Ledger apologizes, FTX 2.0?
Ledger apologizes, FTX 2.0?
Amidst the BTC conference in Miami and the celebration of Bitcoin Pizza Day, a more regulated DeFi seems to be on the way.
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Welcome to Stay on-chain! As always, we've got your back. We've done the market research for you, so sit back, relax, and let us be your eyes and ears in the crypto world!
In today’s issue:
Market performance
Weekly news round-up
Upcoming catalysts
One tool you should try
Further readings
Ledger CEO Apologizes and commits to open-source
Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier has apologized for the "miscommunication" and expressed humility following a week of criticism from the crypto community. The controversy arose when Ledger announced its plans to introduce the key recovery tool, with concerns raised about potential backdoors for private keys.
In response to community concerns, Ledger plans to open-source its codebase, starting with core components of its operating system and, especially, Ledger Recover. Gauthier emphasized that Ledger Recover will not be released until this work is complete. Ledger’s open-source code will allow cryptography and security experts to examine the protocol and enable developers to create their own backup provider for seed phrase shards.
Bitcoin Pizza Day: $26M in exchange for two pizzas
May 22 marks the 13th anniversary of Bitcoin Pizza Day: the first good ever bought using BTC. To be precise, Laszlo Hanyec paid 10,000 BTC (worth about $26M today) in exchange for two Papa John’s pizzas in Florida, paying a 0.99 BTC fee to miners. You can find the original transaction here.
Laszlo wasn’t just someone that stumbled upon Bitcoin and loved pizza, though. He’s been the first one to introduce GPUs to mine Bitcoin instead of less-performing CPUs, enshrining the beginning of a new era for the mining industry. On the other side of the deal was Jeremy Sturdivant, also known as Jercos, who casually used all the bitcoins to travel the US with his girlfriend.
As trivial as the commemoration may seem, Bitcoiners are overly-fond of the event, as they claim it proves that what once was just binary code could now serve as a medium of exchange.
DeFi will be regulated even if it’s “just code”
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Rostin Behnam stated in a conversation for Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast that decentralized crypto exchanges, even if they operate on "self-effectuating" protocols, will be regulated by either the CFTC or the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The belief that decentralized protocols based on smart contracts are immune to regulation is, in his opinion, incorrect. The focus should lie on the products offered to U.S. customers and the individuals or groups behind these platforms. He further discussed the question of whether a token initially launched as a security can later transition into a commodity when traded on decentralized exchanges. The unique characteristics of digital financial assets require careful consideration and new policy ideas regarding regulation, according to Behnam.
FTX 2.0 is coming?
FTX, the bankrupt crypto exchange, might soon be relaunched as FTX 2.0. The newly appointed CEO, John Ray, has been working on a reboot plan and engaging in meetings with creditors and debtors. The court document reveals discussions on preparing the necessary materials for a potential relaunch; restructuring and restarting plans. Reports earlier this year indicated that the exchange had recovered $7.3B in liquid assets. The news of FTX's potential revival has positively impacted the price of FTX’s token $FTT, which surged over 13%. While some in the crypto community view FTX 2.0 as a promising path to recovery, others criticize the exchange's history and raise concerns about its legitimacy. Degen Spartan, a known CT influencer, agrees that FTX 2.0 may be the best path to maximize recovery for its creditors.
Swaprum DEX Team vanishes with $3M
Swaprum, a decentralized exchange (DEX) operating on the Ethereum Layer-2 network Arbitrum, has disappeared in what appears to be an exit scam, leaving users' deposits totaling $3 million missing. Analysis conducted by PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, revealed that approximately 1,628 ETH had been drained from Swaprum's liquidity pools. The scam involved the team withdrawing liquidity provided against the platform's native token and selling it for ETH, resulting in a drastic decline in the value of Swaprum (SAPR) tokens, making them essentially worthless. The stolen funds were then transferred from the Arbitrum network to Ethereum and laundered through the popular mixer service Tornado Cash to hide the transaction trail. The Swaprum team deleted their social media accounts on platforms like Twitter, Telegram, and GitHub, although the official website remains active. Security analysts at Beosin discovered that Swaprum's smart contract contained a hidden backdoor function, allowing the culprits to steal users' LP tokens and manipulate assets at will. This incident follows another exit scam on the zkSync network, where developers of a DEX named Merlin disappeared with nearly $2 million.
...and that’s called a rug pull. You may ask what's a rug pull? It’s a fraud where a cryptocurrency or NFT developer hypes a project to attract investor money, only to suddenly shut down or disappear, taking investors’ assets with them. The name comes from the idiom “to pull the rug out” from under someone, leaving the victim off-balance and falling. Stay safe, and always do your own research!
Dash blockchain halts
Dash blockchain, used for the privacy coin DASH, experienced a halt in transaction processing and block production for approximately 16 hours. This happened during the activation of Dash Core v19, a client update. The developers identified the problems and worked on resolving them, postponing the update to June 14.
Moooore stuff for you
Reuters published a report which accused Binance of commingling customers’ funds with the company’s revenue. Binance immediately responded saying it was simply FUD.
Malicious actor takes control of Tornado Cash’s governance, then proposes to revert his actions.
Visa experiments on Ethereum's Goerli testnet with account abstraction — link
Fahrenheit wins bid to acquire assets of insolvent crypto lender Celsius — link
Salvatore Leggiero wants to build a Bitcoin tower in Dubai — link
Frax Finance’s annual budget request passed via governance — link
Andrew Tate shares his opinion on Crypto Twitter in his usual contrarian fashion.
Hotbit ceases operations — link
The US is now 8 days away from potentially defaulting on its debt. If so, what happens?
Apple releasing VR Headset — is this a possible catalyst for metaverse-related coins?
Hong Kong will allow retailers to trade crypto with June 1, but, with new rules — link
Today’s edition features Cryptoevents, a website that makes participating in crypto meet-ups easier than ever. You can filter the topic, the location and discover who’s going to be there; or promote the event you’re organizing!
Cryptoevents is powered by Cryptonomadsclub, a community built for Crypto nomads!
Vitalik Buterin’s last blog post: Don’t overload Ethereum’s consensus
Extensive blockchain learning resources from world-class educators such as Andreas Antonopoulos (Mastering Bitcoin author)
An Ape’s Prologue explains the next upgrade DeFi will make:
And that’s a wrap! See you next Thursday!
🐳 Feeling generous? Fund this newsletter and the degens behind it:
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Disclosure: Authors may own crypto assets named in this newsletter. Stay on-chain is meant for informational purposes only. It is not meant to serve as investment advice. Please consult your investment, tax, or legal advisor before making investment decisions.