Wed 02/22

Good Morning. ETH Denver was hacked!, Sitharaman warns against investing in large amounts in crypto, Hong Kong will most likely become the first country to let people trade crypto on exchanges and Japan moves ahead with its CBDC.

⛔️ Sitharaman Cautions People Against Investing Large Amounts In Cryptocurrency: During a press conference on Monday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman responded to a question about cryptocurrency, stating that it is on the G20 agenda in India. The reason for this is that the creation, buying, and selling of crypto assets requires international cooperation. The minister acknowledged concerns about young people investing in cryptocurrency and stated that regulators and national security deposit centers have conducted campaigns to warn people of the risks. She also mentioned that discussions on the crypto bill are ongoing, and updates will be provided in due course. The campaign to raise awareness about the risks of cryptocurrency will continue in the near future, according to the report.

🔮 Streaming Platform 'LOCO' Is Partnering With Avalanche: As part of the Avalanche Multiverse incentive program, Loco is creating a subnet to help increase Avalanche's presence in Asia. Loco recently raised $42 million, which is the largest Series A round in gaming history for both India and Southeast Asia. The platform has also partnered with major gaming publishers including Activision Blizzard, and Riot Games. Loco is developing a range of Web3 products to offer fan experiences through its custom Avalanche Subnet. This initiative marks another significant step in Avalanche's expansion in Asia. Loco's initial products will focus on returning control to the user and integrating collectibles into the fantasy gaming experience. The platform will enable fans to showcase their fandom and even act as talent managers and scouts, which adds an exciting element to their viewing experience.

💻 Ethereum Denver Hacked: A fraudulent website posing as the popular Ethereum Denver conference has been targeted by a red-flagged smart contract, resulting in the theft of more than $300,000 worth of ETH. The hackers duplicated the conference's website and urged users to connect their MetaMask wallets, which then allowed the smart contract to access over 2,800 wallets and steal funds. The scam was discovered by Blockfence, a research team that tracks trends in the industry. Users were prompted to connect their MetaMask wallets via the "connect wallet" button, which, if approved, would execute the malicious function and steal the users' funds. Since the scam was deployed in mid-2022, the smart contract has stolen over 177 ETH. The hackers even paid for a Google advertisement to promote the fake website's URL, taking advantage of high search trends leading up to the ETHDenver conference on Feb. 24 and 25. The fraudulent website appeared second on a Google search, ranking higher than the actual ETHDenver website.

⏩ Plans For Retail Cryptocurrency Trading Are Moving Forward In Hong Kong: Hong Kong is working to regain its status as a global hub for cryptocurrencies and has announced plans to allow trading of digital currencies on licensed exchanges. The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong released a consultation paper outlining its regulatory framework for crypto trading platforms that will be effective in June. The SFC also stated that retail investors would be able to trade specific "large-cap tokens" on licensed exchanges. It also outlined criteria for determining which cryptocurrencies would be available for trading, including an evaluation of the token's team, legal risks, and resistance to common attacks. The token should have a significant market capitalization and be included in at least two "acceptable indices" issued by independent providers, one of which should have experience in the traditional financial sector.

¥ Japan Will Launch CBDC Pilot Program For Digital Yen: The central bank is planning to initiate a pilot program to experiment with a digital version of the yen in April. In April 2021, the bank commenced the Proof of Concept (PoC) phase of its CBDC trial to examine the technical feasibility and processing efficiency of the CBDC system. To enhance the findings of the PoC phase, Uchida Shinichi, the bank’s director declared on Feb. 17 that the BOJ intends to commence the pilot program in April 2023. The pilot program has a dual purpose: firstly, to evaluate the technical feasibility that was not entirely explored in the PoC, and secondly, to engage the private sector in the CBDC trial. Uchida mentioned that the BOJ plans to carry out simulated transactions with private financial institutions in a test environment.

What Is Yield Farming?: Yield farming is the practice of staking or lending crypto assets in order to generate high returns or rewards in the form of additional cryptocurrency. This innovative yet risky and volatile application of decentralized finance (DeFi) has skyrocketed in popularity recently thanks to further innovations like liquidity mining. Yield farming is currently the biggest growth driver of the still-nascent DeFi sector, helping it to balloon from a market cap of $500 million to $10 billion in 2020.