Poly Network offers hacker a job: NFTs support Afghan families

Transcript

Welcome to The Daily Forkast, August 18th, 2021. I’m Angie Lau, Editor-in Chief of Forkast.News.

Coming up, the Poly Network saga takes another twist by offering its hacker a job. Hong Kong based BIT Mining sees its revenue surge and the latest use for NFTs; care packages for displaced Afghan families.

Let’s get you up to speed from Asia to the world.

First up, the Poly Network hacking saga has taken yet another turn.

Not only is Poly Network still offering Mr. White Hat a bounty of US$500,000, they’ve now also offered a job.

In a tweet, the company said it cordially invites him to be “our chief security adviser”, assuming it is a him.

It’s an interesting offer to someone who so very publicly humiliated the project. So why do it?

Forkast.News Monika Ghosh has the latest.

In a statement Poly Network said that while there had been misunderstandings between the two, they now understand Mr. White Hat’s mission for DeFi and the crypto world, and it’s in line with their ambitions.

Mr. White Hat had responded to the job offer with the joke posted on Ethereum and shared on Twitter by Elliptic founder Tom Robinson. It’s not clear whether that would count as a yes or no.

One expert told Forkast.News, “we’re likely to see more blockchain companies offering rewards to ethical white hat hackers who spot bugs.”

“I think it’s a natural progression. As a lot of the blockchain companies are maturing, you’re absolutely going to see them going to different sources to come up with different bounty systems.”

And one ethical hacker told us they are essential for developing trust.

“So to show to your investor and your customers that you do have a mechanism to uncover holes, you need to have a bounty program.”

Indeed, there are many white hat hackers out there and one of them has helped decentralized exchange SushiSwap avoid a potential USD$ 350 million hack to its Miso token sale.

A researcher at venture capital fund, Paradigm, who spotted a flaw in the code, pointed it out and worked with SushiSwap to neutralize the threat.

For Forkast.News. I’m Monika Ghosh.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong based crypto miner BIT Mining has seen its net revenue surge in its Q2 earnings release. The company says net revenue for the quarter ended June 30th was almost US$450 million.

That’s a massive leap from the three million it reported in the previous quarter. The company says that revenue jump is in large part thanks to its acquisition of the mining pool BTC.com.

So what’s next for global mining domination plans?

Forkast.News Timmy Shen has more from Taipei, Taiwan,

In its report, BIT Mining says it has completed its transition to an enterprise covering cryptocurrency, mining data center operation and mining pool.

Previously an online lottery operator, the company announced it was starting that pivot in January.

Now the focus is on expanding mining operations globally, as well as construction of a data center outside of mainland China. It is due to begin operation late in the third quarter of this year.

That strategy follows China’s clampdown in cryptocurrency mining, which has seen a mass exodus of miners to countries including Kazakhstan.

BIT mining now has a potential hashrate capacity of almost 300 quadrillion hashes per second in the country, though not all of their machines there have been deployed as yet.

For Forkast News, I am Timmy Shen Taipei, Taiwan.

And finally today, could philanthropy prove to be the next real life application for NFTs?

With the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan hitting headlines around the world, many people have been thinking about ways to help those whose lives have been turned upside down as a result.

Jack Butcher, the founder of Visualize Value, is one of them, and he’s hit upon the idea of using NFT for good, setting up a fund to distribute care packages for families displaced by the conflict.

Those NFTs are priced at 0.028 ETH or US$ 89.50. The money goes to care.org, who say it’s enough to cover one family’s emergency needs, including food, water and shelter for a month.

It’s another interesting real life use case for NFTs. Some digital solace, if you will, for those displaced in this growing crisis.

And that’s The Daily Forkast from our vantage point right here in Asia. For more, visit Forkast.News. I’m Editor-in-Chief Angie Lau. Until the next time.