Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine releases a series of NFTs, only for the project not to deliver anything it promised

An illustration of a human character on a yellow background, wearing a yellow construction helmet, with blue hair. It has yellow teeth and is holding a bloody machete.One of the Trollz NFTs (attribution)
$100,000 to charity, governance power over the project funds, a boxing game, and weekly competitions and raffles were all promised as a part of the Tekashi 6ix9ine-backed Trollz NFT collection. However, the project crumbled shortly after it began, with creators removing the ability to mint new NFTs before the designated number were released, a takeover of a Discord bot funneling prospective buyers to scam links, and the rapper deleting any trace of his affiliation with the project. One buyer lost $40,000; around $4 million in total was poured into the apparent scam.

DeFi platform C.R.E.A.M. is hacked for a third time, this time for $130 million

Crypto lending service C.R.E.A.M. Finance lost $130 million in a flash loan attack. It was the third hack of the platform this year, following a $37.5 million hack in February and an $18.8 million attack in August.

A tech startup aims to solve the real problem with the U.S. justice system: the lack of gambling involved

Tech startup "Ryval", which is formally launching in 2022, announced its plans to allow "everyday Americans" to bet on the outcomes of civil lawsuits, potentially raising funds for the parties. While the company is spinning this as "mak[ing] access to justice more affordable", I have considerably less faith that allowing crypto investors to decide on who and what is worthy of a lawsuit (or at least which lawsuits are likely to be "profitable" to them) will somehow introduce more equality into the American legal system.

"Realms of Ruin", a YA storytelling NFT project, collapses hours after launch

Six popular young-adult fiction writers attempted to launch an NFT project where they created a base universe, and participants would contribute their own stories (which they would mint as NFTs) that would be added to the official storyline if the authors liked them enough. Questions around who would own copyright, how teenagers (the target audience) would obtain cryptocurrency and mint NFTs, and environmental impact led the creators to shutter the project only five hours after the launch announcement went out.

Successful exploit of the CreatureToadz NFT project briefly nets a poorly-disguised hacker 88 ETH (almost $350,000)

A CreatureToadz NFT: an illustration of a red lumpy toad with hearts on its cheeks, with rain superimposed overCreatureToad #3813 (attribution)
A 17-year-old hacker was able to use a phishing webhook to make himself an admin in the CreatureToadz Discord server. Users who minted NFTs unknowingly sent cash to him, netting him a total of around 88 ETH (almost $350,000). However, after the hacker's real identity was uncovered shortly after the attack, the hacker returned the funds, claiming he'd intended to return it all along.

Hacker steals $16 million from Indexed Finance

A hacker drained $16 million from Indexed Finance, a defi protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain. The stolen funds represented nearly half of the total value locked on the platform. The hacker was later revealed to allegedly be an 18-year-old Canadian named Andy Medjedovic, who continued to refuse to return the funds even when his identity was revealed. The hacker argues that he simply took advantage of an arbitrage opportunity, and swore to "fight to the death" in court over his right to keep the money. However, the hacker never showed up to a December court appearance, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Four NFT projects on the Solana blockchain rug-pull in one day

A rendering of a small room, with a desk with a large monitor and computer tower, an L-shaped couch, and a large TV on one wall.One of the Solana Towers NFTs (attribution)
Developers behind Solana Towers, an NFT project allowing investors to buy rooms in a metaverse virtual condo as NFTs, disappeared with around $280,000 a day after the project's launch. It was only one of the projects to do so that day, joining the developers behind three other Solana NFT projects: "Interstellar Bots", "Cheesy Dizzy", and "Technidroids".

The creator of the "Evolved Apes" NFT project makes off with $2.7 million a week after launch

A cartoon man wearing a mesh tank top, with a beard and facial stubble, a hot pink earring, and a brown mohawk, drinks a can of beer.EvolvedApe NFT (attribution)
A week after the launch of the "Evolved Apes" NFT project, which consisted of 10,000 NFTs and a promised fighting game, the anonymous developer behind the project disappeared after pulling the equivalent of $2.7 million out of the project's funds.

Baller Ape Club NFT developers rug pull for $2.6 million

Illustration of a purple neon themed bar scene with crypto price charts on the wallsBaller Ape Club website (attribution)
A blatant clone of the extremely popular Bored Ape Yacht Club project, called "Baller Ape Club" and on the Solana blockchain, went live after much anticipation. Shortly afterwards, its creators made off with $2.6 million and deleted their websites and social media. The same group had pulled off one rug pull already, stealing around $150,000, and later went on to do a third rug pull in January 2022.

Founder of DeFi platform Compound threatens users who received mistaken payments with the IRS

Robert Leshner, the founder of Compound Labs, took an unusual approach when trying to recoup funds that were mistakenly distributed through a $160 million bug in the protocol. He tweeted, "Please return [the funds]. Keep 10% as a white-hat. Otherwise, it's being reported as income to the IRS". The threats were not received particularly well, with some questioning what assumptions Leshner was making about his typical user's tax status, and Leshner subsequently apologized for his "bone-headed" tweet.

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