The crypto community is buzzing as Sealana (SEAL) prepares for its July 2 airdrop and DEX listing. With the presale entering its final days, investors are scrambling for a last-minute chance to buy SEAL tokens before they hit the open market. Sealana’s Presale Journey Nears Its Climax Sealana’s presale journey has been quite the ride […]
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User Games Zksync Airdrop, Receives Over $1.1 Million in 350 Wallets
K1z4, an X user, recently revealed that they had farmed the Zksync airdrop, receiving over 6.6 million ZK tokens, valued at over .1 million. K1z4 specified that they had used an elaborate setup of 350 wallets with different IPs and various tools to make the bots used in this task seem more human, including artificial […]
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LayerZero’s ZRO Token Airdrop Receives Backlash For ‘Proof-Of-Donation’ Mechanism
This week, another airdrop controversy has sent the crypto community into havoc. Omnichain interoperability protocol LayerZero recently announced its ZRO Token launch alongside an Airdrop for its community.
However, investors were shocked when the protocol announced the new ‘Proof-of-Donation’ mechanism. The token’s price has dropped over 20% after launching.
LayerZero Faces Backlash For Token Airdrop
On June 14, the LayerZero Foundation took X to tease an upcoming airdrop. That day, Bryan Pellegrino, the co-founder and CEO of LayerZero Labs, shared the key details of the airdrop.
The CEO revealed a 1 billion ZRO tokens supply and the community would directly receive 23.8% of them. He explained that 8.5% of the community-allocated tokens would be distributed on the first day, while the rest would be given throughout the following 36 months.
In May, the protocol announced its anti-Sybil measures for the upcoming token distribution. The measures include a self-reporting system for Sybil accounts, which offered 15% of the intended allocation to the addresses that report itself. Additionally, LayerZero created a bounty hunter program.
Despite this, the protocol received some backlash for its distribution. Some users believe an 8.5% distribution on the first day was too low. Others felt like their allocated tokens didn’t match their transaction volume.
An x user shared he received 39.28 ZRO despite being among the top 0.13% LazerZero users. As a result, many compared the ZRO airdrop to zkSync’s one.
Last week, the crypto community slammed Ethereum’s Zero-Knowledge Layer-2 scaling solution zkSync ahead of its ZK token airdrop. At the time, investors expressed frustration with the token allocation and lack of anti-Sybil filtering.
From Hero To ZRO?
Despite the comparison to zkSync, it wasn’t until Thursday that the backlash intensified. Before the airdrop, LayerZero Foundation announced its new claiming mechanism, ‘ Proof-of-Donation.’
Per the post, users must donate .1 in USDC, USDT, or ETH per token to claim their ZRO allocation. The donations will go directly to the Protocol Guild, a collective funding mechanism for Ethereum developers.
LayerZero Foundation estimated that the new mechanism will generate up to .5 million in donations. Additionally, it offered to match all donations up to million.
The protocol’s community quickly expressed their disagreement with the news. One user called it a “Pay to Claim” airdrop, stating that “if there was a ‘milking your users’ Olympics, LayerZero would take the gold.”
Another user found the timing disingenuous, as the announcement was made soon before the airdrop. Many investors saw the “mandatory” nature of the donation as a slap in the face. Moreover, some consider the new claiming mechanism a “tax” instead of a donation.
Pellegrino addressed the criticism of X, stating that nobody is forced to donate. He added that users are not entitled to the tokens:
If you don’t want to donate… simply don’t claim. This is not something you own, it’s something being offered.
As of this writing, ZRO has gone from .79 to .39, representing a 22% drop in four hours.
Tether CEO Advises Caution Over Suspicious Airdrop Emails Citing Compromised Mailing List Vendor
Paolo Ardoino of Tether and Bobby Ong of Coingecko have warned of a potential supply chain attack on the crypto industry. They reported that a prominent vendor managing mailing lists for crypto companies may have been compromised, urging caution against phishing emails related to fake crypto airdrops. ‘Beware of Any Emails Suggesting Crypto Airdrops’ Paolo […]
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Fake Crypto Airdrop: Tether’s CEO Warns Of Ongoing Supply Chain Email Exploit
Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino has alerted the crypto space to another wave of supply chain email scams in an X post. The CEO urged the community to exercise extreme caution while the issue is resolved.
Exciting News: It’s A Scam!
On Wednesday, online reports surfaced of suspicious emails being sent to the crypto community. Per the reports, investors received emails from crypto companies offering an upcoming token airdrop.
First, users received emails from Bitfinex announcing “exciting news” for the exchange. The email revealed an upcoming ERC20 airdrop of their “new $BFX token” for all Bitfinex users. The reason behind the airdrop was the recent approval of Ethereum spot exchange-traded funds (ETF).
The email offered a “claim now” link that redirected to a website asking to connect to the user’s wallet. Despite the suspicious look of the email, investors doubted its legitimacy as it came from the crypto platform’s official address.
After being tested by the community, it was quickly revealed that the lookalike website was a scam page. An X user tested the page with an empty wallet and found they were “not eligible” for the airdrop.
However, the user tried Rabby Wallet’s watch-only feature with a VB wallet. The user found that all the ETH “would be sent to another wallet, so there was no airdrop for vb.” The destination wallet was empty, which suggested that the scam generated a new wallet for each victim.
The user confirmed the theory after testing it with a second wallet. This tactic would make tracking the number of victims and the money involved more difficult.
Likewise, several users reported receiving strange emails from Coinbase asking to verify secondary addresses. The racist email claimed that the crypto exchange was shutting down and stated that all funds would be lost if they didn’t verify their secondary email for withdrawal authorization.
The email also came from the official Coinbase address. However, the post was unauthorized as the sender used racial slurs and doxed himself.
Paolo Ardoino Warns Of Ongoing Crypto Scam
Tether and Bitfinex’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, took X to address the situation. In his post, Ardoino revealed he had received reports from two independent sources confirming that a prominent vendor used by crypto companies had suffered a security breach.
The vendor, which was not named, manages the mailing lists of several important crypto companies. Similarly, CoinGecko’s COO Bobby Ong warned users about the ongoing supply chain email attack targeting the community:
Several crypto companies may be affected via email blasts of fake token launches. Be careful with email newsletters in the coming days.
Despite being affected by the security breach, Ong assured users that CoinGecko’s website and mobile app had not been impacted and were safe to use. Moreover, he clarified that the crypto-tracking website was not launching a token, nor did it have plans to.
It’s worth noting that this is not the first time a supply chain email attack has targeted the crypto industry. In January, a massive phishing campaign drained around 0,000 from investors after a scammer sent unauthorized emails from different crypto-related companies.
It was revealed at the time that a member of the exploited vendor’s customer support team became the initial point of compromise. As of this writing, there are no official reports of affected users or lost funds yet.
EigenLayer Launches Airdrop Season, Allowing Users To Claim 113M EIGEN Tokens
Restaking protocol EigenLayer has unveiled its highly anticipated airdrop season, during which eligible users can claim a portion of the initial EIGEN token supply.
EigenLayer Sets September 2024 Deadline
The protocol’s announcement on Friday revealed that “Season 1” commences with 6.05% of the total supply, which users can claim starting on May 10.
Moreover, “Season 1 phase 2,” set to begin mid-June, will increase the claimable percentage to 6.75%. Season 1 will distribute approximately 113 million EIGEN tokens to participants. EigenLayer has reserved 15% of the initial token supply for the community across all seasons, signaling its commitment to inclusive participation.
EigenLayer has also announced that EIGEN tokens are currently non-transferable. However, the protocol plans to unlock token transfers once new features are launched and “further decentralization” is achieved.
These developments are expected to take place by September 30th, 2024. Until transfer restrictions are removed, core contributors and investors will not receive EIGEN staking rewards, and no inflation will occur.
Record-Breaking Billion In Assets
Since its soft launch in 2023, EigenLayer has reportedly attracted billion in assets, making it a prominent player in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.
According to Bloomberg, the protocol’s restaking service offers amplified returns by leveraging the process of depositing ETH coins to support the Ethereum blockchain. Eigen Labs, the Seattle-based firm behind EigenLayer, raised approximately 5 million from notable backers, including a16z Crypto.
Investors gain access to EigenDA by staking EIGEN, a performance data availability system supporting Ethereum rollups. The protocol claims this presents an opportunity for users to secure amplified returns.
Additionally, EigenLayer will shortly introduce compatibility with various AVSs (Application-Specific Verification Systems), offering stakers more options.
Nonetheless, virtual private network users and residents of countries such as the US, Canada, and China have been excluded from the airdrop, highlighting the challenges of operating within regulatory frameworks and ensuring compliance. Eigen Foundation’s executive director, Robert Drost, acknowledged the complexities of navigating regulatory guidelines:
It’s not possible to operate in the space without following regulatory guidelines and being responsible, and the challenging part is that there is not a lot of clarity.
Despite these setbacks, EigenLayer’s popularity has positioned it as the second most popular DeFi application, surpassing liquid staking platforms like Lido and Rocket Pool.
While liquid staking provides easier access to staking rewards and leads the DeFi category, it has experienced significant outflows in recent months. DefiLlama data indicates a 27% decline in total value locked in liquid staking protocols since their peak of billion in March. EigenLayer’s restaking service has contributed to the restaking of nearly 4% of all ETH.
The second largest cryptocurrency on the market, Ethereum, is trading at ,890, following Bitcoin’s lead with a 3.8% drop in the past 24 hours.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com
New Crypto to Watch: 99Bitcoins Token Raises $1M and is Offering $99K BTC Airdrop
Every once in a while, a new crypto project makes investors sit up and pay attention. That’s exactly what’s happening with 99Bitcoins Token (99BTC) right now. The project has raised over million in funding so far – and the development team is planning to airdrop a whopping ,999 worth of Bitcoin to early community […]
Bitcoin News
Friend.tech’s FRIEND Token Airdrop Faces Steep Decline Since Market Debut
Friend.tech, the decentralized social media application on the Base network, recently launched its native token through an airdrop. Since trading commenced, the token has plummeted, dropping anywhere from 50% to 90% of its initial value across various decentralized exchange (dex) platforms, as reported by several different price aggregation websites. FRIEND Starts Strong but Value Plummets […]
Bitcoin News
Eigenlayer’s Airdrop Faces Backlash Over Token Restrictions and Minimal Allocations
The announcement of Eigenlayer’s airdrop, featuring non-transferable tokens and aggressive geo-restrictions, has sparked outrage among users who felt the allocated amount was minimal and the documentation confusing. Despite adding over .7 billion in staked Ether in anticipation, participants criticized the linear distribution model favoring large restakers and the stringent geographic limits excluding users from 30 […]
Bitcoin News
EigenLayer Makes A Big Splash With EIGEN Token Launch And Major Airdrop Plan, Get The Full Scoop!
EigenLayer, a decentralized restaking protocol built on Ethereum (ETH), has made significant announcements, paving the way for new developments within the crypto ecosystem.
The protocol unveiled its native token, EIGEN, which the newly formed Eigen Foundation will distribute. Alongside this, EigenLayer introduced a major plan for an airdrop and released a comprehensive new Whitepaper.
EigenLayer Unveils EIGEN With Novel Mechanism
According to the protocol’s announcement, the introduction of the EIGEN token brings forth a complementary mechanism designed to address “intersubjective” faults, which cannot be resolved through ETH restaking alone.
By expanding ETH restaking, EigenLayer positions ETH as the Universal Objective Work Token, while the universality of EIGEN makes it the Universal Intersubjective Work Token. EIGEN’s universality is reportedly aimed at allowing it to fork and slash for intersubjective errors committed by EIGEN stakers in any AVS (Automated Verification System) within the protocol.
To ensure widespread adoption of EIGEN across applications, EigenLayer has designed an application-independent mechanism to maintain the system’s cryptoeconomic security.
In EigenLayer, EIGEN staking and ETH restaking play complementary roles. EIGEN addresses safety properties through objective slashing, and ETH restaking ensures liveness and censorship-resistance properties dependent on stake decentralization.
The launch of EIGEN also introduces intersubjective staking, marking a significant milestone for the protocol and the Ethereum ecosystem. However, due to its newly introduced design, the concept requires widespread adoption and discussion among ecosystem participants.
At launch, the Eigen token will have a total supply of 1.67 billion tokens, with the Foundation allocating 45% of the tokens to the community. This allocation is further divided into staked drops, community initiatives, and ecosystem development.
Investors will reportedly receive almost 30% of the tokens, while early contributors will receive over 25%. Both these groups are subject to a three-year lockup period for their allocations.
A complete lock will be in place during the first year, followed by a gradual release of their total holdings at a rate of 4% per month over the subsequent two years.
EIGEN Token Launches Meta-Setup Phase
While the initial implementation of intersubjective staking at launch mirrors only a limited extent of the full protocol, several parameters still need to be determined for its full actuation.
To address this, EIGEN is being launched in a meta-setup phase, serving as a call to action for researchers, experts, and the broader community to engage in public discourse.
As EigenLayer announced, this collaborative effort aims to help define the necessary parameters to make the protocol and its interaction with the rest of the Ethereum ecosystem as effective as possible.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com