Ethereum Classic Attacker Nets USD 1.7m, Bitfinex Loses USD 1m + More News

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.

Source: Adobe/Oleksii

Security news

• The Ethereum Classic (ETC) attacker made at least USD 1.7m during the second attack on the network yesterday, according to Bitquery, a blockchain analysis firm. At the same time, the Bitfinex exchange lost ETC 143,000 (USD 1m), while another, unidentified crypto service lost ETC 95,000 ( USD 680,000), as the attacker successfully double-spent ETC through these platforms, the firm added. This time the attacker used the money from the first attack, on July 31, when they double spent the money by sending it to an exchange and also a personal wallet.

Blockchain news

• A branch of China’s state grid has issued its first blockchain-powered blackout insurance policy, reported Shupeidian. The power provider issued the policy to a company that manufactures sprinklers in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. It said that companies that use blockchain-powered power outage policies could receive faster and more effective payouts in the event of power disruption that interrupts their business or supply chains.
• Chinese e-commerce and tech giant JD.com has applied for a cross-blockchain interoperability patent, per media outlet JRJ. The firm’s latest patent application contains details of a cross-chain processing platform, as well as hardware and software that could be used on multiple blockchain networks.
• EVShare, a blockchain-based energy and transportation startup, has announced its participation in a renewable energy project that launched today. According to the press release, the initiative will support an advanced energy-community pilot in a disadvantaged community in Los Angeles, USA. It will connect solar-roof and solar-home energy systems with shared electric vans – for vanpooling (sharing rides) and an energy marketplace. The pilot received a USD 9 million grant from the California Energy Commission and raised an additional USD 11m from project participants. It will be using Bitcoin-powered smart contract platform, RSK, and its Infrastructure Framework (RIF).

Investment news

• Decentralized token trading platform Uniswap has raised USD 11m in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz with additional investments from USV, Paradigm, Version One, Variant, Parafi Capital, SV Angel, and A.Capital. Per the announcement, the investment round will help grow team in order to build Uniswap V3, which they said will “dramatically increase the flexibility and capital efficiency of the protocol.” They plan to present the design to the Ethereum community in the coming months.

Crypto adoption news

• Digital asset financial services group BCB Group has partnered with financial technology firm Circle, and will be implementing the full range of Circle platform functionality to improve client payments and settlement across select parts of BCB Group, said the press release. Furthermore, BCB’s institutional clients will be able to use USD Coin (USDC) – managed by Circle and Coinbase – for payments, clearing, and custody.
• Casa, the US-based private key security specialist, has announced that its users can now buy bitcoin (BTC) with Apple Pay directly from Casa App, and have it secured in Casa App, be it Casa multisig or a free Casa Wallet. It’s available on iPhone currently, with Android support “coming soon,” the announcement said. There is a USD 0.30 fee per transaction, 2.9% for US cards or 3.9% for international cards, and a mining fee.

Stablecoins news

• Russian commercial bank Sberbank is preparing to launch a digital token, reported Vedomosti. The token will be a stablecoin and will be used to make settlements – adhering to recently introduced laws pertaining to the governance of digital financial assets. Industry insiders told the newspaper that the bank had been preparing blockchain-powered settlement platforms for some time – and stated that the new law would “significantly increase the intensity of work done” in the nation’s growing blockchain sector.