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The startup offers non-custodial wallet infrastructure for an enterprise client list that includes Macy’s and Mattel.

The Chinese yuan has declined by 2.7% against the U.S. dollar this month, while bitcoin has dropped by 7.3%.

The Swiss non-profit oversees the Anoma blockchain architecture and the layer 1 blockchain Namada.

Tribe plans to make early-stage investments of $500,000-$3 million in layer 1 and 2 ecosystems, DeFi projects and infrastructure plays to bring real-world assets on chain.

The latest price moves in bitcoin (BTC) and crypto markets in context for May 31, 2023. First Mover is CoinDesk’s daily newsletter that contextualizes the latest actions in the crypto markets.

Earlier this year KuCoin closed a $10 million funding round into CNHC.

The Tron blockchain network had a critical vulnerability that put $500 million at risk but is now fixed — according to 0d — the cybersecurity research team at dWallet Labs that found the bug.

The critical zero-day vulnerability pertained to Tron’s multisig accounts, which could have allowed any single signer to gain unrestricted access, potentially jeopardizing the digital assets held within, 0d said Tuesday. The vulnerability was reported on Feb. 19 by Od to Tron via the latter’s bug bounty program on HackerOne and fixed “within days.”

A Tron spokesperson confirmed to The Block that the network’s team received a bug report from HackerOne, and the team then “swiftly addressed the issue and applied necessary patches to ensure that the vulnerability could not be exploited.”

“We can confidently affirm that the identified problem has been effectively resolved, thereby securing the system,” the spokesperson added.

Root cause 

The root cause of the vulnerability lied in an “assumption behind the verification process,” said Omer Sadika, cofounder of Odsy Network, which manages 0d and dWallet Labs.

“The verification process on Tron checked whether a specific signature was already tallied before it was tallied towards the threshold,” Sadika said. “So the assumption is that two different valid signatures for the same message can’t be created by the same person.”

While the vulnerability was critical, its solution was easy, according to Od. “Instead of checking the signature against the list of signatures, check the signed address against the list of addresses,” it said.

It is not clear the size of the bounty Od received from Tron. Both Od and Tron did not immediately respond to The Block’s requests for comment.

Tron is the second-largest blockchain network behind Ethereum, in terms of total value locked and stablecoin circulation, according to DefiLlama. The Tron TVL currently stands at around $6 billion and its circulation of stablecoins stands at over $45 billion.

© 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 parent company behind Web3 game STEPN is releasing GNT V3, which will allow users to turn their selfies into digital artworks on the Solana blockchain.

Crypto users have sent $1.1 million of ether to the NotLarvaLabs founder in exchange for, well, nothing.

“There is nothing for sale. I cannot reiterate this enough. People simply choose to send tokens to: YouGetNothing.eth. Or they choose not to,” said the pseudonymous founder, who goes by Pauly on Twitter.

It’s hard to explain exactly why this happened but here goes. 

In the past, crypto projects would raise money through initial coin offerings and other setups, often with a pre-sale where some of the tokens are sold to insiders at lower prices. While such raises have largely died out for now, crypto degens have recently been playing a similar game, albeit with more risk.

Over the last few weeks, a pseudonymous crypto individual who goes by ben.eth — with a little help from crypto YouTuber Ben Armstrong, or BitBoy Crypto — raised funds for three memecoins by asking his Twitter following to send money to a single wallet. So far, they’ve generated $20 million through this strategy, launching token after token, with Armstrong claiming that the tokens will have utility in the memecoin space.

This strategy has been controversial. Many crypto individuals have warned against sending tokens to a single wallet in the hope of receiving an airdrop of tokens in return (as nothing is guaranteed and there are security risks with having all the funds in a single wallet). Crypto sleuth ZachXBT pointed out that many participants sent money from centralized exchanges and so would not receive any tokens, and criticized Ben.eth for retweeting a phishing scam mentioning the ben token. Others have said that this kind of activity means the entire crypto space should go to zero.

Performance art or a big bluff?

So in comes Pauly. They have replicated the same model of putting out an Ethereum address and raising money by doing so — but without promising future tokens or airdrops. It appears that the whole idea is a form of performance art designed to poke fun at this arguably reckless form of fundraising.

“I’m not sure if you have realized this or not. But the entire crypto industry is an absolute joke. It’s a mockery,” Pauly tweeted. 

While this language could be a bluff, it’s entirely possible Pauly is dead serious and just boosted his bank balance by a hefty chunk. 

Either way, the chance that a token might come out of it has proven enough of a lure for crypto degens to pile in. Over the last 24 hours, speculators have sent 585 ether ($1.1 million) to the address, along with a variety of tokens, including the memecoin pepe. 

Some are definitely hopeful. “Pauly0x stunt is so amazing I would be SO disappointed to get something out of nothing,” said one contributor.

It’s not just a small group of speculators either. More than 1,000 transfers have been made to the wallet, according to crypto analytics firm Arkham Intelligence. The largest transfer was for 10.05 ether ($19,150), per Arkham.

But despite their hopes, Pauly reminded his following, “How long will it take before people realize that after they send tokens… They get nothing.”

© 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 Central Bank of the UAE this morning issued new guidance concerning AML and CFT measures for crypto businesses.

The guidance outlines the risks arising from dealing with so-called virtual asset and virtual asset service providers (VASPs), taking into account the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global watchdog. The new rules will come into effect in one month.

The move will affect Licensed Financial Institutions in the United Arab Emirates, including banks, finance companies, exchange houses, payment service providers, registered hawala providers and insurance companies, agents and brokers.

“The new guidance related to the virtual assets sector contribute to strengthening the supervisory and regulatory frameworks of the Central Bank to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism,” His Excellency Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the CBUAE, said in a written statement.

“We are constantly working to enhance efforts and strengthen the awareness of licensed financial institutions to prevent all kinds of financial crime activities, and reduce potential risks to protect the financial and monetary system and maintain its soundness and stability, in line with the Financial Action Task Force standards.”

The guidance comes with authorities in the UAE doing their utmost to lure crypto businesses to the region — in part through a welcoming regulatory framework. In March, Dubai unveiled a new agency tasked with virtual asset regulation. Several major crypto firms, including Coinbase, have praised the approach taken by regulators in the region.

© 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.