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Mountain Protocol has publicly announced its launch along with USDM following a financing round led by Castle Island Ventures and several others. The token, USDM, is fully backed by short-term US Treasuries and offers a unique yield-bearing system, allowing even non-US users to earn interest in US Treasuries. Mountain Protocol has also secured a digital asset business license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority.
In this thread, Punk6529 shares an approach to safeguarding NFTs. He suggests splitting transactions across three addresses: a cold 'Vault' for long-term holding, a 'Transaction' wallet for selling, and a 'Minting' wallet for acquiring new NFTs. This method, called TAP (Three Address Protocol), can help users avoid falling prey to phishing attacks, as it minimizes the risk of a valuable address getting compromised.
This thread attempts to explain why Frax Finance is a standout in the DeFi space. Frax Finances features numerous robust revenue channels, innovation, and long-term viability. The protocol includes Frax stablecoin, FraxSwap exchange, and the FraxLend borrowing system. These, along with FraxFerry bridge service and the upcoming FraxChain L2 solution, help to bolster Frax's ecosystem.
The Bitcoin ecosystem is set to adopt ZK rollups as two new projects, Chainway and Kasar Labs, open source their data availability adapters. ZK rollups provide mathematical validation of transactions without revealing source data, boosting transaction scalability and platform security. Implementation via a Bitcoin soft fork is required for fully trustless bridging. The projects propose the integration of ZK proofs via the Ordinals Protocol, which bypasses a new opcode requirement, improving Bitcoin's flexibility and development potential.
This article predicts that despite current roadblocks, global crypto markets will eventually thrive because they serve to make capitalism more efficient. The author touts the potential of crypto to aid entrepreneurial activities by ensuring digital property rights, creating free markets for all sorts of assets, and speeding up capital flows to match the speed of the internet. This would propel crypto’s growth even in the face of strong headwinds.
Yesterday, a developer compromised $1m from part of the Milady treasury, sparking fear and a sharp sell-off of Milady ecosystem assets.
Vitalik Buterin confirmed his recent Twitter hack that led to $691,000 in stolen assets was the result of a SIM-swap attack, an attack vector that has been heavily utilized as of late.
HK-based CoinEx crypto exchange has suffered a breach, losing 4,946 ETH and 354,762 TRX. CoinEx plans to compensate affected users to remedy the issue.
Karl Sebastian Greenwood, OneCoin co-founder, was sentenced to 20 years and fined $300 million for defrauding 3.5 million investors in 2014. Co-founder Ruja Ignatova remains on the run after making the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted list in 2022.
The estate of the defunct crypto exchange FTX is looking to sell $3.4 billion in assets, pending approval from the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. Galaxy Digital, led by Mike Novogratz, is managing the sale. FTX's holdings include significant amounts of Solana, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins. The potential sell pressure these liquidations could put on the market has been weighing heavily on the charts over the past week.
Coinbase halted new user registrations for its exchange product in India in June, but the company recently reaffirmed its long-term commitment to the nation. The announcement follows an incident where Coinbase had emailed some users who didn't meet their updated standards about ceasing operations, causing confusion about Coinbase’s plans for operating in the country. Coinbase currently has a strong technology hub in India and continues to provide its Coinbase Wallet service there. Despite struggling to gain regulatory approval, it is actively seeking ways to grow its presence in India.
Sushi, a popular EVM-based DeFi exchange, is expanding to the Aptos blockchain, a first for the project in terms of integrating a non-EVM-compatible blockchain. The launch on Aptos will include Sushi’s v2 of its AMM. This partnership is a pivotal advancement for Sushi's roadmap, signaling bigger cross-chain, non-EVM ambitions.
PayPal has expanded its crypto service offerings to include off-ramps, giving customers the ability to convert their crypto into fiat. This update aims to facilitate web3 platforms in expanding their user base by using PayPal's reliable and quick payment process. The feature is live on MetaMask and offers services like fraud management, chargebacks, and dispute resolutions, subject to applicable state laws.
This post discusses the lessons learned from the first month or so of FriendTech, particularly the advantages of getting involved early, and the difficulties of valuing an airdrop. The author remains cautious regarding their outlook for FriendTech, as its airdrop might devalue future earnings for farmers and fatigued buyers might reduce demand.
Visa outlines in this deep dive why it believes that the Solana blockchain network has the potential to become a mainstream payment medium. Solana’s fast transaction speeds, scalability, and low transaction costs make it suitable for effective blockchain settlement using stablecoins like USDC. Its unique features, such as parallel transaction processing and predictable transaction costs, are also highlighted as benefits. Solana also offers transaction finality, a vast number of nodes for availability, and multiple validator clients for resilience, positioning it well to meet modern payment demands.
This post from Coinbase preempts today’s oversight hearing and highlights how the G20 group of countries have agreed to create a standard set of regulations for cryptocurrency amid global movement towards the regulated use of digital currency. This comes as the US Congress prepares to pass relevant legislation, while the SEC persists with an enforcement-only approach to regulation. In contrast to global trends, this approach threatens to cost the US millions of jobs and an opportunity to lead the digital asset market.
Crypto firm Polygon Labs has suggested treating crypto staking similarly to oil and gas taxation in a letter to U.S. senators. It recommends that staking rewards should be taxed only when tokens are sold to prevent over taxation. Its argument draws on the legal tradition of not taxing dominion and control over items without previous ownership. Polygon Labs believes taxing staking rewards upon disposition would be the easiest administrative option.
BananaGunBot’s contract had a bug in which its 4% sell tax wasn't deducted correctly due to a transfer function error. Instead of the sell tax going to the project’s treasury, it would actually just get returned back to the seller.
A Bitcoin wallet paid a $499,171 fee for a $1,865 transfer, 270x the transaction value. This was likely a software bug in an enterprise's withdraw-only hot wallet.
FTX’s collapse erased many investors' savings. However, professionals like lawyers and consultants have earned over $700 million in fees from these bankruptcies, sparking outrage.
While Coinbase made its own comments preempting today’s oversight testimony, SEC Chair Gary Gensler reiterated his critical stance towards crypto.
The CFTC has charged three DEXs - Opyn, ZeroEx, and Deridex - over their failure to secure necessary operating licenses in the US. The exchanges also face additional charges for allowing US users access and breaching anti-money laundering laws. The CFTC ordered Opyn, ZeroEx, and Deridex to pay penalties of $250,000, $200,000, and $100,000 respectively. This move has raised concerns over increased regulatory pressure on DeFi protocols, especially those operating in the US or serving US citizens.
A US District Court judge chose against ruling on whether the secondary sale of LBRY tokens, LBC, constitutes a security. The ruling may have potentially served as a precedent for an impending decision on the SEC’s case against Ripple. Although the SEC won a summary judgment and initially settled for $22 million, it later requested a $111,000 fine due to LBRY’s dreary financial status.
Aztec Labs is aiming to be the premier platform for developers wanting to create privacy-centric apps with features like anonymous default, private state read/write functionality, and private smart contract function execution. Instead of leveraging the Ethereum Virtual Machine, Aztec utilizes an encrypted UTXO data structure for greater privacy. Additionally, for developers, it offers an interface that simplifies programming these complex privacy features.
Multiswap, a cutting-edge Automated Market Maker, was introduced by CavalRe. This platform includes novel features, like native multi-token swaps, unified liquidity, and single-sided staking, while solving previous routing and impermanent loss issues. Its ETF-like LP tokens allow for efficient portfolio management. Additionally, Multiswap's trading platform offers improved trade execution and enables users to rebalance their entire cryptocurrency portfolio with one trade.
This thread goes over a user’s month-long experience with Friend.tech. Describing initial reservations about the platform's commoditized access to people's thoughts and content, the author found merit in Friend.tech’s unique interactive, intimate, and thrilling approach. He expresses positive sentiment towards the platform's innovative creator-trader-fan dynamics, remarkable growth (TVL at $18m), potential mainstream appeal, and efficient user experience.
This thread dives into why LSTs getting to 33% staking share can lead to disruptions in the network. It discusses how blockchains operate on peer-to-peer consensus systems and the need to account for potentially malicious nodes. The calculation n >= 3f + 1 helps ensure system stability, where n is the number of nodes, and f represents faulty nodes. Essentially, to maintain operational integrity, no party should control more than a third of the stake.
Owners of Nouns are opting for a "rage quit," a move reflecting their dissatisfaction with the project. Instead of selling their NFTs on the open market in the middle of a bear market, they are seeking a better price from NounsDAO's Ether token reserve. This step, resulting from newly enacted rules, allows 20% of NFT holders to split from the group and claim their share of the project's 30,620 Ether tokens, worth about $50 million.
The FTX estate has filed a lawsuit against LayerZero Labs, aiming to reverse a $45M agreement made days before FTX's bankruptcy. The lawsuit claims that several transactions involving equity stakes and tokens were fraudulent due to FTX's insolvency at the time. Additionally, FTX is seeking to reclaim over $40M in withdrawals by LayerZero and its ex-COO before the bankruptcy. The decision seeks to benefit the creditors of the bankrupt estate.
In this thread, Punk6529 gives his perspective on bear markets after having gone through several of them. He emphasizes that this is the time to learn and connect with other genuine builders and artists.
Coinbase Ventures invested in six projects from its Base Ecosystem Fund: Avantis, BSX, Onboard, OpenCover, Paragraph, and Truflation.
Vitalik Buterin's X account was allegedly hacked, leading to over $691,000 in losses for victims who clicked a malicious link.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong discusses Base and other potential future projects in this interview with Yahoo Finance. He emphasizes the need for regulatory clarity in the crypto industry and believes crypto will be a significant topic in the 2024 US presidential race.
Federal officials, including FBI, SEC, and NYC prosecutors, are investigating potential fraud allegations against Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group and its subsidiary Genesis Global Capital, following claims raised by Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of the crypto trading platform Gemini Trust. Despite Silbert's denial of any wrongdoing, the investigation into the company's financials is moving forward.
Caroline Pham, a member of the CFTC, has recommended a pilot program for regulation in the cryptocurrency markets. With input from industry experts and other members, Pham is suggesting a limited-time program that includes registration, risk management, and product terms. However, as the CFTC is led by Chairman Rostin Benham, a critic of the crypto industry, there may be delays in Pham's proposed measures.
Eigenlayer's newly introduced designs, MEV-Boost+ and MEV-Boost++, are aimed at improving Ethereum's liveness and protection against censorship. The contributions allow block proposers to auction off part of a block while maintaining the capacity to include transactions in the remaining segment. The innovations are an attempt to alleviate network concerns triggered by builder centralization and lack of relay neutrality.
Braavos has introduced Multi-Owner Account, an advanced multi-sig wallet on Starknet Mainnet. Beyond typical crypto multisig models, MOA combines innovative security with easy integration into decentralized applications. Key security features include decentralized three-factor authentication, autonomous gas payment capabilities, and seamless connectivity with dApps. The MOA will enable teams to manage Starknet treasuries and contract upgrades securely and collaboratively.
This article discusses challenges and solutions regarding the integration of hidden information in games using a fully on-chain game backend. Emphasizing that zero-knowledge tech isn't the only answer, it advocates for the utilization of diverse cryptographic techniques for more engaging and balanced gameplay. The article also explains that the merging of privacy techniques from DeFi into on-chain gaming could unlock a new category of dApps.
The new privacy paper that came out earlier this week by co-authors Vitalik Buterin and Jacob Illum explores the use of Privacy Pools, a feature allowing users to separate themselves from illicit funds. This is comparable to Tornado Cash, with the added ability to prove that your original deposit came from a whitelisted address. The authors suggest that third-party whitelist providers could supply non-sanctioned or low-risk addresses. However, there are concerns about whether this would meet the Department of Justice's standards for compliance.
Former FTX Bahamas subsidiary leader, Ryan Salame, pleaded guilty to unlawful political contributions and running an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Agreeing to surrender over $1.5 billion in assets, his plea intensifies pressure on Sam Bankman-Fried, who is due for a fraud trial. Salame also faces separate investigations for questionable contributions to his girlfriend's political campaign.
This blogger kind of succeeded in paying for most expenses over a week in Italy with cryptocurrencies. Despite initial challenges, the author managed to cover costs for a co-working space, food, beverages, and travel with Bitcoin, Monero, Zcash, and other forms of cryptocurrencies through various applications and gift card services. The author acknowledged the need for in-depth research and contingency plans when relying solely on digital currency.
Earlier this week, Stake, a popular crypto casino and sportsbook, was exploited for $41 million. According to the FBI, the infamous Lazarus Group was responsible for this.
Riot Platforms earned $31.7 million in energy credits from Texas' ERCOT by reducing power during a heatwave, offsetting losses from declining Bitcoin revenues.
The LastPass breach in 2022 has been linked to crypto thefts totaling $35 million, and it is presumed that victims stored crypto "seed phrases" in LastPass, giving the hackers access to their wallets once LastPass was breached.
Crypto Facilities, owned by Kraken, has been discussing launching futures contracts denominated in fiat currency with the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority.
Ark Invest and 21shares have submitted an application to the SEC for the authorization of a spot ether ETF called the ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF. If approved, the fund would give investors direct exposure to ether on the Cboe. The SEC, which is yet to approve a spot crypto fund, recently postponed decisions on the spot Bitcoin ETF applications that were filed by several funds earlier in the summer.
The U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board has ruled that companies holding cryptocurrencies will need to start marking their crypto assets to market in 2025. This approach provides a more accurate reflection of the current values of their holdings compared to the existing method of recording historical purchase prices. These standards will not apply to NFTs, stablecoins, or wrapped tokens. Despite potential increased earnings volatility, the decision was hailed as a step forward in mainstream crypto adoption.
Story Protocol is creating an Internet-native IP infrastructure to address the antiquated IP models that have been in use for decades. Its open IP repository will enable creative Intellectual Property, like prose, images, and audio, to record their evolution, from inception, to remixes, and reuse, offering provenance and authenticity. The novel licensing module allows creators to set transparent conditions for others to use their work.
Blockchains by their very nature are not great for privacy as they provide a public ledger of all transactions. Protocols like Tornado Cash that allow people to ‘hide’ their transactions were invented to address this. Until now, these protocols have been scrutinized for enabling criminal activity like money laundering. This paper, put together by an all-star cast including Vitalik Buterin, proposes a solution to this problem. The paper’s solution would allow people to create private transactions that are provably disassociated from criminal activity.
This post provides a good overview of the history of WebAssembly. WebAssembly (Wasm), a portable binary format and compilation target for high-level programming languages, is increasingly being used in both web2 and web3 applications. It's been adopted as the execution environment for top blockchain projects and has been utilized by various sectors including e-commerce, entertainment, and software development.