TL;DR
- Over $34.48 million was lost in multiple DeFi hacks.
- Mastercard and UEFA kick off NFT trivia for the Champions League on the Polygon Network.
- Japan Airlines and Hakuhodo unveil the second phase of Kokyo NFT.
- Bybit introduced an inscription marketplace for the Bitcoin and EVM ecosystems.
Blockchain Hacks
PlayDapp was exploited on the Ethereum Mainnet, which resulted in a loss of assets worth approximately $32.35 million. The root cause of the exploit is reportedly due to the compromise of the private keys. We have shared a detailed analysis of the exploit in this blog.
The project, Not Found (404), was reportedly identified as a rug pull, in which funds worth approximately $156,000 were misappropriated. The deployer of the token called a function that inflated the amount of 404 tokens they held, which were then swapped for WETH and booked for profits.
Malyy, a DeFi user, reported that their wallet was drained and all of their NFT holdings were stolen and sold on the Blur marketplace. The total loss from the incident stands at roughly 70–100 ETH, depending on the rarity of these assets. It was later known that their platform didn’t employ the Connect Wallet function, but it was visible on the collector end. The root cause of the exploit is most likely the compromise of the Wordpress plugin deployed on the platform.
According to multiple reports, a handful of DeFi users were the target of a coordinated phishing attack. One of the users lost approximately $236,276 worth of AAVE WBTC and USDC, while the other lost $416,212 worth of USDC and USDT to ERC20 Permit phishing scams. Another victim lost approximately $1.04 million worth of assets by copying the wrong address from a contaminated transfer history. In yet another incident, a victim lost $51,822 worth of ETH and NFTs due to maliciously signed Seaport private orders.
Metaverse, and NFTs
Mastercard introduced a novel NFT-based soccer quiz game for the 2023–2024 UEFA Champions League season on the Polygon network. This endeavor provides football enthusiasts with the opportunity to secure match tickets by demonstrating their knowledge of the league. The trivia game is scheduled to start 30 minutes before the UEFA Champions League matches on Tuesday nights, beginning February 13 and continuing through to the finals on June 1. Mastercard users can join by acquiring NFT passes branded for the event via the company’s newly launched Pass to Priceless platform. Contestants will tackle questions related to the history and statistics of the Champions League, with the winners of each session moving up a leaderboard throughout the season and earning tickets to matches. The individual leading the leaderboard after the semi-finals on April 30 will be awarded tickets to the Champions League Final at London’s Wembley Stadium. The trivia competition is accessible to Mastercard holders in various countries, among them the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Brazil.
Japan Airlines and the advertising agency Hakuhodo are taking their collaboration to new heights with the launch of the second phase of Kokyo NFTs. These digital tokens seamlessly merge cultural heritage with the digital age, offering holders access to six unique experiences that celebrate Japan’s rich traditions. The initiative kicks off with the Fireworks Cruise NFTs, offering participants a chance to design their own fireworks in a workshop before witnessing them light up the sky on a dedicated cruise. For enthusiasts of fine Japanese sake, the Premium Sake NFTs provide an exclusive look inside a leading sake brewery, complemented by a tasting experience. Those with a passion for craftsmanship can dive into the world of traditional Japanese knives, while art lovers get the chance to collaborate on NFTs at the Tanegashima Space Art Festival. The collection also includes an exploration of samurai heritage through the Samurai Family NFT and access to special events at a Shochu distillery with the Kokuto Shochu NFT.
Bybit introduced an inscription marketplace that accommodates both the BRC-20 (Bitcoin) and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) frameworks. This new Bybit Web3 Inscription Marketplace aggregates liquidity from all current inscription marketplaces, positioning it as the preeminent source of liquidity in the space of inscriptions. Additionally, the marketplace is set to incorporate the Ordinals project UniSat, an open-source browser extension wallet designed for Bitcoin NFTs. The platform enables users to create their own inscriptions as well, providing direct entry into the rapidly evolving sector of the blockchain world. This positions the Bybit Web3 platform as a comprehensive hub for inscription-related transactions.
OnChain Insurance Industry News
Cover pool creators have updated the cover products in the PRIME DAPPS and POPULAR DEFI APPS cover pools in the Neptune Mutual Marketplace on the Arbitrum network. Updates include adding the latest versions of protocols to cover policy parameters as well as adding new networks to policy parameters where the protocols have launched on new chains.
The community of Neptunites that actively purchase cover policies continues to grow steadily, with over 25 new users purchasing cover policies over the last week. The 1INCH v2 pool has increased to over 30% utilization.