Do Kwon laundered $100M, new crypto malware, OpenSea Goes Zero-Fee

Daily Crypto, Blockchain & Web3 Update 2023-02-19

Cryptocurrency

Do Kwon removed 10K Bitcoin from Terra after collapse (3 minnutes read)

A complaint filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission said Terra co-founder Do Kwon and Terraform Labs laundered more than $100 million worth of Bitcoin from the platform following its collapse in May 2022.

The SEC said Kwon and Terra artificially restored TerraUSD’s (UST) dollar peg — the stablecoin had been one of the largest by market capitalization at the time the platform collapsed. According to the complaint, the platform solicited a third party to purchase “massive amounts of UST to restore the $1.00 peg” when it dropped below $1 in May 2021, misleading investors as to its stability and reliability

Crypto investors under attack by new malware, reveals Cisco Talos

Since December 2022, the two malicious files — MortalKombat ransomware and Laplas Clipper malware — have been actively scouting the internet and stealing cryptocurrencies from unwary investors.

The campaign’s victims are predominantly located in the United States, with a smaller percentage of victims in the United Kingdom, Turkey and the Philippines, as shown below.

Blockchain & NFT

eBay NFT platform KnownOrigin launches creator smart contract (2 minute read)

E-commerce platform eBay’s nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace KnownOrigin will launch creator smart contracts for its artists.

The creator contract beta release has been tested by users, with 84 contracts deployed and 250 NFTs minted so far.

OpenSea Goes Zero-Fee, Creator Royalties Optional (2 minutes read)

Leading non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea said Friday it is temporarily eliminating its marketplace fee, heating up the battle for market share with popular no-fee marketplace Blur.

For “a limited time” it will charge 0% in marketplace fees, and default all collections without on-chain royalty enforcement to optional creator royalties starting at 0.5%.

Web3 & Gaming

Sony Teams Up With Astar Network for Web3 Incubation Program (1 minute read)

Sony Network Communications, a business division of The Sony Group, has teamed up with multi-chain smart contract network Astar Network to launch a Web3 incubation program for projects that focus on the utility of non-fungible tokens (NFT) and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO).

The Web3 incubation program will be organized by Singapore-based Startale Labs, a company founded by Astar Network CEO Sota Watanabe, and will run from mid-March to mid-June of this year. Applications for the program open on Feb. 17 and close on March 6.