The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sent a Wells notice to non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea, according to the firm’s CEO. Devin Finzer says in a new post on the social media platform X that the company has received a Wells notice from the SEC warning them of possible securities law violations. A […]
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Apple’s letter to a federal judge previewed its slated dismissal motion to a U.S. antitrust suit, with the firm claiming prosecutors didn’t define where it has a monopoly.
Apple has claimed it isn’t a “monopolist” and “faces fierce competition” in the tech sector in a letter previewing its bid to toss a United States antitrust suit.
In a May 21 letter to New Jersey federal judge Julien Neals requesting a conference ahead of its dismissal motion, Apple’s lawyers refuted U.S. claims that it engaged in anticompetitive conduct by excluding third-party access to its platform and made design decisions that “‘lock in’ users to purchasing iPhones.”
The firm said its alleged anticompetitive conduct “involves Apple making unilateral decisions about the terms and conditions on which to permit third parties access to Apple’s proprietary platform.”
CoinGecko cited Magic Eden’s new Diamond reward program and its ongoing commitment to support creator royalties as the main catalysts.
Magic Eden, a Solana-based nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, recorded its largest monthly trading volume in March, surpassing industry leader Blur.
Its NFT trading volume spiked 194.4% in March to $756.5 million, while Blur marginally increased to $530.4 million, according to CoinGecko’s Q1 2024 report, published on April 17.
CoinGecko said Magic Eden’s rise up the ranks was partly contributed by its new Diamond reward program and its continued partnership with Yuga Labs — at a time when the NFT studio cut ties with NFT marketplaces that weren’t supporting creator royalties.
A long-dormant Ethereum (ETH) whale abruptly woke up on Monday and sent more than $773,000 worth of the second-largest digital asset to the top US crypto exchange Coinbase. The crypto-tracking platform Whale Alert notes the wallet is a pre-mine address that wasn’t active for more than 8.5 years. Pre-mining refers to the creation of a […]
The post Ethereum Wallet Abruptly Wakes Up After Nearly 10 Years, Sends ETH Stack to Crypto Exchange appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
OpenSea users have reportedly been targeted with a widespread email phishing campaign, including a fake developer API risk alert and a fake NFT offer.
Users of the major nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea have said they are being targeted with a new email phishing attack, and have received emails containing malicious links from attackers posing as the marketplace itself.
According to social media reports, OpenSea users and developers have been targeted by various email phishing campaigns, including a fake developer account risk alert and a fake NFT offer.
One OpenSea developer took to X (formerly Twitter) on Nov. 13 to report receiving a phishing attempt to an email strictly dedicated to their OpenSea Application Programming Interface (API) key. “In other words, dev contacts have been exfiltrated from OpenSea and are the real target in this campaign,” the poster said.
The social media report came in response to OpenSea's insistence that the platform has not been hacked and urging users not to click on links they don’t trust.
Correct- there is no smart contract vuln. But unfortunately for @opensea I just received a phishing attempt, to an email that was strictly dedicated to my OpenSea API key. In other words, dev contacts have been exfiltrated from OpenSea and are the real target in this campaign https://t.co/GD4UgwWIrx pic.twitter.com/rtyUJBMlwl
— Quantity (@quantity) November 13, 2023
Another OpenSea user took to Reddit to express confusion about the ongoing phishing campaign on Nov. 14.
“Haven't used OpenSea for years and all of a sudden, I keep getting emails talking about my NFT listings getting offers,” the poster wrote, adding that all the vulnerable links were trying to direct the reader to install a malicious app.
“Right now I'm getting 3-4 scam/phishing emails a day which is crazy since I got zero just a few weeks ago,” the Redditor wrote, adding:
“So my question is did something new happen to OpenSea. The email address of mine they are hitting is one I created specifically for OpenSea so not concerned but I know OpenSea had hacks previously. Are they just now hitting up my email or is there a new one?”
The news comes a few weeks after one of OpenSea’s third-party vendors experienced a security incident that exposed information related to user API keys. OpenSea reported the breach in a notification email to affected users in late September 2023, stating that user emails and developer API keys may have been leaked due to the attack.
Choose your third party well…
— 23pds (@IM_23pds) September 23, 2023
Opensea posted that a vendor was attacked, resulting in the leak of developers' API keys!
Get advice from a professional security consultant about the safety of the third party before choosing. E.g. @SlowMist_Team pic.twitter.com/jcBJ9IaAEN
OpenSea users have received phishing emails previously. In February 2022, OpenSea officially confirmed that its platform faced a phishing attack from outside the OpenSea website and urged users to stay away from clicking on any links in the emails. The firm was also investigating rumors of an exploit associated with OpenSea-related smart contracts.
Related: Chinese hackers use fake Skype app to target crypto users in new phishing scam
OpenSea did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
This latest phishing campaign is happening just after OpenSea laid off 50% of its staff, with the stated intention of launching OpenSea 2.0 with a smaller team.
This attack is yet another reminder for the cryptocurrency community to stay vigilant when receiving emails from service providers. To avoid a phishing hack, users should be cautious of the email sender’s authenticity and the associated links. Users should also remember that crypto firms never ask their users for personal data like wallet addresses or private keys.
Magazine: How to protect your crypto in a volatile market — Bitcoin OGs and experts weigh in
The chief executive of non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea is announcing job cuts as the firm says that it’s rebuilding from the ground up. In a thread on the social media platform X, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer says that the prominent NFT marketplace will be building a new foundation for faster innovation and upgrading its […]
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This is the second layoff by the pioneering NFT marketplace after the crypto winter and a stubborn bear market for collectibles.
Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea announced on Nov. 3 that it was laying off employees. Co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer broke the news on X (formerly Twitter), saying the company was launching OpenSea 2.0 with a smaller team.
OpenSea launched in 2017, when NFTs were an innovation. It operates on a model comparable to eBay and Etsy and accepts payment in Ether (ETH). It laid off 20% of its employees in July 2022, citing the crypto winter, after which it had a staff of 230, according to press reports at the time. A spokesperson at the pioneering marketplace told Cointelegraph by email:
“Today, we are making significant organizational and operating changes as we focus on building a more nimble – and ultimately better – version of OpenSea. We are immensely grateful for the contributions of those who are leaving OpenSea, and we are supporting them with a robust package consisting of both financial and non-financial support.”
The spokesperson added that around 50% of employees would be affected across all functions and particularly mentioned that the number of middle managers would be reduced. The employees would receive four-month severance packages, accelerated equity vesting and six months of continued healthcare and mental health care.
Related: Donald Trump NFT prices spike following release of mugshot in Georgia criminal case
The market for collectible NFTs peaked in 2021. Since then, use cases such as tokenizing assets, identity and legal documents have gained popularity as the value of many collectibles declined.
OpenSea was in the right place at the right time with the right product. But so was Tower Records. What can OpenSea do to maintain this lead they have? The answer is simple. Become a DAO, drop a governance token to users. It will be valued in the tens of billions. Everybody wins.
— Beanie (@beaniemaxi) November 11, 2021
OpenSea faced significant community pushback in August when it announced that it was retiring its operator filter, a feature that allowed creators to blacklist marketplaces that did not enforce royalties. Yuga Labs, creator of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks NFT series, began to taper off its use of OpenSea’s Seaport marketplace smart contract in response.
“As we rebuild, we'll continue supporting our existing products, and will be iteratively testing OpenSea 2.0 in public,” Finzer said in his X post. The company currently lists 12 open positions on LinkedIn with starting salaries ranging from $90,000 to $270,000.
There is no clear downward trend in crypto crime, but a quiet month is undoubtedly more than welcome in the Web3 community.
Web3 theft hit a low point for the year so far in October, CertiK reported. Losses to hacks, exploits and scams confirmed by the blockchain security firm amounted to $32.2 million for the month across 38 incidents, with no single incident leading to a loss of over $7 million.
Compared to the ten-month total of $1.4 billion, losses in October were approximately a quarter of the running monthly average. January showed the second-lowest losses at $33.7 million. The October statistics were not the result of a steady decline in losses but rather show a lack of major incidents that month. October’s 38 incidents were a quantitative low as well.
Certik’s third-quarter report indicated the number of incidents in July was 79, falling to 66 in August and 39 in September. Only exit scams were up in October and were four times higher than the low they reached in September. That category reached its yearly high in May when users of a crypto project called Fintoch lost almost $32 million.
Related: Tracking stolen crypto — How blockchain analysis helps recover funds
On the other hand, exploits saw a peak in September, mainly due to the $200 million loss suffered by the Mixin Network when its cloud service provider was breached. July saw the second-highest damage, most of which was attributable to losses by the Multichain MPC bridge.
Caution : Crypto Social Media Scams are on the rise. Many of the methods used have roots in history. The combination of social media's vast reach and cryptocurrency's decentralized, often opaque, nature creates an ideal environment for scammers.
— CertiK (@CertiK) October 26, 2023
Let’s delve into this topic
There are some clear trends in crypto crime. CertiK recently noted the rise of scams using social media. It cited United States Federal Trade Commission data that indicated almost half the cryptocurrency scams in the last 18 months have been tied to social media, which offers a wide variety of opportunities for wrongdoing, from pumping and dumping to pig butchering.
CertiK stated in Q3 that the North Korean Lazarus Group remained the “dominant threat actor.”
Magazine: Should crypto projects ever negotiate with hackers? Probably
The NFT artists were also ordered to cover Yuga Labs’ legal fees after determining the trademark infringement constituted an “exceptional case.”
A United States district court judge has ordered nonfungible token (NFT) artists Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen to pay Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs a total of $1.57 million in disgorgement and damages, along with legal fees, bringing an end to the long-running “copycat” NFT lawsuit.
The Oct. 25 order follows an April 21 partial summary judgement granted in favor of Yuga Labs after the firm claimed that Ripps and Cahen, the defendants, violated copyright laws by making copycat versions of its Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collectibles.
District court Judge John Walter awarded Yuga Labs $1.37 million after concluding the NFT firm was entitled to a disgorgement of the defendants’ profits. An additional $200,000 was awarded in statutory damages relating to cybersquatting violations.
Yuga Labs v. Ryder Ripps et al - Notes from the Court's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law
— NeerMcD.eth (@NeerMcD) October 26, 2023
Yuga is awarded $1,375,362.92 in Ds profits, $200,000 in statutory damages, and attorneys' fees and costs (amount TBD). A permanent injunction is also issued against Ds.
1/ pic.twitter.com/2dTiuWpZSA
Yuga Labs has also been entitled to recover attorney fees and costs from the NFT artists after the judge determined the trademark infringement constituted an “exceptional case.”
“A trademark case is generally considered exceptional for purposes of awarding of attorneys’ fees when a party has taken positions that can be characterized as “malicious, fraudulent, deliberate or willful,” the judge noted.
Judge Walter also knocked back the defendants’ argument that the copycat BAYC versions were “satire” and “parody” — ruling that the defendants intentionally infringed Yuga’s BAYC trademarks with a bad faith intent to profit from them.
He also noted the defendants continued to market and promote their copycat BAYC versions after the partial summary judgement was delivered against them in April.
Yuga Labs filed the lawsuit against the two artists in June 2022.
In an Oct. 16 hearing in a United States appeals court, Ripps and Cahen’s lawyers tried to argue the lawsuit should be thrown out on the grounds of free speech under California’s anti-SLAPP statute. However, the three-judge panel didn’t appear persuaded by the lawyer’s arguments.
Related: NFTs aren’t dead — they’re just resting
BAYC is one of the most valuable NFT collectibles on NFT marketplace OpenSea.
Since April 2021, it has amassed 1.32 million Ether (ETH) or $2.38 billion in trading volume with an average floor price of 27.4 ETH ($49,200), according to OpenSea.
Magazine: Digital artist OSF gives fans a pledge of ‘art until I die’: NFT Creator
