Buterin Gets Back $100M Worth of SHIB in USDC
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin will be getting back $100M in USDC from the $1B worth of SHIB he donated to CryptoRelief, an Indian COVID-19 relief fund. This was confirmed by the relief fund’s co-founder Sandeep Nailwal through a tweet.
CryptoRelief Update:
Have been in discussions with @VitalikButerin on how to accelerate relief efforts in India. And we have come up with a solution, we will moving $100mn USDC back to Vitalik, a non-Indian, to do fast deployment in high risk/reward projects.
Why? A thread
— Sandeep | Polygon 💜 Top 3 by impact (@sandeepnailwal) January 28, 2022
In May 2021, Buterin reportedly donated half of the SHIB (Shiba Inu) he received from the creator of the dog-meme token to CryptoRelief. The move of the relief fund came as lawmakers in the country aim to regulate cryptocurrencies. Nailwal in a tweet further stated:
“Considering the fund’s foreign origin and laws of India, Crypto Relief followed a systematic, controlled & robust approach in disbursing funds mandated to be utilized for India. But being an Indian citizen(NRI), I have to be extra cautious in any of the projects being donated to.”
Buterin stated in a tweet that he will be using the funds together with science advisors with projects which will include vaccine, air filtration, and ventilation. This will be made possible through his newly founded organization, Balvi which will be both beneficial to Indians and non-Indians.
I've cofounded a new org (Balvi) to direct these funds, which is in a better position to make these bets which will are very-high-value and global in nature and bring great benefit to Indians and non-Indians. You can follow funds at this address:https://t.co/mvmSSGPLmI
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 28, 2022
Shiba Inu suffered a nosedive losing 20% of its value after news of Buterin’s dumping made headlines along with 2 other dog-meme tokens: AKITA and ELON (Dogelon Mars). The price of SHIB (Shiba Inu) has tremendously dropped as a result of consecutive market crashes. In October 2021, the canine-inspired token recorded an all-time high with its price at $0.00008841. In recent data by Crypto.co, SHIB (Shiba Inu) price is currently at $ 0.000021 and has declined by more than 60% of its all-time high.
Exploit in OpenSea Caused by a Glitch, Platform Refunds $1.8M to Users
OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace refunded 750 Ethereum or roughly $1.9M to its users as a result of an exploit concerning “inactive listing”.
According to reports, the marketplace received complaints from its users that their blue-chip NFTs including those from the Bored Ape collection were sold below the current market price. In a report by Fortune, Robert Garcia stated that he has accidentally sold his Mutant Ape NFT for 4.7 ETH equivalent to $11,300 on Sunday. The current floor price of the NFT collectible is already at $52,000 in data by Coingecko. According to Garcia, he moved his NFT to a new wallet last year but failed to cancel the previous listing for the gas fee reason which would cost him $100 at that time. The said loophole was then exploited by attackers which resulted in losses on the part of the original owners of the NFTs. The attackers then sold the blue-chip NFTs to a much higher price. Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and CyberKongz were among the NFT assets that were affected.
To resolve the issue, OpenSea added a “Listings” tab on the platform which will allow users to check their “active” and “inactive” NFT listing. This was also announced by the platform in a tweet.
🚨 INACTIVE LISTINGS 🚨
An inactive listing is a listing of your NFT that was never canceled and is still fulfillable.🔧 HOW TO FIX IT
Head to the new LISTINGS tab in your profile to view and cancel inactive listings.Learn more ↯ https://t.co/fOJSRdrbfh pic.twitter.com/Rp2ojYYSSq
— OpenSea Support (@opensea_support) January 26, 2022
OpenSea also sent out emails to its users instructing them to immediately cancel all their inactive listings. But it received a backlash from NFT collector Dingaling labeling it as “incredibly irresponsible” and added that the platform’s action made things 100x worse. The NFT collector pointed out that it made the exploit easier to execute.
And this is exactly what happened to Swolfchan, a Mutant Ape Yacht Club holder who canceled a 15 ETH (Ethereum) inactive listing and was about to proceed to cancel a 6 ETH listing. Unfortunately, the exploiter moved to purchase the Ape for the old listing price before he can cancel it.
In a report to Dingaling on Jan. 27, OpenSea co-founder Alex Atallah stressed that resolving the issue is their #1 priority. He further added:
“We have a team working on it and putting up a countermeasure now.”
As stated in the email sent out to its users, OpenSea apologized for not giving a precise explanation on the process of canceling listings. Refunds were also sent out to affected users.
Garcia received 13.8 ETH (Ethereum) as a refund for his Mutant Ape NFT which he used to purchase a new Mutant NFT.
Bitcoin Policy Gets Support From Some Salvadorans Despite IMF Warning
El Salvador’s Bitcoin Policy received support from a handful of Salvadorans despite a warning from the IMF to drop the cryptocurrency. This was revealed in a report by France 24.
A 45-year old shop owner stated in the report revealed that the use of Bitcoin has resulted in an increase in their sales. She further added:
“It has taken us to another level of business.”
Juan Carlos Perez, another store owner, admitted that using Bitcoin comes with risk but on the contrary, he added that it’s “practical”.
El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption has been marred with controversy from the start. From its lightning speed passing into law, Bukele’s detractors accused him that his move to adopt the cryptocurrency was merely one of his political propagandas. In June 2021, World Bank declined Bukele’s request for assistance for the implementation of Bitcoin as legal tender. But despite this, Bukele proceeded with the passing of the Bitcoin Law. In July 2021, anti-Bitcoin protesters flooded the streets of El Salvador despite an implemented ban due to COVID 19 pandemic.
Despite criticisms thrown at Bukele and the Bitcoin Law, the El Salvador president continued to accumulate BTC (bitcoin). To date, El Salvador has now more than 1,500 BTC after the country added 410 BTC more bought for $15M as stated in a tweet by Bukele. The latest purchase has an average price of $36,585 for each Bitcoin.
Nope, I was wrong, didn’t miss it.
El Salvador just bought 410 #bitcoin for only 15 million dollars 🥳
Some guys are selling really cheap 🤷🏻♂️ https://t.co/vEUEzp5UdU
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) January 21, 2022
Twitter user @JacobOracle stated though that El Salvador has already lost $20M from its Bitcoin investment.
https://twitter.com/JacobOracle/status/1484674414146899972?s=20&t=h6bFbLO5_tY0OzNkDJXUUA
El Salvador was the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender and continue to be bullish on the cryptocurrency despite the consecutive price crashes that have resulted in its price decline. BTC (bitcoin) is now at $37,618.97 and has been consistently on a price swing for the past few weeks.
Robinhood Not Inclined to List Crypto Including SHIB
In its latest statement, trading platform Robinhood stated that it has no plans of listing any crypto including the meme-token SHIB (Shiba Inu).
This was revealed by CFO of Robinhood Jason Warnick during the posted Q4 earnings. Warnick cited warnings from regulators that they may consider some tokens as unlicensed securities. He stated:
“We know our customers want new coins. The message is clear.”
The listing of SHIB (Shiba Inu) on Robinhood has been anticipated by users on the trading platform. On Jan. 12, the listing was supposed to take place early part of February according to a tweet by @BreakingStocks_.
ROBINHOOD: SHIBA LISTING COULD COME AS EARLY AS FEBRUARY. $HOOD
— Breaking Stocks 🎢 (@BreakingStocks_) January 12, 2022
A petition was even filed on Change.org which has garnered more than 500K signatures calling for the listing of the dog-meme token on Robinhood. But with Warnick’s latest statement, SHIB holders should let it go for now and wait for the right time to come. SHIB (Shiba Inu) price has tremendously dropped as a result of the market crashes and a Robinhood listing could help save it from further declining.
