On May 7, Blockchain scalability and privacy specialist, Starkware, discovered a critical security vulnerability in the frontend wallet of Loopring’s decentralized exchange. This bug placed all $5 million worth of the exchange’s funds at risk. Starkware alerted Loopring, who shut down the exchange and swiftly fixed the bug. Potential attacker could create all user account keys The vulnerability arose because Loopring users have two keys; an Ethereum key and a proprietary account key. However, the frontend wallet used a 32-bit integer to derive each user’s private key. This could have potentially allowed an attacker to reproduce every key on the …

The United Arab Emirates is approaching its 2021 deadline for migrating at least 50% of all government transactions onto distributed ledger technology-based platforms. Cointelegraph spoke to Leon Smith, the CEO of Dex — an Abu Dhabi-based crypto firm that has been issued with an in-principle approval ahead of the country’s forthcoming regulatory framework for crypto asset trading — to discuss how blockchain technology is becoming embedded in daily life in the UAE. UAE’s blockchain deadline looms In 2018, the UAE launched the Emirate Blockchain Strategy 2021, outlining a plan to migrate at least 50% of government-related transactions onto DLT platforms …

Growing the library of assets built on its own blockchain, Binance recently issued a new token backed by the crypto asset, Ontology (ONT). Built on Binance Chain and governed by a series of parameters known as BEP2, the new token goes by the name ONT-33D, a Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph in an email. Tokens are backed by ONT coins Each ONT-33D token holds a backing of one ONT coin, the spokesperson said. In theory, this should keep the token's price the same as the ONT tokens traded on the open crypto market. By nature, ONT coins travel on Ontology's own …

Kadan Stadelmann, the chief technology officer of decentralized exchange AtomicDEX, believes it’s only a matter of time before Binance implodes. Atomic bomb AtomicDEX is a decentralized exchange built on top of the Komodo (KMD) multi-chain platform. It claims to be “the industry’s most advanced peer-to-peer mobile-first atomic swap protocol”. Talking to Cointelegraph, Stadelmann explained why users should not trust big centralized exchanges like Binance: “I absolutely do think [Binance and other major centralized exchanges] is just like a ticking time bomb. We don't know what is happening with these funds, are they even in a secure and safe environment? But …

The developers behind the peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading platform Bisq have temporarily disabled services after discovering a critical security vulnerability. Formerly known as Bitsquare, Bisq is a decentralized exchange (DEX) that facilitates crypto-to-fiat trades without a formal intermediary. In a community announcement posted on April 8, the developers said that they were investigating the security issue, telling users: “If you have any active trades right now, please DO NOT send any funds.” The devs add that it is “especially important” for users not to send any funds if they are involved with any of the trades included in a provided list …

Coinbase continues to ramp up its support for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, announcing a fresh $1.1 million investment via its USDC Bootstrap Fund for two projects in the field. The USDC Bootstrap Fund — launched by Coinbase and Circle as part of the Centre Consortium in early fall 2019 — aims to encourage DeFi development by investing funds denominated in stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) directly into DeFi protocols. As Coinbase revealed on April 1, the fund is investing $1 million in USDC for decentralized exchange Uniswap’s USDC/Ether (ETH) pool. It is also contributing $100,000 in USDC to the daily prize …

DeversiFi, the decentralized exchange (DEX) spin-off of former Bitfinex sister exchange Ethfinex, has burned $20 million worth of its governance and utility token, Nectar (NEC). According to a statement, March 30, this is designed to drive DEX adoption after large centralized exchanges struggled to cope during the recent cryptocurrency sell-off. Governance token switches to deflationary model The Nectar token was originally launched with an inflationary model, in which it was awarded to Ethfinex traders, giving them a stake in the future of the exchange. However, with Ethfinex’s pivot towards decentralization and rebirth as DeversiFi, the token has switched to a …

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted a tweet on March 24 claiming that the continuing lack of easy movement between the Ethereum and Bitcoin networks was embarrassing. As a solution, he proposed putting resources into building a decentralized exchange (DEX), to act as a trustless bridge between the two. DEX should be trustless, serverless and Uniswap-like Buterin’s plan calls for the DEX to be trustless and serverless, with a user experience very similar to Uniswap. Uniswap is a decentralized exchange that runs without an order book, instead relying on asset pairs with Ether as a fixed base currency. As Cointelegraph reported, …

Sparkswap, a decentralized exchange backed by Pantera Capital, announced it is shutting down on March 17. The exchange cited a weak user base as the catalyst for its decision to cease operations. The platform has shut its doors to new customers and will put an end to all trading services after March 24. The exchange will also terminate its Lightning node before April. Sparkswap unable to attract enough users to sustain operations Sparkswap users’ U.S. dollar funds will remain in accounts held with the exchange’s banking partner AnchorUSD. Users can either leave the funds in an AnchorUSD account or withdraw …

NEO-based decentralized exchange (DEX) Switcheo partnered with the Zilliqa blockchain to allow trading of Ethereum- and EOS-based assets on the platform. According to an announcement on March 16, after the launch, Zilliqa token holders will be able to access Ethereum-based assets for the first time. A Switcheo spokesperson also informed Cointelegraph that there are plans to add Bitcoin (BTC) support as well. The two teams plan to launch a minimum viable product by the end of Q2 2020 and external user acceptance testing by Q3. The development is expected to conclude by 2021. A notably inter-blockchain platform Switcheo claims to …

An Israeli startup Starkware believes it can solve two of the most pressing issues in crypto trading — the inherent vulnerability of centralized exchanges and the low transactional capacity of decentralized ones. The venture was co-founded by professor Eli Ben Sasson, who was a founding scientist for Zcash (ZEC). Besides raising almost $40 million from prominent investors that include Sequoia and Intel Capital, it also received a grant from the Ethereum Foundation. Starkware for exchanges Oren Katz, VP of engineering at Starkware, explained their approach in an exclusive interview to Cointelegraph: “We basically provide a scalability engine for exchanges (or …

Algorand officially unveiled a suite of new features to its pure-proof-of-stake network at the end of November, dubbed Algorand 2.0. The latest suite of technical innovation by the emerging “frictionless finance” network, the upgrade encompasses the official commissioning of smart contracts on the network, along with the Algorand Standard Assets, or ASA, and atomic transfers. Algorand started off with a bang through its $60 million initial coin offering, which led into its vaunted technology upgrade — Algorand 2.0. Designed for building decentralized finance products, enterprise-scale DApps, and business-ready blockchain solutions, Algorand 2.0 presents a compelling option for developers focused on …