Crypto LVL

2023-08-22 21:30:41 Indian Crypto Exchange CoinDCX Lays Off 12% of Staff Citing Prolonged Bear Market and TDS

Indian Crypto exchange CoinDCX, backed by Coinbase Ventures, fired 12% of its workforce on Tuesday, citing ongoing macroeconomic conditions and the TDS on crypto transactions. The company clarified that it is the first time CoinDCX is laying off employees. Earlier in Jan, it announced an internal restructuring and denied any layoffs at the time.

The decision comes at a time when crypto startups in India are grappling with the country’s regulatory uncertainty and a plunge in trading volumes in 2022, amid high crypto tax rates and TDC.

According to the company’s chief executive officer Sumit Gupta, tough macro conditions due to “the prolonged bear market and impact of TDS on domestic exchanges” have pressured the company to take the “difficult decision.”

“These factors had a significant impact on our volumes and thus revenues. To adapt, we undertook several proactive measures, including direct cost optimization and investment in automation to drive efficiency and productivity.” Open / Comment

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https://t.me/MetaTrace Open / Comment

2023-08-19 16:00:50 Coinbase Halts USDT Trading for Canadian Users Starting August 31

In an email dated August 17, Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, revealed its decision to halt trading of Tether USDT, Dai DAI, and RAI stablecoins for Canadian users starting August 31.

This surprising development comes shortly after Coinbase's recent announcement of its complete expansion into the Canadian market, including trading the largest stablecoin globally, Tether.

The exchange had officially launched its Canadian subsidiary a few days earlier, unveiling the full range of its services to Canadian users, including support for Canada's instant electronic payments system, a move beyond its previous limited trading offerings.

Nana Murugesan, Coinbase's VP of International Business Development, shared that Canada's approach is more accommodating than the United States, as it employs a "regulation by engagement" strategy rather than "regulation by enforcement."

However, in a recent email to customers on Thursday, Coinbase announced that Tether (USDT), RAI, and DAI no longer meet the company's listing standards based on their latest reviews. Open / Comment

2023-08-16 16:01:45 Base and Linea Users Lose $460,000 as SwirlLend Vanishes in Suspected Exit Scam

SwirlLend, an Ethereum Layer 2 lending project active on the Base and Linea networks, has reportedly pulled off an exit scam that has resulted in the disappearance of an estimated $460,000 in user deposits.

According to a comprehensive on-chain analysis conducted by cybersecurity firm PeckShield, the SwirlLend team purportedly withdrew approximately $290,000 from the Base network and around $170,000 from the Linea network, subsequently funneling these assets to the Ethereum blockchain.

Notably, DeFiLlama data indicates that the total user deposits on SwirlLend plummeted from a substantial $780,000 to a mere $49 as the unfolding events took place.

The digital footprint of SwirlLend appears to have been completely erased, as the project's social media accounts on platforms such as Twitter and Telegram have been deleted. The project’s official website remains inaccessible, adding to the suspicion surrounding the exit scam.

PeckShield, an authoritative entity in the cybersecurity realm, has labeled this incident a "rug pull." Open / Comment

2023-08-13 16:00:00 Bank of America Says PayPal’s Stablecoin Will Not Record Significant Adoption In The Coming Months

A new report by the Bank of America suggests that PayPal’s new stablecoin, PYUSD will not record the projected adoption in the near term citing tougher competition and indifference of investors.

Per the report, the launch of the new stablecoin by the financial giant is great for the digital asset community and the company itself but it will struggle going head to head against USD Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC).

“Investors may have been fine holding non-yield bearing stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) when rates were close to zero, but yield-bearing stablecoins will likely become increasingly available and attractive with short-term rates above 5%.”

A major criticism leveled against PYUSD is the company’s strategy to explore alternative monetization rather than the yield of reserves. The company plans to utilize its structure in centralized finance to drive adoption through a watertight market.

The bank in its analysis further cites a lack of new functionality, lack of wallet compatibility, and trading pairs as reasons why the asset could face headwinds in the future. Alkesh Shah and Andrew Moss, analysts with the bank argue that most investors do not care which stablecoins they hold as they are often considered safe and accessible. Open / Comment

2023-08-10 16:01:10 Coca-Cola and Top DAOs Join Coinbase's 'Onchain Summer' Web3 Festival for Base Launch

Crypto exchange Coinbase has kicked off the multi-week Onchain Summer event to celebrate the launch of its much-anticipated Layer 2 network Base. The crypto giant said that each week in the series will bring new activations across Web3, including art, music, culture, and gaming.

Companies, artists, and creators will be running onchain events "that will make crypto more accessible, fun, and useful than ever before," Coinbase said. New mints will happen daily from August 9 through August 31.

The exchange wants users to bridge their ETH to the new network to mint a free NFT - hence, boosting the activity and engagement on Base. The "first-of-its-kind onchain festival" includes "over 50 leading brands, platforms, marketplaces, artists, and creators," Coinbase said.

Popular decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), such as Nouns and Friends With Benefits will participate, as will the soft drink giant Coca-Cola. Open / Comment

2023-08-09 19:00:05 ​Take AirDAO everywhere with the AirDAO mobile app!

AirDAO has gone mobile, giving its global community increased transparency over their AMB portfolio with a mobile app.

The first version of the AirDAO app gives in-depth insights into AirDAO blockchain addresses and ensures users are informed with wallet tracking functionality. The AirDAO app also allows users to stay updated with the AMB market, with custom notifications for changes in AMB price. These functionalities can make informed decisions, stay current on market trends, and effortlessly track AMB holdings.

App users can also create watchlists of addresses to monitor their portfolios. The app enables users to stay updated on the latest activity in any AMB wallet with personalized notifications for transfers and transactions.

The AirDAO dev team will update the app to provide users with a wide range of features over the next year. Future app updates include a crypto wallet that is as easy to use as a banking app, AirDAO governance features, and more. AirDAO encourages the community to get involved and share suggestions and ideas for future updates.

AirDAO is a community-governed layer one blockchain and web3 ecosystem powered by AMB — the blockchain’s native token. AirDAO brings the benefits of Web3 to a global audience with a suite of powerful products in an intuitive, all-in-one interface that makes DeFi more accessible for all.

Download app iOS | Android

DIOR: Telegram | Website Open / Comment

2023-08-07 17:30:44 Curve Finance Offers Public Bounty of $1.85 Million to Identify Hacker

Curve Finance, the troubled DeFi platform that lost over $60 million last week in an exploit, has announced a bounty of $1.85 million to anyone who can identify the exploiter.

In a Tweet Monday, the DeFi protocol noted that the deadline for the “voluntary return of funds” in the Curve Finance heist has already passed.

“We now extend the bounty to the public, and offer a reward valued at 10% of remaining exploited funds (currently $1.85M) to the person who is able to identify the exploiter in a way that leads to a conviction in the courts.”

The on-chain message further read, “if the exploiter chooses to return the funds in full, we will not pursue this further.”

Following the heist, Curve offered the anonymous hacker 10% of the stolen funds for returning the entire assets by August 6. Other impacted protocols, including lending protocol Alchemix and NFT lending protocol JPEGd, joined Curve in this offer.

The DeFi projects have assured as an incentive that they will not pursue any further actions or legal convictions, provided the exploiter(s) voluntarily return the stolen funds. Open / Comment

2023-08-04 16:01:32 China Emerges as Binance's Key Market Despite Cryptocurrency Trading Ban

China has emerged as the biggest market for major crypto exchange Binance, despite a ban on crypto trading in the country.

According to a Wall Street Journal report from Wednesday, Binance users located in China traded crypto worth as much as $90 billion in a single month this year, accounting for 20% of Binance’s total global volume.

Crypto trading was banned by the People’s Bank of China – China’s central bank – in September 2021 over concerns related to money laundering and the possibility of evading capital controls.

Despite Binance’s website being blocked inside China, Chinese traders are still able to access Binancecom using virtual private networks (VPNs), a software tool used to bypass censorship and make a user appear to be in another location than he really is.

Asked by the Wall Street Journal for information about this, a Binance representative offered few details other than pointing out that its website is unavailable in China.

“The Binancecom website is blocked in China and is not accessible to China-based users,” a Binance spokesman was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying. Open / Comment

2023-08-01 16:01:08 White Hat Hacker Recovers $5.4 Million For DeFi Platform Curve Finance Amid Recent Exploit

An ethical hacker has recovered 2,879 ETH worth around $5.4 million for the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Curve Finance amid its recent hack losing over $47 million. On July 30, the same day of the hack, it was reported that an ethical hacker seized some assets by front-running the original hackers' malicious transactions.

A maximal value bot “c0ffeebabeeth” sent the recovered assets to Curve’s deployers address with users hailing the move. However, most crypto enthusiasts suggest that it will take a long time to recover from the damage.

While good news comes from one end, bad news still trickles in as bad actors target victims of the hack with a new fraudulent scheme. Several accounts have been recorded both impersonating Curve Finance and victims of the hack putting together fake refunds targeted at users who lost their assets.

Since the incident occurred, Curve Finance has not made an official release concerning a potential fund rendering all associated postings so far, false. Open / Comment