Paxful Refunds All Users Impacted by Celsius Bankruptcy

• Paxful has announced that it will be refunding all impacted users of its Paxful Earn program, which was in partnership with the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius.
• The CEO of Paxful has stated that he could not let users suffer and will ensure they are made whole.
• It is still being determined how much of a refund each user will receive.

Paxful Vows To Refund Impacted Users Of Crypto Lender Celsius

Celsius Bankruptcy Leaves Users in Limbo

Users have been left in limbo as crypto lender Celsius froze withdrawals due to bankruptcy proceedings. This meant users were unable to access their funds from the firm’s interest-bearing Earn Program.

Paxful To Refund All Impacted Users

Ray Youssef, the CEO of peer-to-peer Bitcoin Marketplace Paxful, has stated that the firm will be refunding all impacted users of its Paxful Earn program. He noted that he could not stand by and watch them suffer, so they’ve made them whole. It is still being determined how much each user will receive as part of the refund.

Court Ruling Not Acceptable To CEO

The court had ruled that Celsius Earn Accounts belonged to Celsius‘ bankruptcy estate, not to its users – a decision which did not sit right with Youssef. He believes everyone needs to hold themselves to a higher standard and ensure transparency for their customers above profit.

Putting Customers First

This announcement from Youssef follows his previous appeals on behalf of customers when it comes to ensuring their rights are respected and protected by firms like Paxful and Celsius alike. By putting customers first, he hopes this sets an example for other companies in the industry to follow suit on customer protection policies going forward.

Conclusion

With Paxful’s announcement giving hope back to users who were previously stuck in limbo due to the collapse of Celsius, it is now up to other firms within the industry to adopt similar customer protection policies going forward so as not put customer funds at risk again in future scenarios such as these.

Upland 2023 Hackathon: Unleash Your Web3 Creativity for Prizes and Incubation!

• ChainwireUpland, the metaverse super app mapped to the real world, is partnering with the EOS Network Foundation to launch its second hackathon.
• Developers are invited to create new games and experiences leveraging Upland assets such as geo-specific context and FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023™ Legits.
• The hackathon will encompass three unique tracks for developers, designers, artists, gamers, and blockchain enthusiasts to bring their Web3 game ideas to life.

ChainwireUpland Partnering with EOS Network Foundation

PALO ALTO, California – ChainwireUpland, the metaverse super app mapped to the real world is partnering with the EOS Network Foundation (ENF), a community-led not-for-profit organization that coordinates public-goods funding and support in order to encourage growth of the EOS network. This partnership will bring about Upland’s second hackathon inviting web2 and web3 developers alike to create new games and experiences leveraging Upland assets.

Metaverse Innovation Track

As the only metaverse mapped to reality, participants have access to features like geo-specific context and assets like FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023™ Legits that they can utilize while creating their own experiences within Upland. By combining web3 gaming with metaverse experiences people can completely change how they play interact or socialize. This year’s hackathon is designed around empowering developers so they can create unique immersive community driven experiences that increase engagement within the metaverse itself. It has been divided into three tracks: Metaverse Innovation Track; FIFA Women World Cup 2023 (FWWC23) Track; Design Track with prizes for financial rewards as well as entry into Uplands post-hackathon incubator for those who come up with best ideas/projects.

Utilizing Rest APIs

Uplands simple Rest APIs have been provided for all participants which include developers designers artists gamers blockchain enthusiasts etc so that they may bring their Web3 game ideas into reality. With these APIs individuals can place themselves on its virtual map by simply following a few steps given out by Upland representatives during this eventful occasion.

Popular & Fastest Growing Metaverses

Upland is one of the most popular as well as fastest growing metaverses utilizing blockchain technology which enables it users access via Web iOS or Android platforms spread across dozens of global cities allowing them innovative ways of socializing interacting playing etc through this platform thus making it quite an interesting venture in today’s market space.

Conclusion

This year’s Hackathon event organized by ChainwireUpland in cooperation with ENF brings together a number of talented individuals from different backgrounds ranging from developers designers artists gamers blockchain enthusiast etc who are encouraged encouraged towards bringing their creative imaginations into reality through Web3 game ideas being created through utilizing Uplands Rest APIs which makes this venture even more exciting for all involved!

Explore the Unique World of hobotown.wtf: 6,892 NFTs Await!

• hobotown.wtf is a non-fungible tokens collection built on the Ethereum network with 6,892 items of the collection.
• The market capitalization of hobotown.wtf NFT collection is 17.23 ETH and 13,587 collections sales were made at an average price of 0.10 ETH since its launch.
• The payment tokens of the hobotown.wtf collection are ETH, WETH and buyer fee to dev and seller fee to dev is 0 basis points and 750 basis points respectively.

What is an hobotown.wtf?

hobotown.wtf are a non-fungible tokens collection built on the Ethereum network launched in 2 June, 2022 with 6,892 items that can be viewed at OpenSea. There are currently 2967 owners within 284 days since its release.

Price and Sales

The market capitalization of hobotown.wtf NFT collection is 17.23 ETH and 13,587 collections sales were made at an average price of 0.10 ETH (~$157.29 at the time of writing). This created a total volume in 1,348014 ETH with a 30-day trading volume kept at 0.02 ETH and floor price of 0:002 ETH . The payment tokens used for this collection are ETH, WETH .

Why Are Some NFTs Expensive And Others Not?

NFTs are very new to the blockchain ecosystem and are still in their infancy without historical data or precedence that can assist in determining their value . Some projects have garnered legitimacy because they had first-mover advantage but others have been made purely out of greed and exploitation often having no value .

Is Hobotown Over Or Underpriced?

It is difficult to determine whether NFTs from the hobotown collection is overpriced or underpriced as it depends on how it’s promoted by its creators and community . Making such an assessment will become clearer when the market for NFTs develops more actively .

Hobotown Fees

The buyer fee to dev : 0 basis points while seller fee to dev : 750 basis points , Buyer fee to opensea:io : 0 basis points while Seller fee to opensea:io : 250 basis points , Buyer fee : 0

Online Payment Fraud Soars: Web2.0 Gets Security Wrong

• Online payment fraud is on the rise, having grown 14% from $17.5bn to over $20bn in 2021.
• Cybercrime has surged in recent years as more digital platforms create new opportunities for criminals.
• Web 2.0 was never designed to be secure, and failed to provide users with a safe way of verifying their identity online.

Growing Online Payment Fraud

In 2021, online payment fraud grew 14%, from $17.5bn to over $20bn. At the same time, 46% of organisations surveyed by PwC reported experiencing fraud, corruption, or economic crimes in the last 24 months, with 70% of those coming via an external attack or collusion.

Rise of Cybercrime

Cybercrime has surged over the last decade, as more and more platforms create new opportunities for digital thieves and hackers to scam and swindle at will. It’s estimated that around 40%, though likely more, of all global fraud is platform fraud involving social media platforms, streaming services and marketplaces.

What Did Web 2.0 Get Wrong?

The internet was never designed to be secure internally nor was the World Wide Web designed to be secure either; they just assumed that if you were on the network you could be trusted. When Web 2.0 came along it was focused on making money through data and advertising based on data but this created a verification problem – there needed to be a way of proving who people are without handing back control over their data to them. Unfortunately Web 2.0 never figured out how to make that happen safely or reliably enough for users’ protection .

Remote Working & Data Exposure

When you combine rising levels of cybercrime with increased remote working practices due to the pandemic and corporate information policies becoming less strict about data protection the result is that data appears more exposed than ever before; creating further risk for online payments being compromised by criminals looking for easy targets .

Conclusion

The unfortunate reality is that Web 2.0 can be likened to The Wild West when it comes to data privacy as it’s often difficult or impossible for users themselves alone protect themselves against cyber crime threats while using these platforms effectively . However , if companies developed better ways of authenticating identity verification securely then customers would have much greater peace of mind when using these services which could help reduce levels of platform-based fraud significantly .

Unity Joins Forces with 13 Crypto Gaming Companies to Revolutionize Industry

• Unity, a world-leading 3D content creator, recently included 13 top Web3 crypto gaming companies in its Verified Solutions Program (VSP).
• Crypto gaming is the new frontier and Unity is well-positioned to take advantage of its growth.
• Altura provides infrastructure for Web3 and is one of the companies chosen by Unity for its VSP program.

Unity Includes 13 Top Crypto Gaming Companies in its Verified Solutions Program

World-leading 3D content creator Unity has included 13 top Web3 crypto gaming companies in its Verified Solutions Program (VSP). The crypto industry has gained prominence as the newest and fastest-growing of the world’s asset classes, with niches such as gaming, DeFi, and metaverse bolstering its position.

Unity’s Position at the Top of the Gaming Industry

Unity is a behemoth of a company positioned at the top of the gaming industry. It has 3.9 billion monthly active users and reached 5 billion game downloads in 2021. The number of Unity creators increased 31% last year despite the pandemic – indicating that people are still playing games more than ever before.

The Unity Verified Solutions Program

The 13 Web3 gaming companies selected by Unity are: Aikon ORE ID, Algorand, Altura, Aptos Labs, Dapper Labs, Immutable X, Infura, Metamask, Nefta, Quarters, Solana, Tezos and Truffle. All members of this ecosystem work together to ensure that their releases are verified for productivity and performance.

Altura Provides Infrastructure for Web3

Altura provides all that developers need to build scalable and profitable Web3 games using its powerful API and SDKs on any blockchain platform. Majd Hailat from Altura said: „We are thrilled to team up with Unity and join their Verified Solutions program… Decentralization will revolutionize the gaming industry.“

Conclusion

It’s clear that by entering into this partnership with cryptogaming companies like Altura ,Unity is demonstrating it’s commitment to remain at the forefront of innovation within this rapidly changing sector. This move will provide unlimited potential for both players and developers alike—allowing them access to cutting edge technology while opening up new opportunities within decentralized web 3 applications

Bored Ape Kennel Club Logo Removed After IP Issues Raised

• Yuga Labs recently had to take down the logo for Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) after intellectual property issues were raised by NFT artist COLOMBO.
• The drawing was originally created by design firm Easy Drawing Guides and posted in April 2021, but no license or permission was secured from the original artist even though their terms and conditions explicitly prohibit its proprietary content from being used for commercial contexts.
• Yuga Labs co-founder Greg Solano has issued a statement confirming the takedown of all advertorial materials.

Background

Yuga Labs, the creators behind the NFT community responsible for such crypto art hits such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club, recently had to take down the logo for Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) after intellectual property issues were raised.

Intellectual Property Issue

The issue was first raised by COLOMBO, an NFT artist. After COLOMBO’s disclosure, the owners of the illustration swiftly responded confirming that the figure in question was indeed theirs. Easy Drawing Guides is a design firm focused in drawing tutorials for children and beginners. The drawing was first advertised by Easy Drawing Guides as „an easy step-by-step drawing tutorial“ for trying to draw a wolf skull and it was protected by their Terms and Conditions.

Takedown Action

This prompted Yuga Labs to remove all usage of the image across its platform and social media presence. The BAKC collection saw initial release in June 2021, with a trademark for the logo applied in November of the same year. This event is both shocking and ironic in that the core idea behind NFTs is to help resolve the very issue that is now at hand: intellectual property, and the protection of artists from theft.

Response

Yuga Labs co-founder Greg Solano has issued a statement on the matter confirmingthe takedown of all advertorial materials saying they will be changingthe logo and updating it on their site/ask marketplaces to changeas well once they investigate further into this situation withthe freelancer they hiredandEasyDrawingGuides.

Conclusion

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice

: Hacker Steals $3.6 Million in DeFi Attack on dForce Protocol

• dForce suffered a loss of over $3.6 million due to a reentrancy attack executed on the Arbitrum and Optimism chains.
• The attack was due to a vulnerability in a smart contract function that allowed users to calculate oracle prices when connected to Curve Finance.
• DeForce has paused all contracts to prevent additional losses and stressed that customer funds remain safe.

Reentrancy Attack Suffers dForce Loss of Over $3.6 Million

A hacker was able to siphon off $3.6 million worth of cryptocurrency through a reentrancy attack on the dForce DeFi protocol, which targeted the protocols vault on Curve Finance – an automated market maker (AMM) platform operating on the Arbitrum and Optimism blockchains.

Vulnerability In Smart Contract Function

The hack was brought to light by Twitter user @ZoomerAnon who tweeted that dForce had lost around $1.7 million through a series of flash loan transactions executed on the Optimism Chain. Blockchain security firm PeckShield confirmed the attack and put the damages at around 2300 ETH, worth around $3.65 million. It was determined that the hacker was able to exploit a reentrancy vulnerability present in a smart contract function used by dForce to obtain oracle prices from Arbitrum and Optimism chains, allowing them to repeatedly withdraw funds, transferring them to an unauthorized contract.

dForce’s Response

DeForce also confirmed the attack on its official Twitter handle, adding that it had paused all vaults in order to avoid additional damage: „On Feb 10, our wstETH/ETH Curve vaults on Arbitrum & Optimism were exploited, and we immediately paused all vaults.“ They also added that users‘ funds supplied for their lending services were still safe from harm.

Protocol Debt Created By Hacker

The hacker had created a protocol debt of $2.3 million according to DeForce’s response tweet and they offered up a bounty if the funds were returned successfully as well as promising further updates alongside more details soon after they conducted their own internal investigations into what happened exactly during this incident: „We have engaged with security firm @SlowMist_team and our ecosystem partners for investigation.“

Conclusion

In conclusion, DeForce has responded swiftly following this incident, pausing all vaults in order to prevent any additional losses while assuring customers that their funds are still secure with them despite this unfortunate event happening despite their best efforts at preventing such scenarios from occurring in the first place given how volatile cryptocurrency markets can be at times when it comes down trading digital assets online nowadays these days across decentralized finance platforms like DeFi .

Silvergate Capital Investigated by US DOJ: Facing Possible Charges

• The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) has launched a probe into Silvergate Capital Corp. and its dealings with the bankrupt crypto firm FTX and its sister concern Alameda Research.
• Federal prosecutors in the DoJ’s fraud section are conducting a criminal probe into the bank’s dealings, especially those with FTX and Alameda Research.
• Silvergate Bank has had to resort to drastic layoffs to mitigate damages incurred by it due to customer withdrawals, resulting in a net loss of $1 billion for the bank in Q4 2022.

Probe Launched Into Silvergate Capital Corp.

The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) has launched a probe into Silvergate Capital Corp. and its dealings with the bankrupt crypto firm FTX and its sister concern Alameda Research. This comes after the FTX debacle of 2022, which has continued to have consequences across the industry, including on certain firms in the TradFi sector, as well as inciting action from government bodies such as charging CEOs of FTX and Alameda Research with fraudulent activities.

Criminal Probe Underway

An inside source has reported that DoJ is now looking into operations of Silvergate Captial Corp., parent company of the fintech and crypto-focused Silvergate Bank. This was one of chief backers of FTX, witnessing over two-thirds customer base withdrawing deposits worth over $8 billion after exchange collapse – resulting in net loss of $1 billion for bank in fourth quarter 2022. As result, company’s shares lost 88% value 2022 and were down 40% premarket trading – causing bank resorting drastic layoffs mitigate damages incurred by it due customer withdrawals.

Increasing Judicial Scrutiny

Silvergate Bank has been facing increasing scrutiny from government bodies and policymakers – for example federal prosecutors in DoJ’s fraud section conducting criminal probe into bank’s dealings especially those with FTX & Alameda Research; even prompted bipartisan group US Senators requesting details risk management practices & further information on dealings with FTX. Moreover anti-crypto sentiments among most US government departments adding weight judicial scrutiny weighing down Silvergate performance creating FUD wary investors – leading possibility eventuality charges brought against them eventually despite no charges thus far.
The collapse of the FTX ecosystem spelled major trouble for Silvergate, as it had been hosting several accounts tied to several businesses associated with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried

Silvergage BeforeFTX Collapse

Silvergate used to be small US organization till going public November 2019 soon entering crypto market becoming significant feature bank crypto companies turned down traditional banking service providers resulting shares reaching all time high April 2021 before collapse followed thereafter

Conclusion

It remains seen what will come out investigations conducted by DoJ & other federal agencies whether any charges brought against them however increasing judicial scrutiny certainly continuing weigh down performance create FUD investors warranting close monitoring progress situation future developments unfold

Bitcoin Investors Accumulating Coins: On-Chain Data Shows Significant Outflows

• On-chain data shows Bitcoin exchanges have registered the most significant outflows since the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX back in November.
• The relevant indicator to measure the net amount of Bitcoin exiting or entering into the wallets of all centralized exchanges is the „all exchanges netflow“.
• When the indicator has a negative value, holders withdraw their coins from exchanges to hold onto them for extended periods in personal wallets, which may have a bullish impact on the price.

The recent activity on-chain data has shown that Bitcoin exchanges have registered the most significant outflows since the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX back in November. Analysts in a CryptoQuant post pointed out that around 7,000 coins have left the exchange in this latest spike, which is a significant number. This has caused the “all exchanges netflow” metric, which measures the combined net amount of Bitcoin exiting or entering into the wallets of all centralized exchanges, to have deep negative values.

The all exchanges netflow metric is calculated by taking the difference between the inflows (the coins going in) and the outflows (the coins moving out). When the indicator has a positive value, it means that the inflows overwhelm the outflows and a net number of coins are being deposited to exchanges. This could be a signal of investors selling their coins, which could have a bearish impact on the price of the crypto. On the other hand, when the indicator has a negative value, it means that holders are withdrawing their coins from exchanges to hold onto them for extended periods in personal wallets. This could be a sign of investors accumulating their coins, which could be seen as a bullish indicator.

A chart showing the trend of the Bitcoin all exchange’s netflow over the last few months shows that the value of the metric has been quite negative recently. This could mean that investors are out of the market and are holding their coins off exchanges, which could be a sign that they are expecting the price of Bitcoin to increase in the near future. While it is too early to make any predictions, this development should be monitored closely in the coming days.

Bitcoin Unfazed by Genesis Bankruptcy, Price Remains Steady

• Bitcoin’s price has barely reacted to the news of Genesis, one of the largest crypto lenders in the world, filing for bankruptcy.
• This could suggest that the news was already priced in, and the current price of bitcoin is where it is supposed to be.
• This could mean that a deep pullback from a market correction would be unlikely, putting the cryptocurrency in a position for more upside rather than decline.

Despite the recent news of Genesis, one of the largest crypto lenders in the world, filing for bankruptcy, the price of Bitcoin has barely responded. This could suggest that the news was already priced in and the current price of the digital asset is where it is supposed to be.

The lack of negative movement from Bitcoin in response to the news of the bankruptcy could cement the path of the cryptocurrency to the upside in the coming weeks. Bitcoin investors have already digested the bias and fear that the news would carry, indicating that the digital asset is fairly priced. This means that to trigger a downtrend in the price of Bitcoin, it would have to be a true market-disrupting event.

A fall below $20,000 could be farther away than the bears would like, which could put the cryptocurrency in a position for more upside rather than decline. This could suggest that the market is not expecting any sudden deep pullbacks from a market correction in the near future.

Analysts have been speculating that the news of Genesis’ bankruptcy could result in a massive sell-off, but that has not been the case so far. This could be interpreted as a sign of strength, as Bitcoin remains unfazed by the news. This could be a sign of increased investor confidence, as the digital asset continues to trade around the $20,900 level.

The current market sentiment could be a sign that Bitcoin is ready to take the next step in its bull run and achieve new all-time highs in the near future. The lack of reaction to the news of Genesis suggests that the market is expecting Bitcoin to continue its upward trend, and that investors remain confident in the digital asset.