Ethereum price rises as OpenSea launches new NFT bartering protocol
OpenSea’s new Seaport platform allows users to barter non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for ERC20, ERC1155, ERC721 tokens.
- Former BitMEX CEO and cofounder Arthur Hayes has been sentenced to two years of probation and six months of house arrest.
- Hayes was also fined $10 million for allegedly taking part in money laundering activities.
- Popular digital artist Beeple saw his Twitter account hacked on May 22, allowing miscreants to scam his followers for $438K.
Ethereum (ETH) has continued to fluctuate over the past 48 hours, rising from a relative low of $1,932 to $2,073 before correcting slightly. The altcoin’s weekly losses stand at -5.3% while trading at $1,983.
The positive price action comes when prominent national heads and economists have convened at Davos to address the world’s most pressing needs.
Late last week, former BitMEX CEO and cofounder Arthur Hayes was sentenced to a two-year probation and six-month home detention by a federal courthouse in New York.
Hayes, along with his cofounders Benjamin Delo, Samuel Reed and business associate Gregory Dwyer, was found guilty of money laundering. Filings made in court reveal that Hayes was granted bail after posting a $10 million bond. He was also required to pay an additional fine of $10 million.
Tackling the long-lasting myth of crypto being easy to money launder with, a recent report released by cryptocurrency exchange CEX.IO suggests otherwise. The platform’s chief technology officer Dmytro Volkov said that the idea that people mainly use crypto for nefarious activities is extremely outdated. Volkov added:
“In the case of Bitcoin, whose blockchain ledger is publicly available, a serious exchange with a competent analytics team can easily monitor and thwart hackers and launderers before the damage is done.”
Crypto and NFTs stolen via Beeple’s Twitter account
Digital artist Mike Winkelmann, popularly known as Beeple, recently had his Twitter account hacked. As per MetaMask security specialist Harry Denley, many of the artist’s Tweets on May 22 — containing a link to a raffle of a Louis Vuitton NFT collaboration — were part of a hacking scheme, allowing miscreants to drain crypto out of anyone’s wallet who clicked on the link.
The ruse saw the scammers net a cool 36 ETH worth approximately $75,000 at the time and a further $365,000 worth of ETH and NFTs via two separate links. Both tweets were related to high-value collections such as the Mutant Ape Yacht Club, VeeFriends and Otherdeeds. Beeple later noted that he has regained control of his account, reminding his fans that “anything too good to be true is a scam.”
OpenSea launches protocol enabling NFT bartering
Popular NFT marketplace OpenSea recently announced the launch of a Web3 marketplace protocol enabling users to safely and efficiently buy and sell NFTs. Called Seaport, the platform allows users to obtain NFTs by bartering assets associated with the ETH ecosystem, including ERC20, ERC1155 and ERC721 tokens.
Interested in cryptocurrency? Learn more about the basics with our beginner’s guide to Bitcoin, dive deeper by learning about Ethereum and see what blockchain can do with our simple guide to DeFi.
Disclosure: The author owns a range of cryptocurrencies at the time of writing.
