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What happened in crypto this weekend?

  • September 25, 2023
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  • Category: BitCoin, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Investments
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OpenSea flags possible security breach, board member at Celsius’ NewCo steps down, Venezuelan authorities find Bitcoin miners during police raid and more.

Opensea warns API users of third-party security breach

Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea has warned users that one of its third-party vendors has experienced a security incident, potentially exposing users’ OpenSea API keys.

The NFT platform said that they don’t expect the security incident to have an immediate effect on users looking to integrate onto the platform, a recent email shows.

“However, your key could be used by external parties which will use its allocated rate limit,” OpenSea explained.

An application programming interface (API) key is code used to identify an application or user and is used for authentication in computer applications. According to OpenSea, its API helps developers build experiences using NFTs and its marketplace data.

The NFT firm called on its users to deprecate their existing key immediately and replace it with a newly generated key which will have the same permissions and rate limits as the existing keys.

Existing keys will expire on Oct. 2, OpenSea confirmed.

OpenSea didn’t disclose how many users were impacted by the security breach and what other information may have been collected.

On Sept. 20, blockchain analytics firm Nansen disclosed a similar breach, which resulted in users losing emails, passwords and blockchain addresses.

Nansen said only 6.8% of its users were impacted across the first 48 hours of the security breach.

The two security breaches prompted some members of the community to ponder whether the incidents are linked.

Arrington Capital founder steps down from Celsius NewCo

Arrington Capital founder Michael Arrington has confirmed he will no longer sit on the board of directors of NewCo, the entity which will eventually owned by Celsius creditors and managed by Fahrenheit.

In a X post on Sept. 24, Arrington said that he requested the change, but didn’t go into the reasons why.

As per a Sept. 23 filing, Arrington’s position on the NewCo board will instead be filled by Ravi Kaza, an investor and advisor to Arrington Capital.

U.S. Bitcoin Corp, Arrington Capital, Proof Group, Steven Kokinos and Ravi Kaza will provide the capital, management team, and technology required to help get the new company off the ground, which will be carried out in accordance with Celsius’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan.

Arrington — who also founded TechCrunch — didn’t disclose exactly why he decided to depart, but admitted a few disagreements ultimately pushed him to remove himself from the board of directors.

“I disagree with some of the decisions made around board constitution and, in particular, the board observers. Because of this, I chose to remove myself from the board of directors.”

The Arrington Capital founder said he’s still looking to support Celsius creditors and shareholders from its bankruptcy proceeding in other ways.

“Apart from not joining the board of directors, our investment and active advisory role via Fahrenheit will go on as planned.”

Venezuelan authorities stumble on Bitcoin miners in prison raid

A recent police bust into a Venezuelan prison resulted in the seizure of several rocket launchers, bullets, grenades and interestingly, Bitcoin mining machines, according to reports.

News of the raid into Venezuelan’s Tocoro prison was confirmed by Venezuelan military officer Domingo Hernández Lárez in a Sept. 20 statement — but further details were supplied by the Agence France-Presse on Sept. 21.

The AFP reported that 11,000 police workers and soldiers stormed the prison operated by Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, when they discovered the Bitcoin miners, among other things:

“Authorities revealed that they seized bitcoin machines, sniper rifles, explosives, rocket launchers and grenades at the scene.”

Several videos emerged on X (formerly Twitter) which show a building full of Bitcoin mining machines.

Related: Venezuela shuts down crypto mining facilities, exchanges amid corruption probe

Earlier in the month, Chilean police found 19 Bitcoin mining machines when it raided a house believed to be involved in drug trafficking, according to local media outlet El Mostrador.

Digital asset platform Mixin Network suffers $200M exploit

Cryptocurrency platform Mixin Network says its cloud service provider was attacked on Sept. 23, resulting in an estimated loss of $200 million in assets on the mainnet. 

The firm explained in a Sept. 25 statement that deposit and withdrawal services on the platform Mixin have been temporarily suspended as a result.

“After discussion and consensus among all nodes, these services will be reopened once the vulnerabilities are confirmed and fixed. During this period, transfers are not affected,” the platform added.

Mixin Network said they’ll announce their recovery plan soon and that Mixin Network’s founder Feng Xiaodong will explain this incident in a public Mandarin livestream on Sept. 25 at 5:00 am UTC.

Blockchain security firm SlowMist explained on Sept. 25 that they’re assisting the investigation, while Mixin Network said they reached out to Google to assist with the investigation too.

Mixin Network operates as a peer-to-peer transactional network for digital assets. It was established in 2017 and has secured more than $1 billion in value on its platform, according to the firm’s website.

Other News

United States-based law firm Fenwick & West — a firm that previously provided services to the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX — has refuted a class-action lawsuit brought against it, claiming in a Sept. 21 filing that it didn’t assist in the exchange’s alleged fraudulent activities.

Coinbase has secured an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance registration from Spain’s central bank as part of its ongoing expansion across Europe. Spanish users will be able to retain custody of their crypto assets on Coinbase and continue buying and selling crypto in Euro.

Magazine: Best and worst countries for crypto taxes — plus crypto tax tips

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