Sandbox CEO's Twitter hacked 👾, Neuralink approved by FDA 👍, Atlanta Fed explains Web3 finance 🗣

Daily Crypto, Blockchain & Web3 Update 2023-05-27

CRYPTOCURRENCY

Bitcoin miner Canaan’s net loss slightly improved in Q1 amid market turbulence (3 min read)

Chinese Bitcoin mining company Canaan reported slight improvements in some of its financial metrics in the first quarter of 2023. The progress, however, is still far behind where it was last year in this period.

According to an unaudited report posted on its investor relations page, Canaan’s net loss was $84.4 million in Q1, lower than its $91.6 million net loss in the previous quarter. The net loss represents a major reversal compared to the same period in 2022, when the firm reported a net income of $65.1 million.

The Sandbox CEO’s Twitter was hacked, used to promote alleged ‘airdrop’ scam (2 min read)

Arthur Madrid, co-founder and CEO of metaverse project The Sandbox, was the victim of a Twitter account hack on May 26, according to a post from Madrid that was apparently made after he recovered the account. The attacker allegedly used Madrid’s account to promote a fake “airdrop” phishing scam.

In Madrid’s post, he warned Sandbox users that they should “never click on any link that promote Airdrop or URL and look SCAMMY - and not 100% using our proper and unique URL/domain name : http://sandbox.game.”

Neuralink gets FDA approval for ‘in-human’ trials of its brain-computer interface (3 min read)

The Neuralink device is designed to be surgically implanted and, according to CEO Elon Musk, will eventually be marketed to the general public.

Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface (BCI) startup, Neuralink, reportedly received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct some form of “in-human” trials for its surgically implanted brain device. 

Atlanta Fed explains Web3 finance, including XRP ‘international payment medium’ (3 min read)

The Atlanta Fed's recent publication on the financial implications of Web3 sparked interest in the crypto community. A 17-page paper by Christine Parlour from UC Berkeley serves as a complete basic text, which is significant.

The paper begins with a discussion of blockchains, explaining that “data are sorted and stored in specific locations called ‘wallets’ or ‘addresses.’” After providing the necessary background, Parlour looks at decentralized finance (DeFi) and financial infrastructure.

BLOCKCHAIN

MakerDAO proposal seeks to hike DAI savings rate to 3.33% (4 min read)

The DAI savings rate was increased to 1% in December 2022, leading to 35 million DAI being deposited in a month, according to MakerDAO.

The community of Ethereum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol MakerDAO will soon vote on a proposal to increase its Dai (DAI) stablecoin’s savings rate (DSR) to 3.33%. If it goes through, the move is tipped to have broader implications for rates across the DeFi market.

NFTs

Crypto hater Peter Schiff to drop Bitcoin Ordinals NFT art collection (3 min read)

Schiff has long criticized cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, claiming it operates as a Ponzi scheme without any real value.

Despite all of that, Schiff unveiled the “Golden Triumph” NFT collection in a May 27 Twitter thread in collaboration with one of his “favorite artists,” who goes by the pseudonym “Market Price.“

“This collaboration features the original painting ‘Golden Triumph’ as well as a series of prints and Ordinals inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain,” he wrote.

BUSINESS

Cronos Labs launches second cohort of $100M Web3 accelerator (3 min read)

Blockchain startup accelerator Cronos Labs has announced the launch of its second cohort for the Cronos Accelerator Program. The program, backed by a substantial $100 million investment, aims to support early-stage crypto projects by providing mentorship and funding opportunities. 

Each of the selected projects, namely Omnus, DeMe, Furrend, Solace, Sakaba, Eisen Finance, Earn Network and CorgiAI, received upfront seed funding of $30,000 to commence a 12-week program.

Top metaverse property investments suffer massive losses: Report (2 min read)

Virtual land prices on major metaverses have dropped about 90% since their peak values in 2022.

A study by CoinGecko reveals that well-known metaverse assets, including Otherdeeds, The Sandbox, Decentraland, Somnium and Voxels, all lost value between January 1, 2022 and May 24, 2023.

As shown above, the most expensive property at the time, Otherdeeds by Otherside, which once sold properties for 5 Ether, is currently selling at 1.09 ETH, down by 78.2%. The Sandbox and Decentraland properties are also down by 89.76% and 87.88%, respectively.

Nigerian crypto company suspends withdrawals after BTC and naira compromise (2 min read)

Patricia, a Nigerian gift card and crypto trading platform, has encountered a security breach, prompting immediate measures to safeguard its users. As a precautionary step, the platform has temporarily suspended fund withdrawals.

The company announced it was a victim of a security breach that compromised its Bitcoin and naira assets. In the message it sent to users, it said other cryptocurrencies and customer funds were unaffected by the breach. However, customers cannot withdraw funds from the platform as it is “undergoing internal restructuring.”

Twitter’s $42K API access plan could harm crypto research (2 min read)

Researchers using Twitter’s formerly free Decahose data service will soon be required to pay a fee of $42,000 per month to continue using the service and retain their data.

Decahose, a streaming service that gives scientists unfettered access to around 10% of all tweets in real time, has been a mainstay for academic research on myriad topics, including emergency response, law enforcement-related activities, political misinformation and extremism.

QUICK LINKS

Gemini, Genesis file to dismiss SEC lawsuit against Earn product (2 min read)

Gemini said the SEC’s lawsuit against its “Earn” product — which offered yields to customers against their crypto deposits — was “ill-conceived.“

JPMorgan Chase enters generative AI race with IndexGPT trademark (2 min read)

Financial services giant JPMorgan Chase filed a trademark application for IndexGPT, marking its entry into the race to build a generative AI tool for business purposes.