Author: Chris Lion

Solana’s vulnerability was exploited through sandwich attacks with the exploiter making over $51 million.

A particular wallet has made over $51 million in profits in just one week through sandwich attacks on transactions in the Solana Blockchain. The attack shows the vulnerability in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.  

Sandwich attack is a sophisticated technique in which a malicious actor spots a pending trade and buys the asset to hike the price. The attacker allows the original trade to execute at a high rate and then sells off assets for profit. Sandwiching also occurs by placing one order right before the trade and one right after it.  

Solana, known for its high throughput and low fees, has recently become a victim of such attacks due to its rapid growth and popularity.   

Vulnerability of Solana Network

The wallet address arsc4jbDnzaqcCLByyGo7fg7S2SmcFsWUzQuDtLZh2y has skillfully taken advantage of the vulnerability, strategically executing well-timed transactions to leverage price variations in the Solana ecosystem, often at the expense of other users experiencing losses.  

Additionally, X users have expressed their loyalty and love by rendering help and solutions on how to avoid such attacks in the future. A user said the account needs to be frozen, while another suggested lowering slippage and splitting larger orders.  

The substantial profits accumulated by the Wallet highlight the pressing need for enhanced and tighter security protocols in the Solana network to safeguard against malicious activities like sandwich attacks or any form of fraudulent activity.  

Investors and developers are advised to stay calm and vigilant. Solana’s team has not responded officially, but the incident highlights the ongoing battle between hackers and security experts in DeFi.     

Sandwich Attack Profit

On April 20, 2023, an anonymous trader linked to a digital wallet known as “jaredfromsubway” made a staggering profit from a sandwich attack. According to data, the attacker made approximately $1.67 million in just two days. The firm estimated that the attacker’s profit in the past month skyrocketed to roughly $4 million.    

Sandwich attacks, employing trading bots and algorithms, are not new to DeFi. Aggressors typically identify potential victims by monitoring pending transactions on blockchain-based DeFi exchanges.

Lastly, DeFi enables direct interaction between traders without intermediaries. While proponents advocate the benefits of the trustless nature, traders can exploit this freedom with tactics like sandwich attacks.

U.S. prosecutors have escalated their legal battle against Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), seeking a three-year prison sentence for alleged regulatory violations.   

According to a court filing on April 23, U.S. prosecutors are saying that Binance founder Zhao be sentenced to 36 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to violating laws against money laundering.  

CZ Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Charges 

Zhao pleaded guilty to breaching U.S. money laundering regulations and resigned as Binance CEO in November 2023. He was personally fined $50 million, and Binance faced even larger penalties. 

“Given the magnitude of Zhao’s willful violation of U.S. law and its consequences, an above-guideline sentence of 36 months is warranted,” the prosecutors wrote in the filing to the U.S. district court for the Western District of Washington.  

The filing added, “That sentence, together with the agreed $50 million fine, is sufficient but not greater than necessary to balance the relevant 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors and achieve the goals of sentencing.”    

Prosecutors argue that as the former face of Binance and its top executive, CZ should directly bear responsibility for the company’s regulatory failures. 

Online reports state that federal guidelines set CZ’s prison term at 18 months. He agreed not to appeal any sentence up to this maximum. The former CEO remains accessible in the U.S. on a $175 million fine.   

Binance Pays Fine To Continue Its Operations

Following Zhao’s admission of violating U.S. money laundering laws, he and Binance agreed to settle the criminal case by paying $4.3 billion as fine. Binance can continue its operations under U.S. law compliance as part of the agreement.

Despite facing prison time and stepping down as Binance CEO, CZ remains active in the crypto industry. He announced a new educational project focused on crypto and blockchain in March. Zhao emphasized that the initiative will not involve creating new tokens.   

Giggle Academy, the project is specifically tailored for a younger audience or targeting two- to three-year-olds, according to an X post by CZ on April 18. 

CZ unveiled the logo of his new educational project on April 24. He noted that the Giggle Academy logo aims to reflect youth, fun, positive energy, and growth while also paying respect to the heritage of Binance.

The team behind Shiba Inu (SHIB) has raised $12M in a funding round to support the development of its upcoming layer 3 blockchain project. The primary objective of the privacy-focused blockchain is to ensure and provide faster transactions and lower fees.  

The investment round was finalized earlier this month, and leading companies such as Polygon Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Big Brain Holdings, Shima Capital, Animoca Brands, Morningstar Ventures, Woodstock Funds, DWF Ventures, Stake Capital, and Comma 3 Ventures participated.  

Shytoshi Kusama, the lead developer of Shiba Inu, has claimed that none of the investors, including Mechanism Capital and Shima Capital, are from the United States, even though they didn’t reveal their complete entity names.

According to a source familiar with the matter, the token rounds, which include the pre-seed and seed rounds, ended with a tranched round, with each tranche occurring at a valuation of $75 million, $100 million, and $200 million, respectively.  

According to Shiba Inu, the token serves as the “utility and governance token” of its new privacy-focused layer 3 blockchain, which is being built on Shibarium, the project’s Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain.  

Shiba Inu TREAT Token. 

Kusama announced that TREAT will be Shiba Inu’s last non-stable token, with plans to unveil a new token, Shi, later this year. The ecosystem currently features SHIB memecoin, BONE, Shibarium’s governance token, and LEASH, which offers benefits like BONE rewards to loyal users.

Certain TREAT tokens were listed on CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap before their official release, which Kusama called a “scam.” Kusama clarified that the Shiba Inu Mint S.A., a Panama-based corporation, will mint the genuine TREAT token. 

Shiba Inu New Blockchain. 

Shiba Inu utilizes Zama’s fully homomorphic encryption technology for its new Layer 3 blockchain. Zama, the cryptography company behind the technology, recently secured $73 million in funding.   

FHE is considered the “holy grail” of cryptography, which allows for end-to-end data encryption, even during processing. The new blockchain strives to tackle various challenges in the crypto sphere, encompassing privacy and trust concerns for Shiba Inu’s extensive community.  

Additionally, the new blockchain is expected to adhere to regulatory requirements. “It’s important that we maintain a project that conforms to international law while protecting the privacy of data and security of individuals,” Kusama stated. 

The new blockchain plans to launch a testnet in the third quarter of this year and the mainnet “following extensive testing,” according to Kusama.  

According to CryptocurrencyToWatch, Shiba Inu’s live price is currently at $0.00002690 with a market cap of $15.84 billion and a volume of $796.87 million. 

Binance’s deposits and withdrawal suspension could impact the crypto market and investors’ confidence. 

Hong Kong-licensed cryptocurrency exchange HashKey has announced the suspension of deposits and withdrawals involving Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges.  

According to the announcement, the suspension is due to a policy change. HashKey stated that from May 10, 2024, it will cease to allow any deposits from Binance-hosted wallet addresses.  

The platform also mentioned that from May 17, 2024, HashKey exchange will suspend withdrawals to Binance-hosted addresses. However, deposits and withdrawals from personal wallet addresses will not be affected. Transactions involving whitelisted unhosted wallet addresses will remain unaffected by these changes.  

Binance’s Suspension Impact To Users.

The suspension of Binance deposits and withdrawals on HashKey is likely to impact many users who rely on the platform for trading and investment purposes, including all transactions related to Binance-linked crypto asset, BNB.   

Initially, the exchange planned to allow withdrawals from Bybit, OKX, and 24 other exchanges, including Binance. However, it has now narrowed its focus exclusively to Binance. Presently, withdrawals are limited to whitelist addresses only. 

HashKey reassured users that their funds were secured and highlighted the importance of complying with regulatory requirements to ensure long-term sustainability in the crypto space.         

HashKey Group Launches HashKey Global Exchange.

HashKey is the largest licensed crypto exchange operator in Hong Kong. It provides comprehensive trading services prepared for both professional and retail investors. 

The crypto exchange recently launched its newest subsidiary, HashKey Global, to  offers trading pairs for 21 crypto assets and serves eligible retail clients globally. Notably, users residing in mainland China, Hong Kong, and the United States are not eligible for access to the platform’s services.   

Interestingly, unlike the crackdown on crypto trading and mining witnessed in neighboring mainland China, Hong Kong embraced crypto-focused firms with open arms in the previous year.   

In June 2023, the city introduced its official crypto licensing framework for trading platforms, which enables licensed exchanges to offer retail trading services. At the time of writing, Hong Kong has awarded licenses to two crypto platforms – HashKey Exchange and OSL.  

Solana’s DEX Drift is set to airdrop 100 million tokens in the coming weeks. What you need to know. 

Solana’s decentralized exchange (DEX), Drift protocol, has announced plans to airdrop 100 million tokens to its users in the coming weeks.   

Since the launch of Drift in 2021 as one of the foundational projects on the Solana blockchain, the protocol has grown to be one of the largest open-source perpetual futures DEX on Solana (SOL). The project started with $1 million in Total Value Locked (TVL) and less than 100 daily active traders.

Drift has over $350 million TVL with a user base of over 180,000 traders and has facilitated a cumulative trading volume exceeding $20 billion. 

What DRIFT Governance Tokens Aim To Achieve

The core objective of the DRIFT governance token is to empower its users by providing them with concrete ownership of the protocol and a substantial say in shaping and guiding its development through the Drift DAO. The new token follows a three-month points program that attracted traders, borrowers, lenders, and airdrop farmers. 

According to protocol contributors, the majority of the 100 million tokens allocated for the airdrop will be distributed to longstanding Drift users. 

Drift is the latest addition to Solana’s financial infrastructure. It aims to decentralize its operations by creating a token whose holders can vote on crucial decisions at the exchange, such as determining which tokens to list or when to implement software upgrades.  

Drift guarantees sustainable and healthy growth alongside its most engaged participants by distributing power and decision-making throughout the ecosystem rather than centralizing it.    

Distribution of DRIFT Tokens. 

Drift noted that 1 billion DRIFT governance tokens will be distributed for five years, with over 50% allocated to the community.    

Forty-three percent of the tokens will be allocated to “ecosystem development,” covering trading rewards, liquidity incentives, and potential future airdrops. Additionally, Drift’s website indicates that 25% of the tokens are set aside for “protocol development” payouts to the platform’s contributors. 

According to the token’s website, 10% of all DRIFT governance tokens have been reserved for the initial launch phase. The distribution of these tokens will acknowledge existing users for their past contributions to the platform’s development and expansion.    

Twenty-five percent of the tokens will be allocated to current and future contributors to develop Drift protocol stooling, products, and infrastructure. The allocation also includes treasury funds reserved for protocol development.    

Meanwhile, twenty-two percent will be credited to supporters and significant partners in the space, representing their profound contributions that have greatly helped and enhanced the network.

Fashion and sportswear giant Adidas has announced a long-term partnership with popular move-to-earn platform STEPN, to launch Adidas sneakers non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Solana blockchain.

Adidas, founded on August 18, 1949, is known for its distinct designs and marketing strategies. It is seizing the opportunity to explore the digital collectible market.

Adidas and STEPN to Revolutionize the Lifestyle Ecosystem

The German company, the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second largest in the world, seeks to leverage STEPN’s expertise in blockchain technology to create unique and exclusive digital assets that resonate with its global fan base. 

According to STEPN, the collaboration goes beyond NFTs, as both firms will work towards revolutionizing the lifestyle ecosystem to inspire users to have a more active lifestyle. 

“We are proud to announce that we are teaming up with @adidas and @altsbyadidas for a long-term collaboration, to revolutionize the lifestyle app ecosystem, and bring global adoption to @fslweb3,” STEPN said in a tweet.  

1,000 Genesis Sneaker NFTs for Grabs

Furthermore, the partnership will consist of multiple activations meant to provide a full experience to the community.  The collaboration also promises to provide 1,000 co-branded Genesis Sneaker NFTs on Solana (SOL), exclusive perks for holders, and much more.     

The project noted that the co-branded Genesis Sneakers will be raffled on its marketplace. Additionally, the move-to-earn firm emphasized that priority will be given to the Adidas and FSL communities, with the first day only accessible through an allowlist, including Adidas NFT holders, membership level 5 and above, Badge or Genesis Holders, OG and Genesis holders, and owners of the “Effective Mover 6” Badge.   

With raffle scheduled to open to the public on April 18, STEPN urged users to beware of scams and to always double-check an account’s authenticity before clicking on any links.