Autor Cointelegraph By Brian Quarmby

Professional soccer club Crawley Town FC signs midfielder after NFT vote

Professional soccer club Crawley Town FC signs midfielder after NFT vote

Uverejnil používateľ | júl 29, 2022 |

Professional English soccer team Crawley Town F.C. have followed through on a community vote by fans and nonfungible token (NFT) holders who were recently given a voice on what type of player the team should recruit next. The vote, which took place on June 15 and was the first team decision opened up to fans, took place for verified NFTs hodlers via a temporary Discord channel. Votes were also taken from nearly 1,000 season ticket holders. Speaking with the Daily Mail on Thursday, Crawley Town co-owner and former ESPN gambling analyst Preston Johnson emphasized the significance of being able to offer fans a stake in the club via NFTs: “A lot of NFT projects are just speculation with no real tangible spine, no real true story. Having a football club to root for every week? That’s a spine that people attach themselves to.”“If we can bring that to this crypto audience, especially if we’re able to actually achieve promotion and move up the ranks of the English football league, then it’s an even bigger story people all around the world can be part of,” he added. Following the vote, Crawley Town announced the signing of midfielder Jayden Davis last week on a free transfer after the 20-year-old completed a successful trial with the club. Crawley Town plies its trade in League Two, which for those not well versed in English soccer, is confusingly the fourth tier of the English professional league structure. The team was purchased by United States crypto and Web3 firm WAGMI United — We’re All Gonna Make It — for an estimated $20 million in April. The firm, founded by Johnson and derivatives trader Eben Smith has the long-term goal of taking Crawley Town all the way up to join the likes of Liverpool F.C. and Manchester City in the English Premier League (EPL), the top tier in England. WAGMI United is also owned by more than 30 investors, with big names such as entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuck and Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Darly Moery being on that list. In June, WAGMI United rolled out alternate team jerseys for Crawley Town that could only be purchased via its NFTs. The tokens also offer hodler’s key benefits, such as voting decisions on aspects such as player transfers, along with free Adidas merchandise and exclusive physical and virtual events. adidas is excited to announce our partnership with @WAGMIUnited to become the official kit supplier for @crawleytown.adidas supports WAGMI’s vision of creating possibilities for football fans globally to connect, create and belong through innovation.⚽ pic.twitter.com/awYlcBP2fC— adidas Football (@adidasfootball) June 27, 2022WAGMI United initially rolled out 10,000 NFTs, and according to the firm’s website, there are 1933 remaining that can be minted for 0.35 Ether (ETH), worth around $600 at the time of writing. Related: Cristiano Ronaldo to get football fans into Web3 with Binance partnershipOther companies such as Socios have developed their own way of fan engagement via licensed fan tokens with partnered professional teams. The firm offers hodlers of the fan tokens benefits such as VIP events, meet and greets, collectibles and Socios merch, but notably does not offer fans any meaningful voting rights over their beloved teams. The prices of Socios fan tokens are also known to be highly volatile and speculative, which has resulted in strong criticism from many soccer fans who have expressed concerns over the prospect of people losing money while also having their fandom monetized. Tokens as a concept are terrible.Re: crypto and football clubs, it’s a bit like keeping up with the Jonses. Everyone else is doing so we have to do it, but it’s unregulated and rife for exploitation by those who see it as an opportunity.Ultimately, fans lose out.— arseblog (@arseblog) June 28, 2022

Organized groups such as Football Supporters Europe have also spoken out at being “appalled” over European soccer’s governing body UEFA’s decision to sign a three-year partnership with Socios back in February, citing such reasons.

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Solana-based stablecoin NIRV drops 85% following $3.5M exploit

Solana-based stablecoin NIRV drops 85% following $3.5M exploit

Uverejnil používateľ | júl 29, 2022 |

Solana-based algorithmic stablecoin NIRV has become the latest stablecoin to fail after dropping 85% from its United States dollar peg following a hack on adaptive yield protocol Nirvana Finance on Wednesday. The flash loan attack, which also saw Nirvana Finance’s native token ANA drop by 85%, resulted in the loss of $3.49 million worth of Tether (USDT), with the SolanaFM team being the first to confirm that the funds were siphoned via a flash loan attack on Wednesday:“Utilizing Solend Protocol’s Flash Loans, the hacker borrowed $10M USDC from the Solend Main Pool Vault which was used to exploit $3.49M USDT from the Nirvana Finance Treasury.”At the time of writing, both NIRV and ANA are down roughly 85% to $0.14 and $1.33, respectively, at the time of writing. On Nirvana’s website, it confirms that the protocol was “maliciously hacked and reserve funds are stolen. NIRV and ANA have lost their collateral, and do not have secured market value.”What we know so far:Nirvana has been maliciously hacked and the reserves have been stolen.A flashloan attack was used to steal money. This is not the fault of Solend, but an exploit of Nirvana’s program.https://t.co/NkmtHAbAAa— Nirvana Finance (@nirvana_fi) July 28, 2022The Nirvana team is now offering the hacker a whitehat bounty of $300,000 and a “cessation” of the investigation into their identity. So far, they revealed that the hacker’s wallet tied to a centralized exchange has been flagged. “Please accept this good faith request and return our treasury for the good of the whole Nirvana community. You have not taken money from VCs or large funds—the treasury you have taken represents the collective hopes of everyday people,” it wrote. To The Nirvana Hacker:On behalf of the Nirvana Finance community, we humbly ask that you return the stolen funds from our treasury. 1/5— Nirvana Finance (@nirvana_fi) July 28, 2022

Another algo bites the dust The algorithmically collateralized NIRV is unironically described by the protocol as a “superstable” token. According to an explanatory thread on Solana Forums, the asset is backed by a network of stablecoins in Nirvana’s reserves via a “decentralized peg delegation.”“NIRV is always treated as $1 from the protocol’s point-of-view. This dollar value is denominated in ANA tokens. For instance, if the spot price of ANA is $12, the protocol accepts 12 NIRV to purchase an ANA token.” In this instance, it appears that NIRV was depegged as a direct result of $3.49 million worth of USDT being stolen from Nirvana’s coffers. It marks yet another algo-stablecoin that has been severely depegged in 2022. Beanstalk Farm’s algorithmic stablecoin is sitting at $0.0022 after the protocol was hacked for $182 million in April. Terra’s first variation of its algo-stablecoin TerraUSD Classic (USTC) also famously imploded following a death spiral that resulted in $40 billion being wiped from the market in May. How it workedAccording to blockchain audit platform OtterSec, a hacker used a program to artificially pump the price of ANA from $8 to $24 via the flash loan. They were then able to mint ANA against the flash loan at the inflated price and subsequently exchanged the asset for $3.49 million worth of USDT which was drained directly from Nirvana’s treasury. OtterSec noted that his hack shared similarities with the attack on Crema Finance worth $10 million earlier this month, in which the attacker took out a flash loan from the Solend decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol to inflate pricing data and raid the protocol. 2/ This hack beared many similarities to previous hacks. Similar to the @Crema_Finance hack, this too used Solend flashloans. The attacker’s program was also uploaded on-chain and closed immediately afterwards. https://t.co/kgg7C2M2Gq pic.twitter.com/GJaAZlfJZD— OtterSec (@osec_io) July 28, 2022

SolanaFM also noted that the hacker exited the attack by converting “the full USDT amount into USDCet, transferring the funds into an Ether (ETH) account” via Wormhole’s cross-chain bridge.

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Critique on Helium’s $6.5K monthly revenue causes a stir

Critique on Helium’s $6.5K monthly revenue causes a stir

Uverejnil používateľ | júl 28, 2022 |

A recent critique from author and entrepreneur Liron Shapira on the Helium blockchain project has caused a strong debate over the long-term prospects of the company. Founded in 2013, Helium is an Internet of Things (IoT)focused blockchain that is building a decentralized peer-to-peer wireless telecommunications network via its own machine networking tech.In a Twitter thread from July 26, Shapira, a heavy critic of Web3, questioned the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of investment into Helium. He pointed to data suggesting that the project makes just $6,500 per month from its data usage revenue, and stated that the “complete lack of end-user demand for Helium should not have come as a surprise.” He also referenced recent posts from node hotspot operators in the Helium subreddit who were posted about the dwindling rewards from their efforts. “On average, they spent $400-800 to buy a hotspot. They were expecting $100/month, enough to recoup their costs and enjoy passive income. Then their earnings dropped to only $20/mo,” he said. .@Helium, often cited as one of the best examples of a Web3 use case, has received $365M of investment led by @a16z.Regular folks have also been convinced to spend $250M buying hotspot nodes, in hopes of earning passive income.The result? Helium’s total revenue is $6.5k/month pic.twitter.com/PyW6KPllvc— Liron Shapira (@liron) July 26, 2022In a follow up interview with Tactical Investing on July 28, Shapira expanded on his comments, and even went as far as to accuse the project of being a “Ponzi-scheme”:“People see those two numbers, $6,500 a month vs $350 million raised, and they say ‘how does this make any sense?’. It only makes sense in the case of a very very early stage startup.”As part of Helium’s wireless network structure, node operators receive 35% of data usage revenue as rewards in the HNT token for validation transactions. To be able to run a node, people also need to purchase and install one of Helium Systems’ hotspot devices, along with staking 10,000 HNT worth roughly $89,000 at current prices. Shapira argues that operators “maintain false hope” of obtaining a positive return on their investment. Related: Web3 innovations are replacing middlemen with middleware protocolsIn response to the thread, Helium founder Amir Haleem provided a lengthy one of his own, addressing the criticism.“So why is there only $6,500 worth of data being paid for? Unlike cellular networks there aren’t millions of existing devices that can switch to Helium. The best applications haven’t been built yet, and it takes months or years to build them.”Haleem noted that the project’s goal of developing a secure, decentralized and cheap IoT network is not an easy one to undertake, and that he also envisioned it taking 5-10 years. He also stated that “realistically there’s only been *usable* coverage for the last 6-9 months,” applications are starting to get built on the network. but now the applications are coming, and they’re awesome. how about a tracking device in the form of a sticker that can be attached to basically anything? it’s now here, and being deployed as we speak https://t.co/pfGJpK1HcV— amir.hnt (,) (@amirhaleem) July 26, 2022

In the Helium subreddit, user PuppypuppyX also responded to Shapira’s critiques and shared similar sentiments. While they accepted that some criticism of Helium is valid relating to the node operating infrastructure (faulty products and delayed shipping), many people in the community understand the complexity of the goal and how long it will take. “Creating a network of millions of nodes with different protocols (LoRa, 5g, and more) that spans the globe and is not beholden to a multinational corporation is one of the most ambitious technological projects ever undertaken,” they wrote, adding that: “IF Helium works (and I’m not saying it will) it can revolutionize the way data is shared.”

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'Bullish rate hike' — Why crypto spiked today in the face of bad news

'Bullish rate hike' — Why crypto spiked today in the face of bad news

Uverejnil používateľ | júl 28, 2022 |

Crypto markets have been pumping since the announcement of a 75 basis point interest rate hike in the United States, with experts explaining that the markets may have been initially bracing for much worse. On July 27, price of Bitcoin (BTC) surged around 8% to the mid $22,500 mark following the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) decision to raise interest rates yet again. Many other top crypto assets surged in price as well, with Ether (ETH), Polkadot (DOT) and Polygon (MATIC) all seeing notable double-digit gains over the past 24 hours. Quantum Economics founder and CEO Mati Greenspan on Wednesday jokingly questioned whether this was a “bullish rate hike” on Twitter. Speaking with Cointelegraph, Greenspan noted that investors were clearly expecting worse and suggested this latest bounce is nothing out of the ordinary.“Markets love going up on Fed days, even when their decision is to be tough. Powell is particularly skilled at delivering bad news. Clearly investors were expecting worse.”Markets were expecting a larger hike. https://t.co/HkR8Upfi52— Mati Greenspan (@MatiGreenspan) July 27, 2022The Fed’s attempts to reel inflation in by increasing interest rates are usually associated with a pullback of investment activity across markets. However, there are mixed opinions amongst the community about whether the latest pump will have enough momentum to sustain upwards, or if there is a significant retracement on the cards before the market starts to fully recover. Don’t you see that price is just ranging between 19k and 23k during a downtrend and with no signs of accumulation?If you want to buy here, go ahead. Then don’t regret it and cry if the market makes new lows, which is likely.I’m not buying.— il Capo Of Crypto (@CryptoCapo_) July 27, 2022

Pav Hundal, an analyst at Australian crypto exchange Swyftx told Cointelegraph that the company was “surprised at the exuberance of the reaction to yesterday’s rate hike,” as the underlying macro landscape still seems up in the air.The Fed is saying one thing and the markets seem to be hearing something else every time we see rate rises. In June, it was the Fed suggesting large rate hikes would be ‘uncommon,’ this time around its Jay Powell hinting that the pace of increase might ‘slow’.” “The best gauge of what’s to come is the underlying economic data and for now at least, it does look like some inflationary pressures are easing, with gas prices falling alongside futures prices for staples like corn and wheat, as well as some shipping costs,” he added. Related: Ethereum price ‘cup and handle’ pattern hints at potential breakout versus BitcoinHundal went on to note that Swyftx saw a 100% increase in early trading surrounding the news, indicating that “there’s clearly a lot of people who see value in the current market prices.”The analyst emphasized that a broader bullish or bearish trend will not likely become apparent until the U.S. releases important data relating to the performance of its gross domestic product (GDP) in the coming days, which could signal whether the country is officially in recession or not: “The good news is we’re not going to have to wait too long to see what happens to the crypto market when any initial volatility washes out. The U.S. is about to release its GDP data and that’s going to be a big stress test. Any negative sentiment here could wipe out recent gains.”“But if the macro landscape starts to show signs of resilience, we could see the crypto market cap stabilize at the $1 trillion USD point and rally from there,” he added.

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Backlash as Harmony proposes minting 4.97B tokens to reimburse victims

Backlash as Harmony proposes minting 4.97B tokens to reimburse victims

Uverejnil používateľ | júl 27, 2022 |

The team behind the Harmony blockchain project has proposed the minting of up to 4.97 billion worth of its native token ONE to compensate victims of the $100 million Horizon Bridge hack in June. The proposal has been met with a significant amount of backlash from members of the community, with many highlighting concerns that such a large issuance of new tokens would result in inflationary pressure on the asset and bring its value down. This proposal is disappointing. There is no other options. Seems to be either minting more tokens or minting more tokens. If we disagree, there will be no disbursement as per your proposal.— night (@night7576) July 27, 2022In its proposal on July 26 via the project’s community page, the Harmony team noted that 65,000 wallets across 14 different assets were impacted by the hack and that they have “worked tirelessly to brainstorm and develop paths towards reimbursing” victims. The Harmony team stated that it could not offer any solution that results in immediate reimbursement given “the current state of Harmony’s treasury,” so it offered two options that involve minting several billion ONE tokens via a hard fork to the Harmony blockchain, which would be given to victims of the hack.The first option offered to provide an estimated 100% reimbursement via 4.97 billion new ONE tokens, while the second option estimates a 50% reimbursement with 2.48 billion ONE tokens over a three-year period. The team is awaiting community feedback before proceeding forward, but initial responses already appear to be overwhelmingly negative, with most comments on the community page or on Twitter voicing strong concerns with the ideas. I will vote no on this 100%. Its not the answer. Use part of the treasury to refund the providers and get everything is good standing and move forward. The investors and community shouldnt have to pay for it.— mcone.one (@mconecrypto) July 27, 2022

The community has also noted that a similar method of recovery was employed by the Terra eco-system following its $40 billion melt down in May.On the community page, user BSKA wrote “This is absolutely garbage, scrap the whole proposal and go back to the drawing board Team!” while CJL noted “let me get this straight: no word for weeks […] and the proposal you come back with is a LUNA-style hard fork and a 3-year vest?”Related: Infamous North Korean hacker group identified as suspect for $100M Harmony attackCommunity member shwaver suggested this proposal will end up driving builders away from the Harmony eco-system:“You’ve done this completely backwards. In order to afford repayment, you need to first reestablish a stable ecosystem e.g. repeg or alternative so projects have a reason to build here, people have a reason to make long-term investments, etc.”“This purely inflationary solution does the opposite–creating a financial incentive to sell all ONE now and build elsewhere–while also punting on the repeg,” they added. In June, the Horizon Bridge to the Harmony layer-1 blockchain was exploited for $100 million. Later in the month, the team tried to offer a $1 million bounty to the hacker who exploited the bridge to return the funds — although the strategy seemingly failed. Harmony’s ONE token is priced at $0.02 at the time of writing, with a total supply of 13.5 billion tokens, according to Coinmarketcap. 

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