Poly Network recovers assets; Rario launches cricket NFT platform

Transcript

Welcome to The Daily Forkast, August 13th, 2021. I’m Angie Lau, Editor-in-Chief of Forkast.News.

Coming up, Poly Network says its hacker has returned all assets except the frozen Tether. Samsung reportedly joins South Korea CBDC pilot, and Indian founded Rario launches a cricket memorabilia NFT platform.

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

First up, an update on the Poly Network hack on Thursday night, Asia time, the decentralized finance platform announced that all remaining assets on the Ethereum blockchain had been returned except for the tether tokens that were frozen immediately after the attack.

And in a twist to this sordid tale, the hacker has claimed they refused to accept a bounty offered by the network for returning the assets.

Forkast.News Monika Ghosh has the latest.

In another open letter posted on Twitter, Poly Network confirm the return of the assets barring the tether tokens, which are worth around US$33 million.

Poly Network has dubbed the hacker Mr. White Hat, a reference to ethical hackers who aim to expose cyber vulnerabilities, unlike black hat hackers, who access systems with malicious intent, often for personal gain.

According to digital messages shared on Twitter by crypto tracking firm Elliptic founder Tom Robinson, a person claiming to be the hacker said Poly Network had offered a bounty of half a million U.S. dollars that would be paid in return for their white hat behavior once all the assets are back in safe hands.

The message also promised the hacker they would not be held accountable. The hackers said they hadn’t responded to that message, but that all monies would be returned.

But while the story seems close to a happy ending, a hack overnight saw crowdfunding platform DAO Maker losing US$ 7 million.

For Forkast News, I am Monika Ghosh.

Meanwhile, looks like Korea is getting ready to dial up some CBDC action.

South Korean electronics giant Samsung is reportedly joining Bank of Korea’s pilot trial to test the functionality of the digital won on its galaxy phones.

Forkast.News Lucas Cacioli has more.

For Koreans, wallets holding paper fiat could soon be a thing of the past.

If the Bank of Korea’s latest pilot trials work out, it could be as easy as pulling out a Samsung Galaxy phone.

According to local reports, Samsung is joining the Bank of Korea’s CBDC pilot program. The country’s central bank backed digital currency trials in this case, will be reportedly focused on sending remittances to other phones or connected bank accounts.

If successful, it could mean greater ease in transferring money in and out of the country.

According to the World Bank, personal remittances sent back to family in South Korea account for half a percent of the country’s US$1.63 trillion GDP. That’s about eight billion dollars.

In a Korea Times report, citing an unnamed source, Samsung will also test mobile payments using CBDC with no internet connectivity, possibly via Bluetooth or other alternatives.

The first phase of the pilot program is due to run until December.

For Forkast.News, I’m Luke Cacioli.

And finally, cricket becomes the latest sport to be bowled over by the NFT phenomenon.

Indian founded tech company Rario has partnered with Polygon Studios to launch a platform offering officially licensed cricket NFTs.

Now, Rario says the platform will enable fans to collect and trade some of the most iconic moments in cricketing history via NFT’s.

It has already partnered with several international cricket leagues, including the Caribbean Premier League and Sri Lanka’s Lanka Premier League, to do just that.

And Rario also says it’s working on collaborations with the Board of Control for Cricket in India and Cricket Australia.

That’s not the only cricketing NFT tie up to be announced this week.

Former Australian test wicketkeeper and batsman Adam Gilchrist has signed up to be the global cricket ambassador for Australia’s Sportemon Go to market their cricket related digital collectibles.

While cricket might not be huge everywhere in the world, in countries including India and Australia, it’s so little something of an obsession.

Indeed, both Ahmedabad in India and Melbourne in Australia have cricket grounds with official capacities of over a 100,000 people.

And according to cricketsecrets.com, the sport has a global fan base of two and a half billion people.

Now, that’s one heck of a potential market for NFTs.

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.