TL;DR
- Over $4.23 million was lost in multiple DeFi hacks.
- Bybit and Oracle Red Bull Racing launch a livestream event with exclusive NFT prizes.
- Coachella and Avalanche collaborate to unveil NFT quests game.
Blockchain Hacks
Open Leverage was exploited across multiple transactions on the BNB chain and the Arbitrum network due to a smart contract vulnerability, which resulted in a loss of assets worth approximately $260,000. The root cause of the exploit is an inconsistency in the accounting process. According to the team, the accumulated insurance and buyback funds would be able to cover all aspects of their loss. The exploit caused a loss of approximately $220,000 on BNB Chain and $40,000 on Arbitrum. Following the exploit, the team decided to discontinue the OpenLeverage trading and lending protocol. In this blog, we have shared a detailed analysis of the exploit.
Fixed Float was the target of an exploit on the Ethereum Mainnet and TRON networks, which resulted in a loss of assets worth approximately $2.8 million. The root cause of the exploit is a vulnerability in one of the third-party services used by them. The stolen funds were withdrawn from their hot wallets and then directed to a suspicious address, which subsequently received various digital assets, including ETH, USDT, WETH, DAI, and USDC. The suspicious address then swapped these assets into ETH via DEX before funneling these funds into the eXch and Binance exchanges. Following the exploit, Tether added multiple different addresses to their blacklist, which supported the rescue of $400,000 worth of USDT involved in this exploit.
The project Avolend Finance in the Blast ecosystem is suspected to be a rug-pull, in which funds worth approximately $253,000 have been taken away. The official website, the X (formerly Twitter) account, and the associated server of the project cannot be accessed at this moment. One of the victims nearly lost roughly $100,000 worth of his assets.
Solana-based memecoin CONDOM token from the project CondomSOL conducted a presale exit scam in which funds worth 4,965 SOL amounting to approximately $922,000 were misappropriated. The team subsequently deleted their X (formerly Twitter) account after stealing the investor’s funds.
Metaverse, and NFTs
Bybit and Oracle Red Bull Racing unveiled plans for an exclusive livestream celebration marking 20 years of Formula One racing excellence. This event is specifically designed to engage fans of Web3 and NFTs, offering them the opportunity to win a range of prizes, such as the Velocity Pass 2.0. This Pass is part of a distinctive collection of digital art pieces created by Bybit and Oracle Red Bull Racing, which dynamically updates throughout the race season to capture significant moments. The first edition of this collection released 1,000 passes, providing owners with special privileges like access to four NFT artwork drops from renowned artists and four free open-edition NFT airdrops, among other perks. The introduction of Velocity Pass 2.0 will expand the collection, adding another 1,000 passes.
Animoca Brands Japan, an affiliate of Animoca Brands, unveiled a new initiative to bolster web3 projects within Japan. This initiative includes the launch of De:Centralized Cat (D:CC) NFTs through Coincheck NFT by Nine Chronicles M. Developed by Planetarium Labs Pte. Ltd. in Korea, Nine Chronicles M is the mobile adaptation of the open-source online role-playing game Nine Chronicles. In the game, players advance by upgrading their characters, collecting resources, creating items, and engaging in trade with others. Additionally, the game introduces an arena mode where players can engage in PvP (Player vs. Player) battles to win rewards and NCG tokens, which serve as the game’s currency. Earning NCG tokens is possible through regular gameplay, crafting and selling items within the game, or by operating a node on the Odin chain.
The Coachella Music Festival is set to introduce a blockchain-enabled game, Coachella Quests, in partnership with Ava Labs, creators of the Avalanche blockchain. This innovative game is designed to reward festival-goers with exclusive perks and upgrades for completing various quests, both onsite at the festival and through the Coachella Discord server. By tackling these challenges, participants will accumulate stamps and points that are redeemable for special rewards, including entry to the Oasis VIP lounge, access to unreleased tracks, and unique NFTs. Among the standout rewards is an NFT that comes with two guest passes to the festival in 2025. This initiative will also give the festival organizers valuable insights into the preferences and behaviors of attendees. To enhance the gaming experience, Coachella is rolling out the Canvas app, enabling attendees to create a Canvas Card, chronicle their festival journey, and find information on game rules and how to claim prizes.
OnChain Insurance Industry News
Neptune Mutual announced that the Neptunite marketplace has surpassed 20K transactions and counting. They also released their monthly review report for March, highlighting: the launch of the vote escrow feature on the Polygon Mumbai testnet; significant cover purchases in their Arbitrum marketplace; over 45% utilization of the 1inch cover pool in the BNB marketplace; and more.
The vote escrow feature will allow NPM holders to lock up their NPM in exchange for veNPM, which offers both increased voting power for Snapshot voting as well as boosted emissions from the gauge controller. When veNPM and the liquidity gauge go live on the mainnet, NPM emissions will be allocated to cover pool LPs according to the results of the community snapshot voting. NPM emissions will be an additional benefit of providing capital to cover pools and will help scale the marketplace’s capacity, enabling it to sell more cover policies and grow adoption of DeFi cover.
Neptune Mutual hosted the March town hall live on their Discord channel, where they gave the Neptunite community updates and answered their questions. The recording is now uploaded to their YouTube channel.