Crypto Trader Says One Ethereum-Based Altcoin Primed To ‘Do Big Numbers’, Updates Outlook on Bitcoin and Polygon

September 14, 2023 The Daily Hodl

Polygon 2.0 — MATIC conversion to POL outlined in preliminary improvement proposals

September 14, 2023 Coin Telegraph

The Ethereum layer-2 developer has introduced the first improvement proposals to begin the transition to its Polygon 2.0 ecosystem.

Polygon Labs’ vision of an interconnected layer-2 Ethereum ecosystem powered by zero-knowledge cryptography begins in earnest following three inaugural improvement proposals that will begin the transition to Polygon 2.0.

The scaling technology firm unveiled Polygon 2.0 in June 2023, outlining plans for a scaling ecosystem made up of four protocol layers. The staking, interop, execution and proving layers all play a role in creating an interconnected ecosystem of chains that enable fast value transfer and information sharing.

1/ The wait is over. Polygon 2.0 implementation kicks off now with the release of 3 Polygon Improvement Proposals (PIPs), and a roadmap for Phase 0.https://t.co/gk7FW0zCpc pic.twitter.com/YJo3BtQy4y
— Polygon (Labs) (@0xPolygonLabs) September 14, 2023

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal recently unpacked how the ecosystem aims to become the value layer of the internet by using zero-knowledge (ZK) technology to provide low-fee, high-throughput performance to the wider Ethereum ecosystem.

Polygon released three Polygon Improvement Proposals (PIPs) on Sept. 14 for community consideration and voting that are earmarked to begin taking place in the final quarter of 2023.

The PIPs outline technical details for “Phase 0” of the establishment of a network of interconnected ZK-powered layer-2 chains that scale Ethereum. This includes a proposal for the transition and specifications that will see MATIC (MATIC) tokens become POL tokens, which will become the Polygon proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol’s native token.

PIP-17 will include the initiation of the upgrade from MATIC to POL. This includes its transition to POL as the native gas token and staking token for the Polygon ecosystem, as well as the launch of the staking layer and migration of Polygon public chains.

PIP-18 includes the technical description of POL tokens as well as accompanying contracts that will handle emission and token migrations. POL tokens can be migrated at a 1:1 ratio from existing MATIC tokens. The PIP notes an initial supply of 10 billion and a yearly emission of 2% equally distributed between validator staking rewards and a community treasury.

Lastly, PIP-19 proposes the update of the native gas token on Polygon PoS from MATIC to POL while ensuring maximum backwards compatibility.

Polygon’s announcement notes that PIP-19 will not change contracts on Polygon PoS, while the properties of the protocol’s native token will not change either. However, contracts on Ethereum that are awaiting MATIC from the native MATIC bridge may be affected by the upgrade.

Magazine: Here’s how Ethereum’s ZK-rollups can become interoperable

Polygon co-founder – $1B bet on ZK-rollups paying off

September 13, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Polygon co-founder - B bet on ZK-rollups paying off

Aggregator

Polygon has allocated an estimated $1 billion on zero-knowledge technology underpinning its Ethereum scaling layer 2 solutions.

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal believes the layer 2 blockchain firm is reaping the benefits of allocating $1 billion to develop zero-knowledge proof (ZK-proof) powered scaling solutions for the Ethereum ecosystem.

Speaking at a keynote address during the latest edition of the Token2049 conference in Singapore, Nailwal touched on the development of 'Polygon 2.0' scaling efforts and the promise of recursive ZK-proof technology to create a seamless interoperable blockchain ecosystem.

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal at Token2049 in Singapore.

Nailwal highlighted how Web2 and Web3 are similar in form and function, with the former serving as the internet of information with “practically unlimited scalability” as well as the ability to transfer or convey information in various forms seamlessly across the world at great speeds.

Web3 meanwhile represents the “internet of value”, which according to Nailwal will require two capabilities to become ubiquitous.

“Firstly, infinite, unlimited unbounded scalability and unified liquidity for value to be transferred. There cannot be 100 chains with the value distributed across and they cannot interoperate.”

In order to tap into the characteristics that have made Web2 able to become the internet of information, Nailwal pointed to the importance of an aggregator or interoperability layer to amalgamate ZK-proofs of different chains to a common layer.

“The moment those two proofs are submitted on Ethereum layer, we have a mechanism where we have a global state route on Ethereum and then any kind of liquidity can move across the chain without coming to Ethereum.”

Recursive ZK-proving technology holds the key to this aggregator layer which Nailwal expects to be deployed in the coming months. The technology will allow different blockchains to submit ZK-proofs of their network state to the aggregator, which then submits a proof of these combined attestations to the Ethereum network.

“Our goal is that this proving will eventually go down to like probably two seconds. So every chain is submitting a proof of whatever has happened on their ecosystem or on their chain every two seconds to this aggregator layer.”

The Polygon co-founder believes that cross chain transactions could be executed in 4 to 5 seconds, one third of an Ethereum block time, which will begin to feel “like one single big block space.”

Nailwal highlights the potential benefit of having high liquidity chains like it's zkEVM and proof-of-stake chain to share value to applications, while noting that larger layer 1 blockchain platforms have expressed interest in tapping into an interoperable layer.

“Anybody can join this layer and it's a mutual win-win because everybody benefits from each other's liquidity.”

Polygon zkEVM's beta hit mainnet in March 2023, allowing developers to deploy smart contracts and decentralized applications that benefit from faster throughput and lower costs than Ethereum's layer 1.

The company also recently launched its Chain Development Kit, which allows developers to build, customize and deploy layer 2 chains connected to the wider Ethereum ecosystem.

Collect this article as an NFT to preserve this moment in history and show your support for independent journalism in the crypto space.

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

Dogecoin (DOGE), Tron (TRX) and Polygon (MATIC) Could Get Rocked if FTX Liquidates Holdings: Analytics Firm

September 13, 2023 The Daily Hodl

Hackers behind $41M Stake heist shifts BNB, MATIC in latest move: CertiK

September 12, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Hackers behind M Stake heist shifts BNB, MATIC in latest move: CertiK

Beosin

A total of $4.8 million in funds have now been moved by the hacker to Bitcoin and now Avalanche.

The hackers behind cryptocurrency casino Stake’s $41 million hack have shifted another $328,000 million worth of Polygon (MATIC) and Binance Coin (BNB) tokens — its latest moves following the Sept. 4 exploit, according to blockchain security firm CertiK.

The most recent transfer involved 300 BNB tokens worth about $61,500 to an externally owned address “0x695…” which were then bridged to the Avalanche blockchain on Sept. 11 at 4:09 pm UTC.

Another 520,000 MATIC tokens worth over $266,000 were also moved to Avalanche seven hours earlier at 7:18 am UTC.

#CertiKSkynetAlert

We are seeing a further movement of funds from the Stake exploiter.

520k MATIC was swapped and bridged to Avalanche before being bridged to BTC as per other fund movements from the exploiter.

See more on Skynet https://t.co/Sdsfh29AoF
— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) September 11, 2023

The 520,000 MATIC and 300 BNB — totaling $328,000 — add to the $4.5 million in stolen funds that were bridged to the Bitcoin blockchain (in the form of BTC) on Sept. 7, according to blockchain security firm Arkham.

The total $4.8 million transferred however only represents 1.2% of the total $41 million stolen from the hackers.

Over the past 24 hours, the Hacker has been gradually bridging funds to the BTC Blockchain using a series of new wallets on Polygon and Avalanche.

They have so far bridged $4.5M to BTC addresses, with the remaining $36M still held on ETH/BNB/Polygon. pic.twitter.com/fiMy62ABwL
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) September 7, 2023

It is understood the hacker gained access to the private key of Stake’s Binance Smart Chain and Ethereum hot wallets to perpetrate the hack on Sept. 4.

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation believes North Korea’s Lazarus Group was behind the exploit.

Estimated funds lost from hacks, scams passes $1 billion

With $41 million stripped from Stake, the industry’s malicious actors have now taken the cryptocurrency hacks and scams toll to well over $1 billion in 2023.

CertiK previously reported the figure to be $997 million at the end of August, though several attacks in the last two weeks will push the figure over the $1 billion mark.

In September, a cryptocurrency whale lost $24 million in staked Ether (ETH) in a phishing attack on Sept. 6, and Vitalik Buterin’s X (formerly Twitter) account was then compromised on Sept. 9, where the hacker then lured several victims into a nonfungible token scam which totaled $691,000.

The three incidents would take CertiK’s August figure to at least $1.04 billion.

Crypto Hacks And Scams Reach Nearly a Billion Dollars In 2023!

⚔️ThreatSlayer is your security sidekick that keeps you safe! pic.twitter.com/pZmPCdZzP2
— Interlock (@interlockweb3) September 11, 2023

Other recent incidents include Pepe (PEPE) coin’s withdrawal incident which set back investors $13.2 million, Exactly Protocol’s $7.3 million exploit and an exposed security vulnerability on Balancer which did $2.1 million in damage.

Magazine: $3.4B of Bitcoin in a popcorn tin — The Silk Road hacker’s story

Nifty News: NFT restaurant crumbles, Binance NFT ends Polygon support and more

September 9, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Binance

The restaurant was being built alongside a private members lounge that was only open to people who bought NFTs, but rising construction costs ultimately halted the project.

Bold plans for a nonfungible token (NFT)-based restaurant and private members lounge in San Francisco have ended abruptly after the company behind the project halted construction due to challenging macroeconomic factors.

The two venues were being built on Salesforce Park and were going to be dubbed the “Sho Restaurant” and “Sho Club Sky Lounge.”

The latter would only be accessible to holders of the Sho Club NFTs, which cost anywhere from $7,500 to $300,000, and offered access to other future Sho Group hospitality offerings.

Speaking with San Francisco-focused news website SFGATE on Sept. 7, Sho Group CEO Joshua Sigel stated that it was no longer possible to build the project and confirmed that the company ended its lease agreement in July.

*Early rendition of the restaurant and members lounge. Source: Sho Group.*

The CEO added: “Despite a strong demand for the concept with millions of dollars in both pre-sold and reserved memberships [...] we ultimately could not address the many concerns brought about by potential investors, most of which have been around the future of SF and the rising costs of constructing the restaurant.”

Sigel went on to highlight difficult macro factors that ended up making construction costs too expensive, such as “labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, geopolitical uncertainty, and inflation.”

Sigel says Sho Group has refunded everyone who bought the NFTs.

Binance NFT ends support for Polygon

Binance’s NFT marketplace suddenly announced that it would soon wind down support for Polygon-based NFTs but did not provide a clear explanation as to why.

In a Sept. 8 blog post, Binance NFT stated that it will discontinue its The Sandbox NFT Staking Program later this month, citing a decision to streamline product offerings on the platform.

The program allows users to stake their Polygon-based Land NFTs from The Sandbox to earn SAND token rewards; however, it will officially shut down on Sept. 26.

Users will have their NFTs automatically unstaked and returned to the spot wallets.

As part of the closure of the program, Binance NFT also stated that support for the Polygon network will come to an end on the same day, with users being given until Dec. 31 to withdraw all their Polygon NFTs from the marketplace.

Explaining the move, all Binance NFT stated was that “more details will be provided to impacted users at a later date.”

Reddit launches NFL NFTs

To celebrate the new NFL season that kicked off this week, NFT-friendly social media platform Reddit launched NFL-themed NFT avatar collectibles.

TODAY IS THE DAY Introducing NFL #RedditCollectibles for all 32 @NFL teams (limited to 500 units per team). Draft yours now! #NFLxReddit #2023NFLKickoff https://t.co/e43sIHl9oW pic.twitter.com/WOjRagyJmv
— Reddit (@Reddit) September 6, 2023

The collection was launched on Sept. 7 and covers all 32 teams. The NFTs are being sold for $25 a pop, and the artwork depicts the Reddit Snoo mascot wearing various uniforms.

There are 500 tokens available per team; however, at the time of writing, it appears that many of the sets have more than 400 NFTs still available, suggesting there hasn’t been any rush to snap them up yet.

*Reaction to the announcement on r/CollectibleAvatars. Source: Reddit*

Rumble Kong League x Stance

As part of a partnership with NBA star Paul George and popular sock, underwear and T-shirt brand Stance, NFT project Rumble Kong League has dropped phygital basketball socks.

The drop is part of a broader collaborative project dubbed Hyper Socks, which will eventually see the launch of a 3v3 basketball game with play-to-earn features.

The first stage of the project saw the sale of tokenized socks that can be used in the upcoming game.

In a Sept. 8 announcement, the Rumble Kong League team kicked off stage two by opening up the sale of 250 boxes of physical Stance Sox, that are themed with the cartoon gorilla avatars from the project.

Two legends in their field, joining forces to create greatness.

The RKL x @Stance HyperSocks are live!

Top performance rare fur quality that'll create a spark on any basketball court.

Only 250 available!

Grab your box before they're gone! pic.twitter.com/3rQXtTtciI
— Rumble Kong League (@RumbleKongs) September 8, 2023

The partnership marks a significant mainstream partnership for the project, considering Stance’s ties to the NBA and other pro sports leagues.

Other Nifty News:

The team behind NFT project OnChainMonkey is shifting its entire collection of 10,000 NFTs from Ethereum to Bitcoin in a massive undertaking expected to take several months.

The Base network’s “Onchain Summer” promotion in August resulted in over 700,000 NFTs minted by over 268,000 unique wallets, according to a Sept. 6 announcement from the team.

Magazine: NFT Collector: Giant Swan’s gothic VR dreamscapes… royalty nightmare on OpenSea

Polygon Founder Responds to Allegation That the Crypto Asset’s Backer Dumped Over $5,900,000 in MATIC on Binance

September 7, 2023 The Daily Hodl

Polygon Foundation denies MATIC dump on Binance, claims wallets were mislabeled

September 7, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Binance

Nansen, who was responsible for labelling these wallets, claimed that these addresses showed strong links to Polygon, however it removed the label after Polygon CEO’s public refute.

Blockchain analytic firm Lookonchain flagged a crypto wallet allegedly belonging to Polygon Foundation that transferred large amounts of Matic tokens on Binance. Polygon Labs founder Sandeep Nailwal refuted the claim and said it was a case of mislabeling and the wallet doesn’t belong to Polygon Foundation.

One more time, incorrect labelling @lookonchain. This is the second time this has happened.

Plz be careful about these tweets , creates unnecessary FUDs for the community https://t.co/mVpaIYB9Xt
— Sandeep Nailwal | sandeep. polygon (@sandeepnailwal) September 7, 2023

Lookonchain flagged two wallets "Polygon Foundation: 0x8d36" and "Polygon Foundation: 0xf957" that collectively deposited over $5.5 million worth of MATIC onto Binance over the past 30 days with more than half of the amount deposited over the past two days.

*Matic deposited on Binance from Polygon Foundation labeled wallets. Source: Etherscan*

Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron was the first to flag the issue of mislabelling to which the blockchain analyst responded that the wallets were labeled by another crypto analytic firm, Nansen.

Nansen responded that they go through a rigorous process before labelling such wallets and explained that these two wallets in question had shown strong links to key members of the Polygon.

The firm cited key instances of interaction by Polygon Labs executives with wallet address 0x8d365687a75dc7688864822869ae0551bb6fc105, where in one instance leads growth at Polygon Sanket had sent ETH to the mentioned address and the same address has received tokens from private rounds Polygon invested in such as Hot Cross.

For the second wallet address: 0xf957fa14ea72a9ecd7bdc06c5be89a5a34c7aa89, Nansen claimed that their “counterparties consist of the previous address 0x8d3 and with other entities that are tied closely with Polygon with the head of Investments being one example. “

However, Nansen concluded that since Polygon Labs' CEO has publicly refuted the claims about these address’s links to the firm, they are going to remove the label. Boiron thanked Nansen for removing the label and acknowledged that labelling wallets is not an easy task. Polygon didn't respond to Cointelegraph's requests for comments at press time.

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