and a leader in terms of the value transacted.

Gaming is bigger than music, movies, and TV combined.

It's compounding 10% year on year.

The $100bn a year spent "renting" items is going to turn into a trillion dollar ownable economy.

All of it will be built on web3. pic.twitter.com/TQz6xxa8hx
— Robbie Ferguson ⓧ - Hiring! (@0xferg) June 30, 2022

Despite the sharp correction in blockchain gaming-related altcoins, gaming has proven to be one of the more resilient sectors in terms of retaining active users.

This fact, combined with the rising popularity of the gaming industry, suggests that it's one sector that has the potential to lead the way into the next bull market.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Solana (SOL) Emerging As Viable Threat to Ethereum in NFT Markets: DappRadar Report

July 7, 2022 The Daily Hodl

Trust in Decentralized Finance Rattled After $100 Billion Left the Defi Economy

May 15, 2022 Bitcoin.com

PancakeSwap governance proposal set to cap CAKE supply at 750M

May 12, 2022 Coin Telegraph

binance smart chain

A snapshot motion issued by the PancakeSwap team received over 11 million CAKE votes since commencement, with the majority of participants favoring the v2 evolution.

PancakeSwap, the decentralized finance (DeFi) application built on Binance Smart Chain, synonymous with its automated market maker service and its quirky branding style, has released a governance proposal for the second iteration of its tokenomics roadmap.

The centerpiece of the litepaper's new version suggested an imposed supply cap on the project's native token, CAKE. Currently operating with a circulating supply of 293.4 million according to quantitative data verified by CoinMarketCap, the paper advised a maximum figure of 750 million.

A governance voting window was opened to the community for a 24-hour period, and attracted 11,008,360.64 CAKE votes, with an overwhelming majority of 98.80% of voters advocating for the admission of the proposal.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, the team revealed that there was "no cap on individual voting rights", and that "it's dependent on how much CAKE they have locked."

️ Wow!

You, our community, overwhelmingly supported our latest proposal, and we will be working hard to build and deliver on PancakeSwap’s future.

We will be hosting an AMA later today at 13:00 UTC – not just on tokenomics – so do join us if you can. pic.twitter.com/cM6RyF2Y1P
— PancakeSwap #BSC (@PancakeSwap) May 12, 2022

The final outcome of the snapshot was evaluated by the team as an astounding positive, as they noted their intentions to implement the changes in the near future.

Cointelegraph reached out to the business developer of PancakeSwap, Chef Icy — who facetiously identifies himself as four quarters bunny, one-quarter robot — to expand upon their decision to select a 3-year runaway for the tokens supply span, as well as learn more about their quantitative ambitions for the CAKE token, and community impact of PancakeSwap over the time period.

“First, the 3-year runway is a very conservative estimate based upon 14.25 CAKE/block calculations. In effect, our effective CAKE emissions is around 10.5 CAKE/block, due to the additional burns brought about by our weekly burns (trading fee burns etc). Based on a 10.5CAKE/block, our effective runway will be 4.2 years.”

The team, or more aptly, the chefs in the kitchen, acknowledge that this conservative estimation for a 3-year runway — referring to the timespan expected until the maximum supply is met and entirely circulating in the market — would surpass close competitors Uniswap, TraderJoe and SushiSwap with 2.5 year, 1.75 year and 1.5 year runways, respectively.

Alongside the supply cap proposition, there are also expected to be three new utilities to drive value within the staking ecosystem: vCAKE to enhance mechanisms of governance voting, iCAKE to boost IFO benefits, and bCAKE to increase farming rewards.

Pledging to “continue to introduce innovative DeFi practices to our platform and users that are battle-tested”, and citing last month’s introduction of -ve and POL in the DeFi sector, Icy revealed more about how the introduction of vCAKE, iCAKE, and bCAKE could impact CAKE stakers, and especially their annual percentage yield (APY) options.

“It impacts stakers by accruing more value to locked CAKE. APY of the locked CAKE pool will still be based on our current calculations, so the APY Model does not change. However, as users will be able to extract more value out of their locked CAKE, the potential benefits should increase.”

PancakeSwap is hosting an AMA Twitter Space on May 12 to provide an opportunity for the community to engage and ask questions on their latest developments.

BSC