Say goodbye to Q2 and the crypto hacks, scams and rug pulls that come with it

[ad_1]

Follow me on Twitter @Jacqmelinek for the latest crypto news, memes and more.

Welcome to Chain Reaction.

As if the pessimism around crypto wasn’t enough, the industry is facing another quarter of hackers and scammers looking to make a quick buck. And to make matters worse, it also becomes more difficult to track down and recover lost funds.

According to a new report, only $4.9 million has been recovered of the $204.3 million the industry lost to hacks, scams and rug draws in the second quarter.

The report, by web3 super app and antivirus solution De.Fi and data from the REKT database, detailed that so far this year the industry has recouped around $183 million, or nearly $28 million. % of $666.5 million lost to scams and hacks.

The report also revealed that exploits and rug pulls accounted for $55.3 million and $47.3 million, respectively, in the second quarter, underscoring that bad actor risks are rampant in equal measure.

The TLDR? Be careful there, because hackers are always hacking and scammers are always scamming – even in a bear market.

This week in web3

The second quarter did not bring a funding reprieve for web3 startups and unicorns (TC+)

We were already halfway through 2023, which means there were only a few weeks left before some sizzling new data for the second quarter. However, it’s always wise to keep an eye on the horizon, so we decided to draw the few conclusions about web3 and unicorn funding trends that we can from the first data over the last three months.

Coinbase Executives: As Global Crypto Politics Grows, US Urgently Needs Legislation (TC+)

Coinbase, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, has been around for 10 years. And while the company has expanded its offerings, products, and services, its policy talking points haven’t changed dramatically, Kara Calvert, U.S. policy manager at Coinbase told TechCrunch+. But what has changed, she said, is the momentum and urgency for digital asset legislation and rules at the federal level in the United States.

AI and crypto integration is going to happen whether you like it or not (TC+)

As artificial intelligence continues to reach new heights of popularity, industry players are considering new ways the technology could integrate with crypto and blockchains. At the Coinbases State of Crypto Summit on Thursday, venture capitalists and AI experts shared their thoughts during a panel on the similarities and differences between industries and how investors, builders and users can take advantage of it.

Crypto startup Pillow, backed by Accel and Quona, to halt all services

Singapore-headquartered Pillow plans to shut down all of its services and apps in the coming weeks, customers warned on Friday, citing regulatory uncertainty that has claimed the lives of countless other crypto startups in the world. during the last quarters. It had raised about $21 million in total and counted Accel India, Quona Capital, Elevation Capital and Jump Crypto among its backers. Pillow revealed its $18 million Series A funding in October last year.

Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon jailed for four months in Montenegro

Another chapter has been released in Terraform Labs’ long and bizarre Do Kwon saga. The disgraced crypto founder will spend four months in jail in Montenegro for falsifying official documents. The next step for Kwon remains unclear as the United States and South Korea have sought to extradite him on charges in both countries relating to the Terraform Labs collapse.

The last capsule

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Jack Lu, co-founder and CEO of NFT Marketplace Magic Eden. This is his second time on Chain Reaction, but the market has moved on a lot since he last came in August 2022, so we were excited to see him back!

Before co-founding Magic Eden in 2021, Lu worked as a product manager at Google and a consultant for Boston Consulting Group.

Magic Eden originally started as an NFT trading platform based on Solana, but has expanded its support to other blockchain networks like Polygon, Ethereum, and Bitcoin. Today, it has grown into one of the largest NFT marketplaces, with over 8,000 collections, approximately $3 billion in NFT transactions, and 22 million unique monthly visitors. In June 2022, Magic Eden raised $130 million in a Series B round that granted it unicorn status.

We explained why Magic Eden has extended its support to other blockchains, adding support for BRC-20 tokens to its secondary platform, and how the company plans to stay competitive in an ever-changing market.

We also talked about:

NFT Market Volatility Royalties Web3 Games Expansion Tips for the NFT Community

Subscribe to Chain Reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the latest episodes, and leave us a comment if you like what you hear!

Follow the money Crypto exchange Bitpandas split from Bitpanda and raised $33 million Gaming platform Mythical Games raised $37 million in an extended C1 round Web3 gaming platform Pixion Games raised $5.5M AI-powered crypto search engine Kaito raised $5.5M in a Series A Labs raised $3.5M in a seed round for Web3 infrastructure for public goods

This list was compiled with information from Messari as well as TechCrunch’s own reports.

To get a roundup of the biggest and most important crypto stories from TechCrunchs delivered to your inbox every Thursday at 12:00 a.m. PT, subscribe here.

[ad_2]