Monat: September 2023

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Ethereum-based Milady NFT project exploited, $1M lost

  • The Milady project suffered loss of $1 million in fees as a result of the exploit.
  • The exploit was reportedly carried out by a developer within the Milady ecosystem.
  • Social media accounts were also compromised.

Milady, a non-fungible token (NFT) project built on the Ethereum blockchain, has fallen victim to a major exploit that has significantly impacted the project’s finances and social media presence.

The exploit was disclosed by Charlotte Fang, one of the co-founders of the Milady NFT collection, on September 11 via X (formerly Twitter). She revealed that a developer within the Milady ecosystem had successfully diverted approximately $1 million in generated fees away from Remilia Corporation.

Milady is a collection of 10,000 anime profile picture NFTs designed and launched in 2021 by Fang. In May 2023, Tesla CEO Elon Musk publicly endorsed Milady NFTs, resulting in a significant increase in their floor price. The floor price of a Milady NFT currently stands at 2.86 ETH, reflecting a 15% decrease over the past 24 hours, according to OpenSea data.

Remilia DAO Compromised

Remilia Corporation, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) backing the Milady Maker NFT project, had its revenue compromised due to an exploit involving Bonkler, an experimental finance art project created in April 2023, as confirmed by Fang.

Fang has, however, reassured the community that Bonkler reserves, main contract, and NFTs were secure, and that only Remilia’s revenue from Bonkler had been compromised. She emphasized that Remilia’s reserves remained “unaffected,” and user assets were “perfectly safe.”

Attacker Targets Social Media Accounts

In addition to seizing fee reserves, the attacker also took control of critical codebases and attempted to manipulate Remilia’s social media accounts.

Fang reported that the attacker had successfully taken over three X accounts, including Miladymaker and Remilionaire, while Remiliacorp was locked out. She urged caution, advising users to consider these three accounts as compromised. Fang provided new official accounts for the community to follow, including RemiliaCorp333, MiladyMaker333, and RemilioBaby.

Individuals responsible for attack identified

Fang has revealed that that Remilia had identified the individuals responsible for the exploit and expressed their determination to pursue legal action.

She stated, “We expect all our property to be returned” and added, “For such viciousness, I can give no quarter—the individuals involved have been terminated from Remilia Corporation, and will now be dealt with through the heavy hand of the law.”

The post Ethereum-based Milady NFT project exploited, $1M lost appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Mantle expands to RWA via Ondo Finance’s USDY

  • Mantle, an Ethereum layer 2 solution, has expanded its product offering via Ondo Finance’s USD Yield (USDY).
  • Users can access US Treasury yield directly from their Mantle wallet.

Mantle, an Ethereum layer-2 protocol backed by crypto exchange Bybit, has announced its expansion to the real world assets (RWA) market.

Specifically, Mantle is tapping into the tokenized US Treasuries offerings via Ondo Finance to bring sustainable yield to the broader DeFi ecosystem. The Mantle team is looking to achieve this through Ondo Finance’s USD Yield (USDY) token.

Access US Treasury yield via Mantle wallet

USDY is the first tokenized note in the world to be secured by both short-term US Treasuries and bank deposits. 

Ondo, which raised $20 million in its Founders Fund and Pantera Capital co-led series A round in 2022, debuted USDY in April this year, bringing to the RWA market a token with the accessibility and utility that users have with stablecoins. It provides a 5% APY to holders. 

“USDY truly is a game changer for the world of DeFi. For the first time ever, users will be able to access U.S. Treasury yield straight from the tap and directly into their wallet, with a similar ease of access as stablecoins like USDT and USDC,” Jordi Alexander, Chief Alchemist at Mantle, said.

Today’s announcement comes after a Mantle improvement proposal (MIP-26) for a RWA liquidity pool (RWA-yield backed stablecoins) of up to $60 million was approved. The MIP-26 proposal, authored by Mantle’s Economics Committee, passed with 149 million MNT/BIT against 3.2K MNT/BIT.

As part of the launch, USDY has become the inaugural Mantle Showcase yield stablecoin project.

According to the protocol, the DEX liquidity that Ondo’s USDY brings to the Mantle ecosystem will make it easy for users to buy and sell USDY on-chain. Investors can acquire the token by minting on Ondo or purchasing them on decentralised exchanges (DEXs) on Mantle

The post Mantle expands to RWA via Ondo Finance’s USDY appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Could softer liquidity conditions finally pump Bitcoin?


Key Takeaways

  • The US unemployment rate jumped to 3.8% last month, from 3.5% previously
  • Cooling economic data has strengthened the market’s resolve that interest rate hikes could soon cease
  • Implications for a pivot in policy are key for the crypto markets

Bitcoin has had a torrid time ever since the economy transitioned to a tight monetary environment for the first time since the Genesis block was mined, all the way back in January 2009. 

Throughout 2022, the tightening of liquidity conditions dragged Bitcoin down (also helped by some rather shocking events within the crypto ecosystem). From trading as high as $68,000 in Q4 of 2021, it tumbled as low as $15,500 before bouncing back somewhat thus far in 2023. 

This makes sense, given Bitcoin resides so far out on the risk spectrum. The question of whether Bitcoin can one day operate as an uncorrelated asset, or some sort of digital gold, is an intriguing one. It is evident, however, that this has not yet happened. 

Partially propelled upwards by the rampant money printing and easing of global liquidity since the financial crisis in 2008 (which just so happens to coincide with Bitcoin’s launch, a fact which did not go over the head of Satoshi Nakamoto when he/she mined the Genesis block), Bitcoin went parabolic during COVID when central banks really took things to the next level. 

But the music had to stop. And when inflation began to spiral, those same central banks were forced to reverse course, embarking on one of the most rapid tightening cycles in recent memory. Up went interest rates, dispelling the complacent notion that the new era of zero-rates was here to stay. And they kept going up – today, T-bills are paying north of 5%.

The chart below demonstrates the steep incline of the key Fed funds rate:

With economic data remarkably consistent, the Fed was forced to stay the course, rates rising ever higher and higher. Despite some wobbles along the way (the regional bank crisis led by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is the clearest example), the economy continued to hum along just fine. 

While this seems like good news (and it is!), it has led to a sort of good news is bad news paradox. To rein inflation in, the economy must slow down. But if the economy does not slow down, inflation remains high and hence rate projections also stay elevated. This is why we have often seen a scenario where markets fall on good news. 

Is the economy slowing down?

However, this could all be about to change. Finally, it seems as if the economy could – finally – be losing some momentum. The most recent Labor Department report shows the unemployment rate jumped to 3.8% last month, from 3.5% previously. 

On the one hand, this shows quite how unusual a situation we are in. Sentiment feels negative, rates have been hiked to oblivion, and yet unemployment is near half-century lows. At least it was, until this report. 

The 30 bps jump is not dramatic, but it could be significant and a demonstration to the Fed that it may be able to (finally) take its foot off the gas. Average hourly earnings also rose 4.3%, down slightly from 4.4% in July. And while employers added 187,000 workers to their payrolls in August, which was a greater number than July, revisions in prior months have shown job growth to be not as strong as first reported.

All in all, this is far from a seismic fallout, but it does at least point towards some progression. Looking at markets, traders felt the same way. Projections around the future path of interest rates immediately became more dovish. The next chart backs out probabilities implied by Fed futures, comparing the projections for the next Fed meeting on 20th September with those same projections a week ago, before the jobs report. 

The chances of a hike at the meeting dropped from 20% to 6%, with the market now expecting no hike with a 94% probability. 

Combined with inflation already coming down significantly in the last twelve months, the macro conditions are undoubtedly far better than they were at this time last year when inflation was not far off double digits. 

Again, the shift is far from dramatic, and the data overall remains strong. 3.8% unemployment is still a stellar number, while wage growth has slowed but is still hotter than what the Fed desires. 

But finally, with rates north of 5%, it appears that the end of the tunnel may be approaching. For Bitcoin, which trades like a high-risk asset, this paints optimism. Of course, the flip side of this is that Bitcoin is already up 55% on the year. Investors must decide to what extent a pivot off tight conditions is already priced in. 

In that respect, the latest report spells out a notable warning. Despite the “optimistic” news that the hiking of interest rates could draw to a close, Bitcoin barely moved as the numbers hit the market. Figuring out this dilemma will be key for Bitcoin traders, but at least the long-term picture feels clearer after eighteen months of brutal liquidity tightening. 

The post Could softer liquidity conditions finally pump Bitcoin? appeared first on CoinJournal.