A decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol, bZx, has been exploited two times over the last few days as attackers managed to make over $1 million worth of ether by taking out so-called flash loans – loans taken and repaid in a single transaction.

FCoin, one of the first crypto exchanges to adopt the controversial trans-fee mining model, accidentally distributed too many tokens and is now insolvent because of the mistake.

The IOTA Foundation has released a patched version of its Trinity wallet for desktop devices. It doesn’t allow users to send or receive funds, but it lets them check their balances to monitor outgoing transactions.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Defi Lending Procotol Exploited for Over $1 Million Worth of Ether
• Trans-Fee Mining Crypto Exchange 'FCoin' Insolvent After Mistakenly Being Too Generous
• IOTA Releases Patched Version of its Trinity Wallet, Mainnet Still Suspended

At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $9,725.54 (-0.85%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $2.61 billion. As for ether (ETH), it is trading at $265.94 (5.86%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $2.10 billion. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index is currently tracking at 3,876.83 (0.33%)

Defi Lending Procotol Exploited for Over $1 Million Worth of Ether

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) lending protocol bZx was exploited two times by attackers, who managed to profit over $1 million worth of ether through their attacks. The first one saw the attacker take out what’s known as a flash loan to profit from a short position.

Using the decentralized trading platform dYdX the attacker borrowed 10,000 ETH and sent half to Compound and half to bZx. Using the funds on Compound, it borrowed 112 wBTC tokens to, and using the funds on bZx entered a short position for 112 wBTC.

The attacker then sent the 112 wBTC it borrowed from Compound to Uniswap to sell the tokens and lower their price, making the short sale profitable. After repaying the 10,000 ETH loan, the hacker still had 1,300 ETH worth of profit. It was all done in a single transaction, and since the loan was repaid in the same transaction it was taken no collateral was needed.

The second one saw the attacker take out a flash loan of 7,500 ETH and send half to Synthetix to buy sUSD and deposit it to bZx as collateral. They then used 900 ETH to market buy sUSD to manipulate its price and bring it to over $2, allowing the attacker to take out a larger loan. Using it, they repaid the original loan and made a profit of 2,388 ETH, over $640,000.

Speaking to TheBlock Robert Leshner, founder of Compound, said:

“Security is the ultimate priority for a financial product. The bZx team has repeatedly demonstrated that it isn’t capable of protecting user funds, and should immediately cease operations until the platform can be thoroughly and completely audited.”

bZx has paused its protocol in light of the attacks.

Trans-Fee Mining Crypto Exchange 'FCoin' Insolvent After Mistakenly Being Too Generous

FCoin, one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges to adopt the controversial trans-fee mining (TFM) model, has paused trading and withdrawals over a shortage of crypto worth up to $130 million.

In a statement its founder Zhang Jian, a former Huobi CTO, revealed the exchange’s reserves are down by between 7,000 and 13,000 bitcoin, worth over $127 million at press time. The TFM model saw FCoin repay users their trading fees paid in BTC or ETH with the FT token, and redistribute 80% of the bitcoin or ether it collected to FT token holders.

In his statement Zhang revealed FCoin’s system was giving away too many FT tokens in rewards for about a year, and in response to the tokens’ price dropping the team tried to use their own funds to buy them back and create demand.

The result, per Zhang, was users were able to sell their FT tokens while the cryptocurrency exchange itself was buying them and their value kept on dropping. The former Huobi CTO is now manually processing users’ withdrawal requests sent via email, and plans to “switch tracks” to start again an use profits from new ventures to “compensate everyone for their losses.”

IOTA Releases Patched Version of its Trinity Wallet, Mainnet Still Suspended

The IOTA Foundation, the non-profit organization behind the IOTA network, has released a patched version of its Trinity Wallet for desktop devices. The new wallet reportedly only lets users check their balances and transactions, but doesn’t let then send or receive funds.

The newest version of the wallet is being recommended by the IOTA Foundation as it fixes loopholes that affected several users last week and seemingly led to the theft of millions worth of IOTA tokens. While the vulnerability only affected those using Trinity for desktop, some caution against using the mobile version of the wallet until and update is released.

The IOTA Foundation has asked users who have an incorrect balance on their wallets or who don’t recognize outgoing transactions to contact their team directly via Discord. It also warned scammers are impersonating staff members to trick users.

Last week, in light of the thefts, IOTA shut down its Coordinator node which is responsible for validating individual transactions. The node is still down as IOTA’s status page shows its mainnet status changed from “not operational” to “no value transactions.” The node is set to remain down until remedial plans are finalized.

XRP is the Daily Mover

This week’s Daily Mover featured is the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, XRP, the token used by the Ripple network. It was created to bring financial services to the 1.7 billion adults that don’t have banking services.

XRP transactions are confirmed via a peer-to-peer consensus mechanism connecting to a group of servers that reduces costs and energy consumption associated with crypto transactions. XRP is used as part of Ripple’s global payments network, which spans over 40 countries and six continents, and aims to “enable the world to move money like information moves today.”

XRP’s global health went up 21-points (2.45%) since the beginning of February, thanks to a 4.06% rise in its User Activity. Development Behavior for the cryptocurrency has been steadily rising, going up 0.91% in said period. Its Market Maturity rose 1.5% as well, while the price of XRP itself surged 18.58%.

On February 4, Ripple announced a new partnership with International Money Express, a leading money transfer firm focused primarily on Latin America. The partnership will see it leverage RippleNet for its cross-border remittance services between Mexico and the U.S.

Ripple separates itself from the rest of the crypto industry by being decidedly a pro-regulation mediator between regulators and the industry, allowing it to partner with traditional financial firms to implement real-world use-cases.

GoldFinX Launches Its Pioneering ‘Swap Your Ugly Coins’ Campaign

As we move full swing into a new year of a new decade, GoldFinX’s swap campaign is wiping the slate clean and giving investors the possibility for a do-over. The campaign’s mission is to restore coin holders’ faith in cryptocurrency and show that, with the right project, it’s not too late to enjoy the best that the market has to offer.

GoldFinX, an innovative next-generation fintech, was founded in 2017 and is already operating in the Ivory Coast with several gold mines. Until it's listed on the Coinsbit and P2PB2B exchanges at the end of March 2020, the company will allow the exchange of your ‘underperforming’ altcoins for GiX, GoldFinX’s cryptocurrency whose value is protected and enhanced by gold.

Check on the calculator available on the website how much are your altcoins worth of GiX.

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