🚀 This week in Web3 — W3 2022
Hello from the second issue of this newsletter 🙋🏻♂️
It was a busy week that brought us news about ecosystem funds, crypto hacks, comments from regulatory institutions, acquisitions, and new projects.
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Highlights
- ConsenSys AG Sues Former Investment Head, Alleging Resume Fraud — CoinDesk
- OpenSea surpasses $3.5B in monthly Ether trading volume setting new ATH — CoinTelegraph
- MultiChain announced a vulnerability that affects 6 tokens — MultiChain
- MultiChain hack ‘getting worse’, company failing to provide support — BanklessTimes
- Spain moves to regulate crypto asset advertising, including promotions by influencers — Reuters
- Fed kicks off debate on issuing its own digital currency with new white paper — Reuters
- Robinhood to start rolling out crypto wallets — Reuters
- Blockchain meets activity tracking: Project rewards healthy habits with tokens — CoinTelegraph
- SEC rejects MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin accounting practices: report — CoinTelegraph
- El Salvador explores low-interest loans backed by Bitcoin — CoinTelegraph
- Iran to pilot national cryptocurrency soon — ILNA
- Monetary Authority of Singapore Guidelines Shutter Crypto ATMs — Be in Crypto
Critical privacy vulnerability — getting exposed by MetaMask — medium.com
We’ve stumbled upon a pretty dark use case that can compromise the privacy of more than 21 million people — all MetaMask users.
Chains & Protocols
Multichain hacker returns 322 ETH, keeps hefty finders fee
cointelegraph.com
One of the Multichain hackers returned 322 ETH, but over 527 ETH is still outstanding.
‘Centralization issues’ are the biggest culprits of DeFi attacks: CertiK
cointelegraph.com
Perhaps ironically, centralization issues are the biggest weak points for DeFi projects when it comes to security.
👆🏼 Report: The State of DeFi Security 2021 — CertiK 👆🏼
You can download the report mentioned above from here.
Exchanges
Gemini Acquires Trading Technology Platform Omniex, Launches Gemini Prime
www.gemini.com
Integrating Omniex’s market-leading trading technology with our clearing and custody capabilities will power a full crypto prime brokerage offering.
BitMEX CEO, CFO to Buy One of Germany’s Oldest Banks
www.coindesk.com
Bankhaus von der Heydt was formed in 1754 and became one of the first regulated institutions in Germany to offer digital asset services.
Economy
USDC Supply on Ethereum Tops USDT
beincrypto.com
USD Coin (USDC) has surpassed Tether (USDT) in total supply on the Ethereum blockchain. USDC has a total supply of $40.3 billion on Ethereum, while USDT has a total supply of $39.8 billion.
FTX Launches $2 Billion Web3 Venture Fund Led by Lightspeed’s Amy Wu — decrypt.co
Wu plans wide-ranging crypto and blockchain investments for FTX Ventures, and will also oversee FTX’s gaming business.
Study: Crypto job ads increased by almost 400% in 1 year
Job ads for crypto-related positions increased almost fivefold from 2020 to 2021, a recent study by LinkedIn shows.
Privacy-Focused Blockchain Secret Network Announces $400M in Funding
www.coindesk.com
The project includes a $225 million ecosystem fund and $175 million accelerator pool.
NFTs
OpenSea buys DeFi wallet startup Dharma Labs, appoints new CTO — techcrunch.com
The announcement follows a report earlier this month in Axios that detailed OpenSea was in talks to buy the startup for between $110 million and $130 million.
OpenDAO (SOS), LooksRare (LOOKS) and WTF token: 3 airdrops, with 1 scam
cointelegraph.com
NFT investors are demanding that marketplaces recognize and give value to their users, prompting competitors like LOOKS, SOS and WTF to launch ambitious vampire attacks on OpenSea.
Solana gains momentum as NFT sales volume hits $1B
ambcrypto.com
Solana has been a cryptocurrency blockbuster this year, and even 2021. However, its token (SOL) went into free fall, following technical difficulties in its network. But did that hinder its growth?
Mastercard strikes NFT payments deal with Coinbase amid a wave of recent crypto partnerships — www.cnbc.com
Coinbase customers will be able to use Mastercard credit and debit cards to make purchases the crypto company’s upcoming NFT marketplace.
Comments
Crypto.com breach may be worth up to $33M, suggests onchain analyst
cointelegraph.com
ErgoBTC tweeted that another 444 BTC ($18.5M) was stolen from Crypto.com’s payout wallet plus another 52.55 BTC ($2.18M).
NFTs and compliance: Why we need to be having this conversation
cointelegraph.com
How NFT marketplaces can handle Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations and compliances to protect projects and end-users.
Does a Fed digital dollar leave any room for crypto stablecoins? — cointelegraph.com
Could stablecoins be undone by a Federal Reserve that takes consumer deposits? Would retail banks be hobbled?
Cryptocurrency thefts, ransomware payments to drop 30% by 2024, says Gartner
In the next three years alone, successful cryptocurrency thefts and ransomware payments will drop by 30% in its recently published Predicts 2022: Prepare for Blockchain-Based Digital Disruption report..
Projects
Opera announces beta of a new Web3-Browser With Built-In Crypto Wallet — press.opera.com
Opera, [NASDAQ:OPRA] the company behind the popular, eponymous multi-platform web browser, today unveils its “Crypto Browser Project,” offering users direct, frictionless access to Web3 services with beta versions immediately available for Windows, Mac and Android.
