Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Celsius Bankruptcy Filing Shows $1.2 Billion Hole in Its Balance Sheet

The Celsius Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing confirms its liabilities outweigh its assets by $1.2 billion.　　The filing shows that the company owes clients and creditors $5.5 billion. But its assets, even after paying off three large loans from DeFi protocols Maker, Aave, and Compound in the last week, which allowed it to reclaim roughly $1 billion worth of collateral, total only $4.3 billion. 　　That means Celsius is $1.2 billion short and insolvent. Its what remains of the “$2 billion hole” that kept FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried from wanting to do a deal with the company, unnamed sources told The Block in late June.　　Without the $1 billion in recently reclaimed collateral, its debts would have outsripped its assets by $2 billion around the time Bankman-Fried was rumored to have met with Celsius along with Voyager Digital and BlockFi.　　Celsius froze user funds on June 12, a day after CEO Alex Mashinsky sent a now infamous tweet claiming that not “even one person” had problems withdrawing their money from the platform. After the freeze, Celsius put out two more statements on its website explaining that it needed more time to stabilize.　　Then, starting last week, the company paid off all three of its major loans

2022-07-15Deep Dive

Crypto winter touches OpenSea, sacks 20% of staff

Leading non-fungible token marketplace OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer has revealed that the crypto firm laid off about 20% of its staff on July 14.　　According to the announcement, the company reduced its staff strength because of the “unprecedented combination of crypto winter and macroeconomic instability” that could last for a long time.　　The announcement did not reveal the exact number of affected employees; however, the figure is expected to be in the hundreds. The companys LinkedIn profile showed it has a workforce of 750 individuals.　　Meanwhile, Finzer said he believes OpenSea would be going through this process only once because the firm has “built a strong balance sheet” through its raised funds.　　The changes were making today put us in a position to maintain multiple years of runway under various crypto winter scenarios (5 years at the current volume) and give us high confidence that we will only have to go through this process once.　　Finzer added that affected workers would receive severance and health insurance until 2023 alongside an accelerated equity vesting.　　Rival NFT marketplaces like LooksRare and NFT.com responded to Finzers tweets with revelations that they were hiring more hands.　　OpenSeas trading volume has dropped to new lows after starting the year strongly. According to

2022-07-15Deep Dive

NFT Marketplace Public Beta Released by GameStop

In the midst of the crypto markets downturn, video game retailer GameStop Corp announced the launch of a public beta version of a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace on Monday.　　The NFT marketplace from the company is a non-custodial, Ethereum-based layer 2 marketplace that allows parties to truly own their digital assets, which are represented and secured on the blockchain. According to the statement, users can connect to their own digital asset wallets, such as the recently launched GameStop Wallet.　　The new feature product was released in the midst of the crypto markets downturn. Currently, there are 236 NFT collections and over 53,000 NFTs listed on the public beta NFT marketplace.　　Clients can use this non-custodial Ethereum Layer 2-based application to buy, sell, and trade NFTs associated with digital assets used in various games.　　Customers would also be able to enjoy the connection between their wallet and the marketplace if the marketplace provided essential statistics and educational content.　　An Ethereum-compatible zkRollup protocol, in collaboration with Loopring, will provide players with faster, cheaper, and more secure access to digital property rights.　　Loopring zkRollup lowers customer costs because it is based on Ethereums self-hosted security while extracting expensive gas fees.　　Back in January of this year, the companys stock skyrocketed

2022-07-15Deep Dive

KuCoin refutes job-cut rumors, revealing plans to hire during the Crypto Winter

KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu announced on Monday that the exchange plans to hire over 300 people in the coming months. The executive stated: “KuCoin has not reduced its workforce and has no plans to do so. We are one of the few crypto platforms that has grown by relying on an effective business strategy, focusing on the release of new products, and maintaining a healthy environment in our team.”　　Lyu stated that the company was doing everything possible to increase employee productivity and motivation while also focusing on compliance and innovation.　　According to the CEO, the total number of employees at the firm recently surpassed 1,000, and the company is currently looking to hire 300 more. According to the executive, positions are available in the companys marketing, compliance, and technology teams.　　Lyu went on to say: “In times of market turbulence, we believe that our bet on growth is the only correct decision that allows us to maintain a high bar. Any discussions that assert the opposite should be considered untenable.”　　The Current Downsizing Pattern　　Since May of this year, the crypto sector has been hit hard. Digital token prices have fallen across the board, and at the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading for

2022-07-14Deep Dive

7,500 Ether Stolen from Uniswap in Phishing Attack

According to PeckShield, a smart contract security firm, the hacker was able to steal the cryptocurrency from Uniswap using a phishing tactic.　　Prior to the hacking incident, the hacker targeted the liquidity provider using a fake Uniswap airdrop token as phishing bait. Following that, the victim claimed the token and interacted with the malicious smart contract, giving the hacker indirect control over their wallet.　　During the attack, the wallet was supplying $8 million to a WBTC/USDC liquidity pool on Uniswap version 3.　　The hacker exited the users liquidity position after the attack, swapped the assets, and transferred them out. The hacker routed the funds through Tornado Cash, a transaction mixer on the Ethereum network, according to the Block.　　The hacking incident occurred three weeks after Uniswap hired a former New York Stock Exchange president as an adviser.　　Stacey Cunningham will help Uniswap Labs business by focusing on regulation for Uniswaps role in DeFi, according to Blockchain.News.　　Cunningham said in a statement that she joined Uniswap Labs because “she believes in the potential of a decentralized exchange and in Uniswaps commitment to fairer markets.”　　Despite the current challenging market environment, the hack in Uniswaps wallet and the new appointment have occurred.　　The prolonged drop in crypto prices, combined with

2022-07-14Deep Dive

More than 48 Terra Projects Merged with Polygon Ecosystem

Over 48 projects, including the well-known Lunaverse (LUV) Metaverse platform, OnePlanet NFT marketplace, and Derby Stars play-to-earn (P2E) games, have been jointly migrated to the Polygon ecosystem.　　Polygon Studios CEO Ryan Wyatt wrote on his official Twitter: “We are working closely with a variety of Terra projects to help them migrate over swiftly to Polygon.We will be putting capital and resources against these migrations to welcome the developers and their respective communities to our platform.”　　We will commit funds and efforts to these migrations in order to welcome developers and their respective communities to our platform.　　Polygon is a decentralized Ethereum scaling network designed to streamline supply chain processes. The ecosystem enables scalable, safe, and quick Ethereum transactions by leveraging Plasma side chains and a Proof-of-Stake network to address the issues of slow block confirmation and high gas prices.　　According to the firm, more than 48 projects have successfully entered the Polygon ecosystem.　　Terra Classic is the new name for the network. The Terra networks native tokens, LUNA and UST, saw an extraordinary fall in May.　　LUNA lost all of its gains over the previous 12 months, plunging to a 52-week low of $0.8384. The LUNAs decline comes as more of a surprise to the crypto

2022-07-14Deep Dive

NFT Lender Omni Hacked for 1,300 ETH

According to PeckShield, the non-fungible token (NFT) platform Omni was hacked for 1,300 ether (ETH) ($1.43 million) as the hacker exploited the firms reentrancy vulnerability protocol.　　The NFT money market platform enables users to stake their NFTs on the platform, which is typically open staking for popular collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, in order to receive tokens like as ETH.　　Despite the fact that the hacker was able to steal more than 1,300 wETH ($1.4 million), the ERC20 marketable version of ETH, Omni maintained that the loss had no impact on users funds. Because the technology is currently under beta testing, only internal testing money were impacted, according to the company.　　According to the NFT firm, the practice has been paused pending a thorough examination.　　According to The Block, Solidity-coded projects are subject to reentry. It enables hackers to force their smart contract to call an untrusted contract.　　The hacker deposited NFTs from a collection called Doodles, which were used to borrow wrapped ETH (WETH), tokenized copies of cryptocurrencies that are tethered to the value of the original coin, according to Yajin Zhou, CEO of blockchain security company BlockSec.　　Following the deposit and liquidation of the position, the attacker receives the leftover Doodle NFT

2022-07-13Deep Dive

Payment API Platform Fuse Charge was released by Web3 Payments Company Fuse

Fuse Charge, a blockchain payment API platform, has been officially launched by Web3 payments revolution firm Fuse.　　On May 10, Fuse Labs announced a $5 million investment from Tectona, an Israeli-listed digital asset firm. The funds will be used to accelerate the development of Fuse Charge, a Fuse SaaS solution that allows developers to quickly construct applications that can process payments at scale.　　The Fuse Charge was officially revealed to the public in July. The blockchain service platform enables both newcomers to the blockchain sector and established businesses to use the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compliant Fuse Network blockchain.　　Fuse Charge, according to Fuse, would address the issues of excessive transaction costs in the present payment system, the requirement for middlemen, and the inconsistency of jumping between multiple platforms owing to different areas.　　For blockchain-powered payments, Fuse Charge combines transfer finality, open access, and peer-to-peer architecture.　　The platforms beta testers will receive the Admin API for creating token and blockchain accounts, the Wallet API for creating mobile wallet apps, and the Trade API for combining tokens for trading on decentralized exchanges.　　According to a survey conducted by Big Four audit firm Deloitte, 87 percent of merchants feel that cryptocurrency payments would maintain them at the top

2022-07-13Deep Dive

Blockchain.com Could Lose $270 Million Due to 3AC's Insolvency

Due to Three Arrows Capitals failure to repay loans as a result of its bankruptcy and liquidation, cryptocurrency exchange Blockchain.com may face a total loss of $270 million.　　Earlier this month, the troubled cryptocurrency hedge firm Three Arrows Capital (3AC) filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the United States in order to keep its assets in the nation.　　Three Arrows Capitals problems were exacerbated by the failure of LUNA-UST, to which the company has considerable exposure. A British Virgin Islands court has ordered the liquidation of Three Arrows Capital.　　In a letter to shareholders, Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith stated, “Three Arrows is rapidly going insolvent, and the default impact is about $270 million in bitcoin and US dollar loans from Blockchain.com.”　　He said that the corporation deceived bitcoin industry colleagues and sought legal counsel to defend its own interests and make them accountable to the maximum extent possible.　　The company stated that Blockchain.com is operationally sound and that its users would be unaffected, remaining liquid and solvent.　　Three Arrows has refunded more than $700 million in cryptocurrency.　　According to a Bloomberg story from April, cryptocurrency exchange Blockchain.com is set to go public as soon as this year.　　Genesis Capital, a digital asset lending organization, stated that when filing

2022-07-13Deep Dive

Banking Circle Introduces USDC as a Payment Method

Banking Circle, an EU-regulated payments bank, has announced the integration of the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin into their payment rail.　　According to the business, the stablecoin integration would allow banks and payment providers convert from fiat currencies, which is crucial as the Web3.0 industry expands.　　Banking Circle claims that the integration of USDC will help to reduce the required IT infrastructure as well as the capital base for businesses looking to implement digital currency-backed payments. The company believes it is in a position to adequately democratize money for the benefit of all.　　“Digital assets are likely to be the ‘leveller’ for the global economy in years to come with potential to remove the friction that is inherent in conventional currencies”, explained Mishal Ruparel, Head of Virtual Asset Services, Banking Circle. “It‘s critical, therefore, that Banks and Payments providers have the ability to process certain types of cryptocurrencies in the same way they do fiat currencies. With an already established reputation as an innovator in payments, it’s a natural next step for Banking Circle to add stablecoins.”　　Banking Circle stated on its website that it aims to reduce cross-border transactions from 5 days and 50 Euros to 5 seconds and 50 cents. With todays improvements

2022-07-12Deep Dive

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