Crypto security is one of the hottest topics for investors and companies actively working on creating better security solutions for the Web3 industry. Web3 Antivirus was created in an effort to make wallet security more accessible to all users in the space. The company offers a browser extension that helps users monitor wallet interactions and spot potential scams and malicious activity before investors fall victim to them. Below are the most common crypto scams and malicious tactics, and how to protect against them below as found through the experience of developing Web3 Antivirus. Malicious transactions Hacker tactics: While on a …

Blockchain scaling technology firm StarkWare is set to partner with Chainlink Labs to bring oracle services, data and price feeds to the StarkNet ecosystem. The coalition will see StarkWare join Chainlink’s SCALE program and brings Chainlink price feeds to StarkNet’s testnet. Starknet tokens will also be used to fund certain operating costs for Chainlink oracle nodes, giving Starknet developers access to Chainlink oracle services and data feeds. Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network that enables smart contracts to securely access off-chain data sources, APIs, and payment systems. It allows smart contracts to interact with real-world data and events, making it …

The cannabis industry has long been fragmented, both geographically and politically. Recognizing this, Mark Bonner, CEO of Cannaverse Technologies and creator of Cannaland, decided to take matters into his own hands. With a background in renewable energy, Mark Bonner brings a unique perspective to the cannabis industry. He saw the potential for a more streamlined, efficient and secure approach and set out to create it — a metaverse known as Cannaland. It is the world's first cannabis platform powered by blockchain technology, and Mark Bonner is at the forefront of the industry, leading the charge for a more unified, sustainable …

The Binance-native blockchain BNB Chain has continued to show steady activity growth in the fourth quarter of 2022 despite the broader crypto bear market according to recent research. In a “State of BNB Chain Q4 2022” report published on Feb. 5, Messari researcher James Trautman revealed that the Binance network had continued with an “aggressive strategy to deploy financial and human capital across its ecosystem.” Due to these ongoing updates and developments, average daily active addresses and transactions “bucked a downward trend and grew by 30% and 0.2%, respectively,” the researcher noted. Bear markets are usually quiet periods in terms …

The research arm of cybersecurity software firm Check Point has flagged the Dingo Token (DINGO) as a “potential scam” after reportedly discovering a smart contract function that has been used to manipulate transaction fees. In a Feb. 3 blog post, Check Point Research (CPR) said it looked into the code behind the Dingo Smart Contract, discovering a backdoor function "setTaxFeePercent," which can change the contract's buy and sell fee up to 99%. This is despite the project’s whitepaper stating that there is only a 10% fee per transaction. According to CPR, this essentially allows the project’s owner to withdraw up …

When the financial system or the economy as a whole undergoes a rapid and large decline, it is said to be in a financial crisis. Financial assets like stocks, bonds, and real estate often see a sharp and significant decline in value during financial crises. They can also be identified by a decline in credit availability and a loss of faith in financial institutions like banks. Related: DeFi vs. CeFi: Comparing decentralized to centralized finance Financial crises can be caused by a variety of factors, including: Overleveraging: When people, businesses, and governments take on excessive debt, they put themselves at …

Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution StarkWare announced plans to open source its proprietary Starknet Prover under the Apache 2.0 license, which has processed 327 million transactions and minted 95 million nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to date. The prover is the crucial engine Starkware uses to roll up hundreds of thousands of transactions and compress them into a tiny cryptographic proof written on the Ethereum blockchain. “We think of the Prover as the magic wand of Stark technology. It wondrously generates the proofs that allow unimaginable scaling,” said Eli Ben-Sasson, president and co-founder of Starkware. Starkware has faced criticism from the crypto …

Blockchain technology has disrupted various industries by providing a secure decentralized platform for transactions and data storage. The consensus mechanism is one of the most critical components of any blockchain out there, as it ensures its reliability and security. In recent years, new consensus mechanisms have been introduced, and existing ones have been improved to cater to the growing demands of the industry. To date, proof-of-work (PoW) has been the most widely used consensus mechanism in blockchain technology. However, PoW blockchains have several limitations, including slow transaction processing times, high energy consumption and scalability issues. To address these challenges, several …

India’s Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, stated that regulation “cannot be done” by a single country, it requires “collective action,” in a recent television interview. Speaking to Rahul Joshi on CNBC-TV18 in India on Feb. 3, Sitharaman noted that while the central bank is the “authority for issuing cryptocurrency,” the rest of the digital assets created outside are “using very useful financial technologies.” Sitharaman said that India is looking at a "global" standard operating procedure (SOP) to be “agreed upon” for regulating crypto assets, ahead of India hosting the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Bengaluru later this …

Several crypto firms have made job cuts this week amid the ongoing crypto winter, retaining “impactful” employees as they prepare for a “longer downtown.” At least 216 jobs were slashed between three crypto firms – open-source software laboratory Protocol Labs, blockchain data firm Chainalysis and U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex, with reductions of 89, 83 and 44 employees respectively. Juan Benet, CEO of Protocol Labs, the parent company of Filecoin, announced the job cuts in a blog post on Feb. 3 stating that the company has had to focus its headcount “against the most impactful and business critical efforts.” He stated …

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has seized two non-fungible tokens (NFTs) worth more than $100,000 and 86.5 Ether (ETH) from a reported phishing scammer. The alleged scammer in question, Chase Senecal — known as Horror (HZ) online — was initially exposed via a lengthy investigation by independent blockchain sleuth ZachXBT posted back in September. In the FBI’s official notification posted on Feb. 3, it outlined that Seneca’s property — which also included an Audemars Piguet (AP) Royal Oak Watch worth $41,000 — was “seized for federal forfeiture for violation of federal law.” The FBI’s notification did not detail much …

Blockchain projects continue to experience failure rates in excess of 90%, and it seems that with every passing moment, more and more “successful” companies add their underperforming blockchain project to the graveyard. One of the most recent blockchain failure victims was Moller-Maersk, which recently announced the termination of its highly publicized TradeLens offering — a global trade platform built on IBM blockchain technology. These failures, however, were totally predictable and, in many cases, would be avoidable if companies more closely observed certain lessons in innovation diffusion. Lesson 1: Innovation is not monolithic. One of the biggest mistakes companies make is …