🔥 HEADTED TV - Episode #1 🔥

No chill. All signal.
Cypto news & market culture.⤵️

Best of the week in one single thread.

This will go down in history as one of the most expensive tweets in crypto Twitter history.

Lessons were learned.
h/t: @Deebs_DeFi 
https://x.com/icobeast/status/1987291328846402002

The career paths in crypto can include faking your own death, changing genders, and exposing CEX listing prices for tokens. @omedia_jyu did it all.
https://x.com/testinprodcap/status/1978956142869893227

Faking screenshots is nothing new. One of the more recent examples.

Bro got caught red-handed.
https://x.com/GreekGamblerPM/status/1980021116308742205

It's been almost two weeks since Cobie sold an NFT for $25M.

He alone has the power to bring back the NFT market. An Brian has the guts to burn a $25M NFT.

#justcryptothings.
https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/1980426820622381178

The real reason why I started writing threads again. To hopefully end up on such a list as well, and maybe replace at least one scammy KOL.
https://x.com/illigmid/status/1808137508527460858

Just another regular day in crypto. Founder sued by family members.
Blockchain is dead like the European AI dreams yet millons of dollars got extracted.
https://x.com/katexbt/status/1980843931089908151

Landlord rented LA mansion to 25yo "CFO" in lime Bentley who dodged rent with COVID docs.

eds later busted him for stealing millions from homeless housing funds.
https://x.com/jvb_xyz/status/1979207942575656980

I like to wrap things up with an educational post.

As so often in the past, it's from Quit. Telling people not to try "vibe-coding" when there's money on the line.

Try it with todo-lists first!
https://x.com/0xQuit/status/1977916906528252369

If you enjoyed reading this thread, drop a comment! Feedback is much appreciated!

I regularly tweet about the crazy world of crypto, AI, and prediction markets. Follow for more!

❤️ for reading

HEATED TV - EPISODE #1

First issue of AIX – AI on X.

The best GenAI posts, tools, prompts, and viral moments of the week on X.

Fresh every Tuesday.

Let’s go. 👇 

Did you know? AI now writes more web articles than humans, crossing 50% in Nov 2024.

Wild part: they barely rank on Google, so the internet is filling with invisible AI slop.

Dead internet theory accelerating
https://graphite.io/five-percent/more-articles-are-now-created-by-ai-than-humans

Absolutely mind-blowing AI-generated video. This 18th-century futuristic techno vibe goes sooo hard!

This would do numbers on Netflix, guaranteed.

https://x.com/yannToskov/status/1986114063055626266

Amir shows in this brilliant display of ads for major brands why @LTXStudio is gaining so many fans right now.

Take his ideas and apply them to your own brand.
https://x.com/AmirMushich/status/1979641387734945797

Every blueprint and how-to guide is only as good as the person executing it, but perhaps reading this will help change the trajectory of somebody's professional career.

https://x.com/neatprompts/status/1986705695430050080

Salma puts VEO's frame-to-frame features to the test with this beautiful animation.

The digital world is your oyster when you have endless creativity.
https://x.com/Salmaaboukarr/status/1981011447569355204

Consistency remains one of the most significant challenges when it comes to AI-generated content.

Here's a guide on how to tackle this problem.

https://x.com/gokayfem/status/1982459024147722474

A good reminder from Miko to use specific prompts to achieve a particular style.

I have to admit that I forget to use these types of tricks quite often, and then I'm left wondering why my content doesn't look as polished as the stuff I see on x.
https://x.com/Mho_23/status/1981844981150085500

Great breakdown from Jeffrey about the current state of open-weight LLMs and why China seems to dominate this area even though Facebook poured the most money into it.
https://x.com/doodlestein/status/1986781981665804372

Our most favorite (or most-hated) Indie hacker Levels shared a neat trick he learned by using @Grok.
https://x.com/levelsio/status/1986779284653154687

I opened a new browser tab 1 second after I read that Opal was now available in 160+ additional countries.

I didn't read the list, because I was 100% certain Germany and Europe would now be included.

Haha, f#ck me. Of course it isn't.
https://x.com/testingcatalog/status/1986779256081231884

#newtoolalert

@ImagineArt_X realeased a new suite of tools And El.Cine shows us what's possible.
https://x.com/EHuanglu/status/1986455803784798600

Vibe-coders (like me) have a new tool to play around with.

MagicPath now features a Chrome extension that enables you to capture and copy live UIs.

Six great examples:
https://x.com/minchoi/status/1986272323540766813

I'm waiting on the first fully AI-generated feature film. The intro of one is in the making here.
https://x.com/maxescu/status/1986737476828881249

Let's wrap things up with a message that hit way too close to home.

h/t: @iamdevloper 

If you found this helpful, follow @thisiswenzel for the best AI tools, prompts, and stories from X.

Fresh every Tuesday.

All signal, no noise.

AIX WEEKLY #1 - The best of AI on X.

💣 💥 TMZ Crypto #42 💰  ☠️ 

Your weekly newsletter of the biggest scams, rug pulls, and the general drama of the crypto world! ⤵️

Delivered to your feed in a single thread.

After a five-month hiatus, we're back with the legendary TMZ Crypto series.

My goal is to post every Monday. Hopefully, I'll be able to match @BCheque1's consistency.

I'll also post older stories this week to catch up on the backlog.

One of the biggest recent stories was the hack of @krakenfx.

It came to light that the attackers were not "hackers" but the security company Certik.

OP: https://x.com/c7five/status/1803403565865771370

h/t: @tayvano_ 
https://x.com/PopPunkOnChain/status/1803479381609730053

Follow-up meme:
https://x.com/ahitposter/status/1803505898100310404

It feels like ages ago, but it is yet another wild story arc.

Pharma bro @MartinShkreli got exposed by Zach as the guy behind the infamous $DJT shit coin.

At first Martin said he had nothing to do with the coin, but once Zach exposed him, he admitted it.
https://x.com/zachxbt/status/1803240784436797871

The @Blast_L2's low FDV is a story in itself, but the Blaze team sending 72K Gold to their multisig instead of distributing it to their users was one of the negative highlights at the end of season 1.

https://x.com/WizardofBlast/status/1805573901487161422

This wouldn't be a proper TMZ series if he had no beef among CT users.

Here we have Blur whale #1 calling out @DeeZe.

https://x.com/Cbb0fe/status/1805641033671213407

We seem to have two "metas" in the crypto space right now.

1. D-Tier stars launching meme coins with the help of @blknoiz06 and co.
2. Everybody sues everybody.

Below: SEC sues Consensys, the maker of MetaMask.
https://x.com/MilkRoadDaily/status/1806732892598403120

We also had @50cent claiming that his account was hacked and that it wasn't him who shilled some random shit coin.

He also claimed that someone made "$3,000,000 in 30 minutes" from the hack, even though it had only $19.8 million in volume. 🤔

UwU Lend got hacked. Then, it re-enables the protocol and immediately gets hacked again.

https://x.com/UwU_Lend/status/1800864462825787824

more: https://x.com/CyversAlerts/status/1801160124033093748

Like every day and every week, many unsuspecting users have been hacked and their wallets drained, often through social engineering. Here, we have a pretty sophisticated version of it.

https://x.com/zachxbt/status/1800906884666528071

@LoganPaul filed a defamation lawsuit against @coffeebreak_YT over his coverage of his failed CryptoZoo project.

In the lawsuit, Paul claims that Coffeezilla knowingly and falsely accused Paul of being involved in the scam. Paul is seeking damages over $75,000.

Let's finish this update with some positive vibes and how the FBI stopped a bunch of cybercriminals who expanded their "business" to the real world, where they committed a string of break-ins where they assaulted, threatened, and kidnapped victims.

The last sentence...damn.

TMZ Crypto #42: Scams, Drama, and Rug Pulls of Crypto Twitter

💣 💥 TMZ Crypto #37 💰  ☠️

Your weekly newsletter of the biggest scams, rug pulls, and the general drama of the crypto world! ⤵️

Delivered to your feed in a single thread.

I know I've been slacking. But I promise to get back on track!

Let's start with THE WILDEST crypto scam story I've encountered for ages.

A scam that ends with a SWAT team in front of the victim's house. INSANE! 🤯

Make sure to read this one! 👇
https://twitter.com/VaschettoSofia/status/1711915760338317406

After a major security incident a few months ago, @LastPass is in hot waters again.

Seed phrases stored in the LastPass vault apparently got stolen.

❗DON'T STORE YOUR SPEEDPHRASE ONLINE❗
https://twitter.com/flippen6485/status/1712158624985002176

h/t: @0xQuit
https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1711861911728640200

Reddit is the latest major company feeling the heat of regulatory oversight when it comes to using tokens.

It seems the topic got too hot for Reddit, and they pulled the plug on their $moon coin and sent it straight into the ground.
https://twitter.com/BITCOINALLCAPS/status/1714350047876284615

I could write a TMZ SPECIAL about the ongoing legal battle of SBF.

I selected a few of the best threads I found.

TL'DR: The dude is totally crazy, even though this is not really news!
https://twitter.com/coffeebreak_YT/status/1712212462542495816
https://twitter.com/AutismCapital/status/1711922830512939481

Here's another thread that will give you a quick overview of what's happening with the lawsuit.

Summary:
Q: What crimes did you commit?
A: A LOT!
https://twitter.com/martypartymusic/status/1710230870823670259

Last one!

Let's say the craziness runs in the family.

SBF's dad was unhappy with his 200k/year for basically doing nothing.

He wanted a cool milli per year. OKEY!
https://twitter.com/jconorgrogan/status/1704136563062439940

In the early years of crypto, the bad guys used it because everybody thought it was impossible to track or very, very difficult.

Times have changed. Nowadays, crypto esp. Bitcoin has a reputation as the 'best trackable' asset out there.
https://twitter.com/SamLyman33/status/1712209368450511162

I use this tweet as a reminder that even official domains can be hacked and overtaken.

Always make sure the little lock next to the domain name in your browser is locked and watch out for other clues - such as "surprise mints or air-drops":
https://twitter.com/LeonidasNFT/status/1711451399945412741

SocialFinance app StarsArena got hacked twice within a week or so.

lilitch posted a great deep dive into what happened in the 2nd hack:
https://twitter.com/0xlilitch/status/1710554756748353696

This is a reminder not to follow big accounts blindly. They can be hacked or publish malware/scams on their own.

Like in this case:
h/t: @CC2Ventures
https://twitter.com/iins_omnia/status/1711090369461453056

No TMZ thread without @zachxbt (one day I'll get a follow-back 😍 )

Here, he exposed a group that was sim-swapping FriendTech users (at that time, users couldn't change auth methods after the fact).

NEVER USE YOUR PHONE NUMBER as 2FA method.
https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1709697295464141208

Another one going down!
https://twitter.com/tier10k/status/1707758944205033748

We can put this in the category: Just one more way to get hacked.

Don't scan QR codes in Discord.

Of course, that's just the first step in the scam process, but that's how they try to trick you. With uncommon ways of interaction.
https://twitter.com/nft_dreww/status/1703030056430268473

It's been so long (less than a month) that we collectively already forgot what kind of crazy sh*t Ben was pulling off.

I wanted to include one tweet just as a little reminder.
https://twitter.com/HitNetwork_/status/1704577412934066567

You must know that Ben had an affair with the woman from the post below.

He also brought her along when he got arrested.

The comment from Loomdart was so on point, and I thought it would make for a good "Meme of the Week" :)
https://twitter.com/loomdart/status/1706561121170174359

This is yet another reminder of how quickly you can get scammed through Discord.

We always think this won't happen to us.
We're careful. But remember, these people have been careful, too.

In Fede's own words:
h/t: @officer_cia
https://twitter.com/fedesarquis/status/1707450611371839722

I was just talking about how this can happen to everybody. Famous, rich people are no exception.

@mcuban fell for a scam as well. He lost close to $900k and could have lost an additional $2M if the hacker paid more attention and checked all chains.
https://twitter.com/WatcherGuru/status/1703058793787973940

I want to close this issue with another very sophisticated scam attempt.

Working websites, flawless English, and even a working product/app can all be just a front with the end goal of scamming you out of all your assets.
https://twitter.com/fidoeth/status/1704696804887982163

TMZ Crypto #37: Scams, Rug Pulls, and Crypto Drama

💣 💥 TMZ Crypto #36 💰  ☠️

Your weekly newsletter of the biggest scams, rug pulls, and the general drama of the crypto world! ⤵️

Delivered to your feed in a single thread.

I've been slacking HARD! Time to catch up ASAP!

The Stoner Cats NFT project, backed by @MilaKunisv, got hit by the SEC. They must refund all money raised ($8M)+ pay a $1M fine.

How many more projects will share the same fate?

h/t: @NFTherder
https://twitter.com/Loopifyyy/status/1701966597445874124

We continue with a very recent hack (most likely by the infamous Lazarus Group).

Mistakes were made in wallets CoinEx controls.
https://twitter.com/coinexcom/status/1701651414991397176
https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1701905899034390574

One of the biggest recent stories was the takeover of @VitalikButerin's X account.

REMOVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER FROM TWITTER!

@BokkyPooBah lost one of the first minted Crypto Punks. He handled the situation like a real legend and admitted it was his fault.
https://twitter.com/BlockBrainAI/status/1700649884792340838

People watching @punk9059's daily show know that @MiladyMaker333 was defying the downward price trend of the NFT market.

But yesterday the price dropped a lot because the founder is suing three devolpers who allegedly stole $1M from the treasury.
https://twitter.com/CharlotteFang77/status/1701245168039452947

Ex-monster threadooor turned based-villain Adam Cochran posted some mysterious updates about Binance.

Reminds me of @cobie's infamous red-notice post.

Let's see what happens next.
https://twitter.com/adamscochran/status/1701770140361130227?s=20

Another unexpected side-arch was @farokh's heated post towards one of the biggest grifters in this space: @Pauly0x.

A lot of people celebrated Farokh's frank words, but not everybody.

What's your take?

h/t: @KingBlackBored
https://twitter.com/HashBastardsNFT/status/1701625852243439964

Banana Gun Bot shoots "investors" in the foot. (headline from @BlockBrainAI)

The team created a token, only to realize four hours after the release that there was a bug--so they had to rug the LP. Hmmkay.

ChatGPT found the bug. 👀
https://twitter.com/BananaGunBot/status/1701322684313817459
https://twitter.com/0xQuit/status/1701329304075018501

A lot of people seem to be bored during this bear market, so shots are being fired at all directions, from all directions.

@gainzy222 🔫 @CryptoHayes | @adamscochran 🔫 @gainzy222
https://twitter.com/inversebrah/status/1701755319796613473

@friendtech is having a renaissance and doing more volume than the entire NFT market.

If you're looking for some guidance, I found the following thread to be quite helpful!

Stats by: @punk9059
https://twitter.com/alpha_pls/status/1700945329464418385

Because I was slacking so much, some stories seem like they happened last year.

But @stake got hacked, and a private key seemed compromised.
https://twitter.com/0xArhat/status/1698729017342570717

The European Union doesn't seem to be a huge fan of privacy coins.

They might be banned from European exchanges pretty soon:
https://twitter.com/Mister_Ch0c/status/1699290391168618722

Another banger from Zach.

Here, he's breaking down the pump&dump scheme of various KOLs.

Reminder: DON'T BUY other people's bags. Unless they have a fancy names like Louis Vuitton or Hermès.
https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1700920283798839443?s=20

Some of you might remember @avi_eisen. He was an on-chain sleuth who was FAFO'ing a lot.

Then, he got caught and sent to jail. Things are not looking good:

h/t: @FreddieRaynolds
https://twitter.com/realChrisBrunet/status/1695640932228419701

Our favorite MEV bot is essentially covering ETH's costs single-handedly.

https://twitter.com/hildobby_/status/1700142166159356135

It's valuable when people share their encounters with hackers and scammers.

It helps others recognize and avoid similar pitfalls.

No harm was done in this instance, but the tactics are now exposed!
https://twitter.com/nft_dreww/status/1695836938656473130

Here's another victim story. This time, there's no happy end, but the bad ending could have been much worse!

Read & learn!
https://twitter.com/Yodaskk/status/1694643897807385084

Bitboy got fired from @Bitboy_Crypto.

I know, old news, but it didn't happen that long ago.

And we have brand new info: Ben is now suing BitBoyCrypto!
https://twitter.com/BenArmstrongsX/status/1701755690639819046
https://twitter.com/cryptomanran/status/1695782889391071593

As if there weren't enough attack vectors.

More and more are popping up daily, such as fake Google ads.

V2 of this scam are ad networks that show the correct URL and forward you to the fake after you click on it!

Use bookmarks and triple-check domains!
https://twitter.com/0xngmi/status/1694360865154167289

Legendary on-chain sleuth Tay put together a great, informative thread about how thefts look on-chain.

It's a great resource if you want to dive deeper into this topic.
https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1697336529746874521

I always try to finish my updates with educational content.

Here's a piece from Boring Security that explains how the Pink Drainer operates, along with other scam techniques!
https://twitter.com/BoringSecDAO/status/1700724667391307863

TMZ Crypto #36: Scams, Rug Pulls, and Crypto Drama

💣 💥 TMZ Crypto #35 💰  ☠️

Your weekly newsletter of the biggest scams, rug pulls, and the general drama of Crypto-Twitter! ⤵️

Delivered to your feed in a single thread.

Buckle in. This is going to be a long & wild ride. 🎉

If you enjoyed this thread, consider leaving a reply! 💓

➡️ How it started & how its going 🔽

@Uniswap employee fired over meme coin launch & soft-rug.

https://twitter.com/UniswapVillain/status/1690216623041372161
h/t: @0xCryptoGenius & @FreddieRaynolds

How it's going:

F*ck around & find out! 🤦‍♂️
https://twitter.com/haydenzadams/status/1690395983773880321

I'm tired of writing about Pauly, but the constant stream of bulls*it he's producing leaves me no chance.

He waits over two hours and 8-10M in volume before telling people they shouldn't buy $PDNX and makes fun of those who did.
https://twitter.com/_ck007/status/1688593979552546816
https://twitter.com/0xjustadev/status/1685277465483026432

Great thread by @nft_dreww about an ongoing scam from the Trait Sniper account.

The original project is dead but ended up in the hands of scammers who try to phish you via a Discord bot & possibly a token drop.
https://twitter.com/nft_dreww/status/1687139444824973313

Different scam:

How it works: They show you a PENDING tnx (will fail) to prove they sent the payment while pressuring you to send the NFT right away.

Esp. tricky when used with the @exodus_io wallet because it already adds the amount to your wallet.
https://twitter.com/TheChild1996/status/1691874341590360187

This isn't the first time the @akidcalledbeast collection made it to my newsletter.

Co-founder getting hacked -> asking for money -> quitting the job.
Just crypto things.
https://twitter.com/CryptoVonDoom/status/1690399966307794946

The ON-CHAIN SUMMER by @BuildOnBase is turning more into an ON-CHAIN winter. Dark and cold.

Everyday news pop up where DEXes rug users, or as in this case, the famous $bald deployer stealing millions.

But it seems he got exposed...
https://twitter.com/thisiswenzel/status/1687206209361956867

Below is a great deep dive into the whole $bald ordeal.

If it wasn't so tragic, it would almost be funny.
https://twitter.com/SCHIZO_FREQ/status/1688629805116448769

Sam Altman @sama, the founder of @OpenAI, got a lot of flak for his other creation: @worldcoin.

Below is a wonderful example of how the technology isn't working as intended.👇
https://twitter.com/OurielOhayon/status/1686369480736407552

tldr; The DAO fork, while protecting against a dishonest majority, may have opened up an attack vector for a dishonest minority to repeatedly drain the Nouns treasury. (by @charliecfeng)

☝️ That's the tldr from the first attack, but the idea is similar.
https://twitter.com/thenounders/status/1691174999451930624

This thread would be 100 pages long if I included EVERY. SINGLE. HACK. in the past two weeks.

I picked out this one to represent the 20 other protocols that got depleted since my last newsletter.
https://twitter.com/peckshield/status/1690857760412610560

This is a story from the category "Fail of the Week."

This fellow locked $10k worth of #ETH for 100 years.

Liquidity locked for the grandkids! 🫡 (by @mintycrypto)
https://twitter.com/sandraaleow/status/1686454107458912266

This is a brutal story. @frede_rico is among the many affected users of the @klever_io wallet hack. He lost ~500k.

TL'DR: There was a well-known bug in @TrustWallet discovered in 2022. It never got fixed.

Of course, at some point, it will get exploited.
https://twitter.com/frede_rico/status/1687957377155305472

Tay also weighed in on the obvious issues around the hack.

Cases like this are extra brutal because it's not the end-user who messed up but the "professionals" they trusted to take care of their assets.
https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1685690082077126656

Here we have a case of good ol' plain Twitter drama. (Not sure when I'll be using the name X).

Why on earth do people write messages like these? 💀
https://twitter.com/basedkarbon/status/1687538237932224512

We continue with some more drama. Below is a deleted post by @Lucky_Rollbit.

The duck with the right take - as always! 🫡
https://twitter.com/CryptoDonAlt/status/1685698955609296896

Reply from FatMan.

The crypto space is literally the digital version of the Wild West.
h/t: @Tree_of_Alpha
https://twitter.com/FatManTerra/status/1685691379882901504

By now, this is old news, but I still appreciate the creativity!

And we certainly can use some lightweight content in this episode!

Meme of the Week:
https://twitter.com/functi0nZer0/status/1686113626132783104

We continue with 'light' content.👇

Loss-p0rn of the week:
https://twitter.com/Overdose_AI/status/1686038286333046785

I've covered the @MultichainOrg collapse in a previous episode.

Here's a great deep dive into the trail of the exploiter address.

tl'dr: Multichain funds may be held by the Chinese government.

Means essentially GG for all affected parties.
https://twitter.com/DefiSquared/status/1686296376928296960

Only in crypto, you have guys rugging a project, stealing money from innocent people while at the same time apologizing for it and promising to give it all back once they hit the jackpot on @rollbitcom.

Can't make this sh't up! 😄
https://twitter.com/cozypront/status/1685687062257709057

As usual, I try to finish the newsletter on a positive note.

Here's a great one. @samczsun and a bunch of whitehats launched a Telegram bot where people can report bugs/exploits they found but can't reach the proper people.

Love to see it! 💟
https://twitter.com/samczsun/status/1688613385565528064

TMZ Crypto #35: Scams, Drama, and Rug Pulls

💣 💥 TMZ Crypto #34 💰  ☠️

Your weekly newsletter of the biggest scams, rug pulls, and the general drama of Crypto-Twitter! ⤵️

Delivered to your feed in a single thread.

We start with a super intriguing story. It reads like a Hollywood thriller.

A man from Colorado was tricked into downloading malware, losing 95% of his BTC holdings.

In 2021 he sued two teens for stealing his crypto.
https://twitter.com/bax1337/status/1682340159491129345

It's no secret that Mario Nawfal bought thousands of bots for his Twitter spaces.

Here's a follow-up story from his former CMO. Mario is also suing  YouTuber UpperEchelon for posting a video exposing his tactics.

https://twitter.com/GivnerAriel/status/1684280171061186562
https://twitter.com/FHeijdenrijk/status/1683562199804006400

Great thread about social engineering.

If you want to learn what methods scammers use to trick you into clicking on a fraudulent link, read this.

h/t: @0xQuit / @OxSaiyanGod / @1c4m3by
https://twitter.com/nft_dreww/status/1682462124327534598

I want to use this tweet to highlight that you can't trust any account when it suddenly starts tweeting about airdrops, NFT claims, and things that involve connecting your wallet.

In this case, the Uniswap founder lost control of his account.

USE 2FA!
https://twitter.com/0xQuit/status/1682118785220898816

Hamster racing was the latest trend on CT.

A few people made money, but most people lose money and will continue to do so, especially when the creators are slow-rugging their coin/project.
https://twitter.com/artysteth/status/1683148630750818305

This tweet is supposed to be an example that you never know the intention behind a person's tweet.

It's not common for influencers to tag their tweets with a (#ad)  disclosure when shilling you their latest bag.
https://twitter.com/Tma_420/status/1682442765676826633

Another day, another protocol gets exploited. This time it was @Era_Lend's turn.

The Attacker was able to get away with ~$1.7M.

The exploit was likely caused by them allowing LPs as collateral.
https://twitter.com/spreekaway/status/1683817944470396928
https://twitter.com/SaulCapital/status/1683817699262992386

No TMZ thread without a thread by Zach.

Here he's exposing a Canadian scammer known as Soup.

One of his methods included to fake @decryptmedia sites and acting as a real employee (Luke Hamilton).
https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1680918931442368515

The big guns from the Lazarus Group (North Korean state-sponsored hackers) found a new playground.

They are the best and most creative attackers out there. Here they're attempting to lure victims in through collaboration on GitHub.

Nobody is safe.
https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1681385673247571968

I find threads about security incidents always interesting, but still, the topics can be a bit dry.

Gifs can make things way more entertaining.

This is what DrZer did. He talks about the Multichain collapse with .gifs! https://twitter.com/DrZer_eth/status/1679600250770583552

The SEC goes after @Mashinsky former CEO of insolvent lending platform @celsiusnetwork.

https://twitter.com/tier10k/status/1679473446621675522

Almost every country plans to release its own version of a digital currency.

It looks like the Brazilian government is ready to rug its countrymen right away.

Their smart contract allows them to freely move, burn or freeze user funds. 👀
https://twitter.com/0xCygaar/status/1678818653305819136

Because I was slacking a bit, this is old news by now.

But it's still massive. The CEO of @MultichainOrg got arrested and because he was the only one with the keys to the kingdom things weren't working once he was gone.
https://twitter.com/chainalysis/status/1678494954094489637
https://twitter.com/MultichainOrg/status/1679768407628185600

Falling victim to a drainer must feel horrible. Imagine how this guy must feel?

He got drained TWICE. Boy, oh boy.
h/t @MetaSleuth
https://twitter.com/Jon_HQ/status/1679693369134706690

Added this just before release. Notorious "influencer" Pauly launched a sh*tcoin today.

The contract had one special feature:
"A function that allows anybody to transfer anybody else's tokens to any address."

https://twitter.com/0xQuit/status/1684982136724733952
https://twitter.com/0xfoobar/status/1685057693994655744

This story highlights what I find so fascinating about this space.

Bad guys are getting their stolen NFTs stolen by other "bad" guys who are front-running their transactions.

If this isn't real PVP, I don't know what is.
https://twitter.com/realScamSniffer/status/1682030435134742531

TMZ Crypto #34: Scams and Drama of Crypto-Twitter

💣 💥 TMZ Crypto #33 💰  ☠️

Your weekly newsletter of the biggest scams, rug pulls, and the general drama of Crypto-Twitter! ⤵️

Delivered to your feed in a single thread.

We start with a banger right away.

Cirrus noticed a massive wallet drain worth ~$600k at the time.

Zach jumps in with the info that the victim might potentially be a scammer/hacker himself.

It's always great to see karma at work!
https://twitter.com/CirrusNFT/status/1675055410355773442

Never underestimate the lengths scammers will go to in order to steal your valuable crypto or NFTs.

Below is a super sophisticated scam that even seasoned users can fall for.

The story reads like a thriller -- with a happy end.
https://twitter.com/PiotrSzlachciak/status/1672341501005778945

I just love reading about MEV bots, as I'm fascinated by how these guys can extract insane amounts of value.

Great thread about the biggest player in this field - by Lightyears.

JaredFromSubway.eth!
https://twitter.com/dealerdefi/status/1675558470928461827

The crypto space offers a various array of attack vectors. One of them is governance attacks.

In this case, someone attacked a dead AAVE copy on @PulsechainCom. And made off with ~$900k.

h/t: @z1code1z
https://twitter.com/spreekaway/status/1675224468925431809

0xQuit talks about a rather bizarre series of events.

Somehow a user lost NFTs worth ~$400k and $170k of Apecoin by signing seven individual transactions over the course of 7 minutes.

Falling for one malicious tnx is bad, but seven times in a row? Odd.
https://twitter.com/0xQuit/status/1675175262412242944

I love reading stories about the wild early days of crypto and dark web marketplaces.

Here's a wonderful thread that takes you down the memory lane of this wild west time of the internet.
https://twitter.com/0xBiZzy/status/1676024048181035009

Checking if you're on the correct website is always important.

But that alone doesn't shield you from getting hacked, as the legit website might also be compromised.

As Quit pointed out in this post. ALWAYS be careful and look out for 🚩🚩🚩
https://twitter.com/0xQuit/status/1675718793325326336

Beanie is trying to make a comeback right now.

He claims that he got canceled only because of his involvement with BLOOT, which couldn't be further from the truth.

That's why I created a little 'reminder' post about his past actions.
h/t: @MoonOverlord
https://twitter.com/thisiswenzel/status/1673639379615744001

No week without at least one post by Zach. Here he's putting known "clown-fluencers" in their place.
https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1674979249248247810

So many massive hacks have happened in the crypto space that nobody remembers them all.

But it's good to revisit some of them occasionally and check what happened with the loot. Like in the case of the Gatecoin hack.
https://twitter.com/jconorgrogan/status/1674870538089422852

Throwback to a scheme of epic proportions.

$WAVES founder Sasha pulled off almost every scheme available to keep printing money for himself, according to this thread.

I do remember the proposal to kill all $waves shorts—wild times.

Great read!
https://twitter.com/WazzCrypto/status/1673057800027779072

Just another showcase that seasoned users (and e-frens of mine) can also fall victim to phishing attacks.

In this case, John thought @Azuki dropped something, but instead, it was a sneaky @blur_io transfer signature selling all his approved assets.
https://twitter.com/John_ACW/status/1672510447059075074

My bullshit detector went off almost immediately when I saw Mario's spaces.

Yet, he somehow managed to repeatedly get Elon's attention and therefore grow his account like mad.

Now his former CMO exposes his shady tactics!
https://twitter.com/FHeijdenrijk/status/1674152985524420609
https://twitter.com/HashBastardsNFT/status/1674186911928266752

Funny side-arc. People thought his account got hacked because Mario was promoting some shady-looking NFT project.

But instead, it seems as if he was selling these things in the first place.
https://twitter.com/solminingpunk/status/1672990696188379136

We finish the issue with a banger thread by Rile.

He put together a great thread of the biggest celebrity scammers.
https://twitter.com/RileNFTs/status/1673042309183680513

TMZ Crypto #33: Scams and Drama of Crypto-Twitter

💣 💥 TMZ Crypto #32 💰  ☠️

Your weekly newsletter of the biggest scams, rug pulls, and the general drama of Crypto-Twitter! ⤵️

Delivered to your feed in a single thread.

It's been just a week since my last episode, but so many big stories happened.

We start with the hottest one right now.

Elena got into hot waters with her BTC drop:

Stolen or not?
https://twitter.com/dachshundwizard/status/1671542394968494082
https://twitter.com/mulan_art/status/1671535978937462784

Her reply so far.

@ChiruLabs, the company behind @Azuki, took quick action after these facts came to light:
https://twitter.com/DemAzuki/status/1671647596949929986
https://twitter.com/ElenaaETH/status/1671628878509424644

The 2nd biggest story of the week is that Machi sued none other than @zachxbt over the release of this thread:

https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1537435280176623616

Within two days, his legal defense wallet received over $1M in donations!
@memeland donated 6.9E - h/t @waleswoosh
https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1669783717236342785

A follow-up tweet from Zach about the threats he receives. Now that he's doxxed, these must feel quite a lot different.

He pissed off some pretty resourceful people, and we usually never talk about the psychical stress people like him are under.
https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1670828486641033216

Funny side-arc of this story. Machi sent all his BAYC to Binance to show support in their SEC case.

A few days later, the company's CEO pays 50k to Zachs' legal defense fund.

The way Karma works...
https://twitter.com/CirrusNFT/status/1670131701463543808

A scary amount of big Twitter accounts got hacked last week.

All of them were either using SMS verification or no 2FA at all.

Here's a thread from a victim about how to increase your level of protection.

Hint: Use a 2FA app or @Yubico.
https://twitter.com/resaang/status/1671009761775714304

Farming $blur token has been the single most effective method of burning #eth the crypto community has found so far.

Great thread on future unlocks and what this might mean for the $blur price.

h/t @punk9059
https://twitter.com/BowTiedGolem/status/1668729956241637377

We all learned the ApeDao council earns 20k/month for three hours of work per week.

The financial and legal advisors of the bankrupt exchange FTX were like:

Hold my beer!
https://twitter.com/adamscochran/status/1670919299597205505

This one is relevant to smart contract developers and people interested in on-chain security.

A collection of various attack vectors in smart contracts.
https://twitter.com/__Raiders/status/1671145875379453954

@BinanceUS avoided getting their exchange assets frozen and made a deal with @secgov.

But insiders say the agreement came with a hefty price:
https://twitter.com/decryptmedia/status/1670159465121824769

To lighten up the mood a bit among all this dark news, here's our 'Meme of the Day':
https://twitter.com/John_ACW/status/1671514512493539329

The following story belongs 100% to the TMZ part of TMZ CRYPTO.

@eth_ben got doxxed, and somehow Pauly wants to fight him in Vegas.

Sometimes CT is a real 🤡 show!
https://twitter.com/Pauly0x/status/1669815229637697538

A court document was filed on June 7, 2023, in which Musk is accused of selling 1.4 billion Dogecoin, worth over $124 million. The records state two different wallets, supposedly belonging to the billionaire, offloaded the tokens.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.581639/gov.uscourts.nysd.581639.77.0.pdf
https://twitter.com/thutski/status/1670493591456698369

Another week another DeFi exploit. This time $600k got stolen from
@MidasCapitalxyz by draining a lending pool.

https://twitter.com/peckshield/status/1670148905810403330

And because one hack isn't enough, we got another one. This time @PawnfiOfficial got exploited, and 1 BAYC, 6 MAYC, and 2 BAKC were stolen - in total, ~$820k were lost.

https://twitter.com/BlockSecTeam/status/1669956324027953152
https://twitter.com/MetaSleuth/status/1669959695350788096

This is a sad story of a couple of friends that knew each other through the @azuki community and entered the presale of $GRDN in hopes of winning an Azuki.

One of the team members won the Azuki but didn't share the sales profits with the rest. 😓
https://twitter.com/ashrobinqt/status/1670129876790300673

💣 💥 TMZ Crypto #31 💰  ☠️

Your weekly newsletter of the biggest scams, rug pulls, and the general drama of Crypto-Twitter! ⤵️

Delivered to your feed in a single thread.

The Atomic Wallet exploit is one of the biggest hacks in recent history.

Reports on the total amount of stolen assets vary from $67M (@zachxbt) to $100M from @elliptic.

Bottom line -- it's massive.
https://twitter.com/AtomicWallet/status/1664946301815910400
https://twitter.com/Elliptic_Inv/status/1668636360134262790

Tay and Zach have been putting a ton of manual labor into tracking all affected wallets. If you can, consider donating to these legends!

https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1668778031790587905
https://twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1668935273047261185

Many big accounts fell victim to sim-swapping attacks, losing access to their Twitter accounts.

BitBoy was also a 'victim'. This hack was hard to spot, as his tweeting style stayed consistent. 🤣💀

h/t: @NFTherder
https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1666894383638011913

Not security-related, but certainly part of the TMZ drama portion of this newsletter. People noticed that Bitboy was arguing with a bot.

Later he claimed he knew it was a bot. You be the judge on this one.
https://twitter.com/functi0nZer0/status/1667657068801585152

It appears that there is now even a market for 'getting hacked.

The influencer's reach will increase because of the "hacking news", and he will also pocket parts of the profits resulting from the staged hack.

Nothing is impossible in this space.
https://twitter.com/michaela_nft/status/1667990826041876482


Back to more technical and security-related incidents.

A reentrancy attack was discovered in the latest @Uniswap update. A bounty was paid, and a contract was redeployed.

https://twitter.com/dedaub/status/1668643173399244800

Cellframe suffered a flash loan attack leading to a 41.2% price drop.

The attacker exploited liquidity migration calculations, manipulating liquidity in two pools to create an imbalance. They profited 245.52 BNB.

https://twitter.com/SlowMist_Team/status/1664784977727242240

You might think that being a US Congressman is a well-paid and easy job. However: a position on the $ape council requires you to work only three hours per week, and it pays 200,000 dollars per year.🤯

image by: @waleswoosh
https://twitter.com/waleswoosh/status/1668936395107233792
https://twitter.com/MiKeMeUpP/status/1667929299033407488

Spammers and scammers are everywhere in this space. One way of getting rid of them might be to reply with DMs like this one:

https://twitter.com/FPWellman/status/1667663227184988161

If you're using @blur_io, you should know these two potential phishing methods.

https://twitter.com/realScamSniffer/status/1667908939990831104

The following tweet is our "LOSS PORN" post of the week.

9x9x9 said he lost close to $30M+ on  $SUSHI trades.

Now I don't feel as bad as a trader anymore. Ouch.
https://twitter.com/9x9x9eth/status/1665315963238076417

A deep dive into some shady guy.  This is a wild-west story with a lot of twists and turns.

https://twitter.com/web3bandit/status/1666841308676214784

Just because a person on Twitter is using a PFP of a female and writes/acts like a female doesn't mean it's actually a female.

It probably is a scammer! :>
https://twitter.com/shahh/status/1665461243551834112

On Blur, avoiding the "minimum enforced" royalty is possible.

Blur is aware of this "issue", but it seems like it still hasn't been addressed/fixed so far.
https://twitter.com/CirrusNFT/status/1663931248451149825

The current state of crypto.

A price manipulation attack leading to a 100k loss barely makes it through the news cycle.

https://twitter.com/Phalcon_xyz/status/1667889156872364039

More scams, but this time, in the web2 world.

Take, for instance, a credit card testing fraud attack on Stripe.

Literally, thousands of blocked charges and hundreds of fraudulent payments amounting to ~ $2M in blocked charges.

h/t: @levelsio
https://twitter.com/rameerez/status/1665680257788026880

In case you're wondering just how profitable crypto-drainers are, here's a top list of the biggest and most effective drainers:

https://twitter.com/1nf0s3cpt/status/1664271792134062084

Shady stuff is happening everywhere. This also means on NFT platforms like Blur.

This guy is earning $blur points like a madman -- without the 'danger' of actually buying NFTs!
https://twitter.com/punk9059/status/1664616712623325184

And then you combine drainers + nft platforms, and you have a highly lucrative cocktail of things that generate a steady income for scammers and bad guys.
https://twitter.com/0xQuit/status/1664373487165923328

Wash trading is nothing new, yet I'm sure many beginners might fall for it.

A person trades an expensive NFT back and forth to create a lot of "fake" volume. Thus making it appear on the various leaderboards as a frequently traded collection.
https://twitter.com/Tyler_Did_It/status/1664616897294245888

Fun tweet of the day.

They're saying AI will end humanity when it seems AI is the entity writing 'kind' messages on Twitter! 😉
https://twitter.com/inversebrah/status/1665827781924769792

We conclude this issue with what would have been the most outrageous story ever in the crypto world if it had been true:

CZ wielding an AK47, attempting to shoot his way out of a police operation.
https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1666456108863479816