Ezra Reguerra
An Ethereum arbitrage trading bot managed to hit the jackpot and lose it all on the same day in an ironic turn of events in decentralized finance (DeFi).
In a Twitter thread, Robert Miller, who works at the research firm Flashbots, shared how a Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) bot with the prefix 0xbadc0de was able to earn 800 Ether (ETH), around $1 million, through arbitrage trades.
According to Miller, the bot took advantage of a huge arbitrage opportunity that came when a trader attempted to sell $1.8 million in cUSDC through the decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap v2 and only got $500 worth of assets in return. The bot detected this chance and immediately sprung to action and gained massive profits.
However, only an hour later, a hacker exploited a vulnerability in 0xbadc0de’s “bad code” and tricked it into authorizing a transaction that drained its balance of 1,101 ETH, which was around $1.41 million at the time of writing.
According to the blockchain security firm PeckShield, the bug can be traced back to the bot's callback routine, and this was exploited by the hacker to approve an arbitrary address for spending.
On Sept. 18, a vulnerability in Profanity, an Ethereum vanity address generator, was exploited, draining $3.3 million in funds from various wallets. Investigations done by the decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator 1inch Network highlighted that there was ambiguity in terms of the creation of the wallets. The DEX warned users that their wallets were at risk and urged them to transfer their assets.
More than a week later, another vanity wallet address was exploited and drained of almost $1 million worth of ETH. After stealing the funds, the hackers immediately sent them to the controversial crypto mixer Tornado Cash.
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Prashant Jha
Thailand’s largest crypto exchange Bitkub has come under regulatory scrutiny from the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over falsifying and creating artificial trading volume on its platform.
Thai SEC ordered legal action against the crypto exchange and two individuals alleging the crypto platform was involved in wash trading, a process where investors buy and sell the same assets at the same time in order to manipulate the market by inflating volumes.
The latest enforcement action against the leading Thai crypto exchange would be the second penalty for the crypto exchange within three months. Bitkub Capital Group Holdings Chairman Sakolkorn Sakavee was fined $216,000 and banned from managerial roles in the firm for a year earlier in July this year.
According to an official statement by the SEC dated Sept. 27, the regulatory body has filed a lawsuit against the crypto exchange and the two individuals, seeking a civil fine and expenses of around $634,000 and a six-month trading prohibition for the duo.
Cointelegraph didn't get a response from Bitkub at press time.
Bitkub is among the top crypto exchanges in Thailand, boasting daily trading volumes of millions. However, the crypto exchange has also been at the receiving end of regulatory actions over the past few months. The exchange’s chief technical officer Samret Wajanasathian was fined 8,530,383 baht ($234,000) towards the end of August, on charges of insider trading.
The crypto exchange also faced a major setback last month when Thailand’s oldest bank Siam Commercial Bank scrapped its $500 million funding plans.
Thailand was once seen as one of the most crypto-progressive nations in the world, thanks to a regulated crypto market and tax breaks for crypto traders. However, several leading crypto exchanges have faced regulatory and compliance challenges in the country from time to time. Even the likes of Binance and Huobi have struggled with regulatory compliance.
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Ana Paula Pereira
Guido Cannetti, an Argentinian Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter, is now the first martial arts athlete in the country to receive 100% of his salary in stablecoins amid rising inflation and Argentina’s economic deterioration, announced the crypto payroll company Bitwage on Monday.
Dubbed El Ninja, he returns to the Octagon on Oct. 1 in the United States to face the local fighter Randy Costa. According to Bitwage, Guido will receive his payment in USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin via the Stellar Network on Vibrant, a wallet application developed by the Stellar team specifically for Argentines experiencing inflation.
According to official government figures, inflation in the 12 months through August was 78.5% in the country, whereas prices in the first eight months of the year were up 56.4%. Argentina’s central bank predicted a 95% inflation rate for the year, while some private analysts forecasted a 100% inflation rate in 2022.
“I am getting paid in USDC because it is safer for my future,” said Cannetti in a statement released by Bitwage, noting that stablecoins will spare him from the volatility and devaluation of local currency.
Among Argentine consumers surveyed by Americas Market Intelligence in April, 51% purchased crypto and 27% regularly bought cryptocurrencies, up from 12% adoption at the end of 2021. Inflation protection is the primary reason for 67% of respondents’ purchases of cryptocurrencies.
U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin prices surged in July following Martin Guzman’s abrupt resignation as Argentina’s economy Minister. His fiscal policies aimed at reducing budget deficits and tightening monetary policy divided opinions in Argentina’s government. In the country’s black market, the exchange rate was at 287 pesos per USD at press time, according to the website DolarHoy.
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This Daily Dose was brought to you by Cointelegraph.
