What In The Wormhole? — #5
Another busy week has gone by, and a lot of complex blockchain shit has hit the fan yet again. Yup, definitely referring to the Wormhole exploit.
Anyway, welcome back to the ART HAUS Weekly Blurb! In case you missed out on the previous unit, just a heads up that our newsletters will all be published via Substack; sent straight to your inbox.
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Without further ado, let’s get on to the wormhole!
Gnar From The Haus
Gnars giveaway alert!! Yes, a prize pack is up for grabs on Gnarsday!
We really can’t put our excitement for Gnars into words. We’re literally at the final stages of development, audit, and partnerships; before releasing this legendary skate NFT collection.
Do join us at our Discord for further updates on Gnars. Be sure to check out our updated Diction(gnar)y too!
Until then, stay gnarly!
News Of The Week: The Wormhole Exploit
Another hack again? Fret not, this is simply the second biggest DeFi hack so far, and everything is solved now… right?
Here’s a brief summary of what happened.
WTF Happened Wormhole?
Wormhole is a decentralized bridging protocol, connecting the two biggest NFT blockchains, Ethereum and Solana. This protocol allows users to swap Ethereum for Solana and vice versa, which means Wormhole holds a chunky supply of Ether and Solana at all times.
Now, this exploit started with the hackers finding a vulnerability in the Wormhole bridge. Without going into all the technical stuff, hackers were able to “wrap” 120K Ethereum tokens on the Solana blockchain.
They then used this wrapped Ether to “trick” the Ethereum blockchain that they had the relevant funds, and bridged back over 90K Ether tokens from Solana to Ethereum.
For a deeper dive into the codework behind the scenes, do check out this Twitter thread from @samczsun.
Who Was At Fault?
Upon investigation, it was found that this exploit first started on the Solana side of Wormhole.
However, it was Wormhole’s failure to validate inputs and signatures of “guardian accounts” that led to the exploit.
So What Now?
Wormhole has replenished its funds and is up and running as of now. According to various sources, Jump Crypto supported the Ether replenishment.
This has certainly left a taint on Wormhole, and the entire DeFi ecosystem in totality. Blockchains were created for enhanced security, to see different bridging protocols getting compromised tarnishes the name of blockchain.
Hopefully in time to come, we can see blockchains talking to one another without the need for bridges. I’ll be burning the bridges when the time comes!
News Daily
31.1.2022
NFTs, despite being a rather recent invention, have come a long way in terms of technology, adoption, and dollars! This article explores the different OG NFT projects across the years, from the classic Ethereum projects to other less-known PFP ones, and even… Bitcoin NFTs?
Now that’s unexpected!
Top 10 Historical NFTs Everyone Should Know
1.2.2022
As NFT adoption increases, we’re seeing more and more of these huge NFT partnerships. In this case, it’s the Rolling Stone magazine and Coinbase; releasing animated NFTs later this year.
Do hop on if you can… this should be huge!
Rolling Stone x Coinbase launch a new NFT collection for the superbowl
2.2.2022
Power to the people! Crypto taxation has been a heavily debated topic in recent times, haunting crypto-goers in certain countries. Well, the Thai government’s decision to cancel a 15% crypto gain tax was due to unhappiness expressed by the people of Thailand.
Way to go! Read on for the full story…
The Thai Government Makes a Complete U-turn Regarding Crypto Regulation
3.2.2022
Coachella has recently announced their exclusive NFT collection which features benefits such as VIP entry, festival experiences, and even lifetime access to their events! This partnership with FTX exchange has become extremely hyped in the NFT community.
On top of their exclusive NFTs, Coachella also has larger collections of NFTs available for public buys. Perhaps you can buy one on the secondary NFT market?
Coachella Offers Lifetime Access to Festival Through NFTs
4.2.2022
In a world of NFTs, it’s hard to keep track of copyright infringements. In this case, Nike claims that StockX launched an unauthorized collection of Nike sneakers on the marketplace. They are filing a lawsuit on trademark infringement.
Really, the legal ramifications could be severe.
Nike Takes Legal Action Against NFT Sneaker Company StockX
5.2.2022
NFTs don’t just exist as JPEGs on the blockchain. Music is one emerging industry in the NFT space, and there’s huge potential for artists and creators to pivot to this area.
Here are some NFT marketplaces which support music NFTs.
A 2022 Guide to Music NFTs – The Best NFT Music Marketplaces
6.2.2022
It’s no secret that NFTs can be used to launder money. In fact, it’s just like valuable pieces of art IRL, criminals trade with them so they profit undetected by the authorities.
This is an insightful read on the US Treasury and their thoughts on NFTs’ association with money laundering.
US Treasury targets NFTs for potential high-value art money laundering
Art Haus Blog Releases
My first article on ART HAUS was one criticizing the NFT space; how arts patronage was slowly getting lost in translation. This week, we publish “Part 2” to this.
Unfortunately, things have only gotten worse.
Is Arts Patronage in NFTs Dead?
In this article, we discuss hype in the NFT community and the factors driving it. We also talk about the negativity hype imposes, and most importantly, how all of this affects middle-class arts patronage in NFTs.
So, does this spell the end of the Renaissance in NFTs? Please, read on.
Podcasts: Worth A Listen
Tokens Inside NFTs, with Ben Lakoff of Charged Particles
Charged Particles is an innovative protocol allowing NFT holders to insert tokens inside their NFTs. This creates “utility” for these NFTs, which is fully up to the holder’s whim and fancy.
They’ve invited Ben Lakoff, founder of this solution, and they discuss topics such as DeFi in NFTs, “smart wallets”, as well as interest-generating NFTs. There are some foreign concepts they talk about here, so it’s a rather enriching episode to me!
Nifty Gateway Founders on Lessons Learned From the NFT Boom
Nifty Gateway is one of the biggest NFT marketplaces in the space, only second to market giants like OpenSea. In this podcast, the Cock-Foster brothers (founders of the marketplace) talk about Nifty Gateway’s rise to fame.
They also discuss the role Nifty Gateway has played in the NFT community so far, how it’s like to run a billion-dollar company, as well as what the future holds for the marketplace. This episode starring high-profile founders is definitely worth a listen!
Redefining Immersion, Play, and Game Economies with Brooks Brown
In this first episode of Delphi Digital’s DISRUPTORS series, we are joined with Brooks Brown, a veteran in creative developments and CEO of NOR. They discuss the current atmosphere of the video gaming industry, as well as how PlayFi is slowly replacing the hated pay-to-win games.
This insightful episode gives a holistic assessment of the current problems in the gaming industry, and how NOR, along with blockchain games, solve that.
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Wrap Up
Well, I guess that’s it for now. We hope this newsletter has helped you stay up-to-date with the crucial NFT and DeFi bits for the week.
As always, see you in the next unit!
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