A subsidiary of Argentinian smart contract platform RSK has purchased Latin America’s social media giant Taringa, gaining exposure to 30 million users. RSK-powered rewards for content on Taringa IOVlabs, a startup dedicated to the development of the RSK smart contract network, is already building a crypto-powered incentivizing program for sharing content on the platform, as reported by Cointelegraph en Español on Sept. 27. Specifically, Taringa will purportedly reward users for active participation in its communities with IOVLabs’ RIF token (RIF), a crypto token operating on the RSK Smart Bitcoin platform. At press time, RIF’s market cap accounts for over $49 …

The biggest Ethereum contract in the industry, dubbed FairWin, is allegedly putting user funds at risk and continues to guzzle a major amount of gas on the network. Multiple crypto social media users have been analyzing what they believe to be the fastest-growing Ponzi scheme on Ethereum. On Sept. 27, blockchain developer Philippe Castonguay warned: “The http://FairWin.me Ponzi Scheme contains critical vulnerabilities that put all funds at risk. Spread knowledge (especially in Asia) Users need to withdraw their funds and stop interacting with the contract ASAP.” Crypto community sleuths at work A detailed Dune dashboard has been collated by security …

Global messaging app Telegram announced a coding competition for building smart contracts for the Telegram Open Network (TON) Blockchain. 5 types of smart contracts The contest includes three parts with a prize fund for all included tasks ranging from $200,000 to $400,000, according to an announcement posted on the Telegram Contests channel on Sept. 24. The contest will end on Oct. 15. The primary part of the competition is the task to build one or more smart contracts, using the tools provided in the TON Blockchain distribution, as described in the attached TON Contest document. The two other optional tasks …

Peter Wuffli, the former CEO of Switzerland’s largest bank UBS and director at Swiss crypto bank Sygnum, wants to tap the “$220 billion market of institutions and private individuals who already own cryptocurrencies.” Local news outlet SwissInfo reported on Sept. 26 that Wuffli has shown excitement concerning the potential of crypto assets. In an interview, he told the outlet: “The most immediate opportunity is the existing $220 billion market of institutions and private individuals who already own cryptocurrencies. Thousands of clients have contacted us for a one-stop-shop for asset custody, loans and trading cryptocurrencies seamlessly with fiat currencies.” Asset tokenization …

The recent Ether (ETH) price drop showed the reliability and weaknesses of the decentralized stablecoin built by MakerDAO, DAI (DAI), and the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem built on top of it. A decentralized stablecoin Ethereum-collateralized decentralized stablecoin DAI managed to maintain its peg to the United States dollar as ETH lost more than 18% of its value in under two hours — falling from $190 to $155 on Tuesday. As of publishing time, Ethereum holds a price of about $171. Ethereum seven-day price chart. Source: Coin360 The impact of higher transaction fees DeFi protocol management service DeFi Saver announced in …

Hedera Hashgraph, a decentralized public network targeting enterprises and claims to be capable of processing 10,000 cryptocurrency transactions per second (TPS), has publicly launched its beta mainnet this Monday. Despite the project’s governing council attracting membership from major multinational corporations — including IBM and reportedly Boeing — some analysts are expressing skepticism regarding Hedera’s representation of Hashgraph’s purported performance. Hedera introduces the Hashgraph algorithm Hedera first launched on March 13, 2018, with the project then comprising just a white paper and the Hashgraph consensus algorithm. Describing itself as a third-generation distributed ledger technology, the Hashgraph algorithm is described as a …

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) teamed up with local tech startup Igloo to launch a blockchain-based tenancy agreement platform by the end of 2019. As news outlet ZDNet reported on Sept. 15, REIQ general manager Josh Callaghan stated that the new platform will use smart contracts to create “a simple and secure transaction for each tenancy agreement to leverage the benefits of the technology as an irrefutable source of truth,” adding: "All parties will have visibility over the contract at any time from the palm of their hand. By executing as a smart contract, we're also able to …

Ethereum (ETH) decentralized exchange protocol AirSwap’s developers announced that they have discovered a critical vulnerability in the system’s new smart contract. AirSwap’s team announced its findings and a possible solution for all potentially affected users in a Medium post published on Sept. 13. A limited vulnerability Per the release, on Sept. 12 AirSwap’s development team found a vulnerability in a new smart contract, which has already been reverted to an older version in under 24 hours after the discovery. The exploit in question could have allowed an attacker to perform a swap without requiring a signature from a counterparty under …

Alfa-Bank and X5 Retail Group partnered to launch a blockchain liquidity management service in Russia. According to a press release published by the bank on Sept. 12, the service — dubbed Distributed Treasury and Cash Management (DTCM) — enables Alfa-Bank’s corporate clients to manage their payments, loan and deposit products, as well as liquidity pool inside the holding. A bank created for the user The service is described as a “bridge to the Bank-as-a-Service (BaaS) model for corporations.” Director of the Alfa-Bank Center for Innovations Research and Development Denis Dodon explained: “The key difference between DTCM and other offers available …

The Tezos Foundation has issued grants to projects submitted in response to its latest request for proposals. Per a Sept. 10 announcement, the foundation has released 14 new grants to projects targeting the advancement of the Tezos project. Recipient projects prioritized developments such as applications built using Tezos smart contracts, Tezos block explorers, tools for smart contract development, Tezos-focused training resources and marketing initiatives that improve awareness of the ecosystem. Range of recipient projects that won Tezos grants The foundation accompanied the announcement with a description of the projects, of which one focuses on the improvement of a Telegram bot …

A consortium of oil companies including Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell looks to blockchain to manage water used in oil extraction in North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields. Oil and water As Reuters reported on Sept. 10, the Offshore Operators Committee (OOC) Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium has awarded a contract to blockchain startup Data Gumbo to pilot water handling technology in North Dakota’s oil fields. Per the report, Data Gumbo will use blockchain to automate payments and deploy their GumboNet platform to manage and synchronize wastewater data. One member of the consortium, Norway’s state-owned Equinor, expects to save …

Telegram Open Network’s (TON) blockchain will allow developers to port their Ethereum (ETH) smart contracts. As industry news outlet CoinDesk reported on Aug. 30, software startup TON Labs managed by Telegram’s token offering investors is building a Solidity compiler for its blockchain. This programming language is primarily used to develop smart contracts in the Ethereum network. Assembly might be required Per the report, the tool would allow developers to port their Ethereum smart contracts over to TON, but it is not specified whether some changes in their code would be required. TON Labs CEO and managing partner Alexander Filatov told …