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Dymension, a blockchain development firm, announced it is working on an EVM-compatible Layer 2 rollup scaling solution that will integrate with Cosmos, an ecosystem of many Layer 1 blockchains.

While Cosmos generally lacks Layer 2 solutions, they are slowly emerging. Dymension’s Layer 2 rollup will be compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), a computing environment used by Ethereum. The rollup aims to enable developers to write and deploy Ethereum applications, a task that is typically challenging due to differences in code between Cosmos and Ethereum.

Currently in the testing phase, Dymension’s rollup will be launched as a Layer 2 solution on Evmos, a blockchain within the Cosmos ecosystem, according to an announcement. The company cites close collaboration with the Evmos core team and a data availability protocol called Celestia.

“We’re excited to have worked closely with the Evmos team to achieve this milestone. With the world’s first IBC-enabled EVM rollup now deployed on the testnet, we’re one step closer to bringing scalable and interoperable blockchain solutions to the wider community,” Yishay Harel, Dymension Lab’s CEO and co-founder, said in the statement. IBC refers to the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol, which handles authentication and data transfer between two Cosmos blockchains.

Dymension’s EVM-compatible rollups

Adopting a modular approach, Dymension’s team plans to create multiple EVM-compatible rollups using a common software development kit, enabling them to operate on top of various Cosmos chains and communicate with those chains.

This is made possible by the IBC-enabled nature of Dymension’s rollups, allowing for native connections with the entire Cosmos ecosystem of IBC blockchains without the need for bridges.

© 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.

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Changpeng Zhao, co-founder and CEO of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, has yet again challenged estimates of his personal wealth.

This time, Zhao commented on a report published by Bloomberg on Tuesday, which estimated his wealth at $28.2 billion and ranked him as the world’s third-richest person in the finance category.

“Numbers all wrong,” Zhao tweeted. “I don’t have anywhere near as much. Don’t know why they do this.” He also called it a “4”,  his personal code for “Ignore FUD, fake news, attacks, etc.”

CZ has repeatedly denied estimates of his wealth before

This isn’t the first time Zhao, who is known by his initials “CZ,” has denied reports of his wealth.

Last June, the Guardian, citing the Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates, reported that Zhao’s wealth had fallen by more than $75 billion since January, to $20.6 billion. Referring to the $75 billion number, Zhao said: “I actually have no idea how they come up with those numbers. You need to understand that net worth are just estimates. When I look at my wallet, I don’t have anywhere close to any of those numbers.”

Last October, Business Insider reported Zhao’s net worth at $30 billion, and at the time, he tweeted: “Too much focus on net worth, who cares.”

There have been several estimates of Zhao’s wealth over the years. Last year in April, Forbes estimated his wealth at $65 billion. Last year in January, Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated his net worth at $96 billion, saying that the number doesn’t take into account his personal crypto holdings, which include bitcoin and Binance’s own token, BNB. Meanwhile, Zhao has tweeted several times that he has no fiat money.

Some industry analysts once even estimated his net worth to be $200 billion, and therefore possibly the wealthiest person on earth, outshining Elon Musk and Vladimir Putin. When someone asked Zhao about it on Twitter today, he said: “No way. I am a small potato in a small (but growing) industry. Those guys are 100x bigger, or more.”

In 2021, Zhao told the Associated Press that he intends to donate up to 99% of his wealth. He also tweeted about it but has since deleted the tweet.

Binance and CEO sued by CFTC

Binance has been the subject of regulatory scrutiny in various countries over the years. The company and Zhao both were sued by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission last month for allegedly operating an “illegal” exchange and a “sham” compliance program. Zhao, at the time, called the suit “unexpected and disappointing” and said, “We do not agree with the characterization of many of the issues alleged in the complaint.”

© 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 crypto security firm that audited the Merlin decentralized exchange’s code announced plans to compensate victims after the team behind the project absconded with nearly $2 million days after the audit was completed.

CertiK, a well-known security and smart-contract audit firm, “is exploring a community compensation plan” after members of the Merlin team swiped the funds from the project’s smart contract this week, CertiK said in a tweet. More details about the plan will be released in future, it added.

Initially believed to be a hack, security analysts, including CertiK, eventually concluded that it was a rug pull — an exit scam frequently encountered in the DeFi space where one or more members of a crypto project seize control and steal funds locked within the protocol. The incident occurred just a few days after CertiK conducted a code audit for Merlin, causing commentators on Crypto Twitter to blame the security auditor for the incident.

“As CertiK works tirelessly to resolve the situation, the company will continue to provide updates and ensure transparency throughout the process,” CertiK told The Block. “We are committed to protecting the community and maintaining the highest level of security standards in the blockchain ecosystem.”

CertiK, which raised $88 million in funding at a $2 billion valuation last year, audits smart contracts of DeFi projects. Due to the immutable nature of blockchain technology, projects often pay audit firms like CertiK to demonstrate their commitment to security measures before deploying a smart contract. The developers of Merlin, a decentralized exchange that operated on the zkSync Layer 2 blockchain, also contacted CertiK for an audit of their smart contract.

Merlin scammers ‘based in Europe’

CertiK said it planned to cooperate with law enforcement to track down the rogue developers responsible for the scam and has offered a 20% bounty (worth about $400,000) for the return of the stolen funds.

“Initial investigations indicate that the rogue developers are based in Europe, and CertiK will collaborate with law enforcement authorities to track them down if direct negotiation is unsuccessful,” CertiK elaborated.

Merlin allowed crypto users to provide liquidity by allocating their tokens to its smart contract in exchange for rewards. However, the developers who forked the smart contract from another decentralized exchange called Camelot, granted themselves admin privileges. This enabled them to seize user funds at any time with the help of the admin key.

CertiK’s audit of Merlin did warn of risks, including the developers’ privileged access to funds deposited in the smart contract. Yet users who trusted the project still deposited funds into its liquidity pools.

CertiK acknowledged the difficulty in detecting malicious developer intentions, stating, “While audits can identify potential risks and vulnerabilities, they cannot prevent malicious activities on the part of rogue developers such as rug pulls.”

The firm told The Block it was the first time it had decided to pay compensation after one of their clients cheated its investors.

© 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.