crypto
One of Coolio‘s last known interviews took place on a lark in an airport departure gate when the host of a crypto podcast happened to spot the rapper chilling out while waiting for a flight. In the new episode of PJ Vogt’s Crypto Island pod, the host describes his surprise at seeing someone who had the “incandescent shine” of a likely famous person casually sitting at a gate in New York’s JFK airport.
Wearing a green track suit and matching baseball hat with two slots cut in the top to make room for his signature at-attention braids, Coolio was friendly when Vogt asked him to introduce himself and a young fellow passenger named Grant whom the MC had befriended.
Waiting to board a flight to Copenhagen, Coolio explained to Vogt that he’d done his crypto research. “I am actually heavily invested into the metaverse,” said the “Gangsta’s Paradise” rapper who died on Sept. 28 in Los Angeles at age 59 of suspected cardiac arrest. “I have a nice swath of land in the metaverse and barring the internet crashing or somebody dropping an EMP (electomagnetic pulse) on the whole world and there being no power, this would be a good deal.”
Given the tremendous amount of energy needed to power crypto in the midst of what climate scientists have warned is a make-or-break moment for the rapidly warming Earth, Vogt asked Coolio to share his thoughts on the climate crisis. “I’m not so much worried about it,” Coolio said in a hoarse voice. “By the time it gets to be a serious problem I’ll be long dead.”
Though Vogt said Coolio understood the dangers of sea level rise and global warming, the rapper said he had “so many other things” to worry about right now that impending climate apocalypse was not on the list. Among them, Grant chimed in, was how they were going to get to Denmark. “Exactly, because I got a show tomorrow,” Coolio said. Though he’s more likely to suffer the ravages of climate catastrophe because of his age (20), Grant agreed about fretting in the right now versus worrying about our hothouse future.
And then Coolio dropped a serious bombshell. “I’m gonna tell y’all another thing that nobody will never tell you,” he said. “There’s another continent that they’re hiding from us.” Vogt, confused but intrigued, asked Coolio to elaborate. And so the rapper born Artis Leon Ivey Jr. explained that if you travel 50 miles out into the Antarctic Ocean — whether on a ship, plane or helicopter — you will be told by the military to turn back or face annihilation.
Grant said he’d also heard this conspiracy theory, and then doubled down with another one about hidden pyramids in Antarctica. “There are pyramids in the Grand Canyon,” Coolio noted. Vogt said he would save the rest of the chat for a later episode, but summarized a discussion with Coolio and Grant that involved them getting excited about what they described as an ancient race of aliens who were protecting part of the planet from marauding, fossil-fuel addicted humans.
The trio then boarded a plane — a sleepy Coolio in first class, Vogt in coach — with the host musing that as far-out as Coolio and Grant’s notions were, in a world where everything feels like it’s falling apart all the time, “it points to the allure of literally any distraction… any problem shinier than the big one: that we’ve accidentally created a world where our consumption is gradually killing us.”
Listen to the episode below (Coolio appears around 4:10 mark).
Metallica warned fans on Monday (Dec. 5) that crypto scammers are trying to capitalize on the exciting news of their new album single and tour by posting fake giveaway offers. “In the wake of last week’s exciting news of our new song, new album, and new tour, unfortunately the ugly side of social media made an appearance. Many of you have let us know about YouTube channels and live streams, as well as websites, claiming to offer Metallica Crypto giveaways in conjunction with last week’s announcement,” they wrote.
Last week, the long-running metal legends announced the release date for their 12th studio album, 72 Seasons (April 14, 2023), as well as blitzing new single, “Lux Æterna” and dates for their massive 2023 world tour.
“Let’s be as clear as possible. These are scams,” the band continued. “They’re being streamed on fake YouTube channels posing to be ours and all pointing to websites that we do not run. Please remember – all of our official social media channels are verified. Always look for official verification before believing something wild and crazy to be true. We thank all of you who have been vigilant in reporting these live streams to YouTube and to us… please don’t let up!” They also included links to all their official social media sites and the r/Metallica Reddit channel is also keeping keeping an eye on the scammers who have employed phony account names and URLs to lure fans with promises of doubling their Bitcoin investments.
According to a report, a 51-year-old man told police he was scammed by a fake account into transferring approximately $25,000 in bitcoin to an unknown suspect via a fake Metallica YouTube account.
See Metallica’s post below.
Remember way back last year when Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs were all the rage thanks to high-dollar purchases of the digital images of cartoon apes that were snapped up by everyone from Snoop Dogg to Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Paris Hilton?
Well, in the wake of the implosion of the FTX platform and a precipitous meltdown of digital currency prices over the past month, one of the celebrities who bet, and spent, big on Bored Ape is likely feeling pretty humbled this week. A video parody that opened The Late Show on Thursday night (Nov. 17) chronicled the reported precipitous plunge in value of Justin Bieber‘s Bored Ape.
The bit included tape from a report about the parallel tanking of crypto art that noted that an Ape purchased by Bieber in January for $1.3 million is now worth around $69,000, a calamitous come-down for the series of more than 10,000 NFTs that became the best-selling NFT art collection ever with a one-time reported value of more than $1 billion.
In one of their signature song parodies, Stephen Colbert and the gang re-purposed one of Bieber’s most beloved ballads to offer some gently stinging commentary on the latest celebrity crypto crack-up in the guise of a message to JB from his Bored Ape. “Is it too late not to say sorry?” the cartoon ape sang over the strains of Justin’s “Sorry.”
“‘Cause I lost you lots of money/ But you have to admit it’s funny/ I’m not even a real baboon/ A million bucks for a dumb cartoon,” the sad simian sang before offering another hot virtual stock tip: invest in a Cautious Cow NFT. NFT Price Floor reported that the floor price for the Bored Ape collection — the price of the cheapest-available NFT listed on the marketplace — is down to around 58.2 ETH, or around $69,800, marking a 33% dip in Bored Ape value in just the last month.
At press time a spokesperson for Bieber could not be reached for comment on the alleged plunge in worth of his digital investment.
Watch the Bored Ape bit below.
One evening in July, panic spread in a small corner of the Web3 music space. Mysteriously, $6.1 million worth of cryptocurrency began moving out of blockchain music service Audius’ company treasury into an unknown wallet. Audius was being hacked.
The hacker discovered a bug that allowed them to take control of the Audius treasury — the crypto equivalent of a shared bank account — and transfer the entire funds to their own crypto address. The bug had lived in the code for two years.
This is shaping up to be the worst-ever year for crypto hacks, according to Chainalysis, with over 125 major hacks surpassing $3 billion in total, and on track to surpass the $3.2 billion in 2021.
Meanwhile, phishing scams continue to drain NFT wallets at an alarming rate. “Everything is unbelievably insecure,” says Sam Williams, founder of blockchain storage platform Arweave and a self-proclaimed “hacker,” though he uses the term as a broad description for coders. “We’re in the hackers’ Wild West of Web3 right now.”
Since the popularity of NFTs and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin took off in early 2021, things have only gotten worse, creating a honeypot for hackers. “There was a lot of fluff brought in during the hype cycle last year,” Williams says, “and that typically lowers security standards for a period.” Teams scrambled to push products live to capitalize on the stream of new money paying too little attention to security.
For music companies or artists entering the space, the consequence of a hack could be enormous. Audius took a $6 million financial hit but it’s more than just money. Exploits can also damage the trust of music fans and undermine the entire promise of Web3. Warner Music Group considered this dilemma when launching its Stickmen Toys NFT collection earlier this year. “No matter how much time, how many resources, or how good of intentions go into a project, if there is a security breach, it can harm the project and its team’s reputation,” says Jillian Rothman, Warner’s vp of new business & ventures, business development.
The stakes of hacking are higher in Web3 than in today’s internet because customers are at direct risk of losing their money. If there’s a malicious link in a Discord server, dozens of community members could have their NFTs or cryptocurrency stolen from their wallet. If there’s a bug in the code, users could have their funds cryptographically locked with no recourse. The community backlash from these security incidents can be severe and costly that Web3 teams often resort to refunding users out of their own pocket. So, where are the biggest risks and what can music companies do to protect themselves and their artists?
Experts say the main vulnerabilities for the NFT space lie in smart contracts. These are programs written by developers on top of blockchains like Ethereum that hold funds and execute transactions — such as paying out royalties on secondary sales. “Smart contracts are just buggy and can be exploited,” says Nic Carter — partner at Castle Island Ventures, a VC firm with several Web3 music investments. “Things are so new in the crypto space that developers are still learning the best practices for safety.”
One NFT project, for example — Aku, by former MLB player Micah Johnson — got $34 million locked in a smart contract due a small bug in the code. The money was never recovered.
One way to immediately lower the risk is operating with transparency. “It should be damn open source,” says Williams, so that anyone can check and verify the code. “There’s no point trying to hide it. Better you find [bugs] early so you can fix them.” Blockchains like Ethereum are transparent by nature so hackers will find exploits if companies go live with buggy code. Better to test it in the open on so-called test-nets before deploying with real money and high stakes. While building publicly might take away an element of surprise in terms of marketing, it’s a small price to pay for added security. Additionally, smart contracts should be audited by external developers.
Next, there’s the risk of customers getting their wallets hacked. “[Crypto wallets are] probably the No. 1 risk,” for newcomers, says Carter. “A poor wallet setup or a failure of key management — that’s probably been responsible for the greatest loss of funds.” Companies can keep the community safe by highlighting the risks and educating music fans entering the space.
Carter recommends that anyone interacting with crypto use a hardware wallet — a USB device that disconnects from your computer and the internet. And they should limit the funds on a “hot wallet,” such as Metamask, which can be easily compromised through malicious links. “The NFT space is really aggressively targeted by phishing,” he cautions. “I think because it was mainstreamed so quickly… It meant a lot of people didn’t have as much experience in [wallet] management.” He also suggests using two-factor authentication on all crypto-related accounts and advises against clicking unknown links.
The team at Warner put this into practice using a “security” page on their projects’ Discord servers. Users have to read this page before entering. It explains the best practices and warns the community how to spot scams. “In a nascent space, bad actors prey on unsuspecting community members,” says Sebastian Simone, Warner’s vp of audience & strategy. “It will take longer for Web3 to go mainstream if people have negative experiences.”
Importantly, however, the failure of wallets and smart contracts does not imply a failure of the blockchain itself. “It’s extremely rare to have the blockchain itself be hacked,” says Carter. It is the code and applications on top of the blockchains that pose the biggest security threat.
Carter and Williams are both optimistic that these security issues will decline over the coming years through standardized contracts and simpler code, but the young industry is still learning the hard way. With every new exploit, developers are learning where the vulnerabilities are and adopting safer practices for the future.
As Carter puts it, “Safety rules are written in blood.”
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