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Weekly Recap: Solana and Nomad Fall Prey to Exploiters

Nomad and Solana wallets were both hacked this week, losing millions of dollars worth of crypto. Amid the hacks, Gucci and Amazon jumped on new crypto ships.

Crypto Bridge Nomad Suffers $190M Loss Following Exploit

On Tuesday, cross-chain bridge Nomad fell victim to an exploit that resulted in a $190 million loss. Nomad enables users to move cryptocurrency tokens from one blockchain to another. Researcher Sam Sun reported a routine update to one of Nomad's smart contracts made it possible for users to fake transactions. Attackers then took advantage of the situation and swiftly drained the bridge in a frantic "free-for-all."

Two days after the attack, Nomad offered the hackers a 10% bounty if they returned 90% of the stolen tokens. Nomad further mentioned that they will be considered white hat hackers and no legal action will be pursued. As of August 6, roughly $32 million was recovered from 36 wallet addresses.

This is bad news for the entire DeFi ecosystem, as $2 billion has been stolen from bridges since January. Wormhole and Ronin bridge are among two of the previously exploited bridges.

Weekly Recap: Solana and Nomad Fall Prey to Exploiters

Gucci Adds ApeCoin as a Payment Method

Likewise last Tuesday, luxury fashion house Gucci added ApeCoin (APE) to its growing list of accepted cryptocurrencies. The high-end fashion label is no stranger to the Web3 industry, having previously accepted several cryptocurrencies. According to the announcement, ApeCoin payments will be made through the payment institution BitPay for select Gucci stores in the US.

Gucci's new move may increase APE's media exposure as well as its value. ApeCoin's team also expressed delight that Gucci is the first major brand to accept APE as a mode of payment. The fashion conglomerate now accepts a total of 12 cryptocurrencies as payment, including Bitcoin and Dogecoin.

VeChain and Amazon Partner on Blockchain Carbon Management

VeChain's VeCarbon initiative recently signed a partnership agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS). VeCarbon is dedicated to creating a carbon-neutral digital infrastructure.

While Amazon’s relationship with cryptocurrencies in the past has been sketchy, its new deal with VeChain could spell a new shift.

According to the company’s release, its new partnership with the retail giant will combine Amazon’s massive cloud computing power with VeChain’s blockchain technology. Most importantly, the consortium will leverage blockchain tech to manage carbon.

“The application of #blockchain to the field of #carbon management is radically transformative,” VeChain Foundation tweeted last week. “For the first time, humanity can generate accurate, independently verifiable pools of data & develop new, circular economic models.”

Amazon has likewise lauded the partnership, explaining that “sustainable development” has been one of the company's top priorities for its global operations. The multinational corporation also pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040.

Solana Wallets Hit in Multi-Million Dollar Hack

The Solana network lost about $8 million due to a hack on Wednesday. The exploiter siphoned funds from approximately 8,000 Solana network wallets. The root cause of the hack is yet unknown, as investigations are underway.

However, Solana reported that the affected wallets were created or used in Slope mobile wallet applications at some point. The attack also impacted the Solana-based Phantom wallet, though the team believes it was not a Phantom-specific issue. As a matter of fact, the Solana team is confident Phantom victim users must have also used Slope in the past.

Amid the ongoing investigation, Solana claims that private key information was accidentally transferred to an application monitoring service. Thus implying a supply chain attack on the service, which eventually stole thousands of users' private keys.

“There is no evidence the Solana protocol or its cryptography was compromised.” the team affirmed in a Twitter thread.

Following the recent hack, experts have encouraged the use of hardware wallets, which are more secure than software wallets.

BlackRock Collaborates with Coinbase to Provide Cryptocurrency to Institutional Investors

In a week of consortiums, Coinbase unveiled its new partnership with leading asset management firm BlackRock on Thursday.

According to the release, the collaboration seeks to provide clients of BlackRock's investment platform Aladdin with direct access to cryptocurrency. Aladdin customers will gain access to the crypto market through Coinbase Prime, which caters to institutional clientele. Coinbase Prime will provide trading, prime brokerage, and reporting capabilities to Aladdin's institutional customer base.

Coinbase's experience and market presence make the exchange an ideal partner for Aladdin. On the alliance, BlackRock's COO stated that he is concerned with controlling the operational lifetime of digital assets for his clients. Coinbase also stated its commitment to propelling the crypto industry forward while opening new doors for institutions.

Voyager Digital to Reopen Cash Withdrawals

Beleaguered platform Voyager Digital announced on Friday that cash withdrawals will finally be available beginning August 11. This is the first phase towards the crypto company's release of $270 million in cash deposits to its customers. Voyager is going through bankruptcy proceedings and recently gained court approval to honor customers' withdrawal requests from Metropolitan Commercial Bank. Prior to filing for bankruptcy, the cryptocurrency platform suspended deposits and withdrawals.

However, following the announcement, Voyager users will be able to withdraw up to $100,000 via an automated clearing house (ACH) transfer once withdrawals begin. The ACH is the primary electronic fund transfer system used by many banks. ACHs process large volumes of credit and debit transactions in batches

Despite its resumption of withdrawals, Voyager is still considering a possible sale of the company, as well as restructuring.

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