Blockbytes Weekly - Week 8, 2024
So many people using Metamask. If you are, give Rabby Wallet a shot (this is not sponsored/financial advice, just a friendly suggestion).
Crypto exchange BitForex halts withdrawals, stops responding to user
The Hong Kong-based crypto exchange BitForex abruptly stopped all withdrawals, and without providing any explanations, right after $56 million in cryptocurrencies was withdrawn from its wallets.
The exchange's communication channels, including its X account and official Telegram, have gone silent, leaving users with unresolved access and visibility issues regarding their accounts.
In September 2023, BitForex was recognized as a leading global crypto exchange with a substantial daily trading volume, but it faced regulatory accusations from Japan's Financial Services Agency in April for operating without proper registration.
Despite these significant operational and regulatory challenges, BitForex has not attracted major attention from regulators or the media since the accusations by Japan's FSA.
BitForex's reputation is now under scrutiny, especially after its CEO's departure and past regulatory challenges.
MetaMask monthly active users near all-time high — over 30 million
MetaMask has seen its monthly active users soar to over 30 million, nearly reaching its all-time high of 31.7 million during the peak of the last bull market in January 2022. The wallet's significant user growth, amounting to a 55% increase in just four months, comes amidst a broader crypto market rally, with Bitcoin and Ethereum experiencing substantial price increases.
MetaMask's active users jumped from 19 million in September 2023 to over 30 million by January 2024
The wallet built by Ethereum development studio Consensys has recently integrated Blockaid to offer enhanced security features, including alerts for potentially malicious transactions.
During its beta phase, Blockaid’s Ethereum alerts were enabled by 576,000 unique MetaMask users, preventing over 30,000 malicious transactions, and highlighting the tool's effectiveness in enhancing users' security.
Blockaid was developed by former members of the Israeli "Unit 8200" cyber intelligence unit and has raised $33 million in a Series A funding round, indicating strong backing and promising growth for web3 security solutions.
Starknet Token STRK Begins Trading at $5 After Mammoth Airdrop
The Starknet token, STRK, saw a significant debut in the crypto market, opening at $5 after what was described as the year's largest airdrop. Initially, STRK's fully diluted value (FDV) spiked to an impressive $35 billion, depicting a promising start although the actual market cap was reported at $2.32 billion.
Starknet designated more than half of STRK's supply (50.1%) to the Starknet Foundation for purposes such as community airdrops, grants, and donations, indicating a strong emphasis on community development and support.
A substantial portion of the token’s supply (24.68%) is allocated to early contributors and investors, with an additional 32% reserved for StarkWare employees, consultants, and developer partners, showcasing the importance placed on rewarding those who have been instrumental in Starknet’s development.
The token distribution is structured to release tokens monthly over 31 months, starting from April 2024
Starknet operates as a layer-2 network utilizing zero-knowledge cryptography to enhance the scalability of the Ethereum blockchain by processing transactions off-chain, which is pivotal for reducing congestion and fees on the Ethereum network.
Since its launch in November 2021, Starknet has achieved nearly $55 million in total value locked (TVL), according to DeFi analytics platform DefiLlama, marking its growing significance in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
Do Kwon to be extradited to US following last-ditch effort in Montenegrin court
Do Kwon, who has been detained in Montenegro since March 2023, is set to be extradited to the United States following a decision by the High Court of Podgorica. Kwon has been facing legal troubles after the collapse of Terra in May 2022, leading to international authorities seeking his extradition due to his alleged involvement in fraud.
The High Court of Podgorica in Montenegro rejected the request to extradite Do Kwon to South Korea, opting instead for his extradition to the United States.
Kwon was arrested in March 2023 for using falsified travel documents and has been detained in Montenegro since.
The U.S. has charged Kwon with eight criminal counts following the collapse of Terra in May 2022.
Both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and South Korean authorities have been pursuing legal actions against Kwon, accusing him and Terra of orchestrating a multi-billion dollar fraud involving crypto asset securities.
Citibank explores tokenization of private equity funds
In a simulation conducted on February 24, 2024, Citibank, in collaboration with ETF firm WisdomTree and investment manager Wellington Capital, explored the tokenization of a private equity fund using blockchain technology.
This initiative aimed to demonstrate the potential for blockchain to streamline the management and distribution of private equity funds.
By successfully tokenizing a hypothetical fund and utilizing smart contracts to manage fund distributions automatically, Citibank showcased the capability for asset managers to tokenize funds in a legally compliant manner that integrates seamlessly with existing banking infrastructures.
The simulation also explored using tokenized funds as collateral in automated lending contracts, indicating a broader range of applications for blockchain in financial services.
The successful simulation underlines Citibank's commitment to leading the American banking sector in blockchain exploration and hints at the potential for significant efficiency improvements in the $6 trillion private equity industry.
Uniswap Foundation proposal suggests turning on rewards for UNI token holders
The Uniswap Foundation has put forward a proposal aimed at modifying the governance structure of the project, with a major focus on enhancing the rewards mechanism for UNI token holders.
The proposal specifically aims to alter the fee mechanism, rewarding users for delegating and staking UNI tokens, thus encouraging more robust and thoughtful governance participation.
The Uniswap Foundation believes that by linking delegation to protocol fees, they can stimulate both the active engagement and thoughtful participation of UNI token holders in the platform’s governance processes.
Following the announcement of the proposal, the price of the UNI token saw a significant surge, increasing over 47% from $7.11 to $10.47, indicating a strong market reaction to the governance upgrade prospects.
The proposed changes by the Uniswap Foundation are scheduled for a community vote, with a snapshot vote on March 1 and an on-chain vote on March 8, underlining the structured approach to implementing these governance modifications.
Avalanche back online after inscriptions mint triggers six-hour outage
Avalanche experienced a significant disruption, going offline for six hours due to a bug triggered by a surge in inscription minting. This downtime was caused by a code bug, which was promptly identified and fixed, allowing the network to resume normal operations.
The Avalanche network's downtime was directly linked to an influx in inscription minting activities, with Struct Finance's minting of over 8.8 million tokens happening around the time of the outage.
Patrick O’Grady from Ava Labs attributed the outage to a "regression bug" introduced in a recent software update, exacerbating the network's data exchange processes among validators to the point of dysfunction under high activity.
Inscriptions are drawing significant attention across various blockchains, causing operational strains due to their popularity and large mint sizes, as seen in past incidences with Arbitrum and zkSync.
While the bug was fixed relatively quickly, allowing transactions to resume, the incident adds to the ongoing discussions around blockchain scalability and stability in the face of new and large-scale activities like inscriptions.