Monat: März 2024

• Paradigm leads a $55 million round for zero-knowledge proofs startup Succinct.
• The funding was for the platform’s Seed and Series A rounds.
• It attracted venture firms Robot Ventures and Bankless Ventures and angels Sreeram Kannan and Sandeep Nailwal from Eigenlayer and Polygon respectively.

Succinct, a crypto startup that wants to make zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs accessible to any developer, has secured $55 million funding from top venture investment firms.

According to a blog announcement the startup published on Thursday, tech investment firm Paradigm led the financing across Succinct’s Seed and Series A round.

The financing attracted participation from among others, Robot Ventures, Bankless Ventures, and Geometry. Angel investors included Eigenlayer’s Sreeram Kannan, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Dev Ojha from Osmosis and Celestia co-founder John Adler.

Making ZK proofs accessible to developers

The Succinct team noted that ZK proofs are gaining traction across the blockchain ecosystem.

This includes in scaling, interoperability and privacy developments. However, most developers still find ZK proofs “too complex”.

Succinct aims at lowering this barrier using its zkVM, SP1, and decentralized prover network.

“SP1 is the first 100% open-source zkVM performant enough to rival custom ZK circuits,” the startup wrote.

“With SP1, developers can use ZK with normal programming languages, reuse existing crates and libraries, and iterate quickly with auditable and maintainable code. SP1 shows that an extremely optimized, general-purpose system can match the performance of hand-written, specialized approaches that have historically been the only option,” the platform noted in the blog announcement.

Celestia, Wormhole, Lido, Near and Gnosis are among blockchain networks that currently tap into Succinct’s infrastructure to build their ZK-enabled applications.

The post ZK proofs startup Succinct secures $55 million round led by Paradigm appeared first on CoinJournal.

• ADA fell by 26% in the past two weeks, from a high of $0.77 to a low of $0.57
• ARB recorded an even sharper 35% correction, from a high of $2.25 to bottom out at $1.45
• By contrast, BlockDAG secured $6.3M of investment in its presale

The crypto market continues to trade in the red zone, with many altcoins facing corrections. Specifically, Cardano saw a significant 26% decrease in value over the past two weeks, leading to a cautious Cardano (ADA) price prediction. Similarly, Arbitrum’s price faces potential further declines due to an upcoming token unlock.

On the flipside, the presale market is booming, with BlockDAG (BDAG) emerging as a frontrunner as it clocked up $6.3M in its presale stages.

Cardano (ADA) Price Prediction: Is Correction Looming?

The launch of a new stablecoin, USDM, on the Cardano blockchain caused a surge in ADA’s price and an increase in network activity. Despite these gains, concerns persist due to a negative MVRV ratio and bearish MACD and MFI indicators, hinting at a potential price correction. However, decreasing volatility suggested by Bollinger Bands presents a complex outlook for ADA’s price rally sustainability.

Whales Transfer $58M in Arbitrum Tokens to Exchanges Following Unlock

Arbitrum (ARB) witnessed a significant token unlock on March 16, releasing 1.1 billion Arbitrum tokens worth $2.32 billion to its team, advisers, and investors. Following this, whales moved $58 million worth of Arbitrum tokens to exchanges, contributing to a price drop.

Despite the recent unlock leading to a nearly 23.42% decrease in ARB’s price, another unlock of 92.65 million tokens, valued at about $157 million, is scheduled for April 16, potentially affecting the token’s market further.

BlockDAG’s Viral Keynote

BlockDAG (BDAG) has surged in popularity among presales following the release of a viral keynote video, which debuted on the digital screens of Shibuya Crossing in the heart of Tokyo. Following the keynote debut, BlockDAG’s presale witnessed an impressive influx of over $6.3 million in investments.

The core offerings of BlockDAG include BDAG coins, a crypto payment card, and its X-series lineup of mining rigs. The BlockDAG payment card, accepted at over 38 million locations globally, allows users to spend their BDAG coins and other major cryptos like Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Solana for everyday purchases.

As for the BDAG coins themselves, users can mine them with the X-series rigs and spend them with the BlockDAG card or trade on exchanges. These rigs are designed to be environmentally friendly and user-centric, capable of mining a range of cryptos and potentially generating $1 to $100 daily in passive income.

In response to the overwhelming early investor interest and the $6.3 million raised quickly, BlockDAG has announced a $2 million mega giveaway shared by 50 lucky community members. To participate in the giveaway, follow BlockDAG’s social media channels, submit your wallet address, increase your chances by completing all quests, and bring friends for additional entries.

Final Thoughts

The Cardano (ADA) network faces potential price corrections amid negative market indicators, despite a surge in network activity and price. Arbitrum (ARB) could see further price drop with a scheduled unlock of 92.65 million Arbitrum tokens on April 16. BlockDAG (BDAG) continues to attract significant investment in its presale, buoyed by its ROI potential and passive income opportunities.

Website: https://blockdag.network

Presale: https://purchase.blockdag.network

Telegram:https://t.me/blockDAGnetworkOfficial

The post Cardano and Arbitrum fall by more than 20%, While BlockDAG Presale Jumps to $6.3 Million appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Layerswap’s domain, layerswap.io, was hijacked, leading to a phishing scam and $100,000 loss.
• Despite delays, Layerswap regained control, pledged full refunds, and offered a 10% bonus.
• Crypto scams remain prevalent, with $46.86 million lost in February 2024 alone.

On March 20th, around 7:40 PM UTC, Layerswap’s domain, layerswap.io, fell victim to a significant security breach.

Malicious actors compromised Layerswap’s GoDaddy account, altering the domain’s DNS settings, and redirecting traffic to a phishing site.

Despite swift action, around 50 users fell prey to the scam, collectively losing $100,000 in assets.

Layerswap has recovered the domain

Despite encountering delays, Layerswap regained access to their GoDaddy account by 11:07 PM UTC, enabling them to reverse the hacker’s modifications and regain control of their domain.

The company has taken proactive measures, fully refunding affected users and offering an additional 10% as compensation for the inconvenience caused by the security breach.

11:07 PM: We finally regained the ability to log into our #GoDaddy account.

11:15 PM: We immediately reset the name servers, changed all account passwords, and updated 2FA settings.

11:40 PM: DNS changes were fully propagated restoring our control over the domain.

12:00 AM:…

— Layerswap (@layerswap) March 21, 2024

Scam Sniffer’s insights on crypto scammers

According to Scam Sniffer, February 2024 witnessed significant losses of $46.86 million in cryptocurrencies due to scams, with over 57,000 individuals falling victim to various phishing schemes.

Notably, there was a 75% decrease in victims losing over $1 million compared to January 2024. Despite efforts to combat scams, vulnerabilities persist, as seen in ParaSwap’s recent incident, where a hacker managed to cash out funds worth approximately $24,000.

The Layerswap incident serves as a stark reminder of the persistent threat posed by cybercriminals in the cryptocurrency space.

While Layerswap’s swift response and commitment to refund affected users are commendable, it underscores the need for enhanced security measures and user awareness within the crypto community.

The post Layerswap hack: $100k lost, users to be fully refunded appeared first on CoinJournal.