Autor Cointelegraph By Brian Quarmby

THORChain network halted following software bug

Cross-chain exchange and proof-of-bond network THORChain was halted earlier today as the result of a bug causing “non-determinism between individual nodes.”At around 8 pm UTC, the THORChain team initially tweeted that developers were aware of a chain outage and were working to find the root cause of the issue. Roughly four hours later, the team posted a further update noting that “consensus halts in a distributed state machine are from sources of non-determinism between individual nodes and prevent the ledger from becoming corrupted.” It stated that the next steps were to find the source of the non-determinism, release an update, and restart the state machine, and while noting that step one was close, there have been no updates since, suggesting the developers are dealing with a fair bit of a headache. Consensus halts in a distributed state machine are from sources of non-determinism between individual nodes and prevent the ledger from becoming corrupted. Next steps:1) Find source of non-determinism2) Release update3) Restart state machine(1) is close https://t.co/sS4EMbYcOQ— THORChain (@THORChain) October 27, 2022According to THORChain explorer, the network still appears to be halted at the time of writing. However, token swapping platform THORSwap provided an update of its own, noting that its platform is still operating. “Update on the current halt of THORChain Swaps/LP. Funds are safe. Ethereum and ERC-20 swaps are fully functioning on ThorSwap via DEX Aggregator. Hang tight, THORChain devs are on the case!” it wrote. THORChain infrastructure developers Nine Realms were unfazed by the incident, as it suggested that ironing out bugs is just part of the process of improving the THORChain network. “Each halt is investigated immediately by a security team and core devs—resulting in protocol improvements. As the network matures: halt early, halt often,” it stated. Cointelegraph has reached out to THORChain for comment and will update the story if a response is received. Related: Network outages have been Solana’s ‘curse,’ says co-founderTHORChain isn’t the only one to suffer network issues this week, as Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp went offline to its 2 billion users for around 2 hours on Oct. 25. Whatsapp attributed the problem to a technical error, but didn’t go into any further detail. THORChain’s native token RUNE is down 1.4% over the past 24 hours to sit at $1.53, but is still up 6.5% in the past seven days. Zooming out, the asset is down a hefty 92.7% since it’s all time high of $20.87 on May 19 2021, according to CoinGecko.

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DeFi Pioneer Echoes SBF in Call for Tighter Crypto Regulations

Respected former decentralized finance (DeFi) project founder and developer Andre Cronje has resurfaced after a lengthy hiatus to call for tighter regulations on the crypto sector amid the implosion of multiple firms this year. The comments echo similar sentiments to that of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), who also called for more stringent digital asset industry standards last week, including greater consumer protections, transparency, and disclosures. SBF was met with strong community pushback however, with many people accusing the CEO of trying to monopolize or censor the DeFi space, among other things. In an Oct. 25 blog post titled “The Crypto Winter of 2022,” Cronje called for greater regulation of the sector, noting that “the recent decline of the crypto-market has shown the flaws in the system and the need for regulation to reign in irresponsible actors and protect consumers.”Cronje added that it had been a grim year for the crypto sector as he pointed to the collapse of the Terra LUNA ecosystem and several crypto firms — particularly crypto lenders, which has left consumers reeling: “The resultant issues which appear to be most problematic are where users’ cryptocurrencies are locked in accounts handled by exchanges, or where the management of their funds is left in the hands of others.”He went on to call for greater consumer protections, especially concerning crypto exchanges and crypto investment service providers, as highlighted the complex case of users getting their funds back from the ongoing Celsius bankruptcy case. “Remedies under the current regulatory regime are ineffective. Most investors sign away their rights to their crypto in voluminous terms and conditions of crypto-exchanges and many will (at best) rank as unsecured creditors should these exchange services be liquidated,” he wrote.The former DeFi developer details current solutions used in traditional finance that the crypto sector hasn’t yet introduced, including deposit insurance, prudential supervision, and consumer remedies in “being able to approach the relevant prudential authority, or at least using overarching legislation as a framework.” Regarding deposit insurance, Cronje emphasized the importance of central banks across the globe adhering to mandatory insurance practices to ensure consumer funds are protected. Related: US lawmakers question regulators over ‘revolving door’ with crypto industryUnder such practices, it generally means that people have a viable and relatively straightforward route to getting their funds back, unlike in the case of Celsius.“The safety net of deposit insurance is a remedy available to consumers in traditional banking which is not available to depositors into crypto-exchanges (like Celsius),” he wrote.Regarding prudential supervision, Cronje said that overarching authorities in the sector could improve confidence in crypto, such as the case of central banks supervising private banks on factors such as “capital, asset quality, soundness of management, earnings, liquidity, and sensitivity to risk.”Cronje is seen as one of the most influential figures in the DeFi movement, due in part to launching Yearn Finance in 2020 and his work on several other DeFi protocols. In March, however, he announced that he was stepping away from working in the industry entirely.

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Phishing scammer Monkey Drainer has pilfered as much as $1M in Ethereum

An alleged phishing scammer going by the pseudonym “Monkey Drainer” has reportedly swiped around $1 million worth of Ether (ETH) via dubious copycat NFT minting websites this week. Well-known blockchain sleuth ZachXBT was one of the first to track and highlight the activity, outlining on Oct. 26 that: “Over the past 24 hrs ~700 ETH ($1m) has been stolen by the phishing scammer known as Monkey Drainer. They recently surpassed 7300 transactions from their drainer wallet after being around for only a few months.”“The two largest victims over the past day include 0x02a & 0x626 who collectively lost $370k from signing transactions on malicious phishing sites,” ZachXBT added. The blockchain scam investigator also went on to assert that longer term, Monkey Drainer has allegedly stolen more than $3.5 million from their schemes, with “that number rapidly increasing by each day.” 6/ Please be extra diligent before visiting unknown sites, connecting your wallet, and signing transactions.Am still away on holiday for another week or so but wanted to get this post out as my bot notifications have been blowing up from this.— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) October 25, 2022Phishing scams often involve criminals sharing links to websites impersonating real projects or companies designed to dupe victims into handing over private credentials by offering an exciting buying opportunity or free promotion. Four addresses, in particular, have been flagged relating to Monkey Drainer, including the monkey-drainer.eth address. Upon searching these addresses on blockchain community-driven Web3 security network Chainabuse, it currently shows a long list of reports relating to airdrop scams, NFT scams, and phishing attacks. The reported incidents include airdrop scams via the Astrobot Society discord channel, a Fake Wolf Game and Bored Ape Yacht Club marketplace, and a fake Aptos Airdrop to name a few. Web3 security community Wallet Guard also responded to ZachXBT’s Twitter thread and stated that it had “spotted several other mint sites recently created” that had Monkey Drainer on the backend, including a fake Garbage Friends whitelist link that was a phishing website. Related: FTX to give a ‘one-time’ $6M compensation to phishing victimsZachXBT has become a respected independent blockchain investigator over the past couple of years, bringing to light a lot of nefarious behavior in the space. Earlier this month, the deputy chief of France’s national cyber unit Christophe Durand even cited ZachXBT’s work for helping officials track phishing scams of five people suspected of stealing $2.5 million worth of NFTs.

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Aussie federal budget reaffirms BTC won’t be treated as foreign currency

The first federal budget under the Anthony Albanese led-government has outlined that Bitcoin (BTC) will continue to be treated as a digital asset, and not taxed like a foreign currency.This clarification comes in response to El Salvador’s adoption of BTC as legal tender in September last year, with the Australian government essentially ruling out a shift in classification despite it being used as a currency in El Salvador and the Central African Republic. The federal budget was released on Oct. 25, and states that BTC will fall under the “current tax treatment of digital currencies, including the capital gains tax treatment, where they are held as an investment.”“This measure removes uncertainty following the decision of the Government of El Salvador to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender and will be backdated to income years that include 1 July 2021,” the budget document reads. Speaking with Cointelegraph, Danny Talwar, head of tax at Australian crypto tax accountants Koinly, suggested that El Salvador’s BTC adoption has done little to sway the opinions of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and the Treasury, as they have always maintained that Bitcoin should be taxed like other digital assets. “Foreign currency tax rules in Australia follow revenue-based treatment rather than capital. Since 2014, ATO guidance has stated that crypto assets are not foreign currency for tax purposes, rather they are CGT assets for investors.”As such, under the classification of a digital asset, BTC investors will be subject to capital gains tax requirements when making a profit from selling the asset. The percentages vary as profits are generally included as part of one’s income tax, however if the asset has been held for longer than a year, a clear cut 50% of the profits go to the ATO. In comparison, the general tax rate for profits from foreign currency investing is 23.5%, and would mark a hefty discount to investors if BTC were to be classed in this category. “The Treasury released an exposure draft in September containing proposed legislation to embed this into law,” he added. Talwar did note however that not everything is set in stone for digital asset taxation laws, as a “Board of Tax review on the tax treatment of digital assets more broadly is ongoing.”In terms of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), these types of government-backed currencies will fall under the “foreign currency rules.” Related: Rushing ‘token mapping’ could hurt Aussie crypto space — Finder founderWhile the prospect of an Australian CBDC still seems to be quite some time away, there have been recent developments in this area. In late September, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released a white paper outlining a plan for conducting a pilot project for a CBDC called “eAUD” in partnership with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC). A report on the pilot is expected to be released mid-next year, and the RBA will be responsible for eAUD issuance, while the DFCRC will oversee platform development and installation.

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Nifty News: Reddit NFTs surge into OpenSea top 10, judge likens NFTs to ‘luxury’ property and more

Reddit NFTs among OpenSea’s top 10 collectionsReddit’s Polygon-based nonfungible token (NFT) venture continues to impress with three of its tokenized avatar collections cracking the top 10 projects on OpenSea in terms of sales volume this week. Looking at the 24-hour sales volume chart, Spooky Season by Reddit user poieeeyee is ranked second with 274 Ether (ETH) ($401,000) worth of sales, behind only Yuga Lab’s Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) at 684 ETH. The ninth and tenth spots are then taken up by Imagination Station from user Chipperdoodle and The Senses from user Rojom with 121 ETH ($177,400) and 120 ETH ($175,900) worth of sales over the past 24 hours. Zooming out to the seven-day sales volume chart, Spooky Season is the sole Reddit project cracking the top 10 with its 880 ETH ($1.2 million) worth of sales placing it as sixth at the time of writing. Spooky Season NFTs: OpenSeaFor anyone unfamiliar with Reddit’s NFT project, it offers a Collectible Avatars Creator Program which enables users to create and sell profile picture (PFP) NFT collections with artwork based on the Reddit mascot logo Snoo.The move has been a hit so far, with Cointelegraph reporting on Oct. 24 that the number of wallets holding Reddit NFTs had hit around 2.8 million since launch in July. NFT considered physical property like ‘luxury watches’ in Singapore courtA judge from the High Court of the Republic of Singapore has drawn on existing property laws to grant a motion to refrain a defendant hodler from selling a BAYC NFT, as he likened the asset class to physical property such as luxury watches or fine wine. The dispute in question involves Plaintiff Janesh Rajkumar, who alleges that defendant chefpierre.eth broke the terms of an NFT loan agreement and foreclosed on the token too early. According to court documents, via the NFTfi platform, Rajkumar had borrowed crypto assets from chefpierre.eth by putting up his BAYC NFT as collateral, but had set terms in which the asset would not be liquidated without giving “reasonable opportunities to make full repayment of the loan.”After the NFT was liquidated, chefpierre.eth went on to list the NFT for sale, however, Rajkumar then filed a lawsuit and motioned for the court to bar the sale for the duration of the case. Explaining his decision to grant the motion, Judge Lee Seiu Kin compared NFTs to physical collector’s items, noting that: “Cars, books, wine and luxury watches … are a few examples of highly sought-after items for collectors, [f]or digital nomads, especially those steeped in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, NFTs have emerged as a highly sought-after collectors’ item.” Get a teardrop tattoo in the Metaverse, your grandma won’t careFreshly launched Australian Web3 tech firm Swallow is looking to expand the tattoo sector into the Metaverse.In a launch announcement this week, the firm outlined that it will allow “metaverse-goers and gamers to customize their avatars and accessories with tattoos and skins from the world’s most exciting tattoo artists.” A key focus for the firm will be offering tattoo artists ways to expand their presence outside of their shops, bring more exposure to their artwork and designs, and build a digital community. “Giving people the ability to represent themselves online through wearable art is an important part of their digital experience. Likewise, tattoo artists are looking for ways to expand outside their physical studios and share their designs more broadly,” the announcement reads. According to Swallow, more than 100 tattoo artists have signed on from the jump, such as popular podcaster Joe Rogan’s go-to artist Aaron Della Vedova. 25 business partnerships have also been penned, including two blockchain-based metaverses in Bloktopia and CrypCade. Galaxy enters NFT royalties debate saying it’s a ‘core value proposition’With the recent debate over whether royalties from NFTs are good for the industry or not, in which some projects have opted to move away from the model, asset manager Galaxy has emphasized that the community should be careful about shifting away from what it deems as a “core value proposition of NFTs.”In a lengthy report, Galaxy highlights data indicating that more than “$1.8 billion worth of royalties have been paid out to creators of Ethereum-based NFT collections” so far, suggesting a “strong contingent of users willing to pay royalties.” Related: Potential US ban is a reminder that influencers should dump TikTokUltimately, the report notes that it is too early to tell which NFT sales model will be best, as more solutions will likely emerge with different platforms and companies going down different paths. “Only time will tell if creators continue to reap benefits from secondary sales, or if they will lose out on potential income in favor of a ‘pure’ ownership model.”Other Nifty News: After recently enabling NFT purchase support on its app store, Apple has essentially reiterated that its 30% sales commission fee on all in-app purchases will apply to NFTs, as it will not enable apps to direct users to external avenues to purchase the NFTs. Cointelegraph reported on Oct. 24 that search data from Google Trends shows that the keyword “Web3” has picked up steam and recorded an all-time high in terms of peak popularity in 2022, while global Google searches for “Bitcoin” has reached their lowest point in over a year.

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