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
5 mins read
Cardano is a blockchain technology that utilizes the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, Ouroborus, to secure its network. The Cardano blockchain, which was initially a layer-1 solution, has integrated the layer-2 update, Hydra, to enhance its capabilities. Cardano’s native token is ADA. The Cardano blockchain aims to improve upon Ethereum’s smart contracts network by increasing scalability in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space and helping to bring financial services to underserved populations. ADA Price Prediction 2023 ADA, the native token of the Cardano blockchain, is currently ranked 9th on CoinMarketCap. The following section provides a daily time frame for ADA price predictions
1 year ago
1 min read
Argo Blockchain, a company that mines for Bitcoin, has agreed to sell its Helios mining facility to Galaxy Digital for $65 million. Argo has been facing financial challenges due to high energy costs, declining Bitcoin prices, and increasing difficulty in mining, which have led to decreased profits and slim profit margins. In October, Argo warned investors that it would need additional funding to keep its operations going after a deal fell through. The company’s stock was temporarily suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange earlier this month after it mistakenly posted that it had filed for bankruptcy protection, and
1 year ago
1 min read
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, borrowed over $546 million from Alameda Research, the exchange’s sister company, to fund the purchase of Robinhood shares. Bankman-Fried and FTX co-founder Zixiao “Gary” Wang took out four loans from Alameda through promissory notes between April and May, according to an affidavit filed by Bankman-Fried in the Antigua and Barbuda High Court. The loans were used to fund Bankman-Fried’s shell company, Emergent Fidelity Technologies, which acquired a 7.6% stake in brokerage firm Robinhood in May for $648 million. The revelation of the loans could complicate the ongoing legal dispute over the ownership
1 year ago
1 min read
Alex Holden, a Ukrainian-born cyber intelligence professional now living in Mequon, Wisconsin, has reportedly hacked into Solaris, a major Russian online drug marketplace. With the help of his team at Hold Security, Holden is said to have stolen a portion of the cryptocurrency intended for the operators and dealers of the dark web site. The stolen crypto, worth almost $25,000, was then sent to the Ukrainian nonprofit Enjoying Life, based in Kiev. In addition to the cryptocurrency theft, Holden claimed to have compromised a significant portion of Solaris’s online infrastructure, including the website’s source code and a database containing information
1 year ago
1 min read
Defrost Finance, an ecological stablecoin project, will return $12 million in funds stolen in a December 23, 2022, exploit, despite having undergone a code audit by CertiK. The refund will be made using on-chain data to ensure that the stolen funds are properly allocated. The hack was initially reported by blockchain security firm Peckshield on Dec. 23, 2022 and involved two attacks: a flash loan attack that stole $173,000 and a V2 attack that stole $12 million by liquidating user positions through a fake collateral token and malicious price oracle. The hacks have raised concerns about vulnerabilities in smart contract
1 year ago
1 min read
Fidelity Investments, a financial services company, has filed trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a variety of Web3 products and services. These include a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, financial investment and cryptocurrency trading services in virtual worlds, and payment services such as electronic bill payments and fund transfers within virtual worlds. The company has also indicated that it may offer educational and referral services in virtual worlds, as well as a digital marketplace for NFTs. Fidelity’s trademark filings suggest that the company is looking to expand its involvement in the Web3 space, despite recent
1 year ago
1 min read
The Dajia Jenn Lann Temple in Taiwan, which is dedicated to the popular Chinese sea goddess Mazu, is using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to allow worshippers access to pilgrimages and other events. The temple, which dates back to the Qing Dynasty in the 1700s, has been organizing an annual nine-day pilgrimage with a statue of the goddess that attracts hundreds of thousands of followers. The pilgrimage and related festivals have created the “Mazu economy,” referring to donations and spending on Mazu-themed merchandise and business opportunities related to the religion. In August, the temple began selling NFTs called MazuDAO through its e-commerce
1 year ago
1 min read
The global blockchain gaming market is expected to experience significant growth in the coming years, with a projected compound annual growth rate of 70.3% between 2022 and 2027. This growth is being driven in part by increased funding for blockchain games. m, Role-playing games (RPGs) are expected to have the highest market share during this period, with the P2E gaming model using blockchain, crypto, and NFTs to transform the traditional free-to-play concept into pay-to-earn. In RPG games, players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting and can earn NFTs and crypto rewards while playing. There are various subgenres
1 year ago
1 min read
Both versions of Defrost Finance, a decentralized leveraged trading platform built on the Avalanche blockchain, have suffered hacks. Investors reported losing staked Defrost Finance (MELT) and Avalanche in their MetaMask wallets, and a member of Defrost Finance, Doran, confirmed that Defrost v2 had been subjected to a flash loan attack. Defrost v2 was shut down while the team looked into the issue, initially believing that Defrost v1 was unaffected. However, it was later discovered that Defrost v1 was also impacted by the hack. Blockchain investigation firm PeckShield determined that the hacker manipulated LSWUSDC’s share price for a profit of almost
1 year ago
1 min read
Some users of the multichain crypto wallet BitKeep have had their funds drained and transferred without their knowledge or consent, according to reports on December 26. The BitKeep team confirmed that APK package downloads had been hijacked by attackers and installed with code that was implanted by hackers. The team advised users to transfer their funds to wallets from official sources, like Google Play and the Apple App Store, and to use newly created wallet addresses as previous ones may have been “leaked to hackers.” So far, more than $8 million in Tether USDT, DAI, BNB, and Ether has been
1 year ago
1 min read
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has faced criticism from the cryptocurrency community after requesting that the infamous Hinman Speech documents be sealed in the Ripple Labs case. The documents refer to a speech given by former SEC Corporation Finance Division Director William Hinman at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit in June 2018, in which he reportedly stated that the Ethereum token, Ether, is not a security. Ripple believes the documents are important evidence in its case against the SEC. In its motion, the SEC argued that its mission outweighs the “public’s right” to access documents that have
1 year ago
1 min read
Paxos, a blockchain and trust company, has recovered $20 million worth of gold tokens that were stolen from FTX, an exchange, in November. 11,184 Paxos Gold (PAXG) worth $20 million, which are backed by real gold in Paxos’ custody, were frozen from four hacker-controlled wallets and have now been successfully reclaimed. Furthermore, this recovery represents only a small portion of the hack, which saw approximately $400 million worth of assets stolen. The FTX chief, John Ray III, revealed that the exchange had poor security controls and stored private keys to its wallets in an unencrypted manner, which could have contributed
