Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. South Korean Web3 firm raises $140 million South Korean nonfungible tokens (NFT) developer Line Next secured a $140 million investment on December 13 from a consortium led by Peter-Thiel-backed private equity firm Crescendo Equity Partners. It’s the largest blockchain series funding round in Asia this year.…
The ‘Ledger hacker’ who siphoned away at least $484,000 from multiple Web3 apps on Dec. 14 did so by tricking Web3 users into making malicious token approvals, according to the team behind blockchain security platform Cyvers. According to public statements made by multiple parties involved, the hack occurred on the morning of Dec. 14. The attacker used a phishing exploit…
Pragmatic investors may scoff at volatile meme coins, but when they take off, they make fools of us all—at least until they crash. But lately, Solana meme coin BONK has been pretty much up only, blasting off to new heights as SOL itself rebounds after a rough year. And anyone who was airdropped a stack of free BONK last year…
December’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting was a huge boon for markets. Risk assets — including cryptocurrencies — soared as the central bank appeared to take a more dovish stance on monetary policy. But the markets may be in for a nasty surprise in 2024 as the Federal Reserve faces an uphill battle against price increases, which may well…
NFT collector J1mmy.eth trades like Warren Buffett, his collection peaked at $150 million, and he once minted 420 Bored Apes with Pranksy. Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/j1mmy-eth-minted-420-bored-apes-nfts-worth-150m-nft-creator/
OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT large language model, GPT4.5, could be launching sooner than expected. A screenshot, which has been making the rounds on social media including X (formerly Twitter), shows a description of “GPT 4.5” which reads: “Our most advanced model brings multi-model capabilities across language, audio, vision, video and 3D, alongside complex reasoning and cross-model understanding.” Found circulating on X…
Instagram, Meta’s photo-sharing app, today launched an AI-driven background editing feature called Backdrop. Currently limited to users based in the United States, the generative AI tool draws from Meta’s in-house Emu Edit tech. Backdrop goes beyond color filters and basic tweaks, Meta said in its announcement. “With backdrop, you can reimagine your image’s background with just a few taps and…
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), a nonprofit corporation that oversees regional organizations that support energy reliability, has released its annual long-term reliability assessment of the United States electrical grid. It identified large portions of the United States and Canada as high- or elevated-risk areas for energy reliability. Those areas included Texas, where the cryptocurrency mining industry is seeking…
There are a few essential truths that govern accepted thinking about blockchain networks. One such truth is that, without compromises like wrapped tokens and blockchain bridges, proof-of-stake networks like Ethereum and proof-of-work networks like Bitcoin are tantamount to water and oil: They just don’t mix. Now, a new startup led by a Stanford professor and a former Dolby engineer is…
In a precedent-setting case, Shakeeb Ahmed pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges related to hacks on two decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges, including the July attack on Solana decentralized exchange Nirvana Finance. As part of his plea, the 34-year-old New York native has agreed to forfeit over $12 million in stolen funds. This marks “the first ever conviction for such a hack,”…
