Tokens
Belarus Moves to Allow Investment Funds to Acquire Crypto Assets
The crypto-friendly nation of Belarus is preparing to permit investment funds to put money into digital currencies. A proposal to do so is part of a package of necessary legal changes tailored to attract such institutions to the country. Finance Ministry Takes Steps to Facilitate Crypto Investments in Belarus Amendments aimed at luring investment funds […]A “unifying Web3 platform” will onboard 1 billion users by 2026, says Harmony COO
COO at Harmony, Li Jiang, is convinced that a bridge connecting all major blockchains is the key to building the foundation of a decentralized internet.
Li Jiang, COO at Harmony, believes that a bridge connecting all existing blockchains is key to onboard the first 1 billion users on Web 3.
“We think that the future is multichain and cross-chain, that you should be able to move assets very easily from one chain to another, with good prices, with good rates and very fast.”, he told Cointelegraph in an exclusive interview.
Harmony is a Layer-1 blockchain protocol that aims at creating bridges with all major blockchains and becoming a “unifying Web 3 platform” by 2026.
Jiang acknowledges that blockchain technology is not mature enough to onboard such a large amount of users due to scalability limitations.
“Today, no one can support a billion users, no chain, no ecosystem”, he said.
Harmony is addressing these limitations by leveraging proof-of-stake and sharding technology. That, as Jiang pointed out, allows Harmony to simultaneously achieve high levels of decentralization, scalability, and security.
“We have two-second finality. While that's almost the fastest in the industry, We did that without trading off on decentralization or security.
According to Jiang, Layer-1 solutions such as Harmony will prove more effective than Layer-2 protocols built on Ethereum in the creation of a cross-chain internet, due to their higher flexibility.
He also thinks that the future of Web3 is not a winner-takes-all kind of scenario: multiple Layer-1 protocols with their own unique value propositions will be able to coexist.
“The chains that will that will grow are re the ones that are great at cultivating their native projects,” he pointed out.
Check out the full interview on our YouTube channel and don’t forget to subscribe!
Russian central bank registers nation’s first digital asset manager
In late 2021, Bank of Russia deputy governor claimed the bank would allow crypto investment only via foreign firms.
The Bank of Russia has registered tokenization service Atomyze as the country’s first digital asset management company, the central bank officially announced Thursday.
According to the announcement, the Bank of Russia has formally deemed the rules of the company’s information system and the platform’s technical implementation as being compliant with the Russian law.
The registration enables Atomyze to provide its clients with an opportunity to issue digital financial assets, or DFA, on its platform as well as obtain “new types of assets in the tokenized form.” The organization will be also enabled to “independently carry out exchange operations within its platform” as the rules of DFA exchange are “built into the information system rules.”
“In order to further develop the DFA, the Bank of Russia has formulated proposals for improving the regulation of such assets and their taxation, which will increase the attractiveness and applicability of digital financial instruments. In the near future, these proposals will be submitted for discussion in the form of a regulatory consultation report,” the central bank noted.
According to Atomyze's website, it is a Russia-based blockchain firm focused on “digitization of various assets and processes though distributed ledger technologies including, but not limited to DFA.”
In June 2021, Atomyze secured funding from Russian conglomerate and investment firm Interros, co-founded by local billionaire entrepreneur Vladimir Potanin. The Russian oligarch is known as Russia’s second-richest person with a net worth of $28.8 billion. He made a fortune by acquiring a stake in the nickel and palladium mining and smelting company Norilsk Nickel during Russia's privatization in 1995.
According to a separate announcement by Interros, the Global Palladium Fund was one of the first issuers on the Atomyze global platform. The fund specifically launched digital exchange-traded commodities backed by assets of Norilsk Nickel on six European stock exchanges, including those in London and Frankfurt.
“Atomyze became the first tokenization platform in Russia to receive a regulatory approval,” Interros wrote, adding that its ecosystem includes tokenization platforms not only in Russia, but also in other jurisdictions, such as, in the United and Switzerland. The announcement also states the following:
“This will ensure Russia’s “digital equality” in the global digital economy, make it easier for Russian companies to enter world markets, and make it possible to attract more foreign capital to Russia.”
Related: Russian bank Sber launches blockchain ETF tracking Coinbase, Galaxy Digital
As previously reported, the Bank of Russia has been strongly opposing local companies to start offering digital currency-related services including crypto investment. Major local private bank Tinkoff acquired a foreign crypto-related firm in early January after the Bank of Russia reportedly stopped the firm from launching its own suite of related services last year.
In late 2021, Bank of Russia deputy governor Vladimir Chistyukhin announced the bank’s intention to allow Russians to invest in crypto only through foreign crypto infrastructure.
Blockchain meets activity tracking: Project rewards healthy habits with tokens
Medical professionals have developed ways to track and store personal health data securely within the blockchain.
Blockchain use cases continue to grow as the world learns about the benefits that it brings. Apart from bringing financial innovations like the ability to do peer-to-peer transactions, blockchain now makes its way to the health industry.
Health specialists created a method to track and store health data using blockchain technology. Rosanne Warmerdam, the CEO of Health Blocks, told Cointelegraph that her team had developed a way for users to generate and store patients’ health data without sacrificing their privacy and security.
“We wanted to start with giving users ownership and control over their health data,” said Warmerdam. By building on top of the IoTeX blockchain, their platform Health Blocks collects lifestyle-related health data from wearables and other smart devices and connects it to a decentralized health profile.
The project also gives incentives as users reach their health goals. “We want to make a healthy lifestyle fun and rewarding, providing tools to improve health and provide access to health services for all,” said Warmerdam.
With this, users can get tokens as they achieve their health goals. According to Warmerdam, “when a user reaches a health goal of 10,000 steps in a day, a smart contract is triggered, sending tokens to your profile.”
Related: $1B science fund seeks blockchain projects to expand human lifespan
Meanwhile, a medical firm in Mexico is using blockchain to verify COVID-19 testing results. MDS Mexico utilizes the technology to avoid the fabrication of results. The team certifies the COVID-19 detection through blockchain and cryptographic signatures. This protects the information by using a unique, immutable, and unalterable QR Code that can easily be verified.
There are a number of existing use cases for blockchain in the medical field, but many predict it is open for more breakthroughs. While discussing new potential crypto and blockchain use cases, billionaire Mark Cuban also shared theories on how a decentralized autonomous organization may be applied in medical procedures like providing colonoscopies.
OpenDAO (SOS), LooksRare (LOOKS) and WTF token: 3 airdrops, with 1 scam
NFT investors are demanding that marketplaces recognize and give value to their users, prompting competitors like LOOKS, SOS and WTF to launch ambitious vampire attacks on OpenSea.
NFTs continue to surge with what looks to be no end in sight. Since January 14, 2022 OpenSea notched trading volumes over $1.03 billion, and its latest rival, LooksRare, has eclipsed the platform according to data from DappRadar.
What’s clear is that NFT collectors and traders appear to be shifting their sentiment on where they are seeing value. Since the start of 2022 there's been an emphasis on “community” with a buzz and advocacy of rewarding users for their participation.
OpenSea has already generated more than $3.2 billion in total volume despite many NFT traders feeling that the marketplace betrayed the notions of Web3. These investors are voting with their feet and planning to boycott the marketplace by turning their attention to others who are more “Web3 friendly.”
Community-driven NFT marketplace, LooksRare and other platforms have successfully completed a vampire attack, leaving disgruntled OpenSea users migrating away from it for not valuing and rewarding user participation.
Participants seem to be adamant on advocating for the value they create within the ecosystem and feel competitors are meeting their demands.
However, could more rivals to OpenSea sway users by claiming to value and reward their participation? And could others potentially exploit users who blindly follow these notions and protocols?
SOS: OpenDao receives mixed reviews
Since launching, SOS has locked in 13.7 trillion SOS in staking ($45.6 million) and 50% of its total 100 trillion total total supply is distributed to the community. Up until January 12, 2022 users were eligible to claim a 145% APY for its veSOS governance token and this came equipped with voting rights for future projects and protocols.
SOS appeared to have lit the match for community activism but it faced backlash after taking back its original plans to end claiming until June 30, 2022. Many voiced their frustration and confusion, learning that in DAOs, decisions can change with the call of a vote, and participation is highly recommended.
Currently there are over 200,000 holders and more than $2.5 billion traded and future project launches plus the current NFT marketplace could see more liquidity rotating into SOS.
SOS has decreased nearly 70.5% and is trading at $0.00000327despite a looming marketplace that is speculated to offer unique trading opportunities for NFTs.
NFTs continue to surge with what looks to be no end in sight. Since January 14, 2022 OpenSea notched trading volumes over $1.03 billion, while its latest rival, LooksRare, made over $1.79 billion ranking above the giant, according to data from DappRadar.
Is there more to LooksRare than just wash trading?
Launched on January 10, 2022, LooksRare aimed for OpenSea’s jugular— or rather its lack of Web3 incentives and initiatives— and gained the attention of many who were already discussing the “Death of OpenSea.”
The token was a “free” drop, but it came with the price of several transaction fees, including placing an NFT up for sale, claiming the airdrop and staking (optional).
Even with the costs, over 110,000 wallets claimed LOOKs, from approximately 60% of the total eligible wallets, according to data from Dune Analytics.
LooksRare has amassed nearly $2.4 billion in total volume, but the metric only shows a piece of the entire pie. A few red flags were raised when a closer look at the amount of transactions was viewed.
Comparing the number of transactions on LooksRare to OpenSea reveals that OpenSea processed over 50 times the amount of transactions of LooksRare.
LooksRare has an estimate of 17 times the amount of users, yet OpenSea’s volume is half that of its rival.
Shortly after launch, investors grew suspicious that traders were wash trading with Larva Labs Meebits collection to take advantage of trading rewards.
While there’s a camp of individuals who are championing LooksRare and find its model promising, others are raising questions and concerns about the platform’s sustainability.
Fees.wtf lived up to its name
Many were fortunate to benefit from the SOS and LOOKs airdrop but the Fees.wft airdrop was a different story. Initially, the project was a fee service on the Ethereum blockchain that calculates the total gas fees a user has spent.
A user had to spend at least 0.05 Ether to be eligible to claim and once announced, traders rushed to cash in only to find the initial liquidity pool was too small resulting in 58 Ether, ($188,036) being drained by a bot.
1/ $WTF: A service, a token, and what everyone said five minutes into the launch when one bot drained 58 ETH from the pool.
— meows.eth (@cat5749) January 14, 2022
Let's take a look at what happened.
Aptly named, it seems users did not have to mint the Fees.WTF NFT to feel rekt. Users who were not familiar with slippage tolerances found that their orders were executed for significantly less than expected, leaving one user trading over $135,000.
Despite falling nearly 84% since a spike after its initial launch, WTF seems to continue to grab the attention of new holders with its claims window still open and the number of holders increasing.
Programming the contract so that the team makes 4% after every transfer, the team has allegedly made over $3 million and counting. Even though the platform "intended" to reward users for the fees they have spent, Fee.WTF stunted on users who paid more in fees than they actually claimed.
According to Rokitapp founder Lefteris Karapetsas, the smart contract was coded to siphon Ether from anyone who interacted with the contract. Upon further inspection, Karapetsas saw the contract encoded a fixed whitelist of those who did not need to pay transfer fees.
Oh hey look the @feeswtf team posted a post-mortem: https://t.co/8v1Ng3DupH
— Lefteris Karapetsas | Hiring for @rotkiapp (@LefterisJP) January 15, 2022
If that does not tell you need to know about the "project" I don't know what will.
Despite suspected wash trading and the contentious issues surrounding the association to Cole, Pudgy Penguin co-creator and investor in the project, LooksRare provides a competitive edge to OpenSea because it falls in line with the current demand of Web3 users. OpenDAO and LooksRare are good examples of what OpenSea competitors possess and are waiting to unleash.
With the increasing number of individuals entering the crypto ecosystem, and many advocating for Web3 incentives, traders need to take heed and evaluate where they are placing their attention and value since there are platforms that are laser-focused on exploiting their needs.
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.
Andreessen Horowitz aims to raise $4.5 billion to invest in crypto funds
Last week, A16z reportedly said it would raise $3.5 billion for its VC fund, as well as another $1 billion for Web3 seed investments.
A16z, a VC company with investments in Protocol Labs, Polychain Capital and Opensea among others, is now planning to raise $4.5 billion for its latest fund, which is focused solely on cryptocurrencies, according to a report by U.K newspaper Financial Times.
Last week, Andreessen Horowitz’ venture capital firm reportedly said it would raise $3.5 billion for its VC fund, as well as another $1 billion for Web3 seed investments, with the plans to be announced in March. The firm is ready to eclipse the $2.2 billion it raised in June 2021, which was the crypto industry's largest at the time.
The first fund will be used for investment in crypto start-ups and projects that are seeking investment for initiatives, while the second fund will be focused on investing in digital tokens and currencies.
Andreessen Horowitz, with almost $30 billion in assets under management, is one of Silicon Valley's top venture capital companies. The venture fund was one of the first major investors in companies like Skype, Facebook, Twitter and Coinbase. If a16z is successful in attracting investors to raise $4.5 billion, it would become the industry's largest, surpassing Paradigm's $2.5 billion in November 2021.
Related: OpenSea raises $300M for encrypted digital marketplace
A16z has backed a number of crypto-friendly gaming platforms, most recently Carry1st, which is the firm's first investment in a startup on the African continent. In October 2021, a high-powered delegation from the VC firm engaged with members of Congress and administration officials in the United States to discuss crypto rules.
Bitcoin Dominance Increases, ETH’s Market Share Slides, Stablecoin and Smart Contract Coins Rise
On Wednesday, the crypto economy of 12,620 coins across 543 exchanges is hovering just above the $2 trillion mark. Ever since the crypto economy’s market slump, bitcoin’s market dominance among all the coins in existence has slowly risen from 37% zone back over the 38% range. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s market dominance has diminished as it has […]Gift to Pope Francis Sold as NFT Raises $80,000 for Afghanistan
A carpet presented by the United Arab Emirates as a gift to the head of the Catholic Church a few years ago has been sold in the form of NFT. While the original remains in the Vatican, its digital representation has been successfully used to collect funds for the people of Afghanistan. NFT of Historic […]Battle of the bots: WTF token launch drains 58 ETH
The WTF token airdrop got off to a wild launch. Users reportedly lost thousands of dollars while one bot disappeared with 58 ETH.
Fees.wtf is a simple service that shows Ether (ETH) users their lifetime spend on Ethereum blockchain transactions by measuring gas. You plug in your wallet address on their website and they tell me how much gas you spent.
The project released their token, WTF, in an airdrop Friday at midnight. Essentially, users would be able to claim WTF tokens as well as a “Rekt” NFT for 0.01 ETH. The Rekt NFT grants lifetime access to the pro version of fees.wtf.
According to their Discord announcement, the initial launch would offer 100 million of WTF and the “circulating supply will be the main attraction in the tokenomics.” However, it didn’t quite go to plan.
Following a series of frantic trading behavior between bots in the opening hours of the airdrop, one bot ran off with a reported 58 ETH, or $180,000. On Etherscan, 58 ETH was drained from the wrapped ETH (WETH) to the WTF liquidity pool.
Social media channels were quick to respond because many airdrop participants lamented losing thousands of dollars in ETH. The WTF team chimed in two hours after the airdrop to calm their ranks:
“Immediately on launch there was only a tiny bit of liquidity and there were ape bots that were chucking in 100s of ETH into a pool with an ETH or two of liquidity. They also had high slippage and ended up being sandwiched by the other bots which essentially drained all their ETH.”
Basically, within five minutes of the token launch, poor liquidity pool management from the WTF devs left the liquidity pool exposed. As there was low liquidity, bots were able to manipulate the price of WTF to then sell for WETH.
The bots would battle it out till one winner would take home the pot. In effect, the bot stole from users who provided liquidity to the pool, trying to claim their WTF tokens and Rekt NFT. The victor managed to send an “ultra-fast transaction at 3,000 Gwei”, making a 6x return on their initial investment.
The WTF team sent out another Discord update two hours after the airdrop, stating that “The core contracts are all fine, this was a war on Uniswap.” The team added, “We hope no one was affected by it.” However, as has become a common occurrence in airdrops of late, lots of users lost a lot of money.
The price graph of the token since launch paints a thousand words. The initial spike shows the bot activity, swiftly followed by a 10x loss in value.
The official WTF Discord group is brimming with users sharing stories of losing money. Some are “shaking” with rage while death threats and lawsuit claims are rife.
One Etherscan transaction points to one user losing 42 ETH, or $135,000, for 0.000044170848308398 WTF, effectively $0.01.
Related: Recounting 2021’s biggest DeFi hacking incidents
As daylight dawns on the project, some Twitter users have called out the project as a Ponzi scheme. The referral element to the project is spurious. Referrers of the WTF project claim a 50% on fees “to make wtf go viral,” while the WTF team earns 4% from each transfer. In total, the WTF team claimed almost half a million in token transfer fees in a little over 8 hours.
Twitter user Lefteris Karapetsas didn’t mince his words:
Summing up.
— Lefteris Karapetsas | Hiring for @rotkiapp (@LefterisJP) January 14, 2022
WTF "team" made an app any dev can do in 1 hour
Slapped a token + ponzinomics on it
Anons aped without thinking and lost ETH in gas and claim fees
Team has so far made 116 ETH + 6,168,806 WTF. Roughly around $855,665 and this is getting bigger by the second
The WTF project states merely that the supply of tokens is “deflationary”, and that 40 million WTF tokens will go to their treasury. There is not a great deal of detail regarding the token distribution. Meows.ETH concluded their Twitter thread with a zen approach to the controversial project launch:
“If you were fortunate enough to claim a big amount of $WTF and cash it out for a profit, be happy. Unless you're attempting to bot the initial liquidity, don't FOMO into buying a newly launched altcoin with high slippage.”