30Chinese Student Lost $548,000 After

from Crypto Weekly 7/03/2022

02Testnet Upgrade for Ethereum - And It's Years Ahead of Schedule

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Chinese Student Lost $548,000 After Clicking a Scam Link

Niq Chen, a senior at Shanghai's Tongji University, lost an NFT worth about $548,000 after falling for a phishing scam. The South China Morning Post reports Chen bought non-fungible tokens (NFT) and lost about half of his assets in a phishing scam. NFT #6914, "Gold Ape," was purchased by Pranksy, one of the world's most prolific NFT collectors, for an estimated $1.1 million, according to Coin Rivet.

Malicious email links can steal personal data and passwords when clicked on in phishing scams. Chen, who fell victim to a phishing scam by clicking on a link that stole his NFT, requested that it not be bought or sold; however, the NFT had already been sold by the scammer, who claims that no wrongdoing occurred. The buyer refused to accept Chen's offer to buy the NFT back, saying it was a "good deal," says the Morning Post.

When Chen put "NFT" on a university survey, the NFT community in China became well known. Even though he lost a large amount of money through his NFT dealing, the student still wishes to pursue the profession.

Recently, OpenSea, the marketplace where the student bought the NFT, reported another incident in which 17 people fell for a phishing attack that stole about $1.7 million in NFTs. Collectively, the website's contract system was updated during the attack. Users have reported security issues involving phishing attacks due to the simple interface of the marketplace. The Verge reports that OpenSea has denied responsibility for the attacks and that they are unclear as to how they were carried out. Many NFT buyers have also experienced rug pulls, in which a team abandons a project with the investor's money. Users are urged to tread carefully following recent phishing attacks targeting NFTs and cryptocurrency since they have little chance of recovering their assets. 

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Here's How Companies Plan to Use the Metaverse

What does the future hold for businesses in the Metaverse, or is it just a buzzword of the moment? Several companies announced their plans for Metaverses, cryptospheres, and NFTs at the beginning of the year. According to JPMorgan Chase, a network of 3D virtual worlds is projected to generate some serious numbers. These announcements make one wonder what the business model behind them is, and if they aren't just smokescreens driven by FOMO.

A fundamental paradigm shift has occurred.

A report predicts that the Metaverse will infiltrate every sector in some way in the coming years, with a market opportunity of over $1 trillion in revenues a year. According to the report, Walmart and Adidas (ADDYY) are both entering this shared market.

Also in the report, significant retailers could build a global hub in the Metaverse to serve millions of customers rather than have stores in every city. JPMorgan Chase took its first steps into the Metaverse this week with the opening of its Onyx Lounge in Decentraland, a browser-based 3D virtual world.

JPMorgan believes that the existing virtual gaming landscape is similar to the existing global economy. "Given our assets, trading, and safekeeping capabilities, as well as our significant consumer footprint, Citi is wellpositioned to lead the Metaverse," said the report. "It builds and scales new emerging technologies in order to modernize infrastructure and business models, including tokenization and digital identity, as well as looking for better ways to organize financial transactions and payments on the decentralized web." Interestingly, JPMorgan Chase is a legacy bank, a centralized organization. Web3 and the Metaverse aim to eliminate intermediaries, thus making centralized entities obsolete. In spite of Bitcoin's popularity, Jamie Dimon, the CEO, doesn't believe in it.

In December, Walmart filed several new trademark applications showing that it intends to make and sell virtual goods such as electronics, home decorations, toys, sporting goods, and personal care products. Walmart also provides

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Bitcoin, a non-fungible cryptocurrency. McDonald's (MCD) may manage a virtual restaurant online offering home delivery.

There are a few skeptics who are skeptical about it all.

The "Father of PlayStation," Ken Kutaragi, a former Sony executive, told Bloomberg that he does not see much value in the Metaverse. "The Metaverse aims to make virtual things appear real, but I can't understand why I would want that," Kutaragi said. According to Justin Lacche, CEO of four minor league sports teams, a Web3 blockchain-backed application can represent a paradigm shift in some industries.

“Blockchains are actually powered by a decentralized technological system, so that any computer, whether it be yours, mine, the president's, or a student's computer halfway around the world, can verify the code, the transaction, the decision, decentralized via an encryption process,” he explained. Lacche said, “the system is truly decentralized rather than being controlled by a computer.”

“The American cycle we saw in the United States was professional sports leagues going bankrupt because of lack of alternative revenue streams when the governor of Oregon ordered a lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Lacche explained.

Everyone Needs to Get Involved

"A blockchain-based Metaverse or Web3, which is based on the blockchain, can create athletes and facilitate meaningful competitions, thanks to advanced graphics. Since it is decentralized, it cannot be hacked. We can also have digital art called NFTs, which mimic the physical world."

Lacche said sports teams can choose between selling real-world items, such as t-shirts and posters, as well as NFTs, some of which sell for much more than real-world rookie cards. Aaron Barbieri-Aghib, the co-founder of NFT marketplace Dime, said Web3 has been getting a lot of buzz recently, and it's not surprising. "Users will be free from having to depend on centralized companies and instead be able to control their data."

Barbieri-Aghib proclaimed that for Web3 to succeed, "everyone needs to be involved. No matter how cool Web3 sounds, if it isn't easy and intuitive to use, it will not be adopted," he said. "We sell NFTs that can be used in a game," said Pavel Bains, CEO of Bluzelle and executive producer of MixMob, a playto-earn game powered by the Solana blockchain. “We will run an in-game marketplace that generates revenue from in-game purchases. These are masks and MixBots."

Creativity leaps to new heights

A $7 million funding round was recently secured by MixMob. In addition to DeFinance Capital, Ascensive Assets, Not3lau Capital, and IOSG led this round of financing. According to Bains, reaching out to a younger audience was key. He said that teaching finance through video games is more manageable than explaining the history of money. The next paradigm business models might not be that different from today, according to Lou Leporace, marketing director for Zakeke, a software company specializing in 2D, 3D, and augmented reality content.

"Tens of thousands of developers use blockchain technology to create new tools and services." "This model is not much different from the one we currently use," he said. "During the last three months, NFT marketplaces paid nearly $1.5 billion in royalties to artists."

Looking back, dial-up access and other technological limitations caused the internet to be slow and limited in the mid-90s. Within three to five years, Leporace predicted, “people will see leaps in creativity as they experiment, learn, and adapt.” 

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Crypto broker Suex Sanctioned for Laundering Millions of Illegal Funds by Russian Authorities

The Treasury Department blacklisted Suex because of its money laundering activities. The company is also suspected of being involved in scams, ransomware attacks, darknet markets, and the notorious BTC-e exchange and facilitating cryptocurrency transactions for Russian oligarchs.

Suex, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange, has been added to OFAC's blacklist

U.S. citizens will no longer be able to access the platform as a result of this move announced Tuesday. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added Suex to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list. OFAC has also publicly published a list of cryptocurrencies linked to Suex. Suex OTC s.r.o. is based in the Czech Republic and operates as a crypto broker. In the Russian Federation, the company operates mainly from its branches in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, the country's second-largest city. Suex may also maintain a presence in Russia, the surrounding region, and possibly the Middle East.

Suex ("Successful Exchange") offers users conversions of their cryptocurrencies into cash and other assets at its physical locations, according to a report by blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis. These services have attracted ransomware actors, scammers, and darknet market operators who have allegedly sent over $160 million in Bitcoin (BTC) to the over-the-counter (OTC) crypto broker.

Based on exchange rates at the time of transfer, Suex has received over $481 million in Bitcoin alone, among other cryptocurrencies including ether (ETH) and Tether (USDT).

Almost 13 million of that total came from ransomware operators such as Ryuk, Conti, and Maze. Chainalysis revealed that more than $24 million was sent by crypto scams such as the Finiko Ponzi scheme. More than $20 million came from darknet markets such as the Russian Hydra Market, and another $20 million came from mixers. OTC brokers also made more than $82 million from "high-risk" digital asset trading platforms. Investigations found that Suex received more than $50 million in cryptocurrency from addresses associated with the now defunct BTC-e. Former administrators, associates, or users of the exchange likely sent the funds to the crypto broker despite the fact that the exchange was shut down four years ago for facilitating large-scale money laundering.

Someone moved over $30 million worth of Ether from a Wex wallet earlier this week. Last December, a French court sentenced Alexander Vinnik to five years in prison for money laundering. He was arrested in Greece in July 2017 as one of the alleged operators of BTC-e. Wex's manager, Dmitry Vasiliev, was recently arrested in Poland. 