In the last week, some negative news is Horizon bridge was hacked and Houbi's former employee was arrested for insider trading. However, the actions and collaborations of the big players and celebrities still promote the NFT market and blockchain future. Let's Trait Sniper count on some highlight news!

Blockchain Market

Former Huobi Senior Manager Accused Of Insider Trading

The Financial Times reported that a former manager of the fourth-largest bitcoin exchange in the world was accused of insider trading by Hong Kong authorities. The total damage value is around $5 million in the form of USDT, and the offense was committed in February and March 2020 by Chen Boliang. Now, he faces a total of six counts of accessing the company’s computer systems and one count related to proceeds of crime.

Huobi, which was ejected from China last year due to a crackdown on the cryptocurrency business, is now registered in Seychelles and operates under the name Huobi Global, with a 24-hour trading volume of over $1.34 billion, it is presently the fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, after only Binance, FTX, and Coinbase.

This is not the first time that employees of a crypto firm have been accused of unlawfully profiting from internal systems or insider knowledge, such as an OpenSea's Former Head was Arrested For Insider Trading early this month.

Horizon Bridge Had Stolen Amounting To Approximately $100M

Harmony, the U.S-based crypto business behind Horizon, said in a blog post on Friday that it was informed of a "malicious cyberattack" on its Horizon blockchain bridge on Thursday. They have also notified exchanges and stopped the Horizon bridge to prevent further transactions. Harmony has begun working with national authorities and forensic specialists to identify the culprit and retrieve the stolen funds.

Harmony and other so-called blockchain bridges (or cross-chain bridge) were designed to accept numerous tokens as more cryptocurrencies are adopted, and users seek more convenient transfer methods. In words, it connects two blockchains and allows users to send cryptocurrency from one chain to the other. Horizon provides trades between Ethereum and the Binance Smart Chain.

However, fraudsters routinely target bridges since they are seen as particularly vulnerable to attack. Numerous examples of cyberattacks, including Crypto.com in January, Wormhole in February, and Ronin Network in March, resulted in losses in the millions of dollars.

NFT Market

eBay Had Acquired A Major Marketplace

eBay, the worldwide leader in e-commerce, has acquired the NFT marketplace KnownOrigin, which launched in late 2018 and achieved $7 million in trading volume. They verified in a statement sent via the official eBay website with an unspecified charge. The announcement comes less than a month after their first NFT collection launched in May.

“eBay is the first stop for people across the globe who are searching for that perfect, hard-to-find, or unique addition to their collection. With this acquisition, we will remain a leading site as our community is increasingly adding digital collectibles,” said Jamie Iannone, CEO of eBay. Obviously, eBay is undertaking a web3 revolution.

Mark Zuckerberg Unveils NFT Roadmaps For Facebook & Instagram

Zuckerberg said at a discussion at the SXSW Festival in March 2022 that he aimed to transform Instagram into an NFT marketplace. Then, on June 21, 2022, Zuckerberg revealed in a Facebook post how Facebook and Instagram want to "help artists create for the metaverse." Specifically, he described a feature roadmap that highlighted the functionality being introduced to the platforms to assist artists in monetizing their work and making money.

Digital Collectibles: We're expanding our test so more creators around the world can display their NFTs on Instagram. We'll bring this feature to Facebook soon too - starting with a small group of US creators - so people can cross-post on Instagram and Facebook. We’ll also test NFTs in Instagram Stories with SparkAR soon.
Creator Marketplace: We're testing a set place on Instagram where creators can get discovered and paid, and where brands can share new partnership opportunities.
Monetizing Reels: We're opening up the Reels Play Bonus program to more creators on Facebook soon and letting creators cross-post their Instagram Reels to Facebook and monetize them there too.
Facebook Stars: We're opening them up to all eligible creators so more people can start earning from their Reels, live, or VOD videos.
Interoperable Subscriptions: We're letting creators give their paying subscribers on other platforms access to subscriber-only Facebook Groups.
More money straight to creators: We'll hold off on any revenue sharing on Facebook and Instagram until 2024. That includes paid online events, Subscriptions, Badges, and Bulletin.

Source: Facebook

Collaboration Of Celebrities And NFTs Collections

Pharrell Williams x Doodles

Doodles, one of the largest media businesses to emerge from the NFT market, has announced the addition of Pharrell Williams, a multiple-award-winning artist and fashion icon, as Chief Brand Officer. Pharrell will also join the board of Doodles NFT. Pharrell will assist Doodles with a web3-powered strategy for music, art, animation, consumer products, and live events.

Snoop Dogg & Eminem x BAYC

Eminem & Snoop Dogg - From The D 2 The LBC

The new track by Eminem and Snoop Dogg uses their Bored Ape NFT IP rights. They showcase their animated bored apes throughout the whole song video, combining them with sparks of color and weed-related cartoons.

Cristiano Ronaldo x Binance

Cristiano Ronaldo announced the partnership via a video on his social media accounts earlier 24 June 2022. Ronaldo tells fans that together with Binance, he is going to “change the NFT game and take football to the next level.” In Binance's announcement tweet, they add that the partnership is an exclusive multi-year deal based around NFTs. It also added that “This is your opportunity to own an iconic piece of sports history and join CR7’s Web3 community.”

Final Thought

We are still in the bear market. Bear markets can be scary, but they don't last forever. Trait Sniper is pleased to provide more and more articles that will be helpful for all readers here. It might be a good time for you to read, learn and prepare for the next exciting journey.

Trait Sniper Weekly News 4 (20.06 - 26.06.2022)

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