Crypto Flipsider News – $1.7 Million Phishing Attack on OpenSea, Bitcoin Drops to $38K, Crypto Welcomes Another Winter, Cardano Becomes Top 3 Most Developed Coins, China Issues Metaverse Warning

Read in the Digest:

NFTs worth over $1.7 million stolen in OpenSea phishing attack.

Bitcoin plunges to $38K, Buterin says crypto ‘welcomes’ another winter, bull run could be delayed until 2024.

Cardano enters top 3 most developed coins, TVL approaches $200 million.

China warns that the metaverse is being used for illegal fundraising.

NFTs Worth Over $1.7 Million Stolen in OpenSea Phishing Attack

The world’s largest non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, OpenSea, has fallen victim to a large-scale phishing attack that saw hackers make away with NFTs worth approximately $1.7 million.

On February 18th, OpenSea announced that the migration process to its new Wyvern smart contract system was live. Unfortunately, some hackers took advantage of the upgrade process to resend the same email to OpenSea users again, except with a different contract address.

Unfortunate victims of the phishing attack sent their NFTs to the hackers’ address, rather than the original address created by OpenSea for the upgrade.

0xa2c0946ad444dccf990394c5cbe019a858a945bd (attacker contract)
0x7be8076f4ea4a4ad08075c2508e481d6c946d12b (OpenSea contract)

According to blockchain security service PeckShield, 254 tokens were stolen over the course of the attack, including tokens from Decentraland and the Bored Ape Yacht Club. It places the value of the total NFTs stolen at an estimated $1.7 million.

After first denying the hack, OpenSea has now “narrowed down the list of impacted individuals to 17” from the earlier reported figure of 32 individuals.

Victims who lost their NFTs were said to have done so by clicking the hacker’s contract address of the. We urge our readers to always confirm the necessary contract address to avoid falling victim to such phishing attacks.

Bitcoin Plunges to $38K, Buterin Says Crypto “Welcomes” Another Winter, Bull Run Could Be Delayed Until 2024

After proving unable to hold its $40k support level over the weekend, the world’s largest crypto, Bitcoin, plunged hard, hitting lows of $37.5k. The bearish sentiment around the leading asset is seemingly shared by the broader crypto market, as the global crypto market cap similarly fell from $2 trillion down to $1.75 trillion.

The seven day price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: Tradingview

The sharp price plunge saw the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index drop to 25 (Extreme fear). Regardless of these circumstances, co-founder of Ethereum Vitalik Buterin, has suggested that the downtrend ( or “crypto winter” as it is popularly referred to) need not be all doom and gloom.

According to Buterin, those committed to crypto welcome another crypto winter. He explained that long periods of a positive price trajectories “tend to invite a lot of very short-term speculative attention.”

Du Jun, the co-founder of Huobi, does not see any short-term escape for Bitcoin, the price of which has suffered badly since November 2021.

According to Du Jun, Bitcoin’s next major bull run could be in 2024 when the network undergoes a halving.

Buterin explained that a crypto winter will help reveal long-term sustainable projects in the crypto industry.

Cardano Enters Top 3 Most Developed Coins, TVL Approaches $200 Million

Since September 2021, when Cardano implemented its Alonzo fork, the network has been gaining significant traction among developers. The growing interest in the network has seen Cardano become the third most actively developed blockchain.

According to Santiment’s metric, Cardano has 120 active daily contributors who are constantly working to develop the network. Cardano is now resides behind only Ethereum and Solana.

Despite the major dip in value experienced over the weekend, Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin doesn’t think a “crypto winter” is bad for the market. The total value locked (TVL) in Cardano is rapidly approaching $200 million.

The TVL locked in Cardano. Source: DefiLlama

According to DefiLlama, the TVL in Cardano currently stands at $176 million, having grown by 90% over the last 30 days. To provide a reference for this metric, The TVL in Cardano was $822k on January 1st, and $82.9 million on February 1st.

Cardano’s native token, ADA, is still yet to benefit from the growing activity experienced by the network. ADA currently trades at less than 70% of its September 2021 ATH, as of this writing.

According to a Finder Poll, being backed by formal methods, and offering peer-reviewed research gives Cardano the potential to be one of the leading smart-contracts networks in the industry.

China Warns That the Metaverse Is Being Used for Illegal Fund-Raising

Having been billed to change the future of work and entertainment, the metaverse is one of today’s most talked-about topics in the tech space. However, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission has issued a warning about the metaverse.

The regulator warns the public of bad actors using the metaverse as a tool to carry out illicit activities in order to illegally raise money through fraud, virtual real estate speculation, and the duping of unsuspecting individuals.

The statement highlights the impact of hype and various forms of play-to-earn projects that promise participants huge returns on their investment as common metaverse scams. It advises the public that, shouldany such project be identified, they should be reported to the relevant regulators.

JP Morgan has become the first bank to set up shop in the metaverse after stating that the $1 trillion market “will likely infiltrate every sector.”