GM Readers!📪 It's BitDegree Insider, let's turn on that web3 cooking stove.
⭐️Today's selection:
- ⚖️Lawyers Profit From FTX Bankruptcy
- 👨💻AZUKI Hack
- 💰Venture Mondays
- 👌Selected Meme of The Day
- 📰Bite-Sized News
LAWYERS CASHING IN ON FTX BANKRUPTCY
It pays to be a lawyer during the FTX bankruptcy proceedings.
John T. Dorsey, the judge of the FTX case, has approved Sullivan & Cromwell, the law firm, despite possible conflicts of interest, to be the ones taking care of FTX's destiny.
The conflict of interest arises from the fact that the firm had advised the crypto-exchange before its bankruptcy. But that was yesterday.
Today... the law firm has a reason to look forward.
According to Bloomberg Law, Sullivan & Cromwell could make hundreds of millions of dollars by the end of the case, set for October 2023.
The legal team includes 150 people, with 30 high-charging partners earning more than $2,000 an hour, and senior associates making up to $1,500 an hour.
The firm says its fees are in line with market prices and even lower than some of its competitors.
Bankruptcy is big business during the crypto-winter.
And FTX is not the only gold mine for bankruptcy lawyers. Genesis Global Trading, Celsius Network and Voyager Digital are FTX's companions in despair. Lawyers can only smile.
For reference: the New York law firm Weil Gotshal made about $500 million on the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in 2008.
TL;DR: It's estimated that Sullivan & Cromwell, the law firm that was appointed to work on the FTX bankruptcy case, could make hundreds of millions of dollars by the end of the case.
AZUKI HACK
No, Azuki is not the name of some kind of a Japanese Yakuza cyber warfare warlord. It's the name of an NFT collection.
On Friday, January 27, there was an attack on this collection's official Twitter page.
Hackers gained access to it and posted a malicious link. This allowed them to steal at least $750,000 from ordinary users in 30 minutes.
Curiously, not even the two-factor authentication saved the account.
Hackers and scammers are getting craftier by the day. This leads to two major conclusions:
- You must not sign obscure transactions from a wallet that holds important assets.
- Any significant project announcement/update should be checked on other social networks as well (Discord, Website, Telegram).
If a project posts an important announcement on only one social network... It's a red flag. Chances are, hackers got access to it.
Also, most projects really care for their fans and community, so it's almost never a case when significant updates are not announced on all of their socials.
Azuki's team confirmed the company's losses, and access to the hacked account has been restored. Nevertheless... The damage is done.
Recall that in 2022 hackers stole $3.9 billion worth of crypto assets. We'll see what 2023 will look like. It started out... Not too great in this regard.
TL;DR: The Azuki NFT collection experienced a hack. Bad actors got access to the collection's Twitter account which they used to post malicious links. They ended up pocketing $750k in 30 minutes.
VENTURE MONDAYS
Ethos, a Sui-based wallet provider, has secured $4.2M in seed funding during a round led by Boldstart Ventures and Gumi Cryptos Capital.
The funding also had participation from investors including Tribe Capital, Matrix Port, AllianceDAO, Mysten Labs, South Park Commons, OP Crypto, CMT Digital, Founderheads VC and others.
This is a new record in attracted investment for the Sui ecosystem.
This successful funding round marks a major achievement for the Sui ecosystem and will allow Ethos to expand their team and further develop their crypto-wallet.
The wallet will focus on discovering and interacting with applications built on the Sui blockchain and its related wallet infrastructure.
Crypto infrastructure firm QuickNode raised $60M in a Series B funding round led by 10T Holdings, with participation from Seven Seven Six, Tiger Global, Protocol Labs, QED Investors and others.
QuickNode is a startup that provides cloud-based nodes for developers and power users to access blockchains faster and more efficiently. The company's goal is to eliminate the need for technical skills, such as working with command lines to run a node.
Instead, users could have a fully-synced, dedicated node within a few clicks without worrying about maintenance and reliability.
QuickNode was the first to offer dedicated Ethereum nodes as a service.
Web3-native messaging and group wallet app Tribes raised $3.3M in a pre-seed funding round led by Kindred Ventures, South Park Commons and Script Capital.
Tribes is a new messaging app that aims to make it easier for people interested in cryptocurrencies to connect and collaborate.
It links directly to your Ethereum or Solana wallet and lets you participate in groups based on shared interests or tokens. The company plans to gradually decentralize the platform and give control to the community.
SELECTED MEME OF THE DAY
BITE-SIZED NEWS
- Philippines SEC Wants to Have More Power Over Local Crypto Industry. Voices like this are no longer surprising.
- Floki Team Proposes Burning $55 Million in Tokens and Reducing Transaction Tax. It's not about the money... It's about sending a message.
- South Korea is Planning to Launch the "Virtual Currency Tracking System". Just like in Philippines, national solutions come from international problems.
With close to a decade of experience in the FinTech industry, Aaron understands all of the biggest issues and struggles that crypto enthusiasts face. He’s a passionate analyst who is concerned with data-driven and fact-based content, as well as that which speaks to both Web3 natives and industry newcomers.
Aaron is the go-to person for everything and anything related to digital currencies. With a huge passion for blockchain & Web3 education, Aaron strives to transform the space as we know it, and make it more approachable to complete beginners.
Aaron has been quoted by multiple established outlets, and is a published author himself. Even during his free time, he enjoys researching the market trends, and looking for the next supernova.