Savannah Fortis
Google Cloud Neural Networks worked with its artificial intelligence (AI) software to make art. Not just any art — nonfungible token (NFT) art.
The AI transformed all 10,000 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs into machine-made works of art. These pieces of art take the form of abstract paintings. But when viewed closely, the paintings take the appearance of ape shapes that resembles the famous Yuga Labs collection.
The project was named Artsy Monke, combining the BAYC ape-spiration and the artistic, fine art aspect of the final product. According to an official statement, Artsy Monke utilized years of AI advancement along with image diffusion techniques. All images were created through Google’s collaborative Notebook service Colab in combination with cloud computing.
Google’s AI can reimagine these NFTs through text description and not just from reference images. For these pieces, the BAYC NFTs were given to the AI as “a loose canvas within which to frame the generative art,” said CryptoGrims, the resident AI artist.
CryptoGrims called the initial response mind-blowing and tweeted, “This is what happens when #technology meets #art.”
The artist said after the initial feeding of the image canvas, they had to teach the AI how to paint in “the twenty different art styles we shortlisted and then running multiple servers for several weeks to get the results we wanted."
Although some of the images can be easily paired with original BAYC images, the intricacy of these Artsy Monke creations is incomparable.
Some of the Artsy Monke pieces have entire micro worlds digitally painted into the vague outline of an ape while others are simply ape-shaped blended collages of futuristic elements.
Unlike the typically high price tags on BAYC NFTs, this 10,000-piece collection started at only 0.001 ETH, which at the time of sale equaled $1.40. However, the collection sold out shortly after its listing on OpenSea.
According to its creators, the NFT also acts as a utility token for holders to participate in Artsy Monke games and more. “We wanted Artsy Monke to be pieces of art that you could hang on your wall, but also, by using Web3 technology, we can also let holders access the Artsy Monke games and earn real money. The more Monke NFT you hold, the more games you can play and the more money you can earn,” said Dan Hovey, the blockchain developer behind the project.
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Brian Quarmby
High-end Italian fashion giant Gucci has become the first major brand to accept payments in the form of the Bored Ape Yacht Club-affiliated ApeCoin (APE).
The move was announced on Monday and could provide the ApeCoin project with significant mainstream exposure along with bringing further utility to the cryptocurrency.
Gucci customers in the United States will now be able to purchase items in-store with APE, while the payment infrastructure will be provided by BitPay, a firm that has helped big names such as AMC Theaters accept crypto payments in the past.
Despite the ongoing crypto bear market, the fashion brand has taken a serious plunge into the crypto sector this year.
In February, Gucci kicked things off with the “SUPERGUCCI” NFT collection in collaboration with vinyl toy brand SUPERPLASTIC. The following month, Gucci rolled out the “Gucci Grail” NFT collection targeted toward owners of top NFT projects such as the BAYC.
In May, the firm then went on to announce plans to accept 12 crypto assets as payment methods across 111 stores in North America. The list included Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ether (ETH), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Litecoin (LTC), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogecoin (DOGE), and five U.S. dollar stablecoins.
BAYC collectors seem to have shown strong support for Gucci’s crypto moves so far, with pseudonymous Twitter personality NBATopShotEast claiming to be the first person to pay for Gucci items in ETH at the brand's Wooster Street location in New York City in July. Another two BAYC members claimed to be the second and third people to do so.
In response to the latest APE announcement, NBATopShotEast outlined plans to once again be the first person to use the asset in the Wooster Gucci store.
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Brian Quarmby
An ongoing, widespread hack has seen as much as $8 million in funds drained so far across a number of Solana-based hot wallets.
At the time of writing, Solana (SOL) is currently trending on Twitter as countless users are either reporting on the hack as it unfolds, or are reporting to have lost funds themselves, warning anyone with Solana-based hot wallets such as Phantom and Slope wallets to move their funds into cold wallets.
Blockchain investigator PeckShield on August 2 said the widespread hack is likely due to a "supply chain issue" which has been exploited to steal user private keys behind affected wallets. It said the estimated loss so far is around $8 million.
Solana-based wallets providers including Phantom and Slope, and non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden are among those that have commented on the issue, with wallet provider Phantom noting that it is working with other teams to get to the bottom of the issue, although it says it does not “believe this is a Phantom-specific issue” at this stage.
Magic Eden confirmed the reports earlier in the day by stating that “seems to be a widespread SOL exploit at play that's draining wallets throughout the ecosystem” as it called on users to revoke permissions for any suspicious links in their Phantom wallets.
Slope said it is currently working with Solana Labs and other Solana-based protocols to pinpoint the issue and rectify it, though there were "no major breakthroughs yet."
Still war-rooming through it. No major breakthroughs yet. Will follow up as soon as possible with any major conclusions and/or recommended practices. August 3, 2022
Twitter user @nftpeasant said as much as $6 million worth of funds were siphoned from Phantom wallets during a 10-minute period on August 2. In one instance it appears a Phantom wallet user had $500,000 worth of USDC drained from their account.
Popular scam detective and self-described “on-chain sleuth” @zachxbt also did some digging and revealed to their 274,800 followers that the hackers initially funded the primary wallet associated with this attack via Binance seven months ago.
The transaction history shows that the wallet remained dormant until today before the hackers conducted transactions with four different wallets 10 minutes before the attack started.
There have also been different reports on how many wallets have been affected and the extent of the damage so far.
Crypto tracking and compliance platform Mist Track stated via Twitter that as many as 8,000 wallets have been hacked, with $580 million sent to four addresses, however, commentators on the post are skeptical about the number.
Meanwhile, Ava Labs CEO and founder Emin Gun Sirer stated that the number was at 7,000 plus wallets, a number which is rising at around 20 per minute. He said he believes that as the transactions appear to be signed properly, "it is likely that the attacker has acquired access to private keys."
Cointelegraph has reached out to Phantom for comment on the matter and will update the story if the firm responds.
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This Daily Dose was brought to you by Cointelegraph.
