An AI bot controlling $50,000 in crypto transferred the funds after a user successfully persuaded it to bypass its core directive: to never release the funds.

A user under alias p0pular.eth successfully claimed a $50,000 crypto prize pool after convincing an artificial intelligence bot named Freysa to transfer its funds, bypassing the bot’s primary directive to never release them. The victory, observed by software engineer Jarrod Watts, came after 481 previous attempts, all of which failed to persuade the bot.

The challenge, launched on Nov. 22, tasked participants with sending messages to Freysa in an attempt to convince it to release the funds. Each attempt required a fee. Of the total fee sum, 70% went toward the growing prize pool, 15% was converted from Ethereum (ETH) to the bot’s FAI token, and the remaining 15% went to the bot’s developer.

As the prize increased, the cost to send a message also rose, peaking at $450 per message.

Eventually, p0pular.eth — whose identity remains unknown — exploited a vulnerability in the bot’s internal logic for processing transfers by convincing Freysa that any incoming funds should automatically trigger the release of the prize. Once the message was sent to the bot, p0pular.eth successfully manipulated its logic for handling messages, causing the bot to transfer the entire pool of 13.19 ETH (approximately $47,000 at the time) to the user.

While some praised the emerging use of AI in the crypto space, others raised concerns about the protocol’s transparency, suggesting that p0pular.eth may have had inside knowledge of the trick or been linked to the bot’s development.

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is heading to the next target price of $100,000 after rising 33% in just a month, but Cardano’s founder projects beyond.

Founder of Cardano Charles Hoskinson projects that Bitcoin will reach the price target of $250,000 in just 2 years. He believes that the target price is the lowest target to achieve, yet the highest target is $500,000.

According to Hoskinson’s YouTube live video posted on Nov. 27, he noted that several factors would increase the Bitcoin price in the future, including the massive inflow into the crypto market as well as the institutional eyes that have been interested in Bitcoin in recent days.

“It is my believe that Bitcoin will go to quarter and half million dollars in the next 12 to 24 months, because of the investment inflow and and the great interest that has been achieved,” Hoskinson said.

He mentioned that Bitcoin as a value store of the internet remain useful for decentralized finance (DeFi) in the future. The DeFi mode, also known as the new capabilities of DeFi, could bring Bitcoin through the Cardano network so the holders could participate in the DeFi ecosystem.

Cardano’s outlook after Bitcoin rose

Cardano, as one of the biggest cryptocurrencies based on market capitalization, has grown in the past month following the rise of Bitcoin, increased 190% and reached a price of $1 for the first time after dropping in 2022. In the past 24 hours, the token was traded for $1.5 billion or dropped by almost 40%.

The market is also eyeing the possibility of Cardano spot ETF after several cryptocurrencies have already crypto product versions, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

ADA projected would be bullish in the near future if the asset management pushes the ETF version to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Bitcoin miners’ major player has announced their third-quarter financial report, resulting in billions of dollars in funding and spending.

According to TheMinerMag, on Nov. 28, key players in the cryptocurrency and Bitcoin mining industry published their financial reports. Since the beginning of this year, most of the publicly traded companies have raised $5 billion in funding through equity and debt financing.

The debt financing only accounts for 12.5% of the funding, around $625 million this year. Equity financing has a significant portion of $4.4 billion, with $813 million in funding in this quarter alone.

Those companies also reported the cumulative budget that has been spent on property, plant, and equipment (PP&E), which amounts to $3.6 billion. This spending on infrastructure for Bitcoin mining rose after global computing power dedicated to Bitcoin mining, also called hashrate, surged.

“Recently hit an all-time high near 790 exahashes per second or 790 EH/s (7-day moving average) despite the Bitcoin halving,” TheMinerMag mentioned.

Miners also committed to purchasing hardware for up to $2 billion between July 2023 and September 2024. The ASIC mining tools are still dominated by Bitmain, which captures a significant portion of purchases.

Bitcoin miners faced challenges

Bitcoin miners have played a significant role in the crypto industry, specifically for Bitcoin, due to their contributions to minting the crypto and selling it to the market. However, miners also faced another level of challenge in operations and regulations in several countries.

Recently, the U.S. Customs and Border Protections detained imported Bitcoin mining equipment, including Bitmain Antiminer ASIC miner, at the ports due to a request from the Federal Communications Commission.

The Russian government also targeted Bitcoin miners to be banned after an energy deficit occurred in the country. They also aim to tax profitable mining operators with a 15% personal income tax rate.