Business news-Page 27
BonqDAO protocol suffers $120M loss after oracle hack
A small-scale decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) has suffered a rather sizeable smart contract exploit leading to an estimated $120 million being stolen from its protocol. BonqDAO, which is behind the Bonq protocol, told its Twitter followers on Feb. 1 that its protocol was exposed to an oracle hack that allowed the exploiter to manipulate the price of the AllianceBlock (ALBT) token. Bonq protocol was exposed to an oracle hack, where exploiter increased the ALBT price and minted large amounts of BEUR. The BEUR was then swapped for other tokens on Uniswap. Then, the price was decreased to almost zero, which …
Blockchain / Feb. 2, 2023
New FTX documentary to spotlight SBF-CZ relationship
The FTX saga and the developments that led to the crypto exchange's collapse will be framed in a new documentary focusing on the volatile relationship between Sam Bankman-Fried and one of his fiercest critics, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the production is a partnership between media outlet Fortune and Unrealistic Ideas, a non-scripted production company co-founded by American actor Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson and Archie Gips. "The tumultuous relationship between SBF and CZ has played out to a certain extent in articles and on Twitter, but this definitive documentary will give people a 360 degree personal …
Business / Feb. 1, 2023
Retail giant Pick n Pay to accept Bitcoin in 1,628 stores across South Africa
The South African grocery retailer Pick n Pay is expanding its Bitcoin (BTC) coverage to all 1,628 stores across the country following a three-month pilot testing phase in 39 locations. As part of its nationwide rollout, store customers will be able to pay for items using cryptocurrency via smartphone apps or by scanning a QR code and accepting the South African rand's conversion rate at the time of payment. Good news, everyone! CryptoQR is now active at all Pick-n-Pay stores across South Africa, including PnP express and clothing shops! You can also buy Airtime and Electricity, Plane and Bus tickets, …
Adoption / Feb. 1, 2023
MakerDAO launches $5M legal defense fund
According to a new social post on Feb. 1, Maker decentralized autonomous organization, or MakerDAO, has approved the creation of a new fund dedicated to expenses related to legal defense. MakerDAO is the issuer of the DAI United States dollar stablecoin. As told by developers, Maker will allocate 5 million DAI to "reimburse legal defense expenses in case of legal or regulatory action against specific participants of MakerDAO." The post further explained: "Initially, the coverage will be provided to Recognized Delegates, Core Unit Facilitators, Core Unit permanent contributors, and active MKR holders. The legal action against the beneficiary must be …
Blockchain / Feb. 1, 2023
Web3 could seize on the decades-old software-as-a-service business model
In the era of services like Netflix, Dropbox or Amazon Prime, it’s quite easy to forget about the times when customers were getting in line to acquire boxed digital products, like software or entertainment media, with one-time purchases. The age of annual fees started when consumer products turned into subscription-based services. The same transformation happened approximately a decade ago in the enterprise world when businesses reimagined ages-old solutions like enterprise resource planning or customer relationship management as ongoing services monetized via recurrent billings. Hence, the business-to-business (B2B) software-as-a-service (SaaS) model was born in the 2000s and disrupted the way enterprise …
Adoption / Feb. 1, 2023
How to improve your coding skills using ChatGPT
As a language model, ChatGPT is primarily used for natural language processing tasks such as text generation and language understanding. While it can be used to generate code samples, it’s not designed to help improve coding skills. However, here are a few ways ChatGPT can be used to help improve coding skills. Practice explaining coding concepts Use ChatGPT to explain coding concepts and algorithms to help solidify one’s understanding of them. This can also help users identify areas where they may need to study further. For instance, when using ChatGPT to practice explaining coding concepts, one can input a prompt …
Decentralization / Feb. 1, 2023
Binance delves into decentralized Web3 storage with BNB Greenfield
BNB Chain, a blockchain platform launched by crypto exchange Binance, revealed interest in building a blockchain-based Web3 infrastructure in its new BNB Greenfield white paper. The white paper explains it as a decentralized storage infrastructure within BNB Chain, which allows users and decentralized applications (DApps) full ownership of the data. Potential use cases include website hosting, personal cloud and data storage, publishing and more The testnet of the proposed Web3 infrastructure — built by the BNB Chain core team — is supported by community developer teams from Amazon Web Services, NodeReal and Blockdaemon. BNB Greenfield is being built as a …
Adoption / Feb. 1, 2023
Tether CTO denies borrowing from bankrupt lender Celsius
Tether (USDT) — the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization — has never received any loan from the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius, according to the chief technology officer. Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Tether and Bitfinex crypto exchange, took to Twitter on Jan. 31 to announce that Tether has “never borrowed from Celsius.” The tweet came in response to the Celsius bankruptcy examiner report, which allegedly mistakenly implied that Tether was among Celsius’ borrowers alongside firms like Three Arrows Capital, which borrowed $75 million from the firm. Released on Jan. 31, the examiner report mentioned that “Celsius’s loans to Tether were …
Regulation / Feb. 1, 2023
Celsius publishes list of users eligible to withdraw majority of assets
Bankrupt cryptocurrency lending firm Celsius had come up with a withdrawal process for users who had their crypto in its custody when it stopped withdrawals in June 2022. Celsius released an official update on upcoming withdrawals on Jan. 31, providing the list of users that will be eligible to withdraw approximately 94% of eligible custody assets. The firm laid out the process in a 1,411-page court filing with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, listing the full names of all the eligible users alongside the type and amount of debted crypto assets. Celsius stressed …
Bitcoin / Feb. 1, 2023
Toyota to explore blockchain use cases via DAO hackathon
Automotive giant Toyota is delving deeper into blockchain use cases through its involvement with a Web3 hackathon for decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) developers. On Feb. 1, multi-chain smart contract and decentralized application (dApp) network Astar announced its inaugural Web3 hackathon. The news of note, however, was that it's being supported by the Toyota Motor Corporation. Founder of the Astar Network, Sota Watanabe, commented on the significance of Toyota’s involvement in the initiative: “During the event, we aim to develop the first PoC (Proof of Concept) DAO tool for Toyota’s employees. If a good tool is produced, Toyota employees will interact …
Adoption / Feb. 1, 2023
Decentralized Twitter alternative goes live on Apple's App Store
Damus, a so-called “Twitter killer” built on a decentralized network has been approved on the Apple App Store. The Damus team confirmed the approval to its 11,500 Twitter followers on Jan. 31, following what it claims was at least three rejections from the Big Tech player. Shortly after, Twitter co-founder and Nostr contributor Jack Dorsey shared the news with his 6.5 million followers, with the entrepreneur labeling it as a “milestone” moment for open source protocols: a milestone for open protocols...#nostr is now officially on the Apple App Store with @damusapp:https://t.co/GQmvPE5nfX — jack (@jack) January 31, 2023 The app dubs …
Decentralization / Feb. 1, 2023
Crypto-friendly bank ends loans backed by crypto mining rigs
The holding company for the crypto-friendly bank, BankProv, has revealed it’s no longer providing loans secured by cryptocurrency mining rigs after writing off $47.9 million in loans primarily secured by them throughout 2022. According to a Jan. 31 filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), BankProv has already nearly halved the proportion of its digital asset portfolio consisting of rig-collateralized debt since the quarter ending Sep. 30, 2022. The bank held $41.2 million in digital asset-related loans as of Dec. 30 last year consisting of $26.7 million worth of loans collateralized by crypto mining rigs which “will …
Regulation / Feb. 1, 2023