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
Two men who were reportedly connected to the AAX exchange investigation were arrested in Hong Kong on December 23 on suspicion of fraud and misleading police officers. The arrests come weeks after the collapse of the FTX exchange and the resignation of AAX Vice President Ben Caselin, who reportedly disagreed with the company’s decision to declare bankruptcy and liquidate all assets. AAX users are believed to have lost over 100 million yuan (about $14.3 million) in total. A recent report found that the FTX collapse had the greatest impact of all the significant events in 2022, including the collapse of
1 year ago
1 min read
Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon, who is wanted by Interpol and believed to have fled to Serbia, has reportedly cashed out Bitcoin for the first time since his escape. According to a report from Korean news outlet Digital Asset, Kwon disbursed 9.64 BTC, worth approximately $120,000, using the LFG Luna Foundation Guard wallet. The report speculates that Kwon may have chosen Serbia as a destination due to its lack of extradition agreement with South Korea and its accessibility for cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals. South Korean prosecutors are reportedly aware of the transaction and believe that Kwon likely converted the BTC
1 year ago
1 min read
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has completed the distribution of Terra’s ($LUNA) second airdrop to holders of Terra Classic ($LUNC) and Terra Classic USD ($USTC) at the time of snapshots taken on May 7 (before the collapse of Terra) and May 26 (after the collapse). The distribution of $LUNA differs significantly for holders before and after the collapse due to the drop in value of Terra’s ecosystem tokens at the time. Terra’s ecosystem collapsed earlier this year, leading to a rebranding to Terra Classic and the creation of a new, forked blockchain under the Terra name. To combat inflation caused by the
1 year ago
1 min read
The Avalanche team has released an update to AvalancheGo, their blockchain software implemented in the Go programming language, called “Banff 5.” This update introduces a feature called Avalanche Warp Messaging, which allows subnets (custom blockchains or subnetworks created by developers for specific use cases on the Avalanche blockchain) to share data and cryptocurrency assets with each other, improving interoperability within the Avalanche ecosystem. Prior to this update, subnets created on Avalanche were unable to communicate with each other without the use of complex bridge systems, so they remained isolated from one another. The new update eliminates the need for these
1 year ago
1 min read
Ethical hackers working on Immunefi, a bug bounty platform focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain apps, were paid over $52 million in 2022 for identifying and reporting security vulnerabilities. This comes as the value of crypto hacks reached over $3 billion in the same year. Immunefi, which is currently the leading platform in the web3 bug bounty space, offers larger rewards than other tech giants due to the higher stakes involved in web3 vulnerabilities, which can result in a direct loss of funds. In 2022, Immunefi paid out a $10 million bounty for a vulnerability discovered in the Wormhole protocol and
1 year ago
1 min read
Warner Bros. and Nifty have partnered to launch a digital collectible or NFT experience called Game of Thrones: Build Your Realm. The first release, called the Hero Box, will be available on January 10, 2023 and will feature avatars and digital collectibles from the Northern regions of Westeros. Fans will have the option to open, keep sealed, or trade the Hero Box with other collectors. The Game of Thrones: Build Your Realm experience will be multi-chapter and will include thematic activities, on-site engagement, and additional digital collectibles featuring iconic moments, locations, characters, and more from the Game of Thrones series.
1 year ago
1 min read
Two executives of the FTX exchange, Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, have pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in the US. The pair have also agreed to cooperate in the case against Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of Alameda Research, who is accused of defrauding customers, investors, and lenders, and of diverting customer funds to buy real estate, lend out, make dubious investments through Alameda, and make political donations. Bankman-Fried is currently in FBI custody in the US after agreeing to be extradited from the Bahamas. Ellison and Wang are accused of playing a role in a scheme to misuse FTX
1 year ago
1 min read
Uniswap, a decentralized exchange, has announced that it will allow users to purchase cryptocurrency using debit and credit cards, as well as bank transfers. The bank transfer option will be available to users in the US, Brazil, the UK, and the Single Euro Payments Area. Uniswap aims to make the process of buying cryptocurrency easier and more convenient for its users, who will be able to convert fiat to cryptocurrency on the Ethereum mainnet, Polygon, Optimism, and Artibrum in a matter of minutes. Initially, Uniswap will support Dai, Ether, USD Coin, Tether, Wrapped Bitcoin, and Wrapped Ether, depending on the
1 year ago
1 min read
Polygon, a blockchain company, has teamed up with the Neo Banking app hi and Mastercard to launch a platform that enables users to create personalized NFT debit cards through the hi app. The NFT Debit Mastercard allows users to spend either crypto or fiat currencies at 90 million global merchants and lets them mint personal NFTs for the cover of their debit card with no gas fees. To qualify for the service, users must download the hi app, open an account, and choose a Silver card level or higher. After this, they can create custom cards using Polygon-based NFTs and
1 year ago
1 min read
Visa has proposed a way for Ethereum users to set up automatic payments from self-custodial wallets, according to a blog post published by the company. The proposal involves using a feature called Account Abstraction, which is currently under consideration by Ethereum’s core developers, to enable automatic payments. This would allow users to set up recurring payments for bills, something that is not currently possible with Ethereum due to the inability of automated smart contracts to request transactions. To overcome this limitation, Visa created a new type of Ethereum account called a “delegable account” that combines the functions of user accounts
1 year ago
1 min read
Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been accused of breaking campaign finance regulations by allegedly claiming that the money he donated to political campaigns was from other people, when in fact it came from his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research. An important donor during the latest election cycle, Bankman-Fried is said to have given more than $40 million. Because of the allegations, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has declared that it is freezing the $815,000 in contributions it received from Bankman-Fried since 2020 and will return the funds when it has received the proper instructions from
1 year ago
1 min read
In the wake of the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, there has been a heated exchange of words between Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and Canadian investor Kevin O’Leary over their alleged involvement in the company. O’Leary testified at a Congressional hearing on the FTX collapse on December 14, where he claimed that Binance and FTX were in competition and that Binance had intentionally put FTX out of business. O’Leary also claimed that he had contacted former FTX CEO SBF, who told him that FTX had spent $2-3 billion in off-balance sheet funds buying back FTX stock from Binance
