Edition #29 - 5 AUG 2022
The Solana ecosystem appears to be the victim of crypto’s latest exploit, with users reporting their funds have been drained without their knowledge from major internet-connected “hot” wallets including Phantom, Slope and TrustWallet. Over 8,000 wallets have been compromised so far.
gaming developments
Alien Worlds remained the most popular blockchain game throughout July, followed by Axie Infinity, Splinterlands, Solitaire Blitz and Upland;
Blockchain gaming claimed almost 60% of all blockchain activity in July, an all-time high;
Sandbox’s official Instagram has been hacked, firm issues a warning for malicious content;
Metaverse land flipping profitability diminishes as profits plummet in Q2.
metaverses & Adoption
Solana NFT collection Okay Bears is holding its first airdrop of NFTs that can be exchanged for real physical gold;
Meta integrates 3rd party Coinbase wallets, MetaMask and others, plans to expand NFT features to 100 countries worldwide;
Study: Americans’ interest in cryptocurrencies drops almost 30% in 2022;
Asset management giant BlackRock is partnering with Coinbase to offer crypto for institutional investors;
Bank of England raises interest rates to 1.75%, a 50 point increase, the biggest since 1995;
Deloitte survey shows crypto payments are the next big thing in commerce.
defi
DeFi Sybil attack created $7.5 billion of fake TVL on Solana from ‘anon’ developers;
Voyager Digital has submitted court documents claiming that 88 interested parties have contacted the cryptocurrency lender over potential buyouts, set to return $270 million to customers;
Nomad token bridge has been drained of $190 million in funds in one of largest scale security exploits to date;
Lido DAO approves treasury token sale to Dragonfly Capital after terms tweaked;
Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius wants to rehire its ex-Chief Financial Officer.
funding rounds
Kurtosis, a crypto-focused developer system, has closed its $20 million Series A round, led by Coatue, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Mantis VC and Olivier Pomel;
Stride, a liquid staking protocol for Cosmos blockchain, raised $6.7 million Seed round this week led by North Island VC, Distributed Global and Pantera Capital;
Debt DAO, a DeFi financing provider, has completed its $3.5 million Seed round, led by Dragonfly Capital, with participation from GSR, Numeus and Fasanara Capital.
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