Archive for the ‘Smart Contracts’ Category

CertiK Partners with Alibaba Cloud to Bring Blockchain Security to the Cloud – Yahoo Finance

New York, May 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CertiK, the New York-based blockchain security company, and Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, announced the signing of a partnership to provide blockchain security services to cloud-based Web3 projects. Web3 developers can now accelerate their development process and secure their applications and smart contracts with CertiKs Security Suite and Alibaba Clouds scalable, highly efficient, and secure infrastructure.

Cloud-based computing services have driven the evolution of communications technology over the last decade, and cybersecurity has played a key role. New technology is not suitable for mass adoption until it has proven itself to be secure, which is exactly what CertiK is bringing to Alibaba Clouds Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) platform.

Blockchain is a novel technology that unlocks powerful new ways to perform secure, decentralized, and highly-efficient distributed computing. The integration of Web3 applications, smart contracts, and blockchains is the next step in the evolution of cloud computing.

With this new partnership, developers and enterprises can conduct code reviews, risk assessments, team identity verification, background checks, and more using the services and tools provided by CertiK and deployed on Alibaba Cloud.

Alibaba Cloud has gone live with CertiK's smart contract auditing service and Layer 1 blockchain auditing service fully integrated. In the near future, penetration testing and CertiK's Skynet due diligence tool will also be introduced, providing end-to-end security solutions.

Were excited to bring our years of blockchain security experience to Alibaba Clouds platform, said CertiK co-founder, Prof. Ronghui Gu. Weve believed in the power of blockchain technology for over half a decade, and to see Alibaba Cloud commit to this same vision and embrace a comprehensive approach to security is extremely rewarding. We look forward to bringing secure blockchain development and deployment to the widest audience possible.

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"Alibaba Cloud has always been committed to providing customers with safe and reliable cloud computing services, and actively promoting the development of new technologies and applications. This cooperation will provide us with more comprehensive technical support and security solutions to better serve the blockchain and Web3 ecosystem, said Raymond Xiao, Head of International Web3 Solutions, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence

CertiK experts will monitor deployments to Alibaba Cloud environments, helping developers and enterprises perform secure cloud computing, maintain high-uptime cloud storage, and build secure infrastructure, while automated tools run behind the scenes and around the clock.

In addition, the upcoming Skynet vulnerability scanning platform scans code and identifies vulnerabilities in real time, providing developers with real-time monitoring and remediation recommendations.

Beyond the integration of the Security Suite, CertiK and Alibaba Cloud will support the continued growth of the Web3 world through the joint organization of hackathons, developer education sessions, and application development programs.

About CertiK

CertiK is a pioneer in blockchain security, leveraging best-in-class AI technology and expert manual review to protect and monitor blockchain protocols and smart contracts. Founded in 2018 by professors from Yale University and Columbia University, CertiK secures the Web3 world, by applying cutting-edge innovations from academia to enterprise, enabling mission-critical applications to scale with safety and correctness. CertiK has audited more than 3,900 Web3 projects and secured hundreds of billions of dollars of market capitalization.

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CertiK Partners with Alibaba Cloud to Bring Blockchain Security to the Cloud - Yahoo Finance

Tokenization is changing the world, from finance to art – Yahoo Finance

For years, industry leaders, skeptics and enthusiasts alike have questioned if blockchain would ever be adopted by mainstream institutions, and if so, when? Well that day has come and passed, in large part thanks to the ability to tokenize assets on-chain. Blockchain technologies are now playing a vital role across industries, and are propelling businesses forward. Particularly in the financial services space, blockchains are making a tremendous difference in reducing friction, improving efficiency and bringing down costs.

Asset tokenization is the process in which a digital representation of an asset is created on a blockchain and used to verify and track the authenticity and ownership history of the asset. This technology can be applied to virtually any asset, including securities, real estate, art and much more. The value of tokenization is in the application of the trustless and efficient record-keeping abilities of a blockchain to any asset in the physical world.

Tokenization is already making waves in mainstream circles, with financial powerhouses like Blackrock, Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon and JP Morgan all implementing blockchain technology into their operations in a variety of interesting and innovative ways. The tokenization of asset classes is opening new doors to further drive efficiencies in capital markets, shortening transaction and settlement times, while also improving costs and proliferating access for investors of all kinds.

Tokenized on-chain assets opens up access to liquidity in the market while increasing freedom and access for investors to form and participate in capital markets. Traditionally illiquid assets, such as real estate or fine art, can have their value unlocked through the process of tokenization, which opens the door to tremendous possibilities for new investment. For example, a recent report published by Boston Consulting Group outlined how Asias largest private market exchange, ADDX, has started to do this by using programmable smart contracts built on the blockchain to tokenize and fractionalize multi-asset securities including private equity, hedge funds, bonds and even pre-IPO companies. By utilizing customizable smart contracts, ADDX has been able to overcome the intricate manual processes previously necessitated when dealing with complex transactions while opening up the possibility for smaller investors to take part in the aforementioned transactions.

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Fractionalization is a key aspect of tokenization that allows for shares of any item, through its token, to be further split up into smaller pieces, which effectively proliferates and democratizes access to these assets. Fractionalization provides a new way for more investors than ever before to access these financial tools and opportunities.

Arguably the most pertinent issue faced by modern markets and customers across the globe is the incredibly high amount of friction that exists across our financial infrastructure. Asset tokenization is relieving this friction, making financial institutions and infrastructure far more efficient in terms of time, cost and labor, while at the same time, proliferating access to capital markets. The friction that currently plagues our global financial rails is one of the largest barriers to capital formation and wealth growth, and in many instances, it prevents smaller investors from participating. However, thanks to the reduction in cost due to alleviated friction facilitated by blockchain technology and fractionalized assets, less wealthy investors will be now able to explore and participate in new investment opportunities that traditionally would have been unavailable to them.

The investment banking giant Goldman Sachs has also been very successful in utilizing blockchain technology to improve its existing financial infrastructure. In a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal penned by CEO David Solomon, Solomon discussed how Goldman Sachs arranged a US$125 million two-year digital bond for the European Investment Bank along with two other banks, all based on a private blockchain. Without tokenized assets on-chain, it would have taken five days to settle for a transaction of this magnitude to settle. However, the settlement took just 60 seconds after the bond had been tokenized on a private blockchain. The ability to reduce settlement times can, and will, lower costs across the globe for all market participants including banks, customers and regulators, ultimately making markets incredibly more efficient.

The rapid proliferation of tokenized assets across industries in the last few years is a clear sign that this technology is here to stay. However, there are still some challenges standing in the way of even wider adoption.

One such issue is the technical difficulty of creating these platforms. Cryptography is not an easy discipline to learn, and creating permissioned and private blockchains for enterprise use is a tremendous undertaking. This level of difficulty, and the relatively new technology being used, makes it difficult for leaders at incumbent institutions to update their already profitable systems and businesses with new instruments that they may not fully understand. However, now that a handful of influential business leaders across global markets have proclaimed their own grand successes with this technology, the rush to follow suit is underway. Even global governments, notoriously the hardest institutions to change, are feverishly looking into tokenizing their national currencies through the creation of central bank digital currencies.

Institutions from banks to governments across the world have widespread access to the most amazing transactional machinery mankind has yet to devise. We can buy and sell quite literally anything on the blockchain. This evolution of technology is facilitating an equally exciting evolution in financial services one that is benefiting users on both ends of every transaction. The benefits of this technology are staggering, and as the adoption of blockchain technology continues to advance and spread across institutions, we can continue to look forward to the new ways innovators will implement tokenization platforms to solve their complex business challenges.

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Tokenization is changing the world, from finance to art - Yahoo Finance

6 Web3 Security Tools for Collectors, Creators, and Builders – nft now

Ensuring your safety in Web3 may often seem like a difficult task. But it really shouldnt be, considering the wide variety of best practices that users can observe to boost their level of security while perusing the blockchain. Yet, many simply glaze over the lessons of the past and other practical security solutions established by their peers until its too late.

Except in the wake of a remarkable hack or scam, security seems to be a secondary or even tertiary priority to many in Web3. But significant grifts can ultimately cause problems for the majority of those in the NFT space, depending on whos affected. How can we end this cycle?

The solution is twofold. First, we must understand that the safety of the NFT space isnt only the users responsibility but needs to be a group effort. Secondly, users need to familiarize themselves with and begin using the tools that are already readily available to help keep creators, collectors, and builders safe. Here are some of the top ones to know.

Web3 Antivirus is a security tool catered to creators, collectors, and builders at any level. It installs as a browser extension on Chrome, Brave, Firefox, and Edge. The extension works by auditing the smart contracts a user engages with to identify dangerous logic, critical vulnerabilities, and compromising access permissions.

By vetting contracts, Web3 Antivirus warns users before they engage with malicious contracts or otherwise take potentially dangerous actions. Currently, only the basic free version of Web3 Antivirus is available, while a premium paid version (equipped with a range of new features) is set to be released soon.

SafeSoulis a free browser extension created by the same team behind theDigital AnimalsNFT project. The service is compatible with Chrome, Brave, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. It identifies potential NFT scams using bright red brackets while Web3 users navigate popular platforms such as Twitter, Google, and YouTube.

Threats are constantly being monitored by the SafeSoul team, but the service also relies heavily on community members to identify potential malicious accounts and content. With the SafeSoul Web3 Patrol, users are incentivized to flag potential hazards by leveraging their identities using non-transferable Soulbound Tokens (the SafeSoul Token) that act to verify them as trusted members of the NFT community.

Immunefi is one of, if not the most prominent, bug bounty platforms available in Web3. For those unfamiliar, a bug bounty is a reward (monetary or otherwise) provided to benevolent hackers that seek to successfully find and flag a vulnerability or bug to an application (or smart contract) developer.

In the NFT space, smart contract auditing is a crucial step before launching a project and one that can significantly affect the safety of users in Web3 if performed incorrectly. Considering that, in 2022 alone, hacks and scams reportedly cost the Web3 community over $4 billion, Immunefi has continued to encourage hackers to claim bug bounties to prevent more capital from being senselessly funneled away from creatives. The platform reports that it has saved $25 billion from being hacked to date.

NotCommon is a service that provides real-time custom alerts about security threats in Web3 to users on Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, and Tezos. By connecting a wallet to the service and downloading the services Chrome extension, users will get updates about security threats specific to their NFTs, tokens, and the projects they follow.

The reactionary model that NotCommon is spearheading has thus far seemingly proved to be effective, with the platform having identified over 160,000 scams to date. By identifying threats as they occur, NotCommon can send up a flare that might save collectors from engaging with malicious links or trading unofficial and nefarious NFTs.

Harpie is an on-chain firewall that aims to provide a new, essential security layer for Web3 wallets in order to stop hacks before they ever get on-chain. The service monitors a users wallet hundreds of times a second and works to stop a malicious transaction or transfer in transit automatically.

Users can expect to be defended against front-end attacks, bait and scam sites, private key theft, phishing attacks, and accidental transfers. Aside from being the first and only company to ever stop a private key theft automatically, Harpie also lays claim to being non-custodial, operating off of immutable and audited contracts, and utilizing a system of checks and balances to avoid single points of failure.

Forta is the first detection network built for the security and operational monitoring of blockchain activity. The services goal is to create a Web3 approach to securing the open economy by detecting threats and anomalies within the DeFi and NFT ecosystems as well as throughout governance, bridges, and other Web3 systems in real time.

Running on the Ethereum, Polygon, BSC, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Fantom blockchains, Forta provides users (traders, developers, and investors) with timely and useful information about the security and stability of their systems. To date, Fortas community-run security network has protected tens of billions of valuable assets from exploits.

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6 Web3 Security Tools for Collectors, Creators, and Builders - nft now

Uniswap V3 and Ontology EVM Integration Proposal: Empowering … – Blockchain Reporter

Ontology is set to expand its horizons through a proposed partnership with Uniswap, one of the leading decentralized exchanges (DEXs). Integrating Uniswap V3 onto the Ontology EVM is expected to bring numerous benefits to both ecosystems, including enhanced user experience, increased scalability, and the exploration of new decentralized finance (DeFi) possibilities.

This collaborative effort aims to leverage the strengths of both platforms to create a vibrant and dynamic DeFi environment. The proposal, backed by a liquidity provision of $2 million USDT and a $1 million USDT liquidity incentive from the Ontology Foundation, demonstrates the commitment to encouraging early liquidity on the network.

The integration will utilize multiple secure bridges, including Ontology Bridge, Poly Network, Multichain, and cBridge, ensuring robust cross-chain functionality. By combining their expertise and resources, Uniswap and Ontology strive to complete the integration within a 6-week timeframe upon approval.

The motivation behind this partnership is twofold. Firstly, the integration aims to leverage the robust Ontology infrastructure to expand Uniswaps user base and functionality. The Ontology Network, a public blockchain project and distributed trust collaboration platform, focuses on identity and data management. Its adaptable and modular architecture seamlessly integrates with various industries and businesses.

By incorporating Uniswap V3 onto the Ontology EVM, the partnership seeks to enhance the value proposition for both platforms and foster a more vibrant DeFi ecosystem. Secondly, the partnership is driven by Ontologys commitment to constantly seeking new collaborations to strengthen its position in the blockchain space.

With its support for Solidity smart contracts running on an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) environment, Ontology offers developers the ability to use familiar tools and frameworks, such as MetaMask wallet, web3.js library, Truffle, and Hardhat development frameworks, for writing, testing, deploying, and running EVM contracts on the Ontology testnet and mainnet.

Furthermore, Ontologys multi-VM support, which includes native contracts, NeoVM contracts, and WebAssembly (WASM) VM contracts, offers developers flexibility and optimal performance when building on the Ontology Network. The Ontology ecosystem already boasts a thriving network of partnerships across diverse sectors, including finance, mobility, music, and decentralized identity.

Notable collaborations include Wing Finance, a DeFi platform built on Ontology that focuses on credit-based lending and borrowing, and Daimler Mobility, which explores blockchain technologys potential in the automotive and mobility sectors. These partnerships highlight Ontologys versatility and adaptability in catering to different industries and delivering value to its users.

In terms of legal standing, the Ontology Foundation is a legal entity incorporated in Singapore, and it declares no past or existing financial or contractual relationship with Uniswap Labs, UNI token, or investments of Uniswap Labs Ventures, ensuring transparency and a conflict-free partnership.

The integration process will mitigate potential risks, such as smart contract vulnerabilities and interoperability issues, through rigorous testing, audits, and using proven security measures. Existing bridges, including Ontology Bridge, Poly Network, Multichain, and cBridge, will be leveraged to ensure seamless integration and enhanced security. These bridges have undergone thorough audits by reputable firms such as BlockSec, PeckShield, and CertiK.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) will measure the partnerships success, including user adoption rates, liquidity provision, and trading volume. The desired outcomes include successfully integrating Uniswap V3 onto the Ontology EVM, increased user adoption, higher trading volume, and enhanced liquidity provision. By achieving these objectives, the partnership aims to solidify the position of both Uniswap and Ontology as leading players in the DeFi landscape.

To facilitate the integration, the Ontology Foundation will allocate a total of $2 million USDT for liquidity pools, covering popular trading pairs such as WONT-pUSDT, WONT-pUSDC, WONT-WONG, WONT-pWBTC, and ONT-pETH. Additionally, a $1 million USDT liquidity incentive will be provided to bootstrap early liquidity on the Network, encouraging users to participate actively in the decentralized exchange.

The milestones for this engagement indicate an efficient and timely process. Upon approval, the deployment of Uniswap V3 on the Ontology EVM is expected to be completed within a six-week timeframe. This timeframe reflects the commitment of both Uniswap and Ontology to swiftly realize the integration and provide users with enhanced DeFi capabilities.

The duration of the partnership will be reevaluated for renewal every two years, ensuring that both parties can assess the collaborations progress, success, and evolving needs. This commitment to regular evaluation and renewal highlights the long-term vision of the partnership and its potential to evolve and adapt to the changing dynamics of the DeFi ecosystem.

The license exemption details further solidify the collaboration between Uniswap and Ontology. The Ontology Foundation will deploy Uniswap V3 on the Ontology EVM, leveraging its high-performance public blockchain and cooperative trust collaboration platform. This license exemption enables seamless integration and ensures that both platforms can work together effectively to deliver enhanced services to their respective communities.

Integrating Uniswap V3 onto the Ontology EVM holds immense potential for the DeFi landscape. Uniswaps cutting-edge technology, combined with Ontologys robust infrastructure, will unlock new opportunities for decentralized trading, liquidity provision, and innovative financial products.

By tapping into the strengths of both platforms and leveraging their established user bases, the partnership aims to create a more inclusive, scalable, and efficient DeFi ecosystem. Furthermore, this collaboration aligns with the broader industry trend of interoperability and cross-chain functionality.

By utilizing secure bridges such as Ontology Bridge, Poly Network, Multichain, and cBridge, the integration will enable seamless interaction between the Ontology and Ethereum ecosystems. This cross-chain interoperability will open up new possibilities for liquidity sharing, asset transfers, and collaboration between different blockchain networks, further strengthening the DeFi landscape as a whole.

Users can expect enhanced liquidity provision, improved user experience, and new opportunities for decentralized trading and financial innovation as the integration progresses. The collaboration between Uniswap and Ontology sets a precedent for future partnerships in the DeFi space, highlighting the industrys drive towards interoperability and collaboration to deliver greater value and possibilities for the global blockchain community.

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Uniswap V3 and Ontology EVM Integration Proposal: Empowering ... - Blockchain Reporter

Shiba Inu: Unification Provides Major Update on Shibarium – The Crypto Basic

The Shiba Inu community will soon welcome the Verified Open Randomness (VOR) and Oracle of Oracles (OoO) smart contracts on the Shibarium testnet.

The Unification Foundation, the non-profit organization behind the Unification Protocol and Shibarium, has issued a progress report regarding Shibarium. The team recently announced their ongoing efforts to implement OoO and VOR contracts on the Shibarium testnet.

Lucie, a prominent Shiba Inu community influencer, drew public attention to the update in a tweet today, citing an excerpt from an official Medium post.

Per the excerpt, Unification is currently focusing on integrating the Verified Open Randomness and Oracle of Oracles (OoO) smart contracts onto the Shibarium test network, Puppynet.

VOR is a contract used for producing verifiably random outputs, essential for applications such as lottery systems and gaming dApps requiring randomness.

Oracles are smart contracts that can retrieve data, such as crypto prices, from external sources, and provide that data to the blockchain. They facilitate this by acting as bridges between the real world and the blockchain.

However, oracles are vulnerable to attacks that can lead to exploitation, such as the manipulation of asset prices. To address this issue, Unification introduced the Oracle of Oracles, which is resistant to hacking. They are now working towards deploying it on the Shibarium testnet.

Unification disclosed that they had deployed a test FUND token on the Shibarium testnet and linked the main Ethereum Goerli test network (L1) to the Shibarium test network (L2) via a bridge. The team further noted that they successfully transferred xFUND test tokens between both networks without any complications.

Unification revealed that their next plan is to deploy the 000 and VOR Router smart contracts on the Shibarium testnet. With the VOR Router, other smart contracts can utilize the VOR contract to generate random values. Following the deployment of these smart contracts, the team will activate the Oracle applications to serve data requests.

This update shows that progress is being made toward the eventual launch of the Shibarium mainnet. Moreover, with VOR, developers can create games, lotteries, and other applications that require a random element to function properly. This should help introduce such dApps to the network.

Furthermore, the integration of OoO on Shibarium guarantees that dApp oracles are impervious to hacks and flash loan attacks, instilling trust among builders and encouraging more participation on the layer-2 network.

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Disclaimer: This content is informational and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author's personal opinions and do not reflect The Crypto Basics opinion. Readers are encouraged to do thorough research before making any investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not responsible for any financial losses.

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Shiba Inu: Unification Provides Major Update on Shibarium - The Crypto Basic