🧘♂️ALERT: $80 Million Stolen
Market Meditations | April 18, 2022
Hey Meditator
Beanstalks been hacked and the Ethereum Merge has been delayed once more.
We’re back again today to cover all the weird and wonderful happenings in the exciting world of crypto.
Today’s Meditations:
- BTC Technical Analysis
- Beanstalk Hack Explained
- Ethereum Merge Delayed… Again!
- Our Crypto Calendar of the Week
⏰ Top Headlines
- MetaMask advises users to disable automatic iCloud backups of its wallet data to prevent hacks
- Ripple claims ‘a very big win’ in SEC case
- Twitter board of directors responds to Musk’s takeover offer with a defensive plan
- Gulf Energy pursues joint venture with Binance, invests in BNB
? Circling the Drain
BTC/USD
Macro Structure: Red circle confirmed as a deviation as we predicted last time. Price has come back down and retested the 100 Day Moving Average (as shown by the red arrow) and is now making its way back down.
Key Support: $36k.
Key Resistance: $45k.
Looking Forward: Likely to see further downside to about $36k. The trend is back intact after that small deviation.
? Hack and the Beanstalk
A stablecoin protocol running on Ethereum was attacked for $80+ million yesterday. In the aftermath, Beanstalk Farm’s stablecoin, BEAN, has collapsed, losing 85% of its value since de-pegging.
1/ The @BeanstalkFarms was exploited in a flurry of txs (etherscan.io/tx/0xd09b72275…andetherscan.io/tx/0xcd314668a…), leading to the gain of $80+M for the hacker (The protocol loss may be larger), including 24,830 ETH and 36M BEAN.
- Peckshield, a respected blockchain security and analytics company, reported the exploit on Twitter yesterday resulting in the loss of $80 million.
- Beanstalk’s smart contracts had been audited by Omnicia, but the protocol introduced code involving the flash loan vulnerability after the audit’s completion.
- The Beanstalk Farms team has halted the network and turned governance off while they investigate.
How it went down:
To summarize, the attacker(s) took out a flash loan from Aave to purchase enough assets to achieve a 67% majority control of the Silo (Beanstalk’s DAO). They also submitted an improvement proposal which would transfer all the assets in the Beanstalk contract to their wallet. This improvement proposal passed because Beanstalk’s code allowed it to be “emergency committed” by having >67% of the vote in favor of it.
In an explanation posted on Beanstalk’s Discord, a team member of the project said “Beanstalk did not use a flash loan resistant measure to determine the % of Stalk that had voted in favor of the BIP (Beanstalk Improvement Proposal). This was the fault that allowed the hacker to exploit Beanstalk.”
In the end, Beanstalk reinforces what we should already know: attacks and exploits can and will happen.
Want to learn more about Flash Loans? Start here. Stay up to do with real-time developments by joining Beanstalk’s Discord.
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⏰ Delayed, Yet Again
The Ethereum merge that would transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) system to a proof-of-stake (PoS) was set to take place this June. This has been delayed yet again. Let’s refresh on what exactly this merge means and, more importantly, when the update will now be taking place.
- While delayed, the upgrade does not have a specific date. It is reported it will take place “a few months after” so it should still be in 2022.
- On April 11, Ethereum developers conducted a ‘Shadow Fork’ test that turned out to be a “huge success.” This test is run to test newly implemented features before replicating these results into the main network. This goes to show that Ethereum is working toward completing this upgrade.
- When this shift is completed, many of the energy concerns will cease to exist. As a reminder, this would make Ethereum rigs essentially obsolete.
Many are eagerly awaiting the transition as a result of energy consumption. The merge would decrease the energy consumption by 99.95%. Ethereum currently consumes 112 terawatt-hours of electricity per year (e.g., comparable to the energy of the Netherlands and more than what the Philippines or Pakistan uses).
Though the upgrade is not done and has been delayed yet again, it is important to keep a macro perspective. When Ethereum becomes a PoS system, the environmental concern will have been answered (at least for this cryptocurrency).
Monday, 18 April
- ?Devconnect.eth
A week-long collaborative Ethereum week in Amsterdam, the Netherlands running from 18-25 April, Devonnect features hackathons, workshops, group talks and more focusing on the Ethereum network.
Tuesday, 19 April
- ??EOS EVM Launch
The EOS EVM launch event will feature an AMA with Yves La Rose, Matias Romeo and Dr. Who at 13:00 UTC on Twitter Spaces. The EOS EVM is currently live on the Jungle Testnet.
Wednesday, 20 April
- ?Happy Hour with Mina Protocol
As part of Devconnect.eth in Amsterdam, Mina’s zkHappyHour will offer an inclusive space allowing everyone to meet and greet, exchange thoughts and network.
Thursday, 21 April
- ?Subme AMA
Subme’s biweekly AMA series will continue in their Telegram group. Subme is an all-in-one subscription management app focusing on the subscription economy. This fortnight’s AMA session features either VikingTurtlee or Adam Larsson.
Friday, 22 April
- ?Cornell Blockchain Conference
Keynote speakers include John Wu, Paul Erlanger and Corey Miller of dYdX in addition to a long list of panellists and moderators. The conference is hosted by CornellTech in New York City and has a heavy focus on Web3 going mainstream this year.
- Watch our How to Get Rich Trading Crypto Course if you struggled with today’s technical section.
- Read the following Technical Analysis guides for more insight:
??♂️✍️ Stories in this newsletter were written by Kyle F., Misael Calleja, Nick T., Max P., Kimia K., Ellen B. and Koroush AK. Graphics were produced by Ellen B.
Not financial or tax advice. The content in this newsletter is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this email is intended to serve as financial advice. We are not financial advisors. Every investment and trading move involves risk. Do your own research when making a decision. See our important security disclaimers here.
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