Arnold Kirimi
A Proof Collective member has fallen victim to a scam, losing 29 highly-valuable Ethereum (ETH)-based Moonbirds. According to a tweet by Cirrus on Wednesday morning, the victim lost 29 Moonbird nonfungible tokens (NFTs) worth $1.5 million after clicking a malicious link shared by a scammer.
Dollar, a Twitter personality and NFT holder, claimed that the so-called culprit is already half doxxed by the crypto exchange, and that Proof Collective and its members are currently working on a full report to the FBI.
Just1n.eth, another user, claimed that while he was attempting to negotiate a deal, a trader insisted on using an unsavory "p2peer" platform to conclude the transaction. Sulphaxyz confirmed that it ha happened to him as well and identified the con artist as the same culprit.
It's unclear how many victims in total have been duped by the perpetrator, but it's a harsh reminder that even the savviest of NFT investors need to be on their toes when it comes to scammers. The recent crypto scams are a harsh wake-up call for NFT owners to exercise caution when dealing with third-party platforms, and to double-check anything shared by others, even if they appear trustworthy.
Cointelegraph recently reported that NFT creator Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple, had his Twitter account hacked in a phishing attack. The scam earned the attacker $438K in cryptocurrency and NFTs from the compromised Beeple account.
Earlier this month, cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes released a study that highlighted an increase in phishing attempts as scam artists attempt to capitalize on NFT mania. The most prevalent method used by scammers, according to the company, is fraudulent websites presented as genuine platforms.
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Ezra Reguerra
In a new development for East Asia, Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank announced a partnership with financial holding company Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings to establish Japan Digital Asset Trust (JADAT).
According to an announcement sent to Cointelegraph on Tuesday, JADAT will offer custodial services and auditing and wallet insurance. The company is designed to facilitate the entrance of institutional players into the Japanese digital asset market.
Once established, the firm will specialize in custody services for digital asset holdings, including cryptocurrency, security tokens on public blockchains, stablecoins and nonfungible tokens (NFTs).
Bitbank is one of the largest crypto exchanges in Asia, with a monthly trading volume of over $5 billion, while Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings is a publicly traded holding and specialized trust bank group. According to the announcement, the firms will use their expertise to contribute to the development of JADAT.
The crypto exchange and financial holdings firm have signed a memorandum of understanding, with both parties agreeing to explore the possibilities of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings investing in JADAT.
Last week, one of Japan's largest investment banks, Nomura, revealed plans to create a crypto subsidiary outside the country. This follows a recent move from the firm to offer Bitcoin (BTC) derivatives to its clients in Asia. The new subsidiary will be focusing on helping institutions invest their funds in crypto and NFTs.
Earlier in May, e-commerce platform SBI Motor Japan announced that it would accept BTC and XRP as methods of payment. According to SBI Holdings, the e-commerce platform exports 5,000 used cars to Africa annually. This means that the African market can purchase vehicles from the company using crypto.
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Jesse Coghlan
Excitement for the Metaverse and virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) is much greater in developing countries than in high-income countries, according to a survey conducted for the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Market research firm Ipsos released the results of the survey on Wednesday, showing the concept is now widely recognized: 52% of more than 21,000 adults surveyed across 29 countries are familiar with the Metaverse and 50% have positive feelings about engaging with it in daily life.
China, India, Peru, Saudi Arabia and Colombia were the top five countries where two-thirds or more of respondents said they had positive feelings toward it.
China had the highest, with 78% harboring positive feelings toward using a metaverse daily followed by India at 75%.
The lowest-scoring countries with less than one-third of respondents positive about the Metaverse were also countries with the highest incomes.
Japan scored the lowest with just 22% exhibiting positive feelings followed by the United Kingdom (26%), Belgium (30%), Canada (30%), France (31%) and then Germany (31%).
Interestingly, the concept was less familiar in those high-income countries, too, with fewer than 30% in France, Belgium and Germany.
Turkey was most familiar with the Metaverse at 86%, followed by India (80%), China (73%) and the higher income country of South Korea (71%). Poland scored the lowest at 27%.
Respondents were also surveyed on the areas of life they agree the Metaverse will impact the most. Developing countries such as South Africa, China and India agreed areas like virtual learning, entertainment, digital socializing and even applications like remote surgery would make an impact on people’s lives.
Again, respondents from high-income Japan, Belgium and France had the lowest percentages of those who agreed that Metaverse applications would significantly change people’s lives.
Developing countries seem to be more enthusiastic about crypto and blockchain across the board, according to an April report from cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, which pointed out that half of the respondents in India, Brazil and the Asia Pacific region purchased their first cryptocurrency in 2021.
The report made the case that inflation and currency devaluation are the drivers of crypto adoption in those regions, stating that residents of countries that experienced 50% or more currency devaluation were five times more likely to plan to purchase crypto than countries that experienced less inflation.
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This Daily Dose was brought to you by Cointelegraph.
