🐳 Weekly Edition: Safety PSA

The Magic Eden exploit marks another devastating point for those in crypto cybersecurity. If it feels like hacks and exploits are becoming more common, it’s because they are. Just this week, Bitget was drained for $387 million, ASI was exploited for $2.3 million, Duelbits Casino lost $7 million due to compromised wallets, Meter Passport was exploited for $2.3 million, Payy was drained for $1.8 million, and Limit Break (the Magic Eden payment processor) had $1.7 million of user funds stolen.

In the last case, the Limit Break hack could’ve been much worse. Luckily, Yuga Labs’ 0xQuit helped whitehat hack $5.7 million in NFTs into a safe wallet. Users can claim their NFTs after revoking permission from the tainted smart contract. 0xQuit deserves nothing but praise for selflessly saving so many NFTs.

Given how treacherous the self-custody landscape is at the moment, it’s important to check and improve your security measures. First and foremost, the Magic Eden exploit occurred because Magic Eden shut down and some people still gave permissions to the smart contract after the fact. This allowed hackers to exploit the smart contract and drain funds. In order to prevent something similar from happening to you, use a tool such as Revoke.cash to revoke permissions from any smart contracts you aren’t currently using.

Here’s a list of other good safety practices for your digital assets:

• Use hardware wallets and store your seed phrase on a piece of paper.

• Never give anyone your seed phrase.

• Don’t take a picture of your seed phrase or keep it anywhere that is connected to the internet.

• Don’t click links you don’t recognize.

• Use X and go to the official account of crypto tools you want to use to find their links.

• Always use a VPN when on public or shared Wi-Fi.

• Have a separate device for crypto.

I know crypto is about being your own bank, but if you don’t feel prepared to do these things, there is no shame in just keeping your assets on a CEX or in a crypto ETF. It’s better to admit these safety measures aren’t for you than to find out the hard way.

Stay safu!

Small price to pay…

The Beluga intern has been hard at work gathering all the most important crypto news stories so you have them in one place!

The Majors

• Bitcoin could soon get Zcash-style 'shielded' privacy without changing its rules

• U.S. SEC's steadiest crypto advocate, Hester Peirce, to depart next week

Alt Coins and Stocks

• XRP Ledger’s Batch upgrade slips to Oct. 9 after validator support resets

• Another appeals court rules against prediction market provider Kalshi, says sports contracts are subject to state regulations

Crime

• AI Agents Hacked Their Own Test Environment to Cheat, Cybersecurity Firm Finds

• US Prosecutors Want $84.2 Million From a Bank Tied to Tether

AI

• Google Built an AI That Hunts Its Own Security Bugs 

Interesting Reads

• Bitget Hack Losses Climb to $387M: Here’s What Happened, and Why North Korea Is a Suspect

• Tether confirms minimal EQIBank exposure following $89M US asset seizure

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