Notice 09 | Report for Modern Rebel; Upcoming Changes
This notice should be read in conjunction with our interim update posted on 21 October 2021 (pinned on our Telegram channel) regarding the issue detected in the “Modern Rebel” auction for background.
1. Summary
(a) At approximately 15:23:06 EDT on 21 October 2021, the “Modern Rebel” auction status was marked as “Complete.” The last bid was recorded at 15:25:06 EDT on 21 October 2021, the bid escrow balances (allocations) were released during this time, including the only remaining bid bot.
(b) The issue witnessed was a cascading series of events that exposed a bug in Loot NFT’s software. It was not related to bid spamming, remote manual bidding, nor the ability of our infrastructure to deal with the same.
(c) We identified that bids placed within a fraction of a second of the end of the auction simultaneously ended the auction and reset the auction timer. This caused the auction card to move to the bottom right of the Arena (i.e., last in the arena list, the correct behavior for completed auctions). Allocated balances were then released in stages (the proper flow for completed auctions), preventing some users from bidding. However, since the timer had reset, bids continued to be registered, each time further extending the auction timer to 15 seconds while the cascading escrow release continued. Some usernames were not displayed due to the exception caused.
2. Status
The issue has been resolved and is currently undergoing significant testing in our lab to ensure that our solution is robust and that this issue is not reproduced.
3. Decisions
(a) A winner for the auction cannot be pronounced and the auction will resume battle-bidding on Sunday, 24 October 2021, at 12:00 UTC or 8 PM EDT. However, the auction will be reopened on Saturday 23 October 2021, with an initial timer counting down to the battle-bidding time. Only those that were previously in the paused auction will be able to participate. Participants must reallocate BUN to resume participation (i.e., the standard bidding process).
(b) The current auctions, “Elon’s Acknowledgement,” “The Rising,” and “Stardust Dreams,” are rescheduled for next Sunday (31 October 2021, at 12:00 UTC or 8 PM EDT). This is to account for the introduction of enhancement to the Loot Arena site [See “Upcoming Changes” below].
4. Upcoming Changes
(a) Loot NFT is experimenting with very innovative concepts in practice. We observe how our users use our product and pay particular attention to feedback as part of our evolution. Of utmost importance is striking the right balance between user experience and product integrity. Over the past few weeks, we have monitored our Battle-Bidding Arena and as a result, we have decided to introduce some new features.
(b) We will release the new features before the auctions scheduled for 31 October 2021.
(c) We will prevent manual spam bidding (multiple bidding in a row from the same users). Users that repeatedly spam bid manually will be automatically warned and, if the situation persists, they will incur a time penalty. That is, they will be logged out of their Loot Arena session for a time period, which will get progressively longer the more they engage in that practice. (See “Annex:” section for red dot warning on the “Bid Now” Button.)
(d) We will implement a cap limit per user per auction of 10,000 BUN. Users can spend LTT to increase that cap only once during the auction.
Increase by 5,000 BUN — 5 LTT
Increase by 10,000 BUN — 10 LTT
Increase by 15,000 BUN — 20 LTT
The LTT fee doubles for each 5,000 BUN increase. We may decide to taper off the fee increase after a certain amount (e.g., after 50,000 BUN then it costs 50 LTT for each additional 5,000 BUN).
For example, during an auction, @john pays 40 LTT to increase his cap by 20,000 BUN. John can only allocate up to 30,000 BUN (his initial 10,000 plus 20,000), and when his cap balance is 0, he will not be able to bid anymore on that auction. (See “Annex:” section for an example of Cap Balance.)
(d-i) We will remove the restriction on bid bot usage, which will be allowed to fire up to a user’s auction cap.
(d-ii) Caps are applicable on a per auction basis.
(d-iii) The information available in the “attention” pop-up (right of the battle pit) will display additional data to account for this change.
(d-iv) The same cap will also apply to reserve-based auctions on Loot Arena.
We think that the above actions can heighten the strategy in auctions — it may be possible that the last BUN allocated to an auction wins the auction — while also making it fairer for everyone to participate.
Thank you for your understanding and patience while we tackled this challenging matter. Our commitment is a long-term one, and we hope to keep earning your continued support as we journey together to break new ground in the blockchain, cryptocurrency, and NFT field.
Updated: 23 October 2021 8am EDT.
Annex:
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