Overstock’s Medici Ventures Invests $8M in Blockchain Firm Bitt

Medici Ventures has completed an $8 million equity purchase in Barbados-based Bitt, bringing it a controlling interest in the blockchain firm. Medici’s latest investment will help it chase market opportunities around the adoption of digital currencies in developing countries, the Overstock subsidiary said in an announcement Wednesday. “Bitt’s pioneering work in the central bank digital currency space promotes social inclusion, financial empowerment and economic growth,” said Overstock CEO and Medici Ventures President Jonathan Johnson. “It is the perfect use case for blockchain technology.” With its controlling interest in Bitt, Medici…

Spotify competitor Audius airdrops $8M of tokens to users and artists

The crypto-powered Spotify competitor Audius has retroactively distributed 50 million of its native AUDIO tokens to artists and listeners using the platform. The distribution came alongside the launch of the AUDIO governance token on the Audius mainnet, with 5% of the token’s initial one billion supply distributed to its “top 10,000 artists & fans.” Audius seeks to reward content creators and listeners using its governance token, affording them voting rights over how the protocol will evolve in future. The project plans to use blockchain technology to increase transparency and reduce…

$8M Worth of ‘Sleeping’ Bitcoin Rewards from 2010 Moved the Day Before ‘Black Thursday’

Over a half a million dollars worth of bitcoin from a May 2010 coinbase reward was transferred to Bitfinex on October 1. A parser recorded the old coins being spent and since mid-February 2020, roughly 33 so-called ‘sleeping bitcoin addresses’ from ten years ago have been spent to-date. Interestingly, 20 out of the 33, 2010-issued rewards moved this year were spent the day before ‘Black Thursday.’ Earlier this week, the software program, Btcparser, recorded an old coinbase reward from 2010 getting spent on Thursday, after the 50 bitcoins sat dormant…

1Inch Exchange Co-Founder Disputes Claims bZx Attackers Stole $8m in DeFi Exploit

DeFi lending protocol bZx suffered another attack last night, the second in seven months. This time, faulty code was blamed for an exploit that allowed hackers to duplicate assets, or increase their iTokens balance without the appropriate collateral. Reports are circulating that hackers stole cryptocurrencies worth $8 million. But Anton Burkov, Co-founder of 1inch Exchange, analyzed the relevant DeFi explorer, removing duplicate items, as well as bZx “admin drainages”, to conclude those reports are greatly exaggerated. According to Burkov, the amount lost to the duplication exploit is closer to $1.7…

Framework Labs nabs $8m in funding round

Framework Labs, the sister company of Framework Ventures, has raised $8 million in a new seed round. Station 13, an investment firm focusing on blockchain ventures related to sports, media, and entertainment, led the $8 million fundraising round for Framework Labs. Framework will use the funds to grow its team of researchers, traders, and engineers. The company has already hired former CTO and co-founder of decentralized exchange IDEX Ray Pulver and former principal at Wavemaker Partners Roy Learner. According to an Aug. 27 report from Forbes, Framework Labs founders Michael…