Payment processing firm Stripe has launched a fiat-to-crypto on-ramp to make payments easier for Web3 companies. The services allow crypto company customers to exchange fiat for crypto while handling fraud, compliance, and know-your-customer (KYC) checks.

Apple has reportedly blocked Coinbase Wallet’s iOS application due to issues surrounding non-fungible token (NFT) transactions. Apple claimed that the gas fees required to send NFTs on-chain needed to be paid through their In-App Purchase system.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Ankr, which calls itself the first “node-as-a-service” platform, has suffered a $5 million exploit over a bug in its code that allowed attackers to mint unlimited tokens.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Stripe Launches Fiat-to-Crypto on-Ramp
• Apple Forces Coinbase Wallet to Remove NFT Transfers
• DeFi Protocol Ankr Suffers Multi-Million Dollar Exploit
• Crypto Market Movers – TWT, LTC, OKB

Stripe Launches Fiat-to-Crypto on-Ramp

Payment processing firm Stripe has announced the launch of a fiat-to-crypto on-ramp to make payments easier for Web3 companies. The services allow crypto company customers to exchange fiat for crypto while handling fraud, compliance, and know-your-customer (KYC) checks.

Stripe is a payments giant that processes online purchases for leading companieslike Apple and Walmart. The firm used blockchain-based gaming companies as an example, saying these could use its new widget to onboard players and let them add money to their wallets.

The fiat-to-crypto on-ramp will also help customers avoid having to set up new cryptocurrency wallets and buying digital currencies from external exchanges. Stripe wrote:

“Today, it’s extremely difficult to get end users ‘on chain’—that is, to fund their wallets with the crypto required to interface with Web3 applications.”

Stripe’s move into the Web3 space is being seen as an opportunity to help blockchain payments move further into the mainstream.

Apple Forces Coinbase Wallet to Remove NFT Transfers

Apple has reportedly blocked Coinbase Wallet’s iOS application due to issues surrounding non-fungible token (NFT) transactions. Apple claimed that the gas fees required to send NFTs on-chain needed to be paid through their In-App Purchase system.

Apple’s In-App Purchase system allows the tech giant to collect a 30% tax on transactions made via its ecosystem, and developers who attempted to bypass the tax have been blocked from its App Store.

As Coinbase noted, it’s not possible for it to comply as Apple’s In-App Purchase system does not support cryptocurrencies. The exchange added

“This is akin to Apple trying to take a cut of fees for every email that gets sent over open Internet protocols.”

Coinbase noted that the biggest impact of Apple’s policy is on iPhone users that own NFTs, as it will now be much harder for them to transfer these NFTs.

DeFi Protocol Ankr Suffers Multi-Million Dollar Exploit

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Ankr, which calls itself the first “node-as-a-service” platform, has suffered a $5 million exploit over a bug in its code that allowed attackers to mint unlimited tokens.

According to security research firm PeckShield, the code behind the Ankr contract allows any user to mint an unlimited amount of the protocol’s reward-bearing staking tokens without verification.

An attacker took advantage of the code to mint six quadrillion of the aBNBc token, and swapped 20 trillion of those for BNB, which were then moved to Tornado Cash. The attacker then exchanged the BNB for USDC.

As the hacker drained the aBNBc liquidity pools on decentralized exchanges PancakeSwap and ApeSwap, the token lost nearly all of its value. Ankr noted that all staked assets within the protocol are currently safe.

An opportunistic trader used the exploit to turn 10 BNB into 15.5 million BUSD by taking advantage of a DeFi lending protocol that did not have up-to-date pricing on aBNBc.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has revealed the exchange froze $3 million worth of crypto that the hackers sent to it.

Crypto Market Movers – TWT, LTC, OKB

Several tokens are leading the charge in the last 7-day period. Some of these are well-known cryptocurrencies with more liquid trading pairs, so we’ll be focusing on these over low-cap cryptos that may have higher percentage changes.

Trust Wallet Token (TWT) - The Trust Wallet token is a utility token based on the BNB Chain that provides holders with “a range of benefits and incentives” when using the Trust Wallet. The Trust wallet itself is an open-source cryptocurrency wallet that supports various cryptocurrencies and allows holders to custody their own funds.

OKB (OKB) – OKB is the native token of the OKX exchange, and a utility token used to settle trading fees, participate in token-listing polls, deposits of verified merchants and rewards.

Litecoin (LTC) - Litecoin was created back in 2011 as a fork of Bitcoin, and features near-zero cost peer-to-peer transactions. It differs from the flagship cryptocurrency in a number of ways, however, with reduced transaction confirmation times, lower fees, a larger maximum supply of 84 million LTC, and other different technical aspects.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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