Crypto LVL

2023-04-07 22:30:00 ​Do Kwon converted illicit funds from LUNA to Bitcoin: S.Korean prosecutors.

South Korean prosecutors have contacted Binance to request a halt on withdrawals linked to Do Kwon.

South Korean prosecutors have identified 414.5 billion won ($314.2 million) in illicit assets associated with Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon and his associates. Out of the identified illegal assets, prosecutors have linked about 91.4 billion won ($69 million) of the specified amount directly to Kwon.

Although Kwon amassed millions, none of the assets tied to him are recoverable or under the jurisdiction of the South Korean authorities. This is mainly because the now-arrested former CEO reportedly converted most of the illicit funds into Bitcoin using overseas crypto exchanges instead of investing in physical assets, per a report published by local media outlet KBS.

Early investigation into the Terra collapse by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that Kwon siphoned nearly $100 million worth of Bitcoin from Terra post-collapse. In another report based on an SEC interview with former Terraform Labs, published in South Korean media, Kwon was accused of siphoning $80 million a month before the collapse of the Terra ecosystem.

The South Korean authorities have requested Binance to halt any withdrawal request associated with Kwon. Binance confirmed to Cointelegraph that they are cooperating with the prosecutors and offering any assistance they need.

“We provided Korean LE authorities with the requested assistance. Since we cannot comment on ongoing LE investigations, for any further comment please reach out to the prosecutors.“

South Korean prosecutors are actively tracing properties associated with Terraform Labs executives to recover some illicit funds from the Terra debacle. On April 3, prosecutors seized homes and other assets to stop former Terra employees from selling things that might be tied to legal cases. Open / Comment

2023-04-04 22:30:00 ​TON validators receive single nominator smart contract.

Orbs’ single-nominator contract offers independent validation for validators, safeguards against gas attacks and enables stake recovery during emergencies.

Orbs, a public blockchain infrastructure designed for mass usage applications and close integration, has announced the release of the single nominator smart contract for validators in the Telegram Open Network (TON), a decentralized layer-1 blockchain.

In the TON blockchain network, validators can use the single nominator, which provides an isolated cold wallet for securing their validation process. This feature is particularly useful for validators with enough self-stake to conduct independent validation without needing third-party nominators. This feature aims to enhance validators’ independence, security and protection against gas-spending attacks.

In blockchain technology, a nominator is an individual or entity participating in a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm. This is done by staking their cryptocurrency holdings to support the network’s security and transaction processing.

The nominator essentially nominates a validator to represent their stake in the network and earn rewards on their behalf. The validator, in turn, is responsible for validating transactions and adding new blocks to the blockchain. This process is essential to the security and efficiency of the blockchain network, as it ensures that only legitimate transactions are processed and recorded on the blockchain.

Smart contracts typically involve two or more parties agreeing on a set of rules or conditions that must be met before the contract can be executed. These rules are encoded into the smart contract, and when the specified conditions are met, the contract executes automatically, transferring funds or assets between the parties involved.

The single nominator smart contract provides an option for the core team’s nominator pool smart contract. The alternative was developed in-house to provide security for validators who stake their funds. Open / Comment

2023-04-02 15:00:03 ​Terra’s branding at MLB opener draws attention from spectators.

An attendee shared an image of a Terra banner with the slogan “a decentralized economy needs decentralized money,” prominently displayed during Major League Baseball’s opening day.

As baseball enthusiasts flocked to Nationals Park in Washington D.C for the opening day of the Major League Baseball (MLB) season, the appearance of Terra — the crypto ecosystem that collapsed in May 2022 — didn’t go unnoticed by attendees.

A Twitter user who attended The Washington Nationals’ home opener against the Atlanta Braves on March 30 shared an image of Terra prominently displayed on a banner with the slogan, “a decentralized economy needs decentralized money.”

“Sounds like a solid company. Will check out, ” the user commented on the prominent placement of Terra at the stadium.

Another Twitter user said the Terra Club — a VIP pre-game venue experience — is behind the home plate at Nationals Park, and “a big sign in left center” promoting Terra.

The partnership between Terra and The Washington Nationals’ came into effect in February 2022, just months before Terra’s collapse.

The Terra community committed $38.2 million in TerraUSD (UST) over five years to secure the deal.

Terra’s founder, Do Kwon, proposed the partnership through the community’s governance platform. Kwon is currently in police custody in Montenegro, and will reportedly face harsh conditions in the penal system, according to an unnamed criminal defense lawyer, in a March 29 Protos report.

It was reported that the conditions at Montenegro’s jails and prisons “haven’t changed” from those described in a 2020 human rights report by the United States State Department.

The report cited a 2015 case in which prison officers were convicted of torturing and “inflicting grievous bodily harm” on 11 inmates. Open / Comment

2023-03-31 20:30:00 Fluffytopia is a play-and-earn ecosystem offering its players the chance to generate daily $FLUFFY tokens (ERC-20) by building colonies in a fantasy world.

Just launched. Marketing about to start!

By owning one or more territories on the Fluffytopia platform, users earn $FLUFFY tokens every day.
The daily yield of each players can be boosted through different methods, including staking Fluffers / Fluffylands NFTs or using in-game items.
You got it, Fluffytopia is a strategy game: find the best possible combination to get a maximum tokens yield!

PLAYERS BENEFITS
A fun P2E ecosystem
Sustainable tokenomics
Get $FLUFFY daily
Grab items and NFT for more $FLUFFY
Refer friends
Share wETH rewards

Join the fluffin’ channel and start earning daily yield :
@fluffytopia_official

Website: https://fluffytopia.wtf/

Psss: Some players are already making 500$+ per day Open / Comment

2023-03-30 20:00:03 Ascent Exchange is a next-gen DEX on #Polygon, featuring unique aeNFTs that revolutionize liquidity provision and trading with unparalleled utility & a passionate community.

Our mission is to redefine trading and liquidity provision by empowering traders and liquidity providers with exclusive access to rewards, competitive swap prices, and a thriving ecosystem.

HOLDER BENEFITS

Share of trading fees from Ascent Exchange
Royalty income from secondary sales
Guaranteed AEX fair launch airdrop
Increased locking rate & incentives for liquidity providers


Check out the Discord: https://discord.gg/6VE2PGZFzR

Website: https://ascent.exchange/ Open / Comment

2023-03-29 22:30:00 ​Nigerian crypto investors question central bank's decision to flag p2p users.

Crypto P2P users in Nigeria worry over using various platforms to launder funds as the country's central bank cracks down on bank accounts that receive a share of Flutterwave’s rumored stolen funds.

Nigerian crypto investors using peer-to-peer (P2P) services have expressed concerns about the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) flagging their bank accounts. CBN's decision to flag accounts is believed to be in relation to the near $6.3 million (2.9 billion nairas) Flutterwave hack, as the bank accounts have yet-to-be-proven affiliations with the hack.

According to local news sources, on February 19, 2023, Albert Onimole, legal counsel for Flutterwave, a Nigerian fintech company, allegedly reported a case to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, in Yaba, Lagos, of almost $6.5 million (3 billion nairas) that had been illegally transferred from the accounts of his client.

On February 27th, a motion ex-parte was filed and granted in support of Flutterwave's claims. According to the motion, 107 accounts, including their fifth beneficiaries, will be put on lien/Post-No-Debit (PND). So far, some of the locals have confirmed that their accounts have been frozen in connection to the hack.

The situation has gone on to discourage P2P users from interacting with the various over-the-counter (OTC) — markets that allow trading of securities between two counterparties executed outside of formal exchanges and without the supervision of an exchange regulator, as the hacked sum flowed into the Nigeria crypto market on different OTCs and users now have problems with financial intermediaries when they want to use P2P services for crypto transfe.

Investors across the world use P2P as a medium of direct exchange of crypto between parties without the involvement of a central authority. They may choose to swap cryptocurrencies for cryptocurrencies or crypto for cash. In 2021, the CBN announced a regulation that prevented financial institutions like banks from enabling crypto use. However, Nigerians were able to find a way forward and still maintain their leading position as the largest crypto hub of Africa through the use of P2P platforms. Open / Comment

2023-03-26 21:00:03 ​Euler Finance exploiter returns over 58,000 stolen Ether.

ETH worth over $101 million was returned to the lending protocol by March 25. The exploiter still controls part of the stolen assets.

The hacker behind the $196 million exploit on lending protocol Euler Finance has returned the majority of the stolen assets, according to on-chain data.

In a transaction on March 25, the exploiter returned 51,000 Ether worth around $88 million at the time of writing. A second transfer of 7,737 ETH was made on the same day, worth over $13 million. Previously, on March 18, the hacker sent 3,000 ETH to the protocol, worth nearly $5.4 million at the time. The exploiter still controls some of the stolen assets.

On March 13, the hacker carried out multiple transactions, stealing nearly $196 million from the protocol in a flash loan attack dubbed the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) hack of 2023. Stolen assets include 8.8 million Dai, 849,000 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), 85 million Staked Ether (stETH), and 34 million USD Coin.

A few days after the hack, the exploiter sent an on-chain message to Euler calling for an agreement with the protocol. “We want to make this easy on all those affected. No intention of keeping what is not ours. Setting up secure communication. Let us come to an agreement,” they said.

The protocol had previously tried to negotiate with the exploiter, requesting that they return 90% of the funds they stole within 24 hours or face legal action. No response was received, and 24 hours later, Euler offered a $1 million bounty reward for any information leading to the capture of the exploiter.

The hacker has made other transactions, including a transfer of 1,000 ETH Smart Staking (NETH), worth approximately $1.65 million at the time, through sanctioned crypto mixer Tornado Cash.

According to blockchain analytics firm PeckShield, around 100 ETH was sent to a wallet address likely owned by one of the victims. An on-chain message sent by the wallet address had earlier pleaded for the attacker to return their “life savings.“ Open / Comment

2023-03-23 19:57:35 Liquid Mining will launch global sales on April 1st, 2023.

The presale and beta testing phases of Liquid Mining are coming to a successful end!

The multimining technology showed annual 400% ROI to users. Impressive, isn’t it?

Taking into account that public sale start and beta testing end will happen in a same span of time, users will receive their rewards for participating in the referral system during April.

Liquid Mining has already made waves in the cryptocurrency community, with a large and passionate user base spanning more than 10 languages:

Liquid Mining ENG
Liquid Mining JP
Liquid Mining RU
Liquid Mining DEU
Liquid Mining SPN
Liquid Mining HUN
Liquid Mining CHN
Liquid Mining FRA
Liquid Mining THA
Liquid Mining VNM

However, we must also mention that the GPU capacity is selling out fast, and there is a limited amount available.

The CEO of Liquid Mining is also providing users with essential educational videos on basics of cryptocurrency mining. This means that even the newbie in crypto can easily access the platform and start getting profits!

So, if you're interested in joining the Liquid Mining community and start earning from cryptocurrency mining, now is the time to act.

Twitter | Discord | Website | Chat | IOS app | Android app Open / Comment

2023-03-23 18:00:04 ​US Department of Justice: Bulgarian Woman Faces Charges in Multi-Billion-Dollar "OneCoin" Crypto Scam

A Bulgarian woman has been extradited to the United States for her involvement in the notorious OneCoin crypto scheme.

In a recent press release, the US Department of Justice said it had filed charges against Irina Dilkinska, a Bulgarian woman involved in the OneCoin crypto Ponzi scheme.
She was extradited to the US on March 20 and will soon appear before a U.S. magistrate judge.

Dilkinska has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each of which carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison.

Dilkinska was OneCoin's "supposed head of legal and compliance for the OneCoin cryptocurrency pyramid scheme," U.S. Attorney Damien Williams said in the announcement.

The newly-unsealed charges against Dilkinska allege that she helped to create shell companies in order to launder as much as $400 million in proceeds. Open / Comment

2023-03-20 22:00:01 ​Nonprofit to expand DLT adoption through grants of up to $5M.

The DLT Science Foundation opened its call for grant proposals, offering up to $5 million for eligible individuals or organizations.

The nonprofit DLT Science Foundation (DSF) has launched intending to foster the adoption of distributed ledger technology (DLT).

In an announcement sent to Cointelegraph, the DSF highlighted that it would offer support in several areas, including education, innovation and research. This means it will create educational material, workshops and open innovation programs, as well as grants and fellowships for academics.

The organization will also be providing support through grants to members of its university network. The network includes universities like the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, the London School of Economics, the National University of Singapore, University College London and the University of Zurich.

The DSF is also supported by the open-source public ledger project Hedera. According to the announcement, Hedera will lend its expertise in DLT to the DSF University Network.

The organization also opened its first call for grant proposals. According to the announcement, the DSF offers up to $5 million for eligible organizations or individuals.

Paolo Tasca, chairman and co-founder of the DSF, expressed his excitement over the potential breakthroughs that may come from its efforts. According to Tasca, unlocking the potential of DLT will lead to a better future for everyone. He explained that :

“The DLT Science Foundation aims to drive innovation, foster new collaborative models between academia, industry, and government, and promote the responsible adoption of DLT in business and society.”

Nikhil Vadgama, the director and co-founder of the organization, also commented on the launch. According to Vadgama, the DSF has an opportunity to empower academics and education in various universities. Open / Comment