The Half A Billion Axie Exploit — #13
Only the second biggest exploit ever happened this week. With Ether soaring to $3500 this week, the Axie Infinity Ronin bridge hack could be the biggest ever in crypto history.
The hack aside, I hope you’ve had a good week; after all, crypto prices have been skyrocketing! Welcome back to ART HAUS WKLY, and before we start on today’s newsletter, I’d like to ask for a favor.
I’ve just started my own Twitter page, dedicated to the various activities I partake in web3! It would be great if you could drop me a follow… one of my first goals is to attain the Airdrop for Satoshi Island. (The previous newsletter has more info on that) Thanks for your support, and now let’s get to the Haus updates.
ART HAUS - BTS
This week in the Haus, it’s been pretty quiet on our Twitter, but we haven’t gone anywhere! In fact, if you’re in our Gnars server, you may have been following some insane developments we’ve been brewing.
There have been tons of Behind The Scenes development, including our Gnars DAO backend setup, Gnarnia MMO sneak peeks, and marketing pushouts for NFT NYC (probably the biggest NFT IRL event this year).
If you’re part of Gnars, don’t forget to join our Discord server as well!
Us Gnarnians have just voted for a proposal, testing our Gnosis safe and managed on Snapshot. The best part: No gas fees are required for voting!
We have also called for pixel artists in our exclusive “Gnar-holders-only” chat. Sneak peek below…
Personally, I’m bullish. Are you? Swipe a Gnar rn at our Auction Haus and be part of the Gnars fam. See you there!
News Of The Week: The Ronin Bridge $630 Million Hack
We’re talking about potentially the hugest exploit in all crypto history. Yep, the hack on Axie Infinity, a topic abuzz in the crypto gaming space (aside from the Will Smith-Chris Rock memes haha), and certainly one that would go down in the history books of biggest hacks ever.
In a nutshell, 173,600 Ether and $25.5 million USDC was hacked from the P2E game, at that time, worth about 550 million dollars. But what is it all about, and how did this happen? Here’s a breakdown.
A Quiet Hack
Axie Infinity runs on the Ronin blockchain, which facilitates all in-game item, pet, and miscellaneous transfers in the game. People can deposit Ethereum and USDC into the Ronin network, and trade them for in-game items, or withdraw funds from the Ronin bridge.
The hack on the Ronin network was only revealed to the public last Tuesday 29 March. But to figure out how it happened, we have to rewind to 6 days earlier… when the huge exploit actually occurred.
Introduce hacker, who ended up with hacked private keys of 4 of Ronin’s 9 validator nodes, along with access to one of Axie DAO’s nodes. Validators help to run a blockchain by executing transactions, such as that in the Ethereum blockchain (which has some 300,000 nodes).
Since the attacker was able to attain the signature for the Axie DAO validator, and now had control of majority of the nodes, they were able to exploit the bridge to withdraw 173,600 Ether and 25.5 million USDC. The total hacked amount is about $630 million today, making it the biggest of all crypto exploits.
What Went Wrong?
In hindsight, the problem is pretty clear. Ronin network is run by 9 validators… just 9! With a network managing hundreds of millions of dollars, we should expect Ronin’s team to introduce more validators into their ecosystem.
Furthermore, as a champion of decentralization, the more nodes the merrier! 9 nodes seem pretty centralized to me… the infamous “centralized” Solana has close to a thousand of them!
Another glaring issue is the fact that one with access to majority of the nodes can execute a transaction. Ronin has since responded that they would be increasing the threshold of 5, to 8 validator signatures required for moving of funds.
Investigations are underway and the authorities are now involved in this matter. Let’s hope things take a turn for the better. Read the official story here.
News Daily
28.03.2022
X-Copy, a veteran artist in the web3 arena, just sold out his new collection “Max Pain”. Best known for his death and dystopian style art pieces, his fanbase has once again bought up a grand total of 7,394 NFTs, worth a total of $23 million in ETH.
More on X-Copy and his artistic style in the piece below.
X-Copy’s Max Pain Open Edition Raises $23 Million in Just 10 Minutes
29.03.2022
OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace for Ethereum NFTs, has just hinted at a Solana NFT integration. This is big news for the Solana NFT space, which I am personally invested in, as it has been a small competitor to Ethereum NFTs but growing in popularity by the day.
We can expect to see serious cash flow into the Solana space once the OpenSea integration is live.
OpenSea Just Said They’re Integrating Solana NFTs in April
30.03.2022
Lionel Messi, regarded as one of the best soccer players of his time, has just partnered with Socios.com to be featured in the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Socios.com is a platform that partners with sports clubs around the world, allowing them to create tokens that fans can purchase to have a say in the governance of the club.
This is just the beginning of NFT integration to allow greater interaction between clubs and fans.
Lionel Messi Signs Deal With Fan Token Creator Socios.com For $20M
31.03.2022
An NFT in the collection Azuki has just sold for a whopping 1.4 million dollars. This NFT project has been exploding in popularity, and has recently jumped to a floor price of 31 Ether, a new all-time high.
Read the article below to find out more about how this Anime NFT collection is making a killing in the Ethereum NFT space.
Anime-Themed Azuki NFT Sells for $1.4 Million
01.04.2022
It is a widely accepted notion that NFTs have adverse effects on the environment, mainly because they use tons of energy in a single transaction. This opinion piece below takes a different stance on that, and tries to answer the question, “How exactly do NFTs impact the environment, and to what extent?”
For some deep insights into the environmental aspect of NFTs, this piece is a good read.
NFTs and the Environment: Why the Anger Is Unjustified
02.04.2022
The cartoon turtles are finally coming to NFTland?! The team behind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has just released a trailer on a solo NFT project for the franchise, not combined with Funko and TokenHead in their previous collection.
I already have a superb idea for this project: NFT ninja turtles which can be turned into Teenage Mutants with serum? You see where this is going…
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tease First Solo NFT Project
03.04.2022
Crackdowns on crypto are coming to the EU. Lawmakers met on Thursday and voted on a revised anti-money laundering (AML) legislation. In the end, it seems that the vote was passed in favor of requiring KYC for transfers between cold wallets in the EU, including popular wallet service Metamask.
Read on for the full details.
EU Cracks Down On Crypto Assets Forcing Crypto Users to KYC
Podcasts: Worth A Listen
Metastreet: The Billion Dollar NFT Credit Market Opportunity
In this episode on the Zima Red podcasts, the hosts are joined by Conor and David from Metastreet. Metastreet is a protocol involved in NFT credit markets, actively participating on NFT lending platforms.
They discuss the basics of the lending markets to start out, in the physical world of real estate and art. Then we move on to NFTs, how Metastreet works, and the untapped potential of the NFT lending market. Topics like DAO utilities and gamification are brought up as well.
In all, this is an excellent listen to learn more about the NFT Lending markets!
We're Going To Make It: Thomas Mancini and the NFT Portfolio Tracker
This week on the PROOF podcast, Kevin is joined by Thomas Mancini, founder of WGMI (We’re Going To Make It). WGMI is an NFT portfolio tracking tool that is filled with useful features, from basic ones like change in floor price over a certain number of days, to advanced options like Unique ownership in an NFT collection.
In this episode, Mr. Mancini shares how this tool came about, what tasks it can perform at the moment, and the future of WGMI (WAGMI!!). It is also worth noting that this NFT tool has both free and paid versions, and mainly tracks Ethereum-based NFT collections.
Do have a listen in if you’re interested to know more about WGMI!
Conlan Rios, ASYNC - programmable Art, Music and Generative Collections
The NonFunGerbils podcast is delighted to have Conlan Rios, founder of ASYNC, hop on the podcast. Asynchronous Art is a platform that allows users to generate their own “programmable” art, including interactive pieces like music NFTs.
Conlan introduces the aspects of art, music, and more into the NFT world, even bringing the idea of “hybrid metaverses” into the mix. ASYNC art aims to bring together collectors and creators with their innovation, building a bonded community reflective of true NFT-culture.
This is certainly an intriguing episode, it tells you more about digitally modified (programmable) art!
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Wrap Up
Now that’s it for this week’s newsletter! Hope you enjoyed the topics we’ve covered today, and don’t forget to check out our Discord for an insider’s look at the Gnars project. (Pls follow me too hee hee)
See ya next week!
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