Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and decentralized finance (DeFi) are redefining how charities raise donations and distribute funds to those most in need. Through ever-evolving crypto and blockchain-related technology, crypto philanthropists told Cointelegraph that they've witnessed “new wealth distribution mechanisms" never seen before. “Philanthropy has traditionally been seen as a high-cost-of-entry, individualistic activity but with web3, collective decision-making bodies like DAOs can use tools that streamline financial coordination and encourage more participation,” explained Omar Antila, Product Lead at Crypto for Charity. “Crypto enables new innovative fundraising strategies, like charitable NFT-drop campaigns, or allowing people to pool their crypto …

The liquidators of Alameda Research have reportedly incurred at least $11.5 million in losses since taking control of Alameda's trading accounts. On Jan. 16, a Twitter thread from Arkham Intelligence reported that one wallet under the control of liquidators has seen a string of "significant losses" due to liquidations, some of which were "preventable losses." Over the past two weeks being under Liquidator control, the account incurred significant losses: Largest single liquidation: $4.85M Total liquidated amount: $11.5M Preventable losses: $4M+ — Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) January 16, 2023 As one example, Arkham noted that the account ending 0x997 initially had a short …

When I entered crypto, I succumbed to the contest between blockchain ecosystems, believing one had to be “better” than others. I have since realized the future of cryptocurrency is bringing with it a variety of platforms that will excel at different things. With the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC), I’ve left behind the days of thinking chains have to compete and embrace a connected interchain future. Let me explain. Solana, Polkadot, etc. — what do they have in common? They are individual state machines, each trying to achieve something only one has done before: create a sustainable, robust ecosystem of developers, …

2022 was a huge year for the play-to-earn (P2E) gaming scene. An influx of capital and users was followed by a sharp downturn in blockchain game token prices and a decrease in players — and the market is still reeling. And, with fallout from the FTX disaster reaching into every corner of the industry, play-to-earn’s prospects seem bleak on the surface. But peeking under the hood, the numbers tell a different story: Strong funding this year has set the stage for serious “buidling” in 2023. A consistent flow of strong raises for Web3 gaming studios has been silently infusing the …

Digital assets will largely decouple from traditional equity markets in 2023, says Chief Investment Officer at Arca, Jeff Dorman. Discussing his outlook for 2023 in a recent interview with Cointelegraph, Dorman argues that as the global economy enters a recession this year, equities will be negatively affected while some crypto tokens will perform well: the value of the latter, he explained, is determined not only by macroeconomic factors but also by their utility within the respective ecosystems, which would remain unaltered in a recession. “You're going to see a lot of stocks get punished under the weight of restructurings and …

While 2021 will primarily be remembered for the explosive price appreciation seen across crypto assets and NFTs, blockchain gaming also saw a rapid expansion in user adoption and blossomed into taking up more than 50% of all activity across the blockchain industry. Most of these Web3 games employ a play-to-earn (P2E) economic design where players are rewarded for their time, efforts, and in-game accomplishments. Combining the core gameplay with economic mechanics, most P2E Web3 games rely on rewarding gamers with in-game items in the form of NFTs or with the platform’s native tokens. This model, however, has proven to be …

The developers of the dog-themed token Shiba Inu (SHIB) posted an update to inform its community about its upcoming beta release of Shibarium, a layer-2 network that will run on top of the Ethereum mainnet. In an announcement, SHIB developers shared information about layer-2 blockchains and highlighted that Shibarium is being built to provide a tool to allow the community to build and grow the project and fulfill its founder’s vision. While some believe that the creation of Shibarium is a way to increase the meme token’s price, the developers noted that this wasn’t the goal. They wrote: “Patience is …

By the end of 2022, scammers shifted their focus to duping crypto investors who desperately tried to recoup their year-long losses. An international law enforcement operation led by European government agencies joined crypto entrepreneurs and businesses to curb cross-border crypto scams since July 2022, uncovering a criminal network operating through call centers. Europol and Eurojust, two EU agencies for law enforcement cooperation, joined authorities from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany and Serbia to investigate online investment fraud since June 2022. The investigation identified a criminal network that incurred losses of over $2.1 million (over 2 million euros) — primarily for German investors. …

A California-based cannabis nursery has turned to blockchain and smart contracts to verify the authenticity of its medicinal plants. The cannabis nursery, known as Mendocino Clone Company, was named in a partnership announcement from the EMTRI project and tech firm Global Compliance Applications on Jan. 13. It will be harnessing the project’s blockchain capabilities to certify all clones, or baby plants, with a batch certificate. Cannabis nurseries are establishments that specialize in plant genetics, producing clones and baby plants and seeds for the purpose of wholesale distribution. The move allows the nursery to “document the beginning stages of a cannabis …

An NFT influencer claims to have lost “a life-changing amount” of their net worth in nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and crypto after accidentally downloading malicious software found in a Google Ad search result. The pseudo-anonymous influencer known on Twitter as “NFT God” posted a series of tweets on Jan. 14 describing how his “entire digital livelihood” came under attack including a compromise of his crypto wallet and multiple online accounts. Last night my entire digital livelihood was violated. Every account connected to me both personally and professionally was hacked and used to hurt others. Less importantly, I lost a life changing …

Former FTX US President Brett Harrison has lashed out at Sam Bankman-Fried for manipulating and threatening colleagues who proposed solutions to reorganize FTX US' management structure. Harrison shared his experiences with Bankman-Fried and FTX US on Dec. 14, explaining how he was hired “casually over text” in Mar. 2021 after working together at New York-based trading firm Jane Street for a few years. But six months into Harrison's tenure at FTX US, “cracks began to form” between the two, he said. Despite recalling Bankman-Fried to be a “sensitive and intellectually curious person” at first, Harrison said he saw “total insecurity …

Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Polygon will undergo a hard fork on Jan. 17 in order to address gas spikes and chain reorganizations issues that has affected user experience on the Polygon proof-of-stake (POS) chain. Polygon officially confirmed the hard fork event in Jan. 12 a blog post, which came after weeks of preliminary discussion on Polygon Improvement Proposal (PIP) forum page in late December. GET READY FOR THE HARDFORK The proposed hardfork for the #Polygon PoS chain will make key upgrades to the network on Jan 17th. This is good news for devs & users -- & will make for …