Here’s a quick breakdown of the biggest news stories and developments in the cryptocurrency sector for October 12, 2022.
1. SEC is investigating Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is examining Yuga Labs, the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and the company behind ApeCoin (APE), over the potentially unregistered sale of securities.
According to Bloomberg, the financial regulator’s probe will try to determine if some of the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) sold by Yuga Labs fulfill the criteria for being a security. The rules of what constitutes a security have initially been outlined in a landmark decision by the US Supreme Court almost a century ago and have since been dubbed the Howey Test.
SEC is reportedly not solely focusing on NFTs but also on ApeCoin, a crypto asset launched earlier this year that enables holders to participate in the development of certain parts of the Yuga Labs ecosystem. Speaking to the news outlet, Yuga Labs’ spokesperson said they are looking forward to working with regulators on defining and shaping the digital asset space.
2. Solana-based DeFi platform Mango suffers a $100 million exploit
Just five days after BNB Chain suffered an attack that impacted more than $560 million worth of digital assets, we are forced to cover another substantial exploit in the crypto space. Yesterday, Solana-based decentralized finance (DeFi) trading platform Mango was hit with a $100 million exploit that took BTC, USDT, SOL, mSOL, and USDC out of the Mango protocol.
The attack apparently focused on the underlying processes governing the Mango platform, rather than on a code vulnerability. Although the specifics are not entirely clear, it seems that the attacker managed to massively inflate the price of Mango’s native token, MNGO, by buying large portions of a somewhat illiquid token, and then taking out loans against the inflated asset. Following the incident, MNGO’s price plunged by over 40%.
The Mango team stated they are investigating the accident and taking steps to freeze the stolen funds, which are reportedly still on the Solana blockchain.
We are currently investigating an incident where a hacker was able to drain funds from Mango via an oracle price manipulation.
We are taking steps to have third parties freeze funds in flight. 1/
— Mango (@mangomarkets) October 11, 2022
3. BNY Mellon, the world’s largest custodian bank, launches crypto custody platform
BNY Mellon, America’s oldest bank with $2.4 trillion in assets under management (AUM) and $46.7 trillion in assets under custody (AUC), has launched its Digital Asset Custody platform for U.S. customers.
According to the bank’s press release, the move reinforces its commitment to providing digital asset services for its clients. A recent survey conducted by the bank reportedly showed that 91% of all institutional clients are interested in tokenized products. The platform will support transfers and custody of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Speaking about the launch of the crypto-oriented offering, CEO and President of BNY Mellon, Robin Vince, said:
“Touching more than 20% of the world’s investable assets, BNY Mellon has the scale to reimagine financial markets through blockchain technology and digital assets.”
4. Office 365 is coming to the Metaverse thanks to a partnership between Microsoft and Meta
Speaking at the Meta’s Connect 2022 keynote on Tuesday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed a number of apps from the Office 365 productivity suite will soon become available within Meta’s virtual reality headsets “Quest” and soon to be launched “Quest Pro”.
Teams video calling app will be the first to integrate, allowing users to conduct work-related activities, such as meetings and employee training, in the metaverse. Nadella said that Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and SharePoint will follow suit.
“We’re bringing the Microsoft Teams’ immersive meeting experience to Meta Quest in order to give people new ways to connect with each other. Now, you can connect, share and collaborate as though you are together in person,” Nadella explained.
In addition to workplace-focused solutions, the two companies are reportedly “exploring ways” to bring Xbox Cloud Gaming to Meta’s virtual world.
5. OpenSea, the leading NFT marketplace, integrates Avalanche
OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT trading platform, has announced support for the Avalanche (AVAX) blockchain. The integration will allow digital artists and other creators who are working on Avalanche to monetize their work, while giving users access to a fast and low-cost network for NFT trading.
GM?! We’re excited to share that @avalancheavax #Avalanche is officially live on OpenSea!! pic.twitter.com/3nDP3zQGAx
— OpenSea (@opensea) October 11, 2022
Avalanche joins a list of five chains supported by OpenSea, including Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Klaytn. The OpenSea team said they are onboarding Chikn, TapTapKaBoom, Castle Crush, OpenBlox, and several other NFT collections on the platform, and eagerly awaiting more Avalanche creators to join going forward.
This news is republished from another source.
