In February 2022, OpenSea fell prey to a major phishing attack that resulted in over $1.7 million in nonfungible tokens (NFTs) being stolen from users. It wasn’t the only incident: Blockchain users reportedly lost $3.9 billion to fraudulent activity in 2022 alone. As we entered 2023, there was a chorus of promises to increase security within the crypto space. But, so far, things haven’t significantly changed. Companies that utilize blockchain still aren’t doing enough to prevent scams. If blockchain technology is going to see mass adoption, companies will have to change their approach from the bottom up. By focusing on …

In this week’s newsletter, read about how Moonbirds founder Kevin Rose lost nonfungible tokens (NFTs) worth more than $1.1 million. Find out why an NFT collector is suing NFT marketplace OpenSea over locking his account for three months and how the Porsche NFT collection gained almost $5 million in sales volume, despite a failed launch. In other news, find out how NFT trademarks could potentially be a reliable signal for NFT traders. Lastly, professionals within the Web3 space shared various ways to combat NFT theft. Moonbirds creator Kevin Rose loses $1.1M+ in NFTs after one wrong move Moonbirds co-founder Kevin …

According to blockchain security firm CertiK, the damage caused to decentralized protocol BonqDAO on Feb. 1 may have been much less than initially thought. As told by CertiK, the attacker first borrowed 100 million BEUR, a euro stablecoin, with less than $1,000 in collateral due to a lack of controls on the collateralization ratio. If users set the parameter to zero, then the platform defaults to returning the "maximum value of uint256," allowing an astronomical sum of loans to be issued. However, CertiK said that despite the attacker borrowing 100 million BEUR (around $120 million at the time of attack), …

A big concern for users in decentralized finance (DeFi) involves the industry’s susceptibility to exploits. A report from Privacy Affairs revealed hackers stole $4.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency in the time period from January to November 2022 — a 37% increase from the previous year. Such exploits harm the integrity of companies and fuel skeptics from outside of the space in their case against cryptocurrencies. However, in a Feb. 2 announcement from Web3 Builders Inc., the company revealed a suite of tools to combat this issue. The initial browser extension TrustCheck was created to flag Web3-related scams before users continue …

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 …

Aside from the bullish crypto market rally in January, there’s been more positive industry news as the month saw a decline in losses from exploits compared to the same time last year. According to data from blockchain security firm PeckShield on Jan. 31, there were $8.8 million in losses from crypto exploits in January. There were 24 exploits over the month, with $2.6 million worth of crypto being sent to mixers such as Tornado Cash. The breakdown of assets sent to mixers includes 1,200 Ether (ETH) and around 2,668 BNB (BNB). The January figures are 92.7% lower than the $121.4 …

The Uniswap DAO has approved a second non-binding proposal, called a “temperature check,” to make Wormhole the official bridge for cross-chain governance of the protocol between BNB Chain and Ethereum, according to the official proposal page. BREAKING: Wormhole has won the vote to be Uniswap's designated bridge to the Binance Chain! This is a major step forward in the development of the DeFi ecosystem. #DeFi #BNBChain #Uniswap #Wormhole — BitArchive (@ChainArchives) January 31, 2023 The proposal will now become part of a final plan to deploy Uniswap V3 to the BNB Chain, which will go up for a binding governance …

As nonfungible tokens (NFTs) attract more users, they also capture the eyes of scammers. Bad actors in Web3 have set their sights on digital collectibles, with millions being lost through scams and various attacks. However, according to professionals working in the Web3 space, there are multiple ways and tools to prevent being a victim of NFT theft. In addition, users can also take various actions after losing their digital collectibles to hacks. Ronghui Gu, the co-founder and CEO of blockchain security firm CertiK, told Cointelegraph that the first and most important step is always due diligence. “Avoid clicking on suspicious …

Azuki, a popular nonfungible token (NFT) project, had its Twitter account compromised on Jan. 27 leading to hackers stealing over $750,000 worth of USD Coin (USDC) by posting a malicious “wallet drainer link” posed as a virtual land mint. Hackers stole $751,321.80 USDC from a single wallet within half an hour of the malicious links being tweeted, according to Etherscan data provided to Cointelegraph by crypto wallet security firm Wallet Guard. The data also revealed that hackers stole a further $6,752.62 worth of USDC from various wallets holding 11 NFTs and over 3.9 Ether (ETH). Wallet Guard stated that the …

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. Traditional finance, or TradFi, continues to explore the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, with the World Economic Forum holding more workshops and sessions for the sector in 2023. Layer-1 blockchain protocol, Injective, has launched a $150 million ecosystem fund to support developers building on the Cosmos network. The Mango Markets saga took another turn this past week, as the company filed a lawsuit against the exploiter Avraham Eisenberg for $47 million in damages …

A hacker dubbed the “Blockchain Bandit” has finally woken from a six-year slumber and has started to move their ill-gotten gains. According to Chainalysis, around $90 million in crypto pilfered from the attacker’s long-running string of “programmatic theft” since 2016 has started moving over the past week. This included 51,000 Ether (ETH) and 470 Bitcoin (BTC), worth around $90 million leaving the Bandit’s address for a new one, with Chainalysis noting: “We suspect that the bandit is moving their funds given the recent jump in prices." The hacker was dubbed the “Blockchain Bandit” due to being able to empty Ethereum …

Kevin Rose, the co-founder of the nonfungible token (NFT) collection Moonbirds, has fallen victim to a phishing scam leading to more than $1.1 million worth of his personal NFTs stolen. The NFT creator and PROOF co-founder shared the news with his 1.6 million Twitter followers on Jan. 25 asking them to avoid buying any Squiggles NFTs until they manage to get them flagged as stolen. I was just hacked, stay tuned for details - please avoid buying any squiggles until we get them flagged (just lost 25) + a few other NFTs (an autoglyph) ... — KΞVIN R◎SE (,) (@kevinrose) …