Transak Launches Crypto-to-Fiat Off-Ramp for Over 40 Crypto Assets

 The events of recent days have highlighted the importance of functioning and reliable on- and off-ramps.

Transak, a leading Web3 onboarding infrastructure provider, is taking a step in this direction, announcing the launch of its crypto-to-fiat off-ramping service. Let’s unpack.

What is Transak?

Transak is a leading Web3 onboarding infrastructure provider. Its API-driven solutions enable web3 platforms to onboard users to 130+ crypto assets from 125+ countries, abstracting away the complexity of user KYC, risk monitoring & compliance, payment methods, and customer support.

Transak’s On-Ramp widget can be integrated into an app in just a few lines of code. Transak is backed by top VCs, including Consensys, Animoca Brands, and graduated from the Tachyon accelerator program.

Fiat-to-Crypto Off-Ramp

The team has just announced the launch of its new crypto-to-fiat off-ramping service.

Currently, the process of selling crypto is very long and involves risk. With this solution, a user just needs to access Transak from any of the leading dApps, choose a crypto asset, enter the amount they want to off-ramp, provide their bank account details and make the transaction.

This enables not only native users to move their funds but also gives non-native users the confidence to interact with web3, as now they have a clear path to liquidate their crypto holdings to fiat anytime.

The service currently supports 40+ crypto assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and also stablecoins like USDC and DAI across multiple chains.

Users from UK and EURO-supported countries can sell their crypto assets via Transak and transfer funds directly into their bank accounts, making the once multi-step and tiring process quite seamless.

The solution is currently available for all users in the UK and EURO-supported countries but will soon expand to 125+ countries like the US, India, and others that are already supported by Transak through its on-ramp solution.

Speaking on the matter was Yeshu Agarwal, CTO of Transak, who said:

We are very excited to announce the release of Transak’s off-ramp services, as we know how important it is for any industry to provide entry and exit options to its users. Without a simpler solution for such transactions, the adoption by mainstream users will always be limited.

Recently integrated by AAVE, Transak is already helping the user onboarding for Metamask, TrustWallet, Ledger, LBank, Decentraland, Splinterlands, Zed.run, Sushi, Quickswap, and others.

Solana Token Down Double-Digits as NFT Growth Plummets

Despite news that Google Cloud would begin running a Solana validator, the token backing the speedy layer-1 blockchain has plummeted double-digits. The so-called Ethereum Killer’s native token, SOL, has dropped nearly 12% in value over the past 24 hours, according to data from Coingecko.  

Solana is a proof-of-stake (PoS) layer-1 blockchain that offers many of the same operations as Ethereum, including decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). SOL dropped from $36.29 to $31.02 early Monday morning. It has since staged a modest rally to $31.80 at press time. Trading volumes also saw a 19.22% dip to $2.77 billion over the same period. SOL is still down 87.8% from its all-time high of $259.96.

Massa: New Layer 1 Designed to Cater to All Web3 Needs

 Despite the fact that blockchain-based technology has been around for decades, it only caught up to speed with the rise of Bitcoin.

The idea of a decentralized network brought forward in Bitcoin’s Whitepaper 14 years ago by Satoshi Nakamoto was a direct response to the financial crisis of 2008. It delivered a viable alternative to the centralized banking system.

This technology has been growing, and it has also been redefining itself ever since, with multiple iterations and different networks competing for the spotlight. All of them are trying to provide the most innovative platform and provide users with the perfect balance between decentralization, scalability, and security.

Presently, most of the larger layer-one networks struggle with solving the blockchain trilemma, and even networks like Ethereum suffer from scalability issues. This is what Massa attempts to solve.

What is Massa?

Massa is a newly-developed layer-one blockchain that attempts to combine the ever-elusive trifecta of scalability, security, and decentralization. Its main focus is on solving the blockchain trilemma, and it aims to do so by combining state-of-the-art innovations in its technology stack. These include, but are not limited to, sharding of transactions, autonomous smart contracts, and blockclique architecture.

In 2020, Massa published its technical lite paper called Blockclique: Scaling Blockchains through Transaction Sharding in a Multithreaded Block Graph. 

The Need for a New Layer 1

Massa is attempting to tackle some of the most pressing issues that the industry is currently struggling with while also making improvements in other areas as well.

Inspired by Bitcoin’s whitepaper, the developers of the project are putting decentralization at the forefront. It’s one of the core values of the projects and a feature that differentiates blockchain networks from the growing monopoly of Web2 platforms.

The Nakamoto coefficient is one of the best criteria when it comes to decentralization. It measures the minimum number of users (not validators, but real people) required to disrupt a decentralized system.

There are many entities who hold a large number of validators and that’s why the Nakamoto coefficient of many coins is around 3 or 4. As of April 2022, before the Merge was 3.

Other networks, such as Avalanche, Cardano, and Solana, also rank rather poorly. Massa, on the other hand, has a result of 1000, proving that the team’s efforts to deliver a decentralized platform are bearing fruit.

Anybody is free to run a Massa node – so long as they hold a certain number of tokens. In addition, there’s no requirement for expensive hardware, as it’s possible to run a node directly from a personal computer.

Massa is currently running on its testnet and has set its official launch for somewhere in the fourth quarter of 2022 or the first quarter of 2023. Those who wish to become early adopters and share feedback can do so on the project’s Telegram, Discord, or Twitter.

Nigeria’s Presidential Candidate Adebayo to Create 30 Million Jobs Using Crypto

 Adewole Adebayo promised to deploy crypto and create up to 30 million jobs for Nigerians should he get elected as President of the country.

Adewole Adebayo – one of the main contestants to become Nigeria’s next President – promised to use blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies to generate up to 30 million job positions for locals.

The unemployment rate is among the country’s main issues, peaking at almost 10% this year.

Crypto to the Rescue

In a recent TV appearance, the presidential candidate of Nigeria’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) – Adewole Adebayo – vowed to solve the nation’s unemployment problems by deploying various technologies, including blockchain and digital currencies.

The 50-year-old lawyer said he had discussed the idea with the US Black Chamber of Commerce and the National Chamber of Commerce. He has worked as a broad adviser for people part of these organizations, assuring they have created numerous job positions across the globe in the past years:

“I told them, ‘Look, you know we have done these things before in many countries, and I have been your adviser, and we have done all of these things. In my country, I know the objective conditions that we can create for you to come to Nigeria, and we can create jobs.”

Nigeria’s unemployment rate has gradually increased in the last decade, hitting almost 10% in 2022. Adebayo believes his eventual administration could join forces with 2,000 domestic crypto companies and significantly decrease those figures:

“We discovered that we can create 10 – 30 million jobs – using 2,000 companies and bringing the production that they are doing into the country.”

Adewole Adebayo, Source: Wikipedia

Nigerians Keen on Crypto

Adebayo’s interaction with the cryptocurrency sector could win him additional votes since locals have already displayed their sympathy toward the asset class.

A KuCoin study estimated in April that 33.4 million Nigerians (35% of those aged 18 to 60) have owned or traded digital assets in the previous six months. According to the research, the main reason for the considerable adoption is the lack of proper fiat-based opportunities in many parts of the country.

The current inflation rate in the nation surpassed 20%, reaching a 17-year high. The hostile macroeconomic conditions, combined with the crash of the Nigerian naira, caused many locals to invest in bitcoin and stablecoins in an attempt to preserve some of their wealth.

Another recent survey found out that Nigeria is the most crypto-curious country across the globe. The local residents are most inclined to type the phases “buy crypto,” “invest in crypto,” and “buy the dip” on Google.

Hacktober Finished With $657 Million Losses From Crypto Exploits

 Hackers profited $657 million in 44 DeFi exploits last month after returning about $100 million to a few platforms.

Last month was quite spooky for the crypto industry as it saw the highest number of DeFi hacks this year. 

While October was expected to be “Uptober,” it quickly turned to “Hacktober” as cyber criminals ransacked top crypto projects for hundreds of millions of dollars. 

Hackers Steal $760M From DeFi Protocols

A recent tweet by the blockchain security company PeckShield pointed out that October was the biggest month for hacking activities this year. The DeFi market suffered from 44 exploits that impacted 53 protocols in the tenth month, with the hackers netting $760.2 million.

According to PeckShield, the biggest amount of funds was stolen from the BNB Chain exploit that saw hackers wipe a whopping $586 million from the blockchain network. It was followed by the Solana-based crypto lender, Mango Markets, which was exploited for $100 million. 

Hackers stole $15.8 million from the crypto vesting platform, Team Finance, by taking advantage of a bug in the Version 2 to Version 3 migration on the protocol.

$100M of Stolen Funds Recovered

PeckShield noted that hackers have already returned about $115 million out of the stolen funds to exploited platforms in what could be termed a silver lining amid the numerous losses. 

#PeckShieldAlert ~44 exploits (53 protocols affected) grabbed ~$760.2M in Oct. 2022, and ~$100M already returned the exploited protocols (Total loss: $657.2M)
As of October 2022, the stolen funds (~$3B) in 2022 “doubled” last year’s loss pic.twitter.com/mKZAjVk7UU

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) October 31, 2022

One instance of this is the Mango Markets hacker, identified as Avraham Eisenburg. He claimed that his actions in the exploit were legal. 

After negotiations and community votes, Mango struck an agreement with Eisenburg, who returned $67 million to the project and walked away with around $50 million.

$3B Stolen From DeFi in 2022 Doubles 2021 Loss

Last month’s series of hacks made 2022 a profitable year for hackers compared to last year. According to the PeckShield report, hackers have already grossed a whopping $3 billion in stolen funds, double the $1.5 billion worth of crypto assets lost in 2021. 

Since the start of the year, the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols has also been disappointing. The TVL had fallen dramatically from over $150 billion at the beginning of the year to approximately $56 billion.

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IRS is Building Hundreds of Crypto Tax Evasion Cases

 Hundreds of crypto-related cases are piling up at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)’s Criminal Investigation division.

According to division chief Jim Lee, many of these cases will be made public soon, of which are largely related to tax.

Evading Taxes With Crypto

As reported by Bloomberg Tax, some of his division’s most common cases are related to off-ramping (exchanging crypto for fiat currency) and non-reporting of crypto-based pay.

“In the last three years I’ve really seen a shift,”  said the investigator. Whereas most cases were once related to money laundering, tax cases now amount to about half of the bunch. 

Crypto has a strong reputation as a tool for criminal activity, such as scams and ransomware. However, money laundering has consistently comprised a smaller portion of crypto-based activity over time, as blockchain forensic firms like Chainalysis develop more sophisticated tools to track criminal transfers.

The Treasury Department has also admitted that crypto-money laundering, while an issue, is still far less impactful than fiat-based laundering right now. 

Contrarily, tools making crypto easier to use are ushering in its adoption as a means of payment worldwide, whether for buying sports tickets or receiving a paycheck. Since on-chain transactions are pseudonymous, it’s less straightforward for a government to see who is receiving what funds. 

Still, Lee said his department can effectively trace almost any cryptocurrency transaction. The division’s annual report, which dropped on Thursday, details some of its most successful seizures this year.

 One of them was related to the arrest of ‘Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan (aka “Razzlekhan”) for the alleged laundering of money stolen in the 2016 Bitfinex hack. This was the largest digital asset-related financial seizure in the department’s history. 

According to Lee, the division has seized $7 billion of crypto in total since the start of fiscal 2022. 

Privacy Tools

While blockchain’s transparent nature has been a boon for law enforcement, regulators have been leery of crypto tools that attempt to enhance crypto owners’ transaction privacy. 

Among them is Tornado Cash, which the Treasury Department sanctioned in August for its use in criminal activity.  Unlike previous sanctions, this was the first imposition of trade restrictions ever imposed on open-source software. While many institutions like Coinbase and Circle were quick to comply with the rules, crypto industry heads were still highly critical of the move.

MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Impairement Charge Eases During Q3

 The company incurred a minimal bitcoin impairment charge of $727,000 in Q3, compared to the $917 million in Q2.

The largest BTC corporate holder – MicroStrategy – posted a minimal impairment charge of $727,000 on its bitcoin ownings in Q3, 2022 due to the relatively stable price of the asset during that period.

The company purchased additional 301 coins between July and October, rounding up its total holdings to 130,000 BTC.

The Q3 Results

The American business intelligence corporation continued to follow its BTC agenda during the third quarter of 2022 and bought more bitcoin. As of writing these lines, its holdings equal over $2.6 billion.

“Furthering the commitment to our bitcoin strategy, MicroStrategy acquired approximately 301 additional bitcoins this quarter and remains the world’s largest publicly traded corporate owner of bitcoin, with total holdings of 130,000 bitcoins,” Chief Financial Officer Andrew Kang stated.

Despite BTC’s slight price rally in the past few days, the company still sits on a massive $1.4 billion unrealized loss. It spent almost $4 billion to accumulate its stash over the years at an average price of just over $30,000.

Kang further revealed that MicroStrategy reported an impairment charge of $727,000 on its bitcoin possessions in Q3 due to the asset’s relatively stable valuation. In comparison, when BTC’s price varied between $47,000 and $18,000 in Q2, the firm posted an impairment charge of $917 million.

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“We incurred a minimal bitcoin impairment charge as bitcoin prices were stable during the third quarter and were encouraged by FASB’s recent announcement of its support for fair value accounting for bitcoin.”

Total revenues for Q3 were $125.4 million, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.05%. Gross profits reached $100 million, compared to $105.7 million for the third quarter of 2021.

The announced financial figures positively affected MicroStrategy’s shares, which rose by over 3%. However, they dropped to last week’s valuations in the following hours.

The Future Bitcoin Plans

The Co-Founder of MicroStrategy and one of the keenest proponents of bitcoin – Michael Saylor – stepped down as the CEO in August and became an Executive Chairman of the firm. He assured that the amendments will benefit the company’s structure and enable it to acquire more BTC.

A recent filing with the securities regulator suggested that MicroStrategy is looking to raise $500 million worth of its stocks for “general corporate purposes,” including the purchase of bitcoin.