Latest news with #smartcontracts
Crypto Insight
2 days ago
- Business
- Crypto Insight
Wintermute's ‘CrimeEnjoyor' to flag Ethereum's wallet-draining contracts
Ethereum users will be warned of a new attack capable of draining their wallets, as crypto market maker Wintermute says it has created code that injects a warning into verified malicious contracts. Wintermute's code, dubbed 'CrimeEnjoyor,' prints a warning within malicious Ethereum contracts that are 'designed to auto-sweep funds' from wallets with leaked private keys, it said in a May 30 X post. The warning reads that the malicious contract 'is used by bad guys to automatically sweep all incoming ETH' and prominently warns to 'NOT SEND ANY ETH.' The malicious contracts exploit a feature introduced in Ethereum's Pectra upgrade, called Ethereum Improvement Proposal-7702 (EIP-7702), that allows users to temporarily delegate control of their wallets to smart contracts, the firm said. Wintermute said that its research team found 'over 97% of all EIP-7702 delegations were authorized to multiple contracts using the same exact code.' 'These are sweepers, used to automatically drain incoming ETH from compromised addresses,' it explained. Wintermute said it to make the CrimeEnjoyor code show up in the malicious contracts, it reversed their Ethereum Virtual Machine bytecode into human-readable Solidity code and publicly verified it. 'This one copy-pasted bytecode now accounts for the majority of all EIP-7702 delegations. It's funny, bleak, and fascinating at the same time.' EIP-7702 is optional, but transparency tools needed EIP-7702 is an opt-in feature and is not required to perform basic Ethereum operations like native token transfers. Wintermute said that while EIP-7702 expands Ethereum's capabilities, a lack of verification makes it more difficult to distinguish legitimate infrastructure from malicious exploitation, particularly for new users. 'With more compromised contracts tagged, more activity can be surfaced and more users can be protected.' One Ethereum user who tapped EIP-7702 lost $146,550 by signing several malicious batched transactions on May 23, blockchain security firm Scam Sniffer pointed out at the time. A total of 12,329 EIP-7702 transactions have been made since the Pectra upgrade went live on Ethereum at the start of epoch 364032 on May 7. Pectra also introduced two other significant upgrades. The first, EIP-725, increased the validator staking limit from 32 Ether to 2,048 ETH to make operations easier for large stakers. Pectra also introduced EIP-7691, which increases the number of data blobs per block with the aim of improving scalability on Ethereum layer 2s and reducing transaction fees. Source:
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
What Are DePINs? A Guide To The Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks Transforming Industries
Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks, known as DePINs, are reshaping how we interact with the physical world by merging with blockchain technology. DePINs offer a permissionless way for individuals to contribute real-world resources like bandwidth, energy or storage and earn tokens in return. This innovation creates shared infrastructure that is transparent, secure and operated by the crowd, not corporations. This article will explore how DePINs work, why they matter and which industries they are transforming. From decentralized WiFi to community-powered energy grids, DePINs are creating new incentives for people to participate in building the world's next generation of infrastructure. DePINs allow real-world services to be owned and operated by individual users instead of large corporations. Using token rewards, DePINs allow users to contribute physical resources and get paid for them. This approach can make infrastructure more accessible, affordable and suited to local needs. Traditional infrastructure is managed by a few centralized players. DePINs flip that model using open networks where anyone can run a device. The network keeps track of everything on a public blockchain, promoting transparency and making fraudulent activity difficult. Smart contracts automate transactions, so manual approval is not required to process each action. DePINs invite competition and innovation and give smaller players a chance to participate in infrastructure projects without needing massive upfront funding. DePINs work by using blockchain technology to record transactions, verify participation and manage the exchange of services. Participants install physical hardware such as routers, sensors or storage devices and share their unused capacity with the network. In return, they receive token rewards. This system allows infrastructure to be owned and operated by a broad group of users rather than a single central provider. Smart contracts help automate the network's operation. They follow predefined rules to manage service delivery and distribute rewards without manual intervention. Token incentives are used to compensate contributors and access services within the network. This creates a system where participation and usage are directly linked, helping the network sustain itself over time. This structure is sometimes described as a flywheel. The process begins when users are rewarded for contributing resources. As more people participate, the network becomes more capable and the quality of services improves. Better performance attracts additional users and potential investors. As the network grows, its value and utility increase, leading to more participation and continued expansion. DePINs are being used in a growing number of real world applications that rely on shared infrastructure. These include decentralized wireless networks that expand internet access, decentralized storage solutions that offer alternatives to traditional cloud providers and community-powered energy systems such as EV charging stations and smart energy grids. Each use case highlights how DePINs can lower costs, increase access and reduce reliance on centralized systems. Decentralized wireless networks use a peer-to-peer model to provide internet and device connectivity without relying on large telecom providers. Individuals operate physical infrastructure like routers, antennas or Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, helping expand coverage and reduce costs, especially in underserved areas. Smartphones and sensors connect through nearby nodes, enabling more resilient and efficient communication. Projects like Helium and Pollen Mobile showcase this approach. Helium rewards users for running low-power hotspots that support IoT connectivity, while Pollen focuses on decentralized 5G networks powered by community-hosted radios. Both rely on community participation to grow infrastructure and support applications in smart cities, rural areas and logistics. Decentralized storage networks spread data across many nodes rather than relying on centralized data centers. This reduces the need for energy-intensive facilities and cuts infrastructure costs. These networks offer greater efficiency and flexibility by using underutilized storage on individual devices or small servers. They can also be deployed near renewable energy sources, making it easier to power them with solar, wind or hydro. Platforms like Filecoin and Arweave reward users for sharing storage space while securing and distributing data through blockchain protocols. Decentralized energy networks let individuals and businesses produce, store and share power without relying on major utilities. Microgrids powered by solar panels can store excess energy in local batteries and release it during peak demand or outages. Smart grids manage this in real time, improving reliability. DePIN-based EV charging networks allow people to host chargers and earn tokens from drivers. This speeds up infrastructure growth and supports cleaner, more resilient energy systems. Shifting control from central providers to communities makes infrastructure more affordable, resilient and inclusive. This model lowers costs, opens doors for small-scale participants and keeps systems running during disruptions. It also encourages wider involvement in building and maintaining essential services like internet access, energy and storage. By removing intermediaries, DePINs cut infrastructure costs and enable direct participation. People in underserved areas can share or access resources, lowering barriers and expanding access to essential services like internet, energy and storage. Without centralized overhead, services are often more affordable and better suited to local needs. They also boost efficiency by using underutilized resources instead of building new systems, reducing waste, and supporting a more sustainable model. Greater resilience is achieved by distributing infrastructure across many independent nodes, which reduces the risk of a single point of failure. Unlike centralized systems that can be disrupted by outages, cyberattacks or physical damage to a central hub, decentralized networks can continue operating even if some nodes go offline. This built-in redundancy ensures more consistent service. The distributed nature of DePINs also enhances security and privacy, making them less vulnerable to censorship, surveillance or control by any single entity. Infrastructure is becoming more open and participatory through decentralized networks that let individuals and communities build and operate essential services. Instead of relying on a few centralized providers, these networks use blockchain and tokens to incentivize anyone to contribute. This model promotes transparency, reduces entry barriers and supports broader access to services like the internet, data storage and EV charging. As the sector grows, DePINs are helping prevent monopolies by enabling multiple stakeholders to share ownership and development. This shift toward shared infrastructure encourages competition, lowers prices and fosters innovation across industries. Despite their potential, DePINs face hurdles that could slow growth. Scaling across many nodes can strain performance and reliability. Regulatory uncertainty adds compliance risks as laws around digital assets evolve. Adoption may also lag, since these systems often require technical know-how and a shift from familiar centralized models. Relying on distributed funding and operations makes scaling difficult. Token incentives and crowdfunding are inclusive but often inconsistent and harder to coordinate than traditional methods, which can limit growth and deter institutional investment. Without central oversight, upkeep and troubleshooting depend on individuals who may not act quickly, risking delays and reduced network reliability. Regulatory uncertainty remains a significant obstacle for projects building decentralized infrastructure. Operating at the intersection of blockchain, hardware and real-world services, these networks face unique challenges that most crypto sectors avoid. Unlike purely digital applications, they involve physically deploying assets like wireless hotspots, storage nodes and energy systems. Yet regulators have provided little clarity on token classification, governance, data privacy or global compliance. This lack of guidance leaves builders exposed to enforcement and legal ambiguity. Adding to the difficulty is the political influence of legacy industries. Telecoms, cloud providers and utilities often fund PACs and lobbying efforts that can shape regulation to preserve their dominance. This creates an uneven playing field. Without clear, balanced rules, innovation risks being stifled before it can scale. A wide range of use cases, from wireless and storage to community-run services, makes presenting a clear, relatable message challenging. The technical nature of many projects further slows product-market fit and mainstream traction. Without strong messaging and user-friendly design, adoption may lag. To scale, the sector must simplify its value proposition and show how these networks improve real-world services in practical, accessible ways. Industries with high capital needs and little competition are already seeing DePIN adoption. Helium built a decentralized network of IoT and mobile hotspots, partnering with T-Mobile to offer lower-cost service. Hivemapper and Geodnet collect geospatial data through user-operated devices, feeding navigation and AI systems. These community-driven networks replace expensive, centralized models with cheaper, more scalable alternatives. In AI infrastructure, projects like Grass let users monetize bandwidth for data scraping, while Akash enables decentralized GPU leasing. Bittensor, part of decentralized AI, supports compute-focused subnets. Together, these efforts shift control over data and compute away from tech giants and toward individuals. The future of these networks is poised to extend well beyond current applications, potentially reshaping industries like healthcare, transportation, environmental monitoring, and public safety. As AI and machine learning evolve, DePINs can supply the decentralized compute, real-world data, and infrastructure needed to train and launch advanced models. Their integration into the broader Web3 ecosystem also enables greater user ownership, data privacy, and interoperability across decentralized applications. By removing traditional gatekeepers and distributing control, DePINs could serve as the backbone for a more open, efficient, and resilient digital-physical economy bridging the gap between Web3 innovation and real-world utility. Bottom Line Control is shifting from centralized providers to individuals and communities. By using blockchain and smart contracts, these networks improve transparency, lower costs and boost resilience across sectors like the internet, storage and energy. Though still early, DePINs are already making an impact in telecom and AI, and are positioned to transform many more industries in the years ahead. What Are DePINs? DePINs are decentralized networks that use blockchain to let individuals share real-world resources like the internet, energy or storage in exchange for token rewards. What Makes DePIN Different From Other Decentralized Systems? DePINs connect blockchain to real-world infrastructure by using physical devices like routers, sensors and GPUs. Unlike purely digital systems, it bridges the gap between the digital and physical worlds. Are DePINs Safe And Secure? Yes, DePINs use encryption, blockchain verification and decentralized design to enhance security and reduce single points of failure. Can DePIN Replace Traditional Infrastructure? DePIN has the potential to complement or replace parts of traditional infrastructure by offering lower costs, greater resilience and broader access.
Crypto Insight
6 days ago
- Business
- Crypto Insight
How central banks are testing blockchain-based monetary policy
Tokenized monetary policy means that the liabilities and assets a central bank uses to steer short-term interest rates exist as programmable tokens on a distributed-ledger platform. In such a token arrangement, what the BIS describes as an ecosystem where money and securities share a common ledger, monetary functions are executed by smart contracts, replacing the traditional batch file processes used in overnight real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems. In practice, each policy tool is expressed as code: Project Pine demonstrated all three, using ERC-20 tokens for reserves and securities on a permissioned Ethereum-compatible chain. But how is tokenized monetary policy different from traditional monetary policy? Traditional policy operations rely on central bank systems such as Fedwire or the Bank of England's RTGS. These systems close overnight, settle in discrete batches and require multiple human sign-offs. A tokenized system settles atomically in seconds, keeps an immutable audit trail and lets policy adjustments propagate without waiting for dealers to book trades. The BIS paper on tokenisation notes that combining assets and settlement on a single ledger can shrink operational risk and latency. Did you know? A repo is a short-term secured loan in which one party sells securities and agrees to repurchase them later at a higher price. In contrast, a reverse repo is the same transaction viewed from the counterparty's perspective (buying the securities and later reselling them).
Finextra
27-05-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Platonic taps GenAI to modernise capital markets workflows
Platonic today announced a research collaboration with MIT's Geospatial Data Center, focused on advancing generative AI capabilities to modernize financial market infrastructures. 0 This ambitious initiative will evaluate Generative AI tools and techniques to identify suitable models and prompting strategies for financial asset workflows. This effort will focus on AI-driven smart contract creation and end-to-end asset servicing. The collaboration combines Platonic's cutting-edge blockchain infrastructure expertise with MIT's Geospatial Data Center research leadership in generative AI. 'At Platonic, we're building the infrastructure for autonomous, intelligent markets-where assets are programmable and intelligent," said Violet Abtahi, Founder and CEO of Platonic. 'This initiative is one part of that vision, focused on applying generative AI to smart contract creation and asset servicing. Our collaboration with MIT's Geospatial Data Center accelerates our mission to research how to modernize financial infrastructure and unlock the power of a truly decentralized economy.' By automating contract generation and simplifying operational workflows, this initiative aims to increase transparency, reduce costs, and enable smarter, data-driven decision-making across capital markets. 'Financial institutions have long struggled to modernize legacy systems,' said Abel Sanchez, Executive Director, MIT's Geospatial Data Center. 'Leveraging blockchain and generative AI offers a practical and tangible path forward—moving capital markets from incremental promises to real digital transformation.' This collaboration is a major step toward Platonic's broader vision for autonomous finance-a future where assets are intelligent, self-executing, and able to interact across a global, interoperable, digital ecosystem.
Coin Geek
22-05-2025
- Business
- Coin Geek
BIS, NY Fed test smart contracts for tokenized monetary policy
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... With tokenization projected to hit $19 trillion by 2033, central banks are bracing for a new digital reality that could disrupt existing regulatory frameworks. To preserve their roles within the financial ecosystem, central banks are adopting the latest technologies, and a recent pilot led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) demonstrated that smart contracts could be prime tools for regulators in a tokenized world. BIS partnered with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's innovation center on the initiative, titled Project Pine. Other participants included the central banks of Australia, Canada, England, Mexico, Switzerland and the European Central Bank (ECB). Project Pine developed a monetary policy tokenized toolkit that central banks could customize to meet their specific needs. The toolkit was built using smart contracts and tested on diverse use cases, from paying interest on reserves and swapping assets to creating facilities that temporarily exchange reserves for collateral and executing asset purchases and sales. The project acknowledged that the role of central banks will shift drastically in a tokenized world. However, through smart contracts, they can quickly and easily adjust their existing frameworks, or create new ones, 'to optimize the implementation of monetary policy in a tokenized environment.' The new age of central banking on smart contracts BIS acknowledged that tokenization is here to stay, and it's set to explode in value and scope over the next few years. The Boston Consulting Group's (BCG) recent report estimated that tokenized real-world assets could be a $23.4 trillion market in eight years, with a conservative projection of $12.5 trillion. Beyond the figures, some of the world's largest corporations are already running tokenization projects. $1.6 trillion asset management giant Franklin Templeton (NASDAQ: FTGTX) launched a tokenized fund a week ago in Singapore that allows investment of as little as $20, the first of its kind in the country. Tokenization would bypass many of today's intermediaries. For instance, an investor can purchase a tokenized security directly from another investor, and the transfer of ownership would be done on-chain without the involvement of a third party. This bold new system requires a rethink of the regulatory tools that central banks have relied on for decades, and this is what Project Pine has been working on. The system was based on smart contracts that functioned as a central bank toolkit prototype, housed in a programmable platform that supported tokenized money and securities. Source: BIS The project then tested the toolkit in a setup that housed a multi-agent system with simulated diverse scenarios. The participants then used visualization tools to display and analyze each activity and outcome. The entire project consisted of hierarchical layers, with the settlement layer at the base. Just above it was the asset layer, which hosted the tokenized securities and wholesale money, with the topmost protocol layer housing the smart contracts. While Project Pine demonstrated that smart contracts could prove useful tools for central banks in a tokenized system, it noted that regulators would need privileged access to market data and higher standards of security and privacy. The conclusion was that smart contracts and tokenization 'could help central banks better manage extraordinary events.' 'The most significant benefit is that facilities can be created and deployed almost instantly with smart contracts. This speed, coupled with the ability to adjust any of the parameters at any time, gives central banks flexibility in responding to unforeseen events and fast-moving crises,' the report concluded. Dubai's new digital currency rulebook tightens controls In Dubai, the city's digital asset watchdog has updated its regulatory framework for the sector, and it's given VASPs until June 19 to fully comply. The Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) announced the publication of Version 2.0 of its rulebook this week, which it says will better balance innovation with investor protection. The updated framework strengthened controls around token distribution, margin trading and collateral wallet arrangements. 'The updates are designed to promote greater market discipline, risk transparency, and operational resilience across Dubai's VA ecosystem,' VARA stated. The watchdog offers more elaborate definitions of popular market products and services as it seeks to provide consistency and avoid ambiguity. It also tightened the disclosure and risk management requirements, especially in activities involving investors' funds, such as custody, exchanges and brokerages. Watch: Tim Draper talks tokenization with Kurt Wuckert Jr. title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
