Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

INX: Third-Party Attack Costs Subsidiary $1.6M, Ensures Customer Data and Fund Security

Security token and digital asset trading platform INX reported that on December 20th, the computer systems of a third-party supplier servicing its subsidiary fell victim to a cyber attack. Attackers managed to access the servers of this third-party supplier and conducted unauthorized transactions, resulting in approximately $1.6 million in losses for its subsidiary.　　INX swiftly took action to address the security vulnerabilities, launched an investigation into the nature and scope of the incident, notified relevant law enforcement authorities in the corresponding jurisdictions, and is collaborating with affected trading venues to investigate the event further and take suitable legal measures.　　INXs customers were not impacted by this incident. The security vulnerabilities of the third-party provider did not affect INXs platform and servers. No personal information or other data of INX customers was compromised, and INX.One continues to operate fully.　　

2024-01-02Deep Dive

CertiK: Over $1.756 Billion in Losses Caused by Security Incidents in the Crypto Sector This Year

The statistics from CertiK show that security incidents in the crypto space in December have resulted in losses exceeding $33.5 million. Among them, exit scams caused approximately $3.2 million in losses, flash loan attacks resulted in about $2.4 million in losses, and exploits caused around $27.8 million in losses.　　In 2023, security incidents in the crypto space resulted in total losses exceeding $1.756 billion. Exit scams accounted for $150 million in losses, flash loan attacks caused $312 million in losses, and exploits resulted in losses of $1.29 billion.　　

2024-01-02Deep Dive

HKMA Assistant Chief: Stablecoins Not Required to Peg to HKD, But Existing Issuers Must Obtain Licen

Yesterday, the Treasury Bureau and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority jointly issued a public consultation document. Assistant Chief Executive (Monetary Management) of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Howard Lee, stated that this document includes a six-month transitional period. After the regulations take effect, existing issuers must submit license applications within the first three months. If no application is submitted within this period, their operations will be orderly terminated by the end of the fourth month.　　The licensing criteria and conditions involve sound reserve management and stabilization mechanisms, as well as requirements for the redemption of stablecoins. Issuers are required to have full reserve support, and the reserve assets must be of high quality and high liquidity, such as Hong Kong government bonds. Additionally, the document suggests a minimum paid-up capital requirement of HK$25 million or 2% of the circulation value of the fiat currency stablecoin, whichever is higher.　　Lee also mentioned that stablecoins do not necessarily have to be pegged to the Hong Kong dollar. However, existing stablecoin issuers in the market need to obtain a license in Hong Kong. Otherwise, platforms related to these stablecoins can only sell them to professional investors. The stablecoin licensing regime targets issuers, and restrictions will

2023-12-28Deep Dive

CoinGecko: AI, GameFi, and Meme Coins Emerge as the Top Three Crypto Narratives in 2023

According to the latest report released by CoinGecko, the top 15 most popular crypto narratives in 2023, based on the percentage of traffic share on the website, are as follows:　　AI, accounting for 11.3%.　　GameFi, accounting for 10.5%.　　Meme Coin, accounting for 8.3%.　　Solana Ecosystem, accounting for 7.2%.　　BRC-20, accounting for 7.1%.　　RWA, accounting for 6.5%.　　Layer 1, accounting for 4.6%.　　DeFi, accounting for 2.7%.　　Layer 2, accounting for 2.5%.　　Ethereum Ecosystem, accounting for 2.2%.　　Avalanche Ecosystem, accounting for 2.1%.　　NFT, accounting for 2%.　　DePIN, accounting for 1.8%.　　Smart Contract Platforms, accounting for 1.8%.　　FTX Holdings, accounting for 1.7%.　　Their research indicates that AI, GameFi, and Meme Coin emerged as the top three crypto narratives this year, collectively attracting one-third of investors interest.　　

2023-12-28Deep Dive

Beosin: Web3 Incurs $2.02 Billion Loss in 2023 from Hacking, Phishing, and Project Rug Pulls

According to Beosins EagleEye platform monitoring, as of December 25th, the total losses incurred in the Web3 domain in 2023 due to hacker attacks, phishing scams, and project Rug Pulls amounted to $2.02 billion. Among these, there were 191 reported attack incidents, resulting in a total loss of approximately $1.397 billion; 267 Rug Pull incidents by project parties led to a loss of around $388 million; and the total loss from phishing scams amounted to about $238 million.　　In 2023, there was a significant decline in hacker attacks, phishing scams, and project Rug Pull incidents compared to 2022, with an overall reduction of 53.9% in the total amount of losses. Notably, hacker attack incidents saw the most substantial reduction, dropping from $3.6 billion in 2022 to $1.397 billion in 2023, a decrease of approximately 61.2%. Phishing scam losses decreased by 33.2% compared to 2022, while Rug Pull losses declined by 8.8%.　　There were four attack incidents in 2023 that incurred losses exceeding $100 million, and 17 incidents incurred losses between $10 million and $100 million. The top 10 security incidents accounted for approximately $1 billion, constituting 71.5% of the total yearly attack incident amount.　　In 2023, the types of projects targeted in attacks

2023-12-28Deep Dive

DFX Labs Submits Application for Virtual Asset Trading Platform License to SFC

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commissions official website was updated today with information about applicants for virtual asset trading platform licenses. Among the updates, it reveals that DFX Labs Company Limited formally submitted a license application to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission on December 27th. The company does not have a Chinese name at present, and its virtual asset trading platform is named DFX Labs.　　

2023-12-28Deep Dive

Multicoin Capital Bullish on 2024; Sees Cryptocurrency's "Huge AI Opportunities"

Multicoin Capitals Managing Partners, Kyle Samani and Tushar Jain, remain bullish on the investment landscape for 2024, especially considering recent developments in the blockchain ecosystem, with an optimistic outlook on the Solana ecosystem. Samani also believes that cryptocurrencies present a “massive opportunity” within the realm of artificial intelligence.　　He stated, “Specifically, there is currently a severe shortage of GPUs, and competition for these resources will grow exponentially. This presents an opportunity for computational markets supporting cryptocurrencies and professional cloud providers to step in and fill this void.”　　“Token-incentivized reinforcement learning products are another huge opportunity,” Samani added. “Models need to be trained by humans to transfer knowledge. Cryptographic networks are excellent tools for organizing and incentivizing people worldwide to contribute to a shared model.”　　Jain anticipates the emergence of “a slew of entirely new neobanks, DeFi primitives, payment applications, on-ramps/off-ramps, and DEXes in 2024,” filling the void left by centralized lending platforms that vanished in 2023. He also noted, “These products will far surpass earlier generations of DeFi projects and match the user experience of custodial providers.”　　

2023-12-27Deep Dive

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Surges 74% in 2023 with 27 Total Adjustments

According to statistics, the Bitcoin mining difficulty experienced a total of 27 adjustments this year, with 20 increases and 7 decreases. Throughout the year, there was an approximate 74% increase in difficulty, with the largest increase of 10.26% occurring on January 16th and the smallest increase of 0.12% on August 9th. The most substantial decrease in difficulty was 3.59% on January 3rd, while the smallest decrease was 0.49% on February 12th. The 27th and final adjustment of the year occurred on December 24th.　　Furthermore, according to BTC.com data, it is anticipated that the first Bitcoin mining difficulty adjustment in 2024 will take place around January 4th, with the difficulty potentially increasing by 2.25% to reach 73.62 T.　　

2023-12-27Deep Dive

Solana Co-Founder: Solana Can Serve as an Ethereum Layer 2 Solution

Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko stated that “Solana is Ethereum,” hinting at the possibility of interoperability between the two blockchains. Solana can function as an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain using Wormhole EigenLayer. With the Danksharding scaling solution, there is potential to submit all Solana blocks into certain data validation bridging contracts on Ethereum. Danksharding is anticipated to enhance Ethereums scalability and performance.　　

2023-12-27Deep Dive

Report: 25 Countries/Regions Implemented Stablecoin Legislation in 2023

According to the “PwC Global Cryptocurrency Regulation Report 2023” released on December 19th, as many as 25 countries/regions have established legislation or regulations concerning stablecoins in 2023. As analyzed and assessed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), these countries include Austria, the Bahamas, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, among others. The majority of these nations/regions that have enacted stablecoin laws have also ensured or implemented all other regulatory checks, including cryptocurrency regulatory frameworks, licensing or registration, and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) travel rule.　　The report assessed the cryptocurrency regulatory landscape in 43 countries/regions, including the United States and the United Kingdom. According to the reports analysis, countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada have yet to finalize legislation concerning stablecoins and have not established a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. Data reveals that certain crypto-friendly countries/regions, such as Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, have adopted all cryptocurrency-related regulations except for stablecoins.　　

2023-12-27Deep Dive

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