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ZACHXBT JOINS PARADIGM AS AN ADVISOR

ZachXBT has played a key role in holding bad actors accountable and has helped recover over $350 million for victims of hacks and scams.

closes on 27th of February

A NEW CHAPTER IN THE INFINITE GARDEN

Aya Miyaguchi is stepping down as Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation to become its President, allowing her to focus on expanding Ethereum's vision and institutional relationships while preserving its core values. Miyaguchi emphasizes Ethereum's resilience, decentralized growth, and the foundation's role as a steward rather than a controller, reinforcing the importance of maintaining Ethereum's integrity through credible neutrality, community leadership, and thoughtful evolution.

SEC DROPS OPENSEA INVESTIGATION EASING PRESSURE ON NFT MARKET

The SEC has closed its investigation into OpenSea, dropping allegations that the NFT marketplace was operating as an unregistered securities platform following its August 2024 Wells notice. The decision comes alongside the SEC's pending vote to dismiss its lawsuit against Coinbase, signaling a palpable shift in the regulator's approach to crypto enforcement. The news triggered a positive market reaction and reignited interest in NFTs and NFT exchange tokens.

3JANE: THE REAL ETHEREUM HASN'T BEEN TRIED YET

3Jane is the first credit-based money market on Ethereum that offers uncollateralized loans up to $500k. It is targeting the $11.7 trillion global unsecured credit market through a novel approach combining onchain and offchain credit scoring. The protocol uses Blockchain Bureau and Cred Protocol for onchain credit scoring across 500 million addresses while using zkTLS via Reclaim Protocol to access traditional credit bureau data.

OPENZEPPELIN UNISWAP HOOKS LIBRARY V1.0

The OpenZeppelin Uniswap Hooks Library v1.0 is now live, offering secure, modular hooks for Uniswap v4 to simplify the building of advanced applications on liquidity pools. This release includes Base Hooks for core functionality, Fee Hooks for dynamic fee management, and Utilities for streamlined development.

DID LIQUIDITY IN CRYPTO JUST DRY UP?

The Bybit hack on February 21, declared the "largest financial heist in history" by Arkham Intelligence, has significantly dampened crypto market sentiment, surpassing previous major hacks like PolyNetwork's $611M theft. Combined with reduced risk appetite, technical pullbacks, and broader market volatility, these factors have led to decreased liquidity and pressure on crypto markets, though such pullbacks are not uncommon in bull runs.

KEEP YOUR CRYPTO #SAFU, CZ'S TIPS

Crypto security requires balancing convenience and safety, whether storing funds yourself or using centralized exchanges. For self-storage, prioritize preventing theft and loss and ensuring inheritance plans, using offline devices, encrypted backups, and tools like PGP for secure transfers. For exchanges, opt for reputable platforms like Binance, enable 2FA, U2F, and withdrawal whitelists, and maintain strong email and device security to mitigate risks. Combining both methods ensures flexibility and robust protection for your crypto assets.

THE PRODUCTIVE CRYPTOECONOMY - A THESIS FOR ADOPTION

For the cryptoeconomy to transition from speculation to substantive impact, it must integrate productive assets including Real-World Assets, DePIN, and agent collectives into its financial systems. Challenges to this transition include privacy, identity verification, compliance frameworks, wallet recovery, and security measures – all of which need resolution for mainstream adoption. Near-term developments like regulated ICOs, large-scale asset tokenization, and stablecoin adoption will occur and accelerate this vision.

WHY MEGAETH WILL TURN THE L2 EXPERIENCE UPSIDE DOWN

MegaETH, an upcoming Ethereum L2, claims to achieve unprecedented performance with 100,000 TPS and 10-millisecond blockchains through a specialized node architecture that separates sequencing, proving, and validation roles. It differentiates itself from other L2s with high hardware requirements for sequencer nodes while maintaining decentralization through lighter replica nodes. The platform has conducted two community-focused token distribution events, with a public testnet launch expected in the coming weeks.

BYBIT REPAYS 40K ETH LOAN FROM BITGET

Bybit has fully repaid its 40K ETH (~$100M) loan to Bitget, demonstrating industry solidarity and resilience, as the loan was given without interest or collateral to support a peer in need.

A WIN FOR DEFI ‒ SEC CLOSES INVESTIGATION INTO UNISWAP LABS

The SEC has closed its multi-year investigation into Uniswap Labs without taking any action, affirming that the company operates in full compliance with applicable laws.

CRYPTO TRANSFERS BECOME MORE RESTRICTED IN EUROPE

Users are required to verify self-custodial wallets by signing a message, can only send over €1K to themselves, and must provide full sender identification.

DUBAI APPROVES CIRCLE'S STABLECOINS USDC AND EURC FOR USE IN DIFC

Dubai's Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has approved Circle's stablecoins, USDC and EURC, for use within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), allowing financial institutions and fintechs to integrate them into digital asset services.

MICHAEL SAYLOR'S STRATEGY BUYS ANOTHER $1.99B IN BITCOIN

Michael Saylor's rebranded company, Strategy, has purchased an additional $1.99 billion worth of Bitcoin, adding 20,356 BTC at an average price of $97,514 per coin.

CRYPTO ETPS SEE $508M OUTFLOW AS BITCOIN SELL-OFF CONTINUES

Crypto ETPs saw $508M in outflows last week, with BTC ETFs losing $571M while XRP funds gained $38M, reflecting cautious investor sentiment amid economic uncertainty. BlackRock's iShares ETFs recorded $22M in losses, while European markets, led by Germany and Switzerland, continued to see inflows.

BYBIT SEES OVER $4 BILLION ‘BANK RUN' AFTER CRYPTO'S BIGGEST HACK

Bybit's $1.5 billion ETH hack by North Korea's Lazarus Group triggered an additional $4 billion in user withdrawals. The situation was complicated by Safe's decision to temporarily shut down its smart wallet functionality, which trapped $3 billion of Bybit's USDT reserves and forced the exchange to develop custom software to access the funds and process withdrawals. CEO Ben Zhou revealed the exchange has engaged with authorities and blockchain analysis firms while exploring various recovery options.

UMA AND POLYMARKET ARE BUILDING A NEXT-GEN PREDICTION MARKET ORACLE USING EIGENLAYER

UMA has announced a collaboration with Polymarket and EigenLayer to create a prediction market oracle designed to address the growing complexity and scale of decentralized prediction markets. The initiative plans to implement the use of multiple tokens for dispute resolution, dynamic bonding systems, and enhanced security against bribery attacks. It will also explore AI agent integrations for improved scalability. This development builds on UMA's existing optimistic oracle, which secures Polymarket and over $1 billion in value.

HALLIDAY: THE FIRST AGENTIC WORKFLOW PROTOCOL

Halliday allows developers to create blockchain applications through high-level workflows with built-in guardrails for AI integration, eliminating the need for smart contract development. It aims to reduce development cycles from 6-12 months to hours by handling protocol integrations, multi-chain execution, and infrastructure requirements out-of-the-box. Halliday is targeted at applications like subscription products, liquidity aggregators, and treasury management systems, and addresses the challenges of safely operationalizing AI in blockchain environments.

OPEN-SOURCING GASFLOW

GasFlow, an open-source system for predicting optimal Ethereum priority fees, has been released. It utilizes a RandomForest-based ML model trained on mempool and historical gas data to estimate fees based on real-time network conditions. The project, including the ML model and data pipeline, is fully open-source and available on GitHub.

SONIC PLAYBOOK

This article is a deep dive into Sonic (formerly Fantom) and its role in the DeFi Flywheel ecosystem, explaining its ve(3,3) tokenomics model, risks, and potential investment opportunities. It also highlights key projects within the Sonic ecosystem, outlines tokenomics changes, and details how users can participate in the airdrop and DeFi incentives.

INFINI HACKED

Infini lost $49.5 million after its founder, Christian, transferred contract authority to a rogue developer who exploited admin privileges to drain funds. The attacker converted USDC to DAI and ETH, evading detection, while Christian pledged personal funds to cover losses and offered a 20% bounty for the stolen assets. The incident highlights the critical need for stronger access controls and security practices in DeFi, as blind trust in anonymous developers continues to pose significant risks.

ARC: REVOLUTIONIZING AI LAUNCHPADS WITH RIG FRAMEWORK AND FAIR TOKEN LAUNCHES

Arc is an AI launchpad that revolutionizes fair token launches with its RIG framework, an open-source Rust library that simplifies AI application development. Its flagship platform, Arc Forge, integrates Dynamic Liquidity Market Maker (DLMM) for stable launches, as seen with the $ASKJ token launch, despite initial technical challenges. With strong community support, strategic partnerships, and $ARC's utility in governance and staking, Arc is poised to lead the AI ecosystem, offering developers and users a robust platform for innovation and fair participation.

BYBIT ALLEGEDLY CLOSES ETH GAP

Bybit has nearly closed the gap after obtaining ~446,870 ETH ($1.23B) through loans, whale deposits, and purchases, with a new audited proof-of-reserves report set to confirm full 1:1 asset backing.

RABBY SAFE INTEGRATION AFFECTED

Rabby's Safe integration has been temporarily affected because Safe has paused certain functionalities due to the recent Bybit hack.

BYBIT HACKS LINKED TO SOLANA MEMECOINS

ZachXBT's investigation links the Bybit hacker to a Solana memecoin operation.

EIGENLAYER HACKATHON PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

The ETHGlobal Agentic Hackathon's 78 EigenLayer submissions included AI-powered social impact verification using smart glasses, autonomous legal case analysis, secure key management for agents, and decentralized validation systems for AI-generated content.

THE FUNDING: ARE MEMECOINS HERE TO STAY? CRYPTO VCS WEIGH IN

Despite the LIBRA memecoin scandal wiping out billions of dollars and sparking legal concerns, most VCs believe memecoins will persist because of their high-risk, high-reward appeal.

$1.43B HEIST ON BYBIT

ByBit recently suffered the largest crypto hack in history, losing $1.43 billion in Ethereum and other assets after hackers exploited a front-end spoofing attack, deceiving multisig signers into approving malicious transactions. The attack, linked to North Korea's Lazarus Group, highlights critical vulnerabilities in multisig and hardware wallet security, particularly the risks of "blind signing" and compromised interfaces. ByBit has assured users their funds are safe and launched a $140 million recovery bounty, but the incident underscores the urgent need for stronger security measures across the crypto industry.

SEC DISMISSED UNLAWFUL ENFORCEMENT CASE AGAINST COINBASE

Coinbase has reached an agreement with SEC staff to dismiss all litigation against the company with no fines or business changes required, pending final Commission approval expected next week. The resolution comes after the company's decision to fight the SEC's demands to delist certain assets in 2023. CEO Brian Armstrong argues this dismissal validates their position that the SEC was exceeding its legal authority and could have severely damaged the US crypto industry if unopposed. Coinbase spent around $50 million fighting the SEC.

ARKHAM EXCHANGE TO OFFER SPOT TRADING TO USERS IN 17 U.S. STATES STARTING MARCH 1

Arkham Exchange will launch spot crypto trading for users in 17 U.S. states on March 1. Arkham hopes to challenge Crypto.com and Coinbase, which hold 85% of the USD-supported exchange market.

INTRODUCING MOONWELL VIRTUAL ACCOUNTS

Moonwell Virtual Accounts provide a seamless way for global workers to receive payments in USD, automatically converting the currency to USDC for stability and accessibility. By integrating with traditional payment rails and onchain finance, Moonwell removes financial barriers, reduces costs, and enables individuals worldwide to save, spend, and grow their wealth efficiently.

ELI5 WHY WE CAN'T "ROLLBACK" ETHEREUM?

Following ByBit's recent $1.4B hack, there have been calls for a rollback of the Ethereum blockchain to get the coins out of the hands of the North Korean hackers. This is technically impossible since the hack involved properly signed transactions rather than protocol-level issues, and the funds were immediately movable, unlike the 2016 TheDAO hack's month-long withdrawal delay. Ethereum's current interconnected nature with DeFi protocols, bridges, and real-world assets means any rollback would incur ripple effects across the entire ecosystem.

JESSE POLLAK'S THESIS ON COINS

All content will eventually move onchain, with ERC20 tokens emerging as the dominant pricing mechanism due to their superior composability and liquidity. While there are challenges around token mechanics and cultural stigmas against crypto, these barriers must be overcome through open experimentation rather than avoided. Base is encouraging this experimentation and a movement toward open token-based content monetization systems.

ABSTRACT FEEDBACK

Abstract is making changes to clarify that its chain can be used with any existing wallet, not just the Abstract Global Wallet (AGW). Updates include a new first-time login screen and a redesigned homepage for easier navigation.

UNVEILING LAZARUS GROUP'S INTRUSION TECHNIQUES

The Lazarus Group, a state-sponsored hacking group, has been targeting cryptocurrency exchanges using advanced social engineering and technical exploits. The attackers used malicious code disguised as legitimate projects, exploited vulnerabilities like pyyaml for remote code execution, and moved laterally within networks to steal cryptocurrency assets. Enhanced security measures, including network segmentation, endpoint monitoring, and improved employee awareness, are recommended to defend against such sophisticated APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) attacks.

KANYE WEST SOLD HIS ACCOUNT TO THE BARKMETA DOGINALS CREW FOR $17M—THEY'RE GEARING UP TO SCAM THE ENTIRE SPACE

Kanye West may have sold or rented his X account to the BarkMeta Doginals crew for $17 million - there are suspicions that they're orchestrating a crypto scam.

METH PROTOCOL ANNOUNCES $43 MILLION RECOVERY FROM BYBIT HACK, WHILE TETHER FREEZES $181,000

mETH Protocol recovered 15,000 cmETH tokens ($43M) from the $1.4B Bybit hack, leveraging an 8-hour withdrawal delay to halt unauthorized transactions.

SECURITY EXECS WEIGH IN ON ‘STAGGERING' SCALE OF RECORD BYBIT HACK

The record-breaking $1.4B Bybit hack demonstrates the increasing sophistication of crypto exploits.

OX.FUN POTENTIALLY INSOLVENT

OXFUN is reportedly insolvent, according to multiple former employees, with only $180,000 in withdrawal liquidity remaining after a mass fund exodus.

EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK EXPLORES USING DIGITAL LEDGERS TO SETTLE TRANSACTIONS IN CENTRAL BANK MONEY

The European Central Bank (ECB) is exploring a digital ledger-based settlement system for central bank money, aiming to improve financial market efficiency while maintaining stability. This initiative includes a two-track plan: developing a settlement platform and enabling central bank money use in digital asset transactions, especially for foreign exchange and cross-border payments.

TRADFI INVESTORS PILED $38.7B INTO BITCOIN ETFS, THREE TIMES MORE THAN PREVIOUS QUARTER

Institutional investors increased their spot Bitcoin ETF holdings to $38.7B in Q4 2024, more than triple the $12.4 billion reported in Q3, according to SEC filings. Major entities like Wisconsin's investment board and Paul Tudor Jones' hedge fund expanded their positions to tens of millions of dollars of BTC. BlackRock's IBIT has attracted around 1,100 institutional holders since its release in January 2024 – by this time, most ETFs have fewer than 10 institutions invested.

INTRODUCING SOLANA SMART WALLETS

Crossmint has introduced Solana Smart Wallets, a new generation of programmable, gasless wallets designed for mass adoption. These wallets enhance user experience and security by eliminating transaction approval prompts, supporting multiple authentication methods, and integrating seamlessly with AI, gaming, and financial applications.

SHADE AGENTS: THE FIRST TRULY AUTONOMOUS AI AGENTS

NEAR Protocol has launched Shade Agents, a new framework for creating autonomous agents that can execute transactions across multiple chains. They use trusted execution environments and Chain Signatures for decentralized key management and chain abstraction. The system combines on-chain smart contracts with off-chain worker agents that can interact with AI models and external data sources, while maintaining security through a decentralized network of TEE-verified workers rather than relying on single points of failure. This infrastructure enables various applications including automated trading, decentralized solving, and AI-driven asset management.

IMPLICATIONS OF KAITO TOKEN RELEASE

AI-powered information analytics company Kaito released their token at a $1B+ valuation, breaking from the traditional venture capital path typically followed by offchain entities like research and data companies. With challenging market conditions making raising from venture capital more difficult, a token launch is an attractive alternative to traditional equity fundraising. This precedent could trigger a broader trend of centralized crypto companies opting for token launches over venture capital rounds, potentially accelerating the movement toward tokenization of traditional equity structures.

HOW AI HAS CHANGED STARTUPS FOREVER

AI has dramatically increased startup productivity, reducing costs across software development, marketing, and operations, with coding efficiency skyrocketing from 1.5x to 4x in just three years. As startups require less funding and fewer employees to scale, defensibility will rely on proprietary data, network effects, deep integrations, and trust rather than just software alone.

ARGENTINA ETHEREUM COMMUNITY

Argentina's Ethereum community has already made big contributions to the ecosystem, and its builders are determined to use crypto for long-term societal progress. Vitalik Buterin believes hosting Devconnect in Argentina could highlight the region's potential while fostering education, adoption, and lasting impact in the Ethereum space.

BRIAN ARMSTRONG ON MEMECOINS

Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, acknowledges the potential and staying power of memecoins, going so far as to suggest Bitcoin and the US Dollar are in some sense memecoins. Coinbase wants to be the place where anyone can buy any memecoin, and not be opinionated about what's listed as long as it is regulatory compliant. He recommends removing bad actors from the space and calling out their illegal insider trading activities while using memecoins as one of many mechanisms to bring a billion users onchain.

OPENSEA RECLAIMS NFT MARKET SHARE, SURGING TO 71.5% AFTER SEA TOKEN ANNOUNCEMENT

Opensea's market share in Ethereum NFT trading surged from 25.5% to 71.5% in just four weeks, largely at Blur's expense, following the announcement of its long-awaited $SEA token.