Daily Archives: April 20, 2022

As the NBA gets it’s playoff action in full swing, the league is minting a new dynamic NFT collection, there’s a new potential exploit on OpenSea’s Solana NFTs – oh and yes, Moonbirds are still going crazy.

Let’s jump into some of the biggest stories from the past day in NFT action.

The Nightly Mint

Latest Mint: NBA’s New Dynamic NFT

The NBA was one of the first major sports to dabble with NFTs with a deal with Dapper Labs. Other leagues and properties have followed suit. Could the league be leading the way again this week? The NBA is releasing an NFT collection consisting of 18,000 dynamic NFTs that change based on individual athlete performance.

The collection will be dubbed ‘The Association,’ and will consist of 75 NFTs of each player from the 16 different NBA teams participating. The mint is reportedly free (just gas on Ethereum) and consists of player IP integration in the design.

Related Reading | Whales Accumulate Through The Dip As Bitcoin Repositions To $40K

Solana is recently added to OpenSea, and there may be an exploit that users aren't keeping in mind. | Source: SOL-USD on TradingView.com

Moonbirds… Still

After Monday’s wild recap over some of the weekend activity with Moonbirds, we can confirm… Moonbirds are still going crazy. At time of publishing, the floor still sits around 20 ETH, and the project has been a volume-leader for NFTs, according to data from Nansen. The digital howls have booming since the start of last weekend, blowing some of the biggest project volumes out of the water.

The ‘Minty Fresh’ Take

Revoking access on wallet’s access to old, unused, and/or vulnerable dApps:

Mini-Thread: Possible @opensea x $SOL NFTs exploit 🧵👇

1/11

— Ichigo (@0xIchigo) April 19, 2022

Related Reading | New Wallets Surge On Cardano, What’s Behind This?

Featured image from Pexels, Charts from TradingView.com
The writer of this content is not associated or affiliated with any of the parties mentioned in this article. This is not financial advice.

As crypto projects increased in popularity together with the rise of token sales in the last few years, joining projects on their startup stage has become a common concept.

At the same time due to its popularity and potential to earn big money, many have been swayed to enter the industry without much understanding of the risk that comes along with it. Because not only that there are more opportunities for people to attain benefits, there are also more chances for people getting scammed.

A global market research that was conducted by a new and promising team of developers has shown that big companies, famous influencers and brands have joined crypto projects and have slowly entered the highly-anticipated web 3.0 world.

As we may know today, web 3.0 is the next phase of the evolution of the internet. Due to the fact that the concept is still fairly new and that there are still many aspects that still need to be improved, entering this next stage of evolution is not as simple as it seems. One would not be able to enter without having a team of engineers, designers, marketers, successful NFT collection, presence in the metaverse, and so on and so forth, because there is no a full-cycle web 3.0 ecosystem that exists to help influencers, artists, celebrities and brands to monetize activities, create games, and hold events for their fans. Thus, there is no smooth way yet to enter the world to keep up with the business and trends that transform the industry of influencers today.

Creating an ecosystem that could cover all of those aspects has become the main objective of one particular project called WeWay. They believe that this could be done by collaborating with influencers, to enable them to monetize NFT creation, run concerts in the metaverse, and more, in order to obtain a unique experience, gain knowledge from one another and maximize earnings.

This solution would not only help influencers and brands, but also agencies who are making bridges among artists, NFT, and the metaverse.

They also included in their plan to create a marketplace where everyone can mint, buy/sell NFTs, trade metaverse items, run NFT drops, as well as to provide knowledge for users about professions in the web 3.0.

WeWay is focusing on four main solutions, agency, university, metaverse, and marketplace.

Their first solution, agency, is a team of experts that provides a service to the web 3.0 world such as customization of commercialization and promotion for celebrities. Their job is to find anchor advantages, help integrate into the web 3.0 environment, develop a monetized model, create a project for collaboration, apart from acting as their producers.

The second solution university is focusing on helping ordinary people enter the world of web 3.0 easily via educational collaborations with influencers. This would help those people who are eager to apply for NFT and participate in the WEB 3.0 but do not know how to do it yet. This solution would not only help influencers but also their followers and bring them closer to the world of web 3.0.

The next in line is the Weway Metaverse, or what they also called the Weway City, one of their most ambitious creations. It is a place where all participants can interact with each other in ways that we are already familiar within the real world. This place is represented by AAA graphics, filled with improbable nature and buildings such as concert halls, where people can attend cinemas, universities, banks and real estate that you can purchase and lease, as well as futuristic events, games, and activities from famous brands and celebrities. WeWay estimated that their metaverse creation could attract more than 15 million people.

Last but not least, is the marketplace, where the audience can experience interactions with their influencers like never before through collaborative activities, communicating with influencers using a new communication channel. They can purchase exclusive content or live activities in the “experience” section. The marketplace is also a place where people can trade collectibles and metaverse items such as NFT. Anyone can upload their work and offer to purchase content collaboration.

Investing in media influencers is essential in the sphere due to the fact that tokenomics is supported by the mechanics of virality. As more and more socially significant figures join the project along with their followers, the value of the project and its token increases. Because of its effect on the ecosystem, the token is one of the most important instruments that keeps growing in demand. This makes the project more promising than ever before.

WeWay has issued its own tokens since January 11, 2022. The listed tokens include Coinsbit, PancakeSwap, and Tidex. They have also been listed on 4 crypto exchanges, including MEXC. On top of that, the project has launched token staking with very attractive entry conditions for investors and plans to hold open draws of the coin among its audience.

Today, WeWay already has a fast-growing economy and has established a partnership with big influencer companies such as Yoola, a global multi-channel network that collaborates with creators and brands to develop, distribute, license, promote, and monetize content and products.

Fuad Fatullaev, the founder of WeWay stated that,

This is a high-tech ecosystem operating on a blockchain and NFT basis, allowing content makers and influencers to maximize their creative power.

Ethereum gained pace above the $3,050 resistance against the US Dollar. ETH price could continue higher if there is a clear move above the $3,120 resistance.

• Ethereum extended upside correction above the $3,080 and $3,100 levels.
• The price is now trading above $3,050 and the 100 hourly simple moving average.
• There was a move above a major bearish trend line with resistance near $3,060 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken).
• The pair must clear $3,120 and $3,130 to continue higher in the near term.

Ethereum Price Extends Recovery

Ethereum formed a base above the $3,000 and started a decent recovery wave. ETH was able to clear the $3,050 resistance zone and the 100 hourly simple moving average.

There was also a move above a major bearish trend line with resistance near $3,060 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. The pair surpassed the $3,080 resistance zone and traded above $3,100. A high is formed near $3,131 and the price is now consolidating gains.

It already tested the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent wave from the $2,880 swing low to $3,131 high. Ether price is now trading above $3,080 and the 100 hourly simple moving average.  On the upside, an initial resistance is seen near the $3,090 level and a connecting bearish trend line on the same chart.

Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com

The next major resistance is near the $3,120 and $3,130 levels. A close above the $3,130 level might start a steady upward move in the near term. The next major resistance could be near the $3,200 or $3,220.

Dips Limited in ETH?

If ethereum fails to gain pace above the $3,090 level, it could start a downside correction. An initial support on the downside is near the $3,080 zone.

The first major support is near the $3,040 level and the 100 hourly simple moving average. The next major support is near the $3,000 level. It is close to the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent wave from the $2,880 swing low to $3,131 high. If there is a downside break below the $3,000 support, the price could start another decline.

Technical Indicators

Hourly MACD – The MACD for ETH/USD is now losing pace in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI for ETH/USD is now above the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $3,040

Major Resistance Level – $3,130

A new report by blockchain analytics firm CipherTrace highlights the growing role that privacy-focused cryptocurrencies such as Monero are playing in the rising tide of ransomware.

“Current Trends in Ransomware” delves into trends observed during 2021 but was only released this week. The firm revealed there was almost a 500% increase in “double extortion” ransomware attacks from 2020 to 2021. These are cyber attacks in which malicious actors steal a victim’s sensitive data in addition to encrypting it.

The report echoes similar findings from analytics firm Chainalysis which reported that overall ransomware crypto payments topped $600 million for the period.

The new research found that last year saw increasing demands for ransom payment in Monero (XMR), with attackers adding premiums for payments made in Bitcoin (BTC) ranging from 10 to 20%. At least 22 ransomware strains (from an incomplete list of more than 50) only accept XMR payments, and at least seven of them accept both BTC and XMR, it added.

“Higher prices for BTC are most likely seen by the ransomware actors as a premium for dealing with the increased risk in using an easily traceable cryptocurrency like BTC.”

The report cited a Russian-speaking ransomware gang called Everest Group which claimed to have hacked the U.S. Government in October last year. According to CipherTrace, Everest Ransomware is “currently trying to sell the data for $500,000 in XMR.”

Another example was the Russian DarkSide group responsible for the U.S. Colonial Pipeline attack in May 2021. The ransom could be paid in either XMR or BTC, but the cost was higher for the latter.

The REvil ransomware group also switched from demanding BTC to demanding payments in XMR only in early 2020.

Related: Don’t blame crypto for ransomware

Monero is a privacy-based cryptocurrency that uses a combination of technologies such as mixers, ring signatures, and stealth addresses that obfuscate sending and receiving wallets. This is why it has become the primary asset of choice for those demanding ransoms.

For that reason, Monero and other highly privacy-focused cryptocurrencies such as Dash and Zcash have been delisted by some exchanges in countries such as the U.K. and Japan.

The Monero blockchain will be hard forked in July to further enhance its anonymity and privacy properties.

The government of Ireland is preparing to ban political parties from accepting campaign donations in cryptocurrency. The move aims to block the perceived threat of Russian interference in the European nation’s elections against the backdrop of a clash between the West and Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

Ireland to Limit Foreign Political Support for Its Parties, Including Crypto Donations

The executive power in Dublin is drafting new political integrity rules to limit foreign political donations amid fears that Russia might try to influence Ireland’s electoral process. The stricter regulations are meant to prevent Irish parties from accepting donations through cryptocurrencies and oblige them to fully reveal their properties.

A report by the Irish daily Independent describes the changes as a significant shake-up of the country’s electoral legislation, which will grant the Electoral Commission powers to issue take-down notices to social media platforms and alerts of online misinformation attempts. Local Government Minister Darragh O’Brien, who is leading the reform efforts, has been quoted as stating:

The appalling invasion of the Ukraine and insidious disinformation war highlight the ongoing fundamental threats faced by all democracies.

O’Brien also unveiled that his colleagues have already agreed to implement the stringent measures he is proposing in order to protect Ireland’s “democratic system given the escalating threat of cyber warfare targeting free countries.” The respective amendments to the political funding laws will be made through the Electoral Reform Bill 2022.

The new Electoral Commission of Ireland, which should be established by the summer, will be tasked to also introduce guidelines for political advertising on the internet, including requirements for parties to clearly state how ads are funded and the audiences they are targeting. Party leaders will have to declare that their political organizations are adhering to the new regulations.

The initiative to update the Irish political funding rules predates the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In January, Darragh O’Brien asked Attorney General Paul Gallagher to establish a taskforce comprising legal experts and political scientists to examine the need for new election integrity laws. He was citing “serious concerns” over the deteriorating security situation in Eastern Europe and “well-documented escalation of cyberattacks on democratic states.”

Meanwhile, the cyberspace has become another battleground in Russia’s war with Ukraine with the two sides registering hacking attacks on government websites and databases. Both Kyiv and Moscow have also turned their attention to cryptocurrencies, with the Ukrainian government raising millions of dollars in crypto donations while the Russian Federation looks to employ crypto assets as a means to evade sanctions.

Do you expect other European nations to adopt similar restrictions on political crypto donations? Let us know in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’s quote: “Being a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.