Crypto && Coffee 112
- 5 minsTechnology Recap:
Bitcoin:
- BitMEX Research shares statistics on Bitcoin address reuse with ~50% of transaction outputs being sent to previously used addresses.
- Lightning Network’s LND released v0.14.2-beta which is the second minor release of the v0.14x cycle. This release contains a number of bug fixes, optimizations, and stability improvements.
Litecoin:
- David Burkett publishes his January progress report on MWEB with the release of v0.21.2rc1 and next steps with miners starting to signal for activation at block 221760 (~February 25th, 2022).
Ethereum:
- Erigon announces a small beta release, v2022.02.01-beta which includes a memory leak fix in the transaction pool.
- The latest All Core Devs call touched on The Merge and Shanghai with focus on the recent incident that occurred on Kintsugi.
- Vitalik Buterin shares a post explaining the current choice of block times for both pre and post merge.
Other Chains:
- Immutable announces that they are taking a leap forward in the gaming and blockchain industry by partnering with GameStop to power their NFT marketplace!
- StarkWare announces their partnership with ConsenSys Diligence. Together, the teams will work towards ensuring StarkNet contracts are secure and well audited.
- With the recent exploit of Wormhole on Solana, some devs have been sharing the Solana Security Workshop which deep dives into Solana smart contracts from an attacker’s perspective.
- Starkswap is announced and is aiming to build the next generation of DeFi powered by public ZK-Rollup technology.
- Chainlink releases an article on how developers can use Chainlink Price Feeds on Arbitrum.
- Sparrow v1.5.6 has been released! This version contains performance improvements on deep wallets, tools to sweep private keys, expanding the transaction diagram, as well as removal of AOPP.
- Bisq publishes a sneak peek into a platform that allows for multiple trade protocols (multi-sig, bonds, reputation) as well as multiple settlement methods (on-chain, Lightning, L-BTC, etc.).
- Sommelier Finance is now live on Keplr wallet!
- Ethereum developers shared an overview of SSZ (Simple Serialize) that is being used by the Beacon chain.
- The latest StarkNet roundup was published which includes focus on a new Cairo language server, upgrade mechanisms for ERC-20s in Cairo, and further ecosystem discussion.
- ZigZag Exchange is cutting their fees by 40%!
- FTX now supports Arbitrum mainnet.
- TornadoCash shares that their protocol is available on other chains in addition to Ethereum including: BSC, xDAI, Polygon, Optimism, Avalanche, and Goerli.
Mainstream Recap:
- Wormhole network was exploited for 120K ETH. The exploit was executed due to Wormhole not properly validating all input accounts, which allowed the attacker to spoof Guardian signatures and mint 120K ETH on Solana, of which they bridged 93,750 back to Ethereum mainnet. Wormhole eventually patched the vulnerability and restored their network.
- CashApp shares that all users now have access to the Lightning Network!
- CNBC reports that Tesla is holding $1.99B worth of Bitcoin as of the end of 2021.
- The DOJ announces that two individuals were arrested in Manhattan for an alleged conspiracy to launder cryptocurrency that was stolen during the 2016 hack of Bitfinex - presently valued at ~$4.5B.
- Disney is the next major firm looking to work with NFTs as a new job posting reveals the continued push towards NFT and crypto in the mainstream.
- In a special report, Wells Fargo notes that cryptocurrencies appear to be near a hyper-adoption phase and that it’s not too late to invest.
- Aleo has raised $200M in the largest funding round ever for a zero-knowledge company. The latest round was led by Kora Management LP and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from Tiger Global, Sea Capital, Samsung Next, Slow Ventures, and a16z.
- Polygon raised $450M in a round of funding led by Sequoia Capital India to support the firm’s web3 plans.
- A bill was reintroduced in the US Congress to eliminate taxes for small crypto transactions.
- Belarus moves to allow investment funds to acquire crypto assets.
- Nasdaq listed Valkyrie’s Bitcoin Mining ETF on February 8th, 2022.
- Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc., one of the largest enterprise Bitcoin self-mining companies, published an un-audited bitcoin production and miner installation update for January 2022.
- Users can now independently verify that the bitcoin and ether balances that one holds on Kraken are backed by real assets secured by their global exchange.
- A Nashville couple’s lawsuit over taxes they paid on unclaimed/unsold Tezos staking rewards is ending with the IRS agreeing to issue a refund.
- CoinDesk reports that Trust Machines, which was co-founded by Stacks founder Muneeb Ali and J.P. Singh, has raised $150M in funding for expanding Bitcoin-based products as a web3 platform.
- Loopring announces that Steve Guo, former CTO, has been appointed the role of CEO of Loopring.
- California based Everbowl, will now run its business operations off the Bitcoin Standard and is converting cash reserves to Bitcoin.
This Week’s Cup of Coffee Cocktail:
This week, we are getting tropical and bringing a flavor of summer to everyone! Tonight’s cocktail is The Dead Reckoning which was created for the NW Tiki Crawl in 2007. Below are the ingredients which can be added to a shaker or mixer with ice to flash blend. Garnish with pineapple fronds or a mint leaf. Sip up and enjoy! Cheers!!
The Dead Reckoning:
1oz seltzer
1oz fresh lemon juice
1oz pineapple juice
1/2oz maple syrup
1/2oz Vanilla Brandy
1/2oz tawny port
2oz blended aged rum
1 dash Angostura bitters
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