Roland Guirdonan
Roland is a Public Relations & Communications guru with an immense passion for the blockchain and crypto industry. A fusion of his expertise and passion led to the dawn of Optimisus in 2020.
Articles by Roland Guirdonan
1 year ago
1 min read
SushiSwap, the popular DeFi protocol, suffered a critical vulnerability over the weekend, leading to a loss of over $3.3 million. Security firm PeckShield discovered the exploit, which involved the ‘RouterProcessor2’ contract used for trade routing on the SushiSwap exchange. According to PeckShield, the vulnerability led to the loss of approximately 1,800 ETH from 0xSifu. SushiSwap’s head developer Jared Grey confirmed the issue, urging users to revoke permissions for all contracts on SushiSwap as a security measure. The bug primarily affected a single user, 0xsifu, known in the Crypto Twitter community. The exploit appears to have impacted users who approved SushiSwap
1 year ago
2 mins read
Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, is confident that the ongoing lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury Department to overturn the ban on using Tornado Cash (TC) will be successful. Grewal recently took to Twitter to express his optimism, stating that “simple but powerful” legal arguments are being made during a crucial moment in the case. The lawsuit was filed by Coinbase in September 2022 after the U.S. Treasury Department added the crypto mixer to the Specifically Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list, which effectively prohibited its use. Coinbase is funding the lawsuit, and the plaintiffs argue that the designation
1 year ago
1 min read
According to an annual report from the United States Security Council, North Korean hackers have stolen more than $1 billion from the crypto industry. This sum is double the amount that was stolen in 2021. The report revealed that the bad actors carry out these crypto crimes via advanced scopes and techniques, taking advantage of every little loophole discovered. Despite the possibility of tracking crypto hacks, the report added that the basic cryptocurrency and blockchain features make it difficult to track illicitly obtained virtual assets, which are protected by both the anonymity of the blockchain and the intentional obfuscation of
1 year ago
1 min read
In a recent viral video prank, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, hinted at using the upcoming digital euro, a central bank digital currency (CBDC), for limited control over payments made by individuals. In the video, Lagarde was interviewed by someone pretending to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the topic of discussion was the backlash in Europe over the introduction of the digital euro. Lagarde acknowledged the need for control and stated that a “limited amount of control” would be exercised through the digital euro. However, Lagarde also acknowledged the danger of completely anonymous, small
1 year ago
1 min read
Recent rumors have circulated about Tron’s founder, Justin Sun, attempting to sell his stake in the crypto exchange, Huobi, to Binance. However, the proposal was reportedly turned down due to concerns about Huobi’s ties to China. Sun denied reports of acquiring a stake in Huobi and claimed to serve only as an advisor to the exchange. Huobi, in turn, stated that it was under Sun’s leadership. Despite Bloomberg’s report of Sun trying to sell an undisclosed stake in Huobi Global to raise funds for the exchange, Sun dismissed the report as an “April Fool’s Day prank.” Huobi has faced challenges
1 year ago
1 min read
The arrest of former US President Donald Trump has had an unexpected impact on the world of digital art, with his NFT collection seeing a surge in interest. In the 12 hours following his appearance in court, over 60 digital trading cards featuring the controversial billionaire were sold on the popular NFT marketplace OpenSea. According to reports, the most expensive purchase was a card featuring Trump holding a rifle and wearing an orange hat, which was sold for 0.697 ETH (around $1,333 USD) to a buyer known as paraguanads.eth. Most buyers spent around 0.5 ETH to acquire cryptographic images of
1 year ago
1 min read
Rollbit Coin (RLB), a Solana-based casino project, has recently come under scrutiny for its alleged use of undisclosed promotions through crypto influencers. The accusations came after Grizzly, the “chief rug officer” at Pymons, a P2E platform, accused several influencers of promoting RLB without disclosing that they were being paid to do so. In a message posted by the owner of Rollbit Coin, Lucky, he called on “existing partners” to participate in a “new bonus structure” for RLB growth. Lucky stated that influencers who promote RLB stand to gain $250,000 in the token if its price hits $0.20 and stays above
1 year ago
1 min read
Arbitrum (ARB) investors were recently put on high alert by the crypto community following reports of a possible phishing scam that had made its way into the official Arbitrum Discord server. Unfortunately, the warnings proved accurate as hackers managed to drop a phishing link into the server. On March 25, blockchain security firm CetriK warned of a potential phishing link being circulated via the Arbitrum Discord server. It is suspected that one of Arbitrum’s developers had their Discord account hacked, which was then used to share a fake announcement containing the phishing link. The phishing message offered investors “the opportunity
1 year ago
1 min read
Recent reports have surfaced alleging that employees and volunteers of Binance were assisting Chinese users on how to bypass Know Your Customer (KYC) and other security protocols. However, Binance has responded to these allegations, stating that it explicitly forbids employees from supporting users in circumventing any laws or policies. A spokesperson from Binance has clarified that the company is taking action following the allegations. They stated, “We have launched an investigation into employees who may have violated our internal policies including wrongly soliciting or making recommendations that are not allowed or in line with our standards.” The exchange has implemented
1 year ago
1 min read
Do Kwon, the co-founder and former CEO of Terraform Labs, has been arrested by the Montenegrin police after a prolonged manhunt. According to the Montenegrin Minister of Interior, Filip Adzic, Kwon was apprehended at the Podgorica airport with falsified documents. He is sought after by South Korea, the US, and Singapore for his alleged role in a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud involving an algorithmic stablecoin and other crypto asset securities. The collapse of the Terra (LUNA) ecosystem has been linked to Do Kwon and Terraform Labs, which have been accused by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
1 year ago
1 min read
Trading platform eToro has secured $250 million in funding from investors including SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Velvet Sea Ventures, and ION Group at a valuation of $3.5 billion. This marks the first time the Israel-based firm has raised capital since 2018, after failing to go public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger last year. The funding comes as part of an Advance Investment Agreement (AIA) entered into by eToro earlier this year as part of its proposed SPAC transaction. The AIA is a legal agreement between an investor and a company under which the investor commits to investing
1 year ago
1 min read
The crypto winter has been a harsh reality for many investors in the cryptocurrency market, but it seems that scammers are not immune to its effects either. As the bear market takes hold, scam revenue has dropped by a staggering 46%, according to recent data from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. Despite this, however, scammers are still finding ways to adapt and thrive in these difficult times. During a recent webinar focused on crypto crimes that affect consumers, Eric Jardine, cybercrimes research lead at Chainalysis, shed light on how scammers shift their tactics as market conditions change. He noted that not
