1. Home
  2. Metamask

Metamask

MetaMask ‘glitch’ caused opBNB recommended fees to be too high: Report

According to BNB Chain, MetaMask was averaging recommended fees from multiple networks, causing opBNB recommended fees to be too high.

A "glitch" in MetaMask that caused it to overestimate opBNB gas fees has now been fixed, according to a social media post from BNB Chain. Many users pay the default recommended fee displayed in their wallets, so a misestimation can cause users to overpay.

opBNB is an optimistic rollup layer-2 of Ethereum. It was launched on Sept. 13 and was developed by the team that created BNB Chain. According to the team, they discovered recently that “Metamask had set a default minimum recommendation price for gas based on the average of all networks.” This was a reasonable policy for other L2 networks, the team said, but it “didn't quite align with opBNB.” The team claimed that opBNB fees “can be much lower than other L1 and L2 networks,” making the estimation inaccurate.

Related: Hashing It Out podcast: What does the future hold for BNB Chain?

To solve this problem, BNB Chain contacted the MetaMask team, who were “extremely helpful and agreed to update their algorithm.” As a result, the wallet now accurately displays the network’s fees.

According to the BNB Chain team, users can now check each network's fees by switching to opBNB from within MetaMask and attempting to perform a transaction, which they say will prove that the network often has lower fees than competitors.

opBNB was developed using the OP Stack, a modular framework that can be used to create interoperable blockchain networks. The OP Stack was developed by the OP Labs team, which is attempting to create a “Superchain” comprised of multiple interconnected blockchain networks. The Superchain faces competition from Polygon's "Supernets," which attempts to accomplish a similar aim.

Derivatives Giant CME Group Laying the Groundwork To Launch Spot Bitcoin Trading: Report

Billionaire Mark Cuban Suffers $870,000 in Losses to a Crypto Hack: Report

Billionaire Mark Cuban Suffers 0,000 in Losses to a Crypto Hack: Report

Business magnate Mark Cuban has reportedly been hacked to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of digital assets. According to a new report by DL News, the billionaire’s MetaMask wallet was hacked and 10 different crypto assets worth $870,000 were stolen from him. The report finds that Cuban had Ethereum (ETH), Lido […]

The post Billionaire Mark Cuban Suffers $870,000 in Losses to a Crypto Hack: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

Derivatives Giant CME Group Laying the Groundwork To Launch Spot Bitcoin Trading: Report

Mark Cuban’s loses $870K in hot wallet hack

Mark Cuban confirmed that he was hacked, but doesn’t appear to know exactly how it happened as of yet.

Nearly $900,000 worth of crypto was reportedly drained from one of the hot wallets belonging to billionaire investor and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

Independent blockchain sleuth @WazzCrypto was the first to spot the hack on Sept. 15 at around 8 PM UTC, after they highlighted suspicious behavior happening with one of Cuban’s wallets that the 65-year-old hadn’t interacted with for roughly five months.

According to the transaction history on Etherscan, several batches of assets such as USD Coin (USDC), Tether (USDT) and Lido Staked Ether (stETH) were suddenly withdrawn from the wallet within a 10- minute window.

Adding complexity to the matter, another $2 million worth of USDC was then also withdrawn and sent to a different wallet, leading WazzCrypto to suspect that Cuban may have just been moving assets around.

However, a few hours later Cuban then confirmed to DL News that he had gone on MetaMask for the first time in months, and vaguely suggested that the hacker or hackers may have been watching and waiting for a moment to pounce.

Cuban added that he had transferred any remaining assets to Coinbase Custody, essentially confirming that the $2 million USDC transaction was him.

Related: North Korean crypto hacks down 80%, but that could change overnight: Chainalysis

In terms of the hack, members of the community were quick to point out that as opposed to hackers watching Cuban’s activity, he must have done something that led to the security breach.

Some suggested that Cuban may have mistakenly signed a malicious transaction, while others asserted that his private key was compromised given that the funds were directly transferred out of the wallet.

Speculation on how Mark Cuban was hacked. Source: X

This is not the first time Cuban has taken a hit in the crypto market.

Back in June 2021, Cuban lost an unspecified amount of capital on what he called a “rug pull” after an algorithmic stablecoin project called Iron Finance imploded amid a supposed bank run.

Magazine: Hodler’s Digest, Aug. 27 – Sept. 2: SEC delays BTC ETF decision, Grayscale triumphs over SEC and BitBoy gets the boot

Derivatives Giant CME Group Laying the Groundwork To Launch Spot Bitcoin Trading: Report

Crypto Biz: PayPal rolls out crypto ramps, Franklin Templeton joins BTC ETF race, and more

This week’s Crypto Biz looks at PayPal’s crypto gateway, Franklin Templeton’s BTC ETF filing, Coinbase’s Lightning Network integration, and Meta’s plans for a new AI model.

Without aggressive marketing tactics, fintech giant PayPal is quietly and consistently venturing deeper into the crypto space, rolling out features and building key partnerships to advance its digital assets strategy.

This week, PayPal unveiled new on-ramps and off-ramps for cryptocurrencies for its clients in the United States — a noteworthy step for the country, particularly as many crypto firms struggle with supporting fiat-crypto conversions since the United States Securities and Exchange Commission began its controversial crackdown on the industry.

Also deepening ties with the crypto ecosystem is the traditional asset manager firm Franklin Templeton. The company filed for a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S., joining a long list of major investment firms seeking approval for a Bitcoin investment product, including names such as BlackRock, Fidelity and WisdomTree, among many others.

With new participants joining the digital assets world daily, it’s evident that crypto is becoming more mainstream, even in the face of a long bearish market.

This week’s Crypto Biz looks at PayPal’s crypto gateway, Franklin Templeton’s BTC ETF filing, Coinbase’s Lightning Network integration, and Meta’s plans for a new AI model.

PayPal enables US users to sell cryptocurrency via MetaMask wallet

PayPal continues expanding its digital asset services, integrating new methods to sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The payments giant introduced on Sept. 11 new on- and off-ramps for Web3 payments, allowing users in the U.S. to convert their crypto to U.S. dollars directly from their wallets into their PayPal balance. The off-ramp feature is available to wallets, decentralized applications and nonfungible token marketplaces and is live on MetaMask. The latest rollout came shortly after PayPal partnered with hardware wallet firm Ledger to provide a new on-ramp integration in August 2023, allowing verified users in the U.S. to buy Bitcoin, Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC) directly on a Ledger hardware wallet.

Promotional video for PayPal's on- and off-ramps. Source: YouTube

Franklin Templeton files for spot Bitcoin ETF

Asset manager Franklin Templeton applied with the U.S. SEC on Sept. 12 to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF. The S-1 registration statement comes after the SEC delayed decisions on spot ETF applications from WisdomTree, Valkyrie, Fidelity, VanEck, Bitwise and Invesco on Aug. 31 and a court ruling on Aug. 29 that the SEC must consider Grayscale’s application to convert its BTC futures ETF into a spot ETF. According to the application, the fund would be structured as a trust. Coinbase would custody the BTC, and Bank of New York Mellon would be the cash custodian and administrator. Franklin Templeton has $1.5 trillion in assets under management.

Meta is building an AI model to rival OpenAI’s most powerful system

Social media giant Meta is developing a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that will rival OpenAI’s most advanced version. According to sources from The Wall Street Journal, the new model will be “several times” more powerful than its Llama 2 model, which Meta released earlier this year. Llama was trained on 70 billion parameters, and while OpenAI hasn’t released its parameters for GPT-4, they’re estimated to be around 1.5 trillion. Meta’s new system will be open-source, allowing other companies to build AI tools to produce high-level text, analysis and other types of output with it. The company has also been building the data centers necessary to create such a high-level system while acquiring more of Nvidia’s H100 semiconductor chips.

Coinbase to integrate Bitcoin Lightning Network: CEO Brian Armstrong

Crypto exchange Coinbase has confirmed its decision to integrate layer-2 payment protocol Lightning Network (LN) as users seek faster and cheaper Bitcoin transactions. Until recently, major crypto exchanges, including Coinbase and Binance, had no intent to adopt the layer-2 solution, as many community members argued that LN integration offered fewer incentives for exchanges’ income. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, asked the crypto community to be patient during the integration process. LN was created to help solve Bitcoin’s scalability problem and to compete against projects promising faster and cheaper transactions. The decision comes a month after Viktor Bunin, a protocol specialist at Coinbase, started investigating the feasibility of LN integration.

Crypto Biz is your weekly pulse on the business behind blockchain and crypto, delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday.

Derivatives Giant CME Group Laying the Groundwork To Launch Spot Bitcoin Trading: Report

MetaMask Introduces Support for Bitcoin, Solana and Cosmos Network With New ‘Snaps’ Feature

MetaMask Introduces Support for Bitcoin, Solana and Cosmos Network With New ‘Snaps’ Feature

The most popular crypto wallet is introducing support for some of the largest blockchain networks in the world with the launch of a new feature. MetaMask announces on the social media platform X the launch of the open beta for “Snaps,” which aims to make the MetaMask ecosystem more permissionless. “Some time ago, Dan Finlay […]

The post MetaMask Introduces Support for Bitcoin, Solana and Cosmos Network With New ‘Snaps’ Feature appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

Derivatives Giant CME Group Laying the Groundwork To Launch Spot Bitcoin Trading: Report

PayPal Continues Crypto Push With New USD Off Ramp for DApps, NFT Marketplaces and Wallets

PayPal Continues Crypto Push With New USD Off Ramp for DApps, NFT Marketplaces and Wallets

Payments giant PayPal is continuing its move into the crypto space by introducing a new USD off-ramp integration feature. In a new press release, PayPal announces the introduction of its”Off Ramps” feature for US customers to simplify access to decentralized apps (DApps), non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces and more. “Today we are taking another step in […]

The post PayPal Continues Crypto Push With New USD Off Ramp for DApps, NFT Marketplaces and Wallets appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

Derivatives Giant CME Group Laying the Groundwork To Launch Spot Bitcoin Trading: Report

PayPal enables US users to sell cryptocurrency via MetaMask wallet

PayPal continues expanding its digital asset services, integrating new methods to sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Global payment giant PayPal continues expanding its digital asset services, integrating new methods to sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC).

PayPal on Sept. 11 officially introduced new on and off ramps for Web3 payments, allowing users in the United States to convert their crypto to USD directly from their wallets into their PayPal balance.

According to the announcement, PayPal off ramp feature is immediately available to wallets, decentralized applications and nonfungible token (NFT) marketplaces and is live on MetaMask.

The new on off ramp features are designed to enable customers to buy and sell several cryptocurrencies in the United States.

“Once integrated, web3 merchants can help grow their user base by connecting to PayPal’s fast and seamless payments experience trusted by millions, while leveraging PayPal’s robust security controls and tools for fraud management, chargebacks and disputes,” PayPal noted.

PayPal's on and off ramps promotion video. Source: YouTube

PayPal’s on and off ramps promotion video on YouTube included a screenshot from PayPal’s interface allowing users to send 0.0015 BTC ($50) to an external wallet with a $5 network fee and a $2.2 transaction fee. The video didn’t specify what wallet was used as part of the transaction. It’s worth noting that MetaMask doesn’t support Bitcoin transactions on the original BTC blockchain.

PayPal did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

Related: PayPal’s new PYUSD stablecoin faces legal headwinds and ‘less functionality’

The latest rollout comes shortly after PayPal partnered with the major hardware wallet firm Ledger to provide a new on ramp integration in August 2023. The integration allowed verified PayPal in the U.S. to buy Bitcoin, Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC) directly on the hardware wallet via native Ledger Live software.

As previously mentioned, MetaMask started rolling out Ether purchases via PayPal for users in the U.S. in May 2023. MetaMask’s parent company ConsenSys and PayPal initially partnered to enable ETH transactions in late 2022.

Magazine: Hodler’s Digest, Sept. 3-9: Binance’s exec exodus, Nasdaq to trade AI orders and SBF loses bail appeal

Derivatives Giant CME Group Laying the Groundwork To Launch Spot Bitcoin Trading: Report

DApp store for your wallet: Consensys readying cross-chain Metamask Snaps

The upcoming MetaMask Snaps will allow users to interact with different blockchains like Bitcoin and Solana from inside their MetaMask wallet.

MetaMask’s eagerly awaited Snaps will allow users to interact with a variety of different blockchain networks, receive updates from projects and will help demystify what’s happening in complex transactions, says Consensys head of strategy Simon Morris.

Speaking to Cointelegraph on Sept. 6 at Korea Blockchain Week, Morris shared that MetaMask Snaps will function a lot like an Apple App Store for the crypto wallet, allowing third-party developers to launch new decentralized applications (DApps) — dubbed Snaps — that expand MetaMask’s functionality.

Morris explained the first round of released Snaps will undergo security checks and be whitelisted by developers at Consensys. In the future, the goal is to make the process as permissionless as releasing apps on the web.

The upgrade — which Morris said is coming sometime later this year — will see users download third-party extensions to their MetaMask wallet.

These will allow them to use their MetaMask wallet with non-EVM chains including Bitcoin, Solana, Avalanche and Starknet.

“MetaMask starts with a massive assumption there's going to be an EVM or something very like Ethereum, so what we’re targeting for the first release is making MetaMask interoperable with other non-EVM chains.”

Snaps will also help to reduce the obscurity around signing transactions. Morris admitted at present, users are oftentimes left feeling confused or intimidated when confirming transactions and hinted that some of the soon-to-be-released Snaps will help make the process of signing transactions and assessing smart contracts less opaque at first glance.

Another feature set to be enabled by Snaps will allow developers to send messages to users internally on MetaMask.

Related: ‘Multichain future is very clear’ — MetaMask to support all tokens via Snaps

Instead of users having to navigate to the website or social media account of a project for updates — the upgrades will enable a “communication layer between DApp developers and their users.”

For those wanting a taste of Snaps, Morris said users can download an application called MetaMask Flask but warned that it’s very much a tool for developers.

On Sept. 5 MetaMask introduced its newest “sell” feature, allowing users in the United States, United Kingdom and parts of Europe to exchange Ether (ETH) for fiat currency that can be sent directly to a bank account.

Magazine: How to protect your crypto in a volatile market — Bitcoin OGs and experts weigh in

Derivatives Giant CME Group Laying the Groundwork To Launch Spot Bitcoin Trading: Report

MetaMask launches feature to sell ETH for fiat

The sell feature on MetaMask Portfolio came roughly five months after the wallet allowed users to purchase crypto using fiat from bank accounts, PayPal, and debit and credit cards.

Cryptocurrency wallet MetaMask has announced the launch of a feature allowing users to sell Ether (ETH) for fiat currency.

In a Sept. 5 post on X — formerly Twitter — MetaMask said users with crypto wallets connected to the platform’s Portfolio decentralized application would be able to cash out ETH and send fiat to their bank accounts in the United States, United Kingdom, and parts of Europe. MetaMask said the initial rollout was limited to ETH, but planned to expand to “native gas tokens on layer 2 networks” in the future.

The sell feature came roughly five months after MetaMask launched a function allowing users to purchase cryptocurrencies using fiat from bank accounts, PayPal, and debit and credit cards. The platform said at the time it planned to roll out the 'buy crypto' service for more than 90 tokens to users in more than 189 countries.

Related: MetaMask rolls out ETH purchases via PayPal to US users

MetaMask has previously announced partnerships with crypto on-ramp providers including MoonPay, Sardine, Transak and Wyre. In March, the platform launched a staking marketplace for its institutional clients.

The crypto wallet, used by many retail investors in various countries, has often been a target for scammers and bad actors. Cointelegraph reported on Sept. 5 that scammers had taken control of certain government websites in India, Nigeria, Egypt, Colombia, Brazil, and Vietnam in order to trick users into sending their personal information to fake MetaMask sites.

Magazine: Recursive inscriptions: Bitcoin ‘supercomputer’ and BTC DeFi coming soon

Derivatives Giant CME Group Laying the Groundwork To Launch Spot Bitcoin Trading: Report

MetaMask scammers take over government websites to target crypto investors

Official government websites from India, Nigeria, Egypt, Colombia, Brazil, Vietnam and other jurisdictions have been found redirecting to fake MetaMask websites.

Crypto scams targeting MetaMask users are using government-owned website URLs to con victims and access their crypto wallet holdings.

Ethereum-based crypto wallet MetaMask has been a long-standing target for scammers — which involves redirecting unwary users to fabricated websites that request access to the MetaMask wallets. Cointelegraph’s investigation on the matter found numerous government-owned websites being used to perpetrate this exact scam.

Official government websites from India, Nigeria, Egypt, Colombia, Brazil, Vietnam and other jurisdictions have been found redirecting to fake MetaMask websites, as shown below.

MetaMask scammers use government websites to steal from crypto users. Source: Cointelegraph (via Google)

Cointelegraph alerted MetaMask about the ongoing scams but did not receive a response by publication.

Once a user clicks on any of the rogue links placed within the government website URLs, they are redirected to a fake URL instead of the original URL “MetaMask.io.” Once accessed, Microsoft’s built-in security — Microsoft Defender — warns users about a possible phishing attempt.

Microsoft’s warning against the MetaMask phishing websites. Source: Cointelegraph

If users ignore the warning, they are greeted by a website resembling the official MetaMask website. The fake websites will eventually ask the users to link their MetaMask wallets to access various services on the platform.

Comparison between the original and fake MetaMask websites. Source: Cointelegraph

The above screenshot shows the similarity between the real and fake MetaMask websites, which is one of the main reasons investors fall for the scam. Linking MetaMask wallets on such websites gives scammers complete control over the assets held on those particular MetaMask wallets.

Related: Scam alert: MetaMask warns users of deceptive March 31 airdrop rumors

In April, MetaMask denied claims of an exploit that potentially drained over 5,000 Ether (ETH).

The wallet provider said the 5,000 ETH was stolen “from various addresses across 11 blockchains,” reaffirming the claim that funds were hacked from MetaMask “is incorrect.”

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Wallet Guard co-founder Ohm Shah said the MetaMask team has been “researching tirelessly,” and there is “no solid answer to how this has happened.”

Magazine: How to protect your crypto in a volatile market: Bitcoin OGs and experts weigh in

Derivatives Giant CME Group Laying the Groundwork To Launch Spot Bitcoin Trading: Report