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It looks like the crypto space might be bigger than the exchanges, DeFi projects, and trading firms that typically make news headlines. 

As per a new report conducted by crypto exchange Coinbase, more than 50% of Fortune 100 companies have had crypto projects in the works at varying stages of development since the beginning of 2020. Currently about 60% of Fortune 100 projects have been underway since the start of 2022.

Titled “The State of Crypto: Corporate Adoption,” the report revealed 52% of Fortune 100 companies are investing in crypto or blockchain initiatives since the start of 2020. As of Q2 2023, 70% of Fortune 100 companies with crypto initiatives were in the publicly launched stage, the highest level since Q1 2020.

Third party research firm The Block Research conducted the survey behind the report’s results. 

“These companies are innovating and investing in these technologies because they know that the century-old global financial system needs updating, that blockchain can be a foundational solution, and that not keeping pace will mean losing ground in this global economy to competitors around the world, among other possible reasons,” Coinbase noted. 

Still, regulatory uncertainty and the lack of clear rules for crypto and blockchain tech remain significant barriers to adoption, with 87% of surveyed executives indicating clear rules are vital for sustaining U.S. leadership in the global financial system.

“The U.S. is at risk of losing out on 1 million web3 developer jobs and 3 million related non-technical jobs to other countries between now and 2030 if it continues on its current path of regulation by enforcement,” the report claimed.

A key finding of the report was that since 2017, Fortune 100 companies have made 109 private venture capital investments in 80 crypto blockchain startups, contributing to rounds worth over $8 billion.

The report added that Citi Ventures, Google Ventures, Microsoft Ventures, and Goldman Sachs have made as many crypto private investments as all other Fortune 100 companies combined, and a survey of Fortune 500 executives revealed that they expect an average web3 initiative budget of nearly $5.8 million for 2023, with a notable increase in investment in these technologies expected over the next two years.

Corporations exploring NFTs

The report indicated that while non-fungible tokens (NFTs) may not be the primary focus of many Fortune 100 companies’ projects and plans, they are driving a surge in the retail sector’s web3 initiatives. This move diversifies participation beyond just tech and financial services and provides companies with a pathway to return on investment.

Indeed, the report found that collectively Fortune 100 companies have garnered approximately $10.3 million in royalty revenue from 99,347 transactions with 14,354 distinct consumers. 

By category, NFTs made up 11% of Fortune 100 companies investments in web3 and blockchain, while financials services made up 24%. DeFi investments made up just 1%.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The protocol upgrade includes several improvements intended to make application development faster and more cost-efficient.

Xapo’s CEO said the move “is in line with the positive shifts we are witnessing in Asia’s evolving crypto landscape.”

The latest price moves in bitcoin (BTC) and crypto markets in context for June 22, 2023. First Mover is CoinDesk’s daily newsletter that contextualizes the latest actions in the crypto markets.

Stakeholders also want the Bank of England to consider tougher caps on individual digital pound holdings to prevent bank runs.

The game, launching in early 2024, was made in partnership with Chess.com.

The trade was executed on the regulated Clear Markets platform and involved bitcoin as collateral. The risk management techniques involved were consistent with ISDA’s requirements for uncleared derivatives.

Earlier this month, Haru Invest halted withdrawals and deposits.

NFT platform Foundation claims to have fixed issues concerning a self-destruct function that theoretically could have been used to wipe out all NFTs minted through its platform.

The issue was first highlighted publicly on June 21 by 0xngmi, co-founder of crypto analytics provider DeFiLlama, after a six-month period of negotiations with the company to disclose and fix the issue.

“This has been fixed for contracts deployed before 3/6,” said Foundation co-founder and CTO Elpizo Choi on Twitter. “Contracts deployed after 3/6 were already safe – the owner of the implementation contract was set to 0, and the contract could not have been self destructed.“

What was the issue?

All NFT collections on Foundation are minted using a single deployer contract and employ a “forwarder proxy,” a design feature intended to reduce transaction fees during contract deployments.

This itself isn’t concerning — it’s the fact the contract contained a “self-destruct” function that posed a severe threat to all collections minted on the platform. This feature was originally meant to allow creators to destroy (or burn) their own collections if needed but it posed a risk to any NFT created with it.

At the time of the disclosures, the contract was secured by “2-out-of-6 multi-signature wallet,” meaning the account securing the deployer contract could be upgraded and taken over with two signatures from the Foundation’s team members or whoever has access to it, per 0xngmi.

The concern was that, should a hacker gain control of these two keys, they could hold all the NFTs for ransom or destroy them entirely. 0xngmi explained in a GitHub post they simulated the attack and verified that the owner of the contract could brick all NFTs.

“All collectors that own Foundation pieces assume that their NFTs are immutable in the blockchain and can’t be manipulated. At most only metadata is at risk,” 0xngmi wrote on Twitter. “However reality is very far from that, all NFTs are just two transactions away from being destroyed.”

Disclosing the problem

0xngmi stated that he first notified Foundation of the vulnerability in December 2022. He added that on June 19, the platform responded, instructing 0xngmi to submit the concern to its bounty program and to complete a KYC process. Since then, he said there had been no progress, and 0xngmi had not received any further communication from Foundation, they told The Block.

0xngmi has suggested his own solution to the issue. Mint an NFT from the implementation address and then send it to a burner address, effectively eliminating the bug, he said.

Foundation makes up a small share of the NFT marketplace industry. In May of 2023, the firm brought in $1.42 million, or 0.2%, of the $673.6 million total volume, according to The Block’s Data Dashboard. The platform Blur brought in most of May’s monthly volume at $377.2 million, or 56%.

Foundation did not respond to The Block’s request for comment regarding the NFT vulnerability. 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The expanded network helps bring new crypto card programs to market and creates crypto-to-fiat conversion capabilities, Mastercard said.