Web3 gaming firm Immutable on Friday announced it had received a Wells notice from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Web3 Watch: SEC sets its sights on gaming - Blockworks

XDC Network has emerged as a leader in shaping a new digital economy, particularly in real-world assets and trade finance.

How XDC Network projects are shaping the Web3 economy - Blockworks

Plus, the DeFi lending protocol Euler launched its V2 deployment on Wednesday.

Web3 Watch: EigenLayer announces 86M token airdrop for Season 2 - Blockworks

Blockworks

blockworks

Hi everyone, here 🙌🏻 Daria Strategy I’m a Growth Marketer, Brand Strategist and Communications expert working with blockchain and crypto projects. I create additional value and build brand awareness of the Web3 companies among users, developers, and VC funds. Recently, the crypto market exploded with news about the airdrop of , the most hyped restaking platform. The conditions for receiving this drop caused an even greater explosion of emotions, discussions, and even hate. EigenLayer Ethereum The project offers a platform for those who want to restake rather than the classic staking process that attracts regulators' attention. The emergence of EigenLayer and LRT restaking protocols increased ETH's share of staking to 26% of the total supply. According to , EigenLayer is TVL's second-largest protocol on after , at $14.2 billion: DeFi Lama Ethereum Lido An airdrop from canonically illustrates community expectations and market conditions. In this article, I explain what happened and what problems this case highlights in the crypto market. I also took a comment from my colleague, a product marketer who is now introducing a similar product to the market. Let’s figure it out together! EigenLayer A short overview of the Eigen Layer Airdrop Over the last year, EigenLayer has become super popular because of the rethinking of Ethereum restaking and the big names of venture funds that have invested in this project (a16z crypto, Ethereal Ventures, Polychain Capital, Coinbase Ventures, etc.). The journalists of recommend calling the EIGEN token generation event a “stake drop,” not “an airdrop. “ EIGEN can only be staked with EigenLabs’ proof-of-concept/proof-of-value data availability service EigenDA, at least in the beginning, until other apps building with EigenLayer integrate the token into their own platforms. Blockworks According to tokenomics, 45% of the 1.67 billion coins will go to the community, and a third will go to the airdrop for staking participants. The main complaint is related to the terms of holding the coins—after the $EIGEN stamp, they cannot be moved, and the monthly split will be only 5%. The platform team decided not to allow users from the USA, Canada, India, China, and several other countries to distribute and also warned about blocking for using VPN services. There were no geoblocks for restaking Ethereum before, so this situation angered many users who held their ETH in EigenLayer. The negative reaction to the actions of the project team caused a surge in asset withdrawals from the restaking service. According to , more than 7,000 withdrawal requests were initiated. Dune Here is a funny but apt video based on a famous meme I found on Twitter. In general, it describes pretty well the situation around the airdrop and the reasons for the disappointment of the community. The link to the post with this . video is here What does this EigenLayer Airdrop show us? The EigenLayer case highlights several important points and issues that we could observe that have been in the market for a long time and which all participants try to ignore. 1️⃣ The successful airdrop in late 2022 ushered in the "fat retrodrops" era and raised farmer expectations. People imitate activities in the networks, hoping to wake up one morning and see Lambo from the window. from described this point very well: Aptos @RyanSAdams Bankless 2️⃣ Many projects started betting on the token and using it as a marketing and reputation tool. I talked to the founders, convinced that only a drop would help them draw attention to the project. This is naive and short-sighted. Paying users for using the product is unnatural because instead of healthy competition and customer loyalty, it creates greed and a "gold rush.” 3️⃣ The market does not have sufficient users. Projects encourage activity by hinting at rewards for those who will boost the activity. However, it is obvious that projects can but are not obliged to pay rewards to users for their activity on the network. This sends only one message to the average crypto user: ** Your active participation, in the end, can mean very little. 4️⃣ In the world beyond Web3, businesses compete with each other through better technology, more attractive design, clear communication, and other factors that affect market position. Traditional businesses offer cashback and discounts at the product's launch, but no one pays tens of thousands of people $1000+ for using shampoo or buying a car. 5️⃣ Blockchain projects desperately need users interested in technologies, not drops! This need highlights the significant issues with UX and product value communication. It must be a user-oriented approach with a consistent product and marketing vision. Some Web3 founders started to take this point, but not the majority. The desire to make more complex technological products to show them off in front of fellow technicians takes precedence over a rational approach and customer orientation. What’s the future of restaking in the context of the EigenLayer case? I asked , the Product Marketer at about the case of EigenLayer’s airdrop. Nektar is a multilayered restaking network implementing a comprehensive incentives system for its participants, so Denis is well-versed with the current state of the restaking market and able to share his vision on this issue. Denis Igin , Nektar - What will be further after such a disappointment of the community? Will we see the withdrawal of funds from the restaking platforms? Denis: It’s hard to say about EigenLayer, but restaking as a concept and approach changes everything. For example, it enables the composability of solutions sourcing trust from the same set of validators, leading to technological advances such as native interoperability, etc. After mercenary capital outflow, next comes proving economics that everyone expects from the original design: additional rewards for restakers. Demand from AVSs might not be high at first, as with everything novel, but eventually, repurposing Ethereum security will have a disruptive and long-lasting impact comparable to decoupling execution by rollups. - Is the drop a panacea for product promotion? Denis: When used wisely, airdrops are a great way to gather relevant community information about the project. Gamification works too, e.g. Nektar recently . launched a points system - What conclusions did you draw following the case of the EigenLayer airdrop? Denis: The main lesson is that larger projects may fail in many ways, and this is likely due to the experimental nature of the restaking technology. As a community, we should not repeat the mistake of creating an outsized stakeholder leader. There’s room for more restaking players, and Nektar looks like a viable alternative to EL due to its integrated DVT, providing better resiliency and decentralization. Conclusion Many people support this situation with airdrops because it brings (actually, not always) high income in a short-term perspective. Another issue is that high-tech projects are not ready to be more open to a broader audience; they only create technologies for developers, limiting the market's growth. I can't imagine the industry's organic growth if the blockchain/crypto projects start fighting over who will give away more crypto in fear that their activity on the network or the number of followers will fall due to inflated expectations. I urge all members of the Web3 industry pay more attention to the value of the project and build a long-term relationships between the product and the users. The hype passes quickly, and what remains in return, loyalty or disappointment, depends on the ability of the founders to play the long game. Read my previous articles about and making blockchain as popular as AI launching a Web3 Project in 2024. Follow me on social media: , , and LinkedIn X . YouTube

EigenLayer Airdrop Has Highlighted the Problems in the Crypto Market

EigenLayer Airdrop ক্রিপ্টো মার্কেটের সমস্যাগুলো তুলে ধরেছে

EigenLayer Airdrop hat die Probleme auf dem Kryptomarkt hervorgehoben

EigenLayer Airdrop ha resaltado los problemas en el mercado criptográfico

EigenLayer Airdrop a mis en évidence les problèmes du marché de la cryptographie

EigenLayer एयरड्रॉप ने क्रिप्टो मार्केट की समस्याओं को उजागर किया है

EigenLayer エアドロップは暗号通貨市場の問題を浮き彫りにした

EigenLayer Airdrop은 암호화폐 시장의 문제를 강조했습니다

EigenLayer Airdrop destacou os problemas no mercado criptográfico

EigenLayer Airdrop выявил проблемы на рынке криптовалют

EigenLayer Airdrop, Kripto Piyasasındaki Sorunları Vurguladı

EigenLayer Airdrop đã nêu bật các vấn đề trong thị trường tiền điện tử

EigenLayer 空投凸显了加密货币市场的问题

October was an excellent month for crypto markets. Bitcoin rose 29% in October, bringing returns on the original cryptocurrency to 109% for the year. Ethereum was up almost 10% for October, and the long-sleeping Solana jumped 77% for the month. Yes, up 77% in a MONTH. Whilst Bitcoin went up, we also saw some sharp drops in the $hitcoin market, including 53% drop for Wall Street Memes, 44% loss for Shiba Saga and a 29% loss for the ironically named SafeMoon. The selling of junk to buy quality made us almost feel that the crypto markets were starting to mature… and then we saw that ridiculous and useless frog-faced memecoin PEPE v2 was up 642% for the month. Remember when NFTs shot up like a rocket, then crashed 99%? Some markets do ‘ave ‘em… As market regulations get closer, we feel junk coins may sink, and there will be a flight to quality. Stay tuned to watch what happens to most altcoins when they have to become registered, audited and counted for tax, just like traditional fund managers… we predict that when regulations are finalised, 80% or more of the altcoins will disappear. If you have any memecoins, $hitcoins or jokecoins, it may be a good idea to take profits while you can.. Spoiler Alert: Regulations are incoming After many reissues and redrafts, the . The document states that firms undertaking crypto asset activities must now be authorised by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority. The authorisation will include a stipulation for crypto exchanges to create detailed requirements for admission standards and mandate disclosures when listing new assets. Treasury states that DeFi will be addressed at a future date. UK Treasury has released its final proposal for crypto asset regulation If you have not been following the crypto news, or if you missed our , , , the or , then you may be unaware that many major financial institutions are applying for Bitcoin ETFs or exchange-traded funds. ETF updates here our ETF price prediction from six months ago here ETF update here $400 000 price prediction here the 300% charting forecast here In the $400 000 price prediction link above, we commented on the hypocrisy of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in the USA, and the fact that the US government was missing out on innovation (and income!) whilst other regions such as the UK, EU and Asia were much friendlier to crypto companies. The US Court of Appeals heard last month’s case between Grayscale and the SEC, and decided that the SEC was wrong and capricious when declining the BTC ETF application. The , thus laying the path for possible approval of several Bitcoin ETFs in the next 90 days. SEC has stated that they will not contest the court's decision The SEC had previously stated their “come one, come all” philosophy; if one Bitcoin ETF were to be approved, then they would approve all other complying applicants on the same day. This would mean that no institution received an unfair advantage by being able to accept funds before anyone else. Theoretically, we could see Bitcoin ETFs launched by Blackrock, Fidelity, Grayscale, ARK Invest, Wisdom Tree and half a dozen others, all on the same day. What do you think will happen when ten new storefronts open to sell a simple way into crypto, and there is a severely limited supply? (For a hint, refer to what happened when an . After having sat flat for almost thirty years, the gold price rockets up over 300%, at the exact time when the new ETF was introduced.) ETF was created to allow a simplified way for people to buy gold We cannot guarantee that the Bitcoin price will rise 300% when a slew of ETFs appear on the market, but we will say that a higher demand with a low supply generally makes prices go up. There will be other factors pushing prices up, and those who want to sell for a profit and crystallise some gains may cause prices to drop after a rise, so we could see a saw-tooth pattern with a few sharp drops on the way up. Crypto from your financial planner? If you have dealt with a financial planner (FP) or financial adviser (FA) in the last few years, you may know that some are independent, and some are bonded. For example, the planner inside Westpac could only recommend products that were branded Westpac or BT (as Westpac owned BT). The planner inside CommBank could only recommend products from CommBank or Colonial (as CBA owned Colonial). Ditto for ANZ and OnePath, NAB and MLC, and AMP and AMP. This may have seemed like a conflict of interest, as the financial planner would not necessarily recommend the “best” product for you, but just the best one that they happened to have on hand. We could compare this to any other product or service provider. If you visit the Toyota dealer, they will not recommend you buy a Ford, and the person in the Ferrari showroom will not tell you to buy a Lamborghini. For a truly independent point of view, you must visit an independent financial planner (or an independent car broker). It has been an industry standard for decades that your financial adviser would receive an upfront payment for placing your investment, as well as an ongoing payment for monitoring the investment and keeping you appraised of any changes required. This could be compared to the car dealership making a few dollars when you first buy the car, and then a few dollars every year when you have it serviced. Up until now, financial advisers, accountants and other financial professionals have not been able to charge clients for advising them on cryptocurrency, nor placing crypto investments or monitoring them. This meant an absolute dearth of financial advice around crypto: why would a professional adviser give crypto advice if they are not being paid for it? With the advent of Bitcoin ETFs, Ethereum ETFs and other crypto-ETFs to follow, crypto will become a regulated financial asset. That means that your financial adviser can start charging you for crypto advice, crypto placement and crypto monitoring. And then, all of a sudden, everything changes. We shared a post on , showing that over 80% of financial advisers have had clients ask about crypto, and almost 25% of financial advisers own crypto in their own name. Still, less than 10% of advisers put their clients into crypto. LinkedIn a while back There is a possibility that the advisers do not recommend crypto to the other 70% of clients because crypto is unregulated (for now), and/or crypto has no ongoing adviser payments (for now) crypto regulations are already in place in a few countries and will swiftly arrive in all the others. Adviser payments will follow regulation as the cart follows the ox. Recommendations will be made to clients who are seeking higher-risk and higher-reward investments. Demand for crypto will increase, and with a limited supply, prices should rise dramatically. Again, we cannot promise 300% gains like when the gold ETF was issued, but we are cautiously optimistic of more double-digit returns in crypto as the ETFs roll out. But wait… The perfect storm If upcoming regulations, ETFs and crypto-planners were not going to be exciting enough for you, here’s a little more fuel for your rockets. All of these events will happen around the time of the next Bitcoin halving. We have spoken of the Bitcoin halving (or “halvening”) several times, , , , and . Without labouring the point, when something becomes twice as scarce, Economics 101 tells us it should become twice as valuable. here here here here This math is not always perfect: when Bitcoin became twice as scarce in 2012, the price rose not by 100% but over 1000%. When Bitcoin mining rewards halved again in 2016 and BTC became twice as scarce, the price did not rise by 100% but almost 3000%. The previous Bitcoin halving event in early 2020 saw not a 100% gain but a completely fantastical 1000% gain. Of course, after these massive run-ups, the BTC price did crash somewhat, but a 3000% gain followed by a 60% crash is still a net positive result (even if it feels tough on the blood pressure!) There is a slim possibility that we will see a perfectly rational market, and the Bitcoin price will react to the next halvening event by only doubling its price to match the doubling of its scarcity. However, based on past market history (histrionics?), it is more probable that the Bitcoin price will massively overshoot its target before scaling back to normality. Grab your popcorn and stay tuned. Quick updates: Do as we say, not as we do: We reported that legendary investor Warren Buffett has been making money from crypto in private, despite him insulting it in public. this year. on Facebook Buffett’s investment in crypto-friendly Nubank is up 73% exchange and will allow crypto custody services for its banking clients. Thailand’s fourth largest bank has just paid $100M for a crypto https://blockworks.co/news/thailand-bank-stake-crypto-exchange Swiss bank Sygnum offers crypto purchasing, crypto custody/storage and staking of ETH, ADA, ATOM, ICP and XTZ for its clients. https://www.sygnum.com/digital-asset-banking/staking/ Large Swiss bank SEBA is also allowing ETH staking for their customers https://forkast.news/seba-bank-ethereum-staking-services/ If your friends wonder if crypto is a fad or is here to stay, let them know that the banks are stepping in. It’s all Greek to me (or how to sound smart at parties) There is a lot of jargon in investment circles. In addition to acronyms such as ASX, NASDAQ, DJIA, PEG, NTA and fancy words for income ( ), pointy-headed investment boffins also like to use Greek words. (Maybe the lawyers used all the good Latin words?) rent, yield, dividend, premium You may have heard of , which is outperformance. If the broad market returned 10% and XYZ investment returned 12%, it has a 2% alpha. All investors want to beat the average, so they all seek alpha… but Alpha There is also , which is volatility, or ups and downs. Assume that XYZ investment returned 12% whilst the market went up 10% (2% alpha). Imagine that the broad market made 10% by going up 15% and down 5%, which is common enough. Now imagine that XYZ made its 12% by rocketing up 45% and then dropping 33%; that is a little scarier. Beta A beta of 1 is the same as the average market. A beta of 0.5 means the investment is only half as volatile as the average market, which is reassuring for those who like lower risk. A beta of 3 means that the investment has three times as much up, and three times as much down as the average market. For example, if the market goes up by 10%, XYZ could zoom up 30%. Also the reverse: if the market drops 10%, XYZ could drop 30%. Whilst investors all want additional alpha, they usually want to minimise beta. Great returns with less rollercoaster; that is the dream 😊 For those who want to get super complex, yes, there are more Greek letters in investment circles, such as (and 20+ more letters we won’t go into today). Gamma (or ‘short gamma’) in the last month. This is fancy Greek terminology for “there is not enough Bitcoin to go around”. Bitcoin has been facing a Gamma Squeeze Traders can buy or sell options contracts for an asset (e.g. Bitcoin) at any time. Whenever that happens, the entities that offer options contracts take the opposite side of the trades. This is called “gamma hedging”, and market makers do this by buying/selling the underlying asset (e.g. BTC) as prices move. Recently there has been huge demand for Bitcoin call options, as traders expect prices to rise. As prices increase, market makers need to buy more BTC to hedge and maintain their position. The result is something called a “gamma squeeze” (like a ). short squeeze BTC prices go up → so market makers need to buy BTC → which pushes BTC prices higher → forcing market makers to buy more BTC → so BTC prices go even higher → leading to big green candles. Many believe that this is part of the reason why Bitcoin saw such a big pump last week. Wall Street Analysts think it could happen again soon. According to , head of research at Galaxy Digital, said on Twitter, “if BTC moves higher than US$35 750, options dealers will need to buy $20m in BTC for every 1% upside move, which could cause explosive (price rises) if we begin to move up towards those levels.” Alex Thorne As Bitcoin is already up almost 30% for the month and over 100% for the year, any gamma squeezes that require Wall Street to buy more Bitcoin is great news for those who are already in, and good news for those who get in before regulators and financial planners open the floodgates. WARNING: with institutional inflows of funds comes institutional behaviour and institutional algorithms. This next year could be the very last of the crazy crypto gains where prices rocket up 300% to 1000% or more. The reason is that large institutions often use algorithms, formulas or artificial intelligence to trade. For example, if prices on an investment drop more than 10%, the computer can buy, driving prices back up. If prices rise by over 20%, the computer can automatically sell, driving prices back down. The reason that crypto has had crazy rises of 3000% and crazy drops of 80% is because crypto has been traded by emotional or irrational humans and not unfeeling robots. Gains and dips in the stock market are generally no more than 10-20% in a single day due largely to automated trading. When automation comes to crypto, prices may be far more stable than we have ever seen before. Gains and losses may become more in line with the stock market averages of 10-20% per year. [ ] You have now been warned. How did we go this month? Bostoncoin In addition to the gains made by BTC, ETH and SOL mentioned in the first paragraph, we have seen some nice action in the altcoins and look forward to more. XRP            up 127% Litecoin      up 125% Assemble   up 119% As at Oct 31 2023 BOS NAV    USD 46.7181896 BOS Price   USD 51.3900086 BOS NAV    AUD 67.8335743 BOS Price   AUD 74.6169318 The Bostoncoin portfolio has a 53% gain for the year, 166% gain over three years and 197% gain for the past five years. There have been some dips along the way, but consistency and persistence always pay off. DARTcoin Now that you have learned about Beta, you will know why the DARTcoin outperforms in and drags the chain in .  For those who have the patience and the intestinal fortitude, you could consider a small amount in the unhedged DARTcoin fund, noting that it is far higher risk than the more balanced and comparatively conservative Bostoncoin fund. bull markets bear markets Thorchain  up 556% Render       up 460% TRON          up 152% Fantom       up 109% As at Oct 31 2023 DART NAV AUD 94.4308824 DART Price AUD 103.873971 DART NAV USD 60.4357647 DART Price USD 66.4793412 The DARTcoin portfolio has only been around two years versus the Bostoncoin seven-year history. Year-to-date gains are 134%. We are focusing forward on what the next altcoin season will bring. Share the love and win big Please share the love by sharing this post with a friend. If you are not motivated to help your friends make great returns whilst learning more about crypto, we will not assume that you are a terrible person; no judgment. We can assume you may need to be bribed with an exclusive Bostoncoin umbrella... A quality folding brolly, the same size as a thin water bottle, the Bostoncoin umbrella will fit easily into a handbag, briefcase or backpack. Easily compared to a Davek brolly that retails at $169, the Bostoncoin umbrella will protect you from sunburn on a clear day, save you from soaked hair on a wet day and can also be used to (if you happen to be Sean Connery). destroy enemy aircraft To get your hands on the best-looking protection for your best-looking asset, be sure to share the newsletter link, add the hashtag #Bostoncoin and tag @TradingBoston on Twitter (X) or @BostonTradingInc on Facebook (META). We will give ten umbrellas to random people who correctly follow the sharing instructions. Good luck! If your crypto-curious friends do not like to read, and prefer to watch videos, and tell them to watch the first 15 minutes. This is a very simplified overview of how to make money in crypto, and comparing Bitcoin to the gold rush and gold mining days of old. send them this link We are happy to do more “bite-sized” 15-minute live updates followed by 15 minutes of Q&A; your demand will lead this, so . We will create a webinar based on your questions and requests. reach out and ask JB

This is Your Last Chance for Crazy Gains in Crypto Before Wall Street Takes Your Toys Away

Everything You Need to Know About Account Based Marketing 

অ্যাকাউন্ট ভিত্তিক মার্কেটিং সম্পর্কে আপনার যা কিছু জানা দরকার

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SEC v. Terraform Court Filing, retrieved on February 16, 2023, is part of . You can jump to any part in this filing . This is part 28 of 38. HackerNoon’s Legal PDF Series here a. Terraform and Kwon Deceived Investors about Chai 121. Terraform and Kwon marketed the Terraform blockchain as having a real-world use. Specifically, Terraform and Kwon repeatedly claimed that a Korean company, Chai Corporation ("Chai"), used the Terraform blockchain to process and settle millions of transactions for Korean consumers at retail establishments, such as online stores, movie theaters, and convenience stores. These statements were materially false and misleading. Chai transactions were neither processed nor settled on the Terraform blockchain. 122. To further deceive investors, Terraform and Kwon recorded completed Chai transactions onto the Terraform blockchain to make it appear as if they were processed on the blockchain when, in fact, they were not. The purported "real-world use" of the Terraform blockchain was a literal fabrication. 123. Chai is a mobile payment service provider in Korea, similar to PayPal or Venmo, which Kwon launched, together with Terraform's co-founder, in or around June 2019. 124. Until early 2020, Chai and Terraform were closely associated with each other, sharing an office space and overlapping personnel. During that time, Kwon sat on Chai's board of directors and was kept up to date on Chai activities. 125. Sometime in early 2020, Kwon and Terraform's co-founder took steps to separate Terraform's business from Chai. Kwon took control of Terraform and moved its offices to a new location. At the same time, the majority of Terraform's employees began working solely for Terraform. However, until approximately May 2022, Kwon continued to sit on Chai's board and Defendants continued to represent publicly that Terraform was connected to Chai. 126. From mid-2019 through at least March 2022, Defendants made numerous and repeated statements falsely representing that the "backend" of Chai transactions were being processed and settled using the Terraform blockchain. Terraform and Kwon also falsely stated that Chai's use of the Terraform blockchain provided incentives to both Korean merchants and consumers to use Chai for their transactions. Specifically, Terraform and Kwon claimed that Chai's use of the Terraform blockchain meant that merchants experienced faster processing times and lower transaction fees through Chai than through competitor mobile payment services providers. Likewise, Terraform and Kwon maintained that Chai customers would benefit from additional consumer discounts flowing from the lower costs associated with Chai's purported use of the Terraform blockchain. With these misrepresentations, Terraform and Kwon misleadingly used Chai's growth as a proxy for the growth and success of the Terraform ecosystem as a whole. 127. Terraform and Kwon made these false and misleading statements in presentations to solicit investments in Terraform's crypto asset securities, including LUNA, from investors and prospective investors in the U.S. and overseas. In addition, Terraform made and disseminated these false and misleading statements in public interviews, Terraform-sponsored podcasts, and social media posts, which were available to U.S. investors and prospective investors. 128. For instance, in a presentation aired on CNBC Africa that Terraform made available to U.S. investors when it posted it to YouTube on October 14, 2019, Kwon discussed Chai in depth, explaining: [I]n the backend, it uses Terra's blockchain technology to solve some major pain points and problems for the merchants. But in the backend is where the real magic starts to happen. And I contend that Terra solves two of the biggest roadblocks to the adoption of digital payments in Asia and the rest of the world. So the first is slow settlement periods. … Terra settles in six seconds. So every block for every transaction that has been made, we batch it up and then send it to the merchant so they can have easy and early access to working capital should they choose to do so. The second problem that we solve is high transaction fees. … So in the thirteen weeks in which we have been operational, early response has been quite explosive. Up-up to today we have had 430,000 shoppers over the Chai gateway, and most of them coming in the last month. And we've processed nearly 2,000,000 transactions up to date. And we think that this number will continue to grow. In terms of daily active users, Terra and Chai has already surpassed some of the most popular tokens. Our daily active user numbers today currently stand at around 58,000 users... … So, basically what we are going for is to facilitate everyday retail transactions that are powered by Terra. 129. In an email sent on February 6, 2020 directly to investors, including U.S.-based institutional investors, Kwon noted that Similarly, on February 9, 2020, Kwon wrote in the Terra General Discord Channel chat accessible to the public that "Chai sits at 1.18 million active accounts today, and we passed the IM mark on Jan 14" "[r]ight now Chai has 12 merchants, all of whom get settled in KRT on the Terraform blockchain." 130. Terraform provided a September 2020 investor slide deck to at least one U.S.- based institutional investor, in which it touted the purported speed and efficiency of Chai in using the Terraform blockchain to process transactions. One slide titled contained a chart of various crypto assets and associated that $16 million with "LUNA, Terra's Native Token." "Explosive adoption of payment solutions has generated Terra 16M in annualized fees" Later slides in the deck also touted Chai's success in promoting the investment opportunities of other Terraform crypto asset securities. 131. In a series of Tweets posted on May 24, 2021 through @terra_money, Terraform again emphasized Chai's use of the Terraform blockchain and highlighted its growth, stating: 17/ As long as we create useful applications that people use on top of Terra, the strong locus of demand will always exist. 18/ And the use cases are already there. CHAI has more than 2 million active users in Korea. 132. And on March 31, 2022, in an interview posted to the public YouTube channel Blockworks Macro, Kwon again touted Chai and its use of the Terraform blockchain: So, we've launched apps like Chai in Korea. And so, the idea was that we were close to retail loop with things that people can buy, and transact with using, you know, Terra payments. So, you could take it to most e-commerce merchants of your choice. I could go to movie theaters, convenience stores, and things like that. 133. In addition to making and disseminating these materially false and misleading statements, Terraform and Kwon engaged in other deceptive acts, including by entering transactions on the Terraform blockchain using "KRT" (yet another algorithmic stablecoin offered by Terraform that was pegged to Korean currency, Won), which purported to reflect Chai commercial transactions. Specifically, from June 2019 through at least May 12, 2022, the Terraform blockchain appeared to reflect that Chai transactions were being settled on the blockchain in KRT, when, in fact, Chai payments were processed in Korean Won. 134. To carry out this deception, Terraform programmed a server, which was referred to internally as the "LP Server," to receive and process data about Chai transactions, and then issue instructions to the Terraform blockchain to replicate those transactions as if they had originally "settled" on the Terraform blockchain. 135. Analysis of Terraform blockchain data reflects that, in replicating the Chai transactions, Terraform used one wallet address ("Terraform Master Wallet") to fund up to 2.7 million other wallets. Terraform controlled each of these wallets and used them to execute batched or "multisend" transfers that would replicate multiple Chai transactions together in a single transaction, using data received by the LP Server. Analysis of Terraform blockchain data further reflects that Terraform used the Terraform Master Wallet to begin each batch of transactions that replicated the real transactions that Chai was processing in Korean Won. 136. In statements to investors, Kwon has confirmed that the batched blockchain transactions that utilized this Terraform Master Wallet were purportedly connected to Chai (though he did not disclose that they merely replicated Chai transactions, which were not actually settled on the blockchain). For instance, in a private Discord chat on June 22, 2019, Kwon told a small number of investors that Terraform blockchain transactions that are "multisend [are] pretty much all Chai." 137. To further his deception, Kwon "challenged" his Twitter followers to identify purported merchant wallet addresses from these replicated blockchain transactions. Specifically, in a February 8, 2020 tweet posted through @stablekwon, Kwon challenged his followers to identify Chai merchant wallet addresses from the blockchain, posting: Fun thought: currently @terra_money payments app Chai is linked with 12 merchants in Korea. Can anyone guess which wallet address belongs to which merchant? First person to respond with the correct guess and explain reasoning get 5000 SLUNA. 138. At least one of Kwon's Twitter followers purportedly accepted the challenge and searched the Terraform blockchain to match the follower's real-world Chai app payments with transactions recorded on the blockchain. As a result, the follower claimed to have discovered eleven of the twelve purported merchant wallet addresses. 139. On February 9, 2020, Kwon posted a follow-up tweet falsely stating that the follower had correctly identified the Chai merchant wallets. In fact, a blockchain analysis reveals that each identified transaction began with the Terraform Master Wallet and the purportedly identified merchant wallet addresses were controlled by Terraform. 140. These Terraform blockchain transactions purporting to represent real Chai transactions were purely sham transactions. An analysis of the blockchain indicates that virtually all the KRT used to fund the Terraform Master Wallet originated from other Terraform-controlled wallets, including a reserve of Terraform stablecoins, called Terraform SDR (SDT) Similarly, virtually all the KRT used to replicate these Chai transactions remained in or was returned to Terraform-controlled wallets through at least May 12, 2022. The analysis further reflects that, from June 2019 until at least May 2022, with very few exceptions, the wallet addresses used in Terraform Master Wallet transactions were used in no other transactions oth than those initiated from the Terraform Master Wallet. In other words, these blockchain transactions do not reflect real-world, arms-length transfers of KRT between consumers and merchants. Instead, they reflect a closed system in which Terraform transferred KRT between millions of wallets that it controlled in order to replicate millions of transactions processed through Chai to make it appear that they had been processed and settled on the Terraform blockchain. 141. In reality, Chai did not process or settle transactions on the Terraform blockcha but instead used traditional payment methods of receiving Korean Won from its customers and paying Korean Won to participating merchants. Neither Chai consumers nor Chai merchants were transacting in KRT. The transactions that were executed by the LP Server on the Terraform blockchain merely recorded transactions that had already happened in the real work using Korean Won. 142. Breaks in the continuity of new blocks created on the Terraform blockchain confirm that no Chai transactions occurred on the blockchain. The Terraform blockchain typically creates new blocks reflecting new states of the blockchain (including transactions) every six or so seconds. However, in at least five instances between October 2021 and March 2022, there were one or more days when no transactions whatsoever were confirmed on the Terraform blockchain. Yet, there is no evidence that the Chai payment application was not functioning during those periods. 143. Chai itself has denied in emails to its own investors that it used a blockchain to process its payments and claimed that doing so would not have been legally permitted in Korea. 144. Terraform employees that knew of the deception also knew to maintain its secrecy. For example, one Terraform employee explained in a chat with another employee on October 9, 2021,"btw we don't want to say stuff about LP server too much... it breaks the perception that chai depends on Terra... Basically chai doesn't need Terra to work... It's what copies chai's transactions from their data base to create tx activity." 145. As a founder and former director of Chai, Kwon (and through Kwon, Terraform) knew or were reckless in not knowing that Chai did not actually process or settle transactions on the Terraform blockchain. Kwon personally wrote much of the Terraform blockchain code from its genesis through two version upgrades and was primarily responsible for Terraform's coding and engineering strategy decisions. At the time of Chai's development and launch, Kwon held the most senior technical position at Terraform. 146. Kwon knew or was reckless in not knowing that the LP Server was merely replicating Chai transaction data that had not actually occurred on the Terraform blockchain because Kwon directly supervised and instructed the Terraform employees who programmed the LP Server in the first instance. Kwon also participated in technical discussions that required an understanding of how Chai transactions were reflected on the Terraform blockchain, including that they were batched in "multisend" transactions, and demonstrated knowledge of the location of Chai-related files in Terraform's code repositories. Kwon further demonstrated his understanding of the Chai transaction replication process by publicly confirming Terraform blockchain wallet addresses that purportedly belonged to Chai merchants. 147. Defendants' misleading statements and omissions, and their deceptive acts, with respect to the non-existent Chai transactions, were material to investors in Terraform's crypto assets securities. 148. Terraform and Kwon used these material misrepresentations about Chai to encourage and solicit investments by retail and institutional investors in Terraform crypto assets, including LUNA and wLUNA. For example, in a June 19, 2020 blog post on Terraform's Medium website, Terraform's Head of Ecosystem Development directly tied Chai's purported use of the Terraform blockchain to the returns to Terraform investors, writing: In this piece we'd like to go beyond the numbers to reflect on the key role that transaction fees play in determining network value and security. The fundamental driver of transaction fees in the Terra network is the broad adoption of CHAI by consumers and merchants. 149. Defendants' efforts worked. U.S.-based retail and institutional investors believed that Chai operated on the Terraform blockchain and found it significant in deciding to invest in Terraform crypto assets, including LUNA. For example, on December 3, 2020, the CEO of a U.S. based institutional investor posted to Twitter: "Terra's payment app Chai is up to 80k daily active users. Koreans are fast adopters. Watch this grow. $LUNA." On May 18, 2022, that same CEO posted a memo to Twitter purporting to explain the basis for investing in LUNA. In the memo, the CEO highlighted as one significant factor, Chai's use of the Terra blockchain, describing it as "crypto finding a real-world use case." 150. Similarly, in or around November 2021, Kwon and another Terraform employee approached another U.S.-based institutional investor to solicit that investor to purchase LUNA tokens. In pitching the LUNA investment, Terraform and Kwon told the investor that the Terraform blockchain was being used to process Chai transactions. The investor found this fact to be significant in deciding to invest with Terraform. This investor specifically highlighted Chai's purported transactions on the Terraform blockchain in the investor's internal investment memorandum in early January 2022. On or about January 24, 2022, that investor (through a foreign subsidiary) signed an agreement to purchase $57 million in LUNA tokens. 151. From December 27, 2019, to March 10, 2022, U.S.-based institutional investors (either directly or through offshore affiliates) purchased approximately $656 million of LUNA tokens from Terraform (or a wholly-controlled subsidiary). These institutional investors included hedge funds and venture capitalists based in California, New York, Massachusetts, Florida, and Washington D.C. Similarly, from September 2021 through May 2022, retail investors, including investors in the U.S., purchased billions of dollars of LUNA and wLUNA on crypto asset trading platforms. Continue Reading . Here About HackerNoon Legal PDF Series: We bring you the most important technical and insightful public domain court case filings. This court case 1:23-cv-01346 retrieved on September 12, 2023, from is part of the public domain. The court-created documents are works of the federal government, and under copyright law, are automatically placed in the public domain and may be shared without legal restriction. sec.gov

Do Kwon Lied to Investors About Chai: How He Dangled the Carrot In Front of Their Faces

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如何启动成功的代币销售并在币安上线 - 来自实践经验的提示

Information is the foundation of good decision-making. Cryptocurrency innovates at the speed of light. New protocols are constantly coming to market, promising to solve some of mankind's greatest financial troubles. While their intentions might be good, the result is a cluttered, noisy environment that promotes FOMO & makes it nearly impossible to make sound decisions. In order to succeed in the wild, volatile, & often opaque world of cryptocurrency it is necessary to quiet the noise & hone in on real signals. The best way to do that is by building out your own Crypto ToolKit. Quick Notes on building a Crypto ToolKit: -) Do not use every single tool (unless you’re a crypto savant) -) Review each resource/tool individually (5–10 min per resource) -) Select only the ones that appeal most to your specific preferences As you might already be aware, the crypto-verse is highly fragmented in the sense that there are many different chains & protocols. Given that not all chains & protocols are interoperable (yet), all of the tools listed provided below are will be as general & multi-purpose as possible. Without further ado, Let's dive in: 📊 Market Data 📊 The starting point of almost every person’s crypto journey, Market Data providers are listing sites that aggregate all open financial digital asset data. All of the fundamental economic elements, Price, Volume, Circulating supply, Orderbooks, market dominance, historic data, & everything else. 1) Token Terminal - https://tokenterminal.com/ 2) Messari - https://messari.io/ 3) Crypto Slate - https://cryptoslate.com/coins/ 4) CoinGlass - https://www.coinglass.com/ Coin Market Cap -** 5) https://coinmarketcap.com/ - 6) Coin Gecko https://www.coingecko.com/ 7) Coin Metrics - https://coinmetrics.io/ 8) Coinlib - https://coinlib.io/ 9) Crypto Compare - https://www.cryptocompare.com/ 10) CoinCap - https://coincap.io/ - 11) CoinRanking https://coinranking.com/ 12) Coin360 — https://coin360.com/ — 13) Bitgur https://bitgur.com/ — 14) Nomics https://nomics.com/ - 15) CryptoWatch https://cryptowat.ch/ 16) BraveNewCoin — https://bravenewcoin.com/ 17) LiveCoinWatch — https://www.livecoinwatch.com/ 18) MultiCoinCharts - https://www.multicoincharts.com/home/ 19) Nansen - https://www.nansen.ai/ 20) CoinPaprika - https://coinpaprika.com/ 21) CoinAlpha - https://coinalpha.app/ 22) CoinScope - https://www.coinscope.co/ 23) DropsTabs - https://dropstab.com/ 24) CryptoView - https://www.cryptoview.com/ 25) CoinCarp - https://www.coincarp.com/ 26) Mytokencap - https://www.mytokencap.com/ 27) CoinCodex — https://coincodex.com/ — 28) CoinLobster https://coinlobster.com/ 💱 DEFI Dashboard & Aggregators💱 Decentralized finance is an incredibly broad term that includes a wide range of applications that vary based on functionality & intended purpose. While the majority of current DEFI activity happens across 4 blockchains (Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon & Solana) there are so many up & coming alternative platforms such as Optimism & Arbitrum that have been garnering attention that for the sake of brevity I will only list the few products that I am personally familiar with. 1) Dapp Radar — https://dappradar.com/defi 2) DEFI Llama — https://defillama.com/ 3) DEFI Prime — https://defiprime.com/ 4) DEFI Pulse — https://www.defipulse.com/ 5) YieldWatch - https://www.yieldwatch.net/ 6) ZapperFI - https://zapper.xyz/ 7) Zerion - https://zerion.io/ 8) InstaDapp - https://instadapp.io/ 9) Frontier - https://www.frontier.xyz/ 10) Apebored - https://apeboard.finance/ 11) Debank - https://debank.com/ - 12) APYvision https://app.apy.vision/ - 13) Plasma Finance https://plasma.finance/ - 14) Farm Army https://farm.army/ - 15) DEFISaver https://defisaver.com/ - 16) Gnosis Safe https://gnosis-safe.io/ - 17) DefiYield https://defiyield.app/ 18) Coin98 - https://coin98.com/ 19) AstroTools - https://astrotools.io/ 20) MultiFarm - https://www.multifarm.fi/ 21) OctoFi - https://octo.fi/ 22) Parallel - https://parallel.fi/ 23) Exponential - https://exponential.fi/ 24) WalletDefi - https://walletdefi.app/ 25) DEFImarketCap - https://defimarketcap.io/ 26) QuantifyCrypto - https://quantifycrypto.com/ 📰 News 📰 Crypto is becoming all the more politicized as time goes on. An absurd amount of crypto/DEFI news sites pop up constantly & push their own agendas. The best way to source news (in any industry) is by having a few reliable individual outlets & cross-referencing information across them all. 1) CoinDesk - https://www.coindesk.com/ 2) Coin Telegraph - https://cointelegraph.com/ 3) Bitcoin Magazine - https://bitcoinmagazine.com/ 4) The Cryptonomist - https://en.cryptonomist.ch/ 5) Be In Crypto - https://beincrypto.com/ 6) CoinGape - https://coingape.com/ 7) CryptoSlate - https://cryptoslate.com/ 8) Crypto Briefing - https://cryptobriefing.com/ 9) CryptoDaily - https://cryptodaily.co.uk/ 10) Crypto Potato - https://cryptopotato.com/ 11) BraveNewCoin - https://bravenewcoin.com/ 12) Coin Journal - https://coinjournal.net/ 13) Coin Speaker - https://www.coinspeaker.com/ 14) CoinCu - https://news.coincu.com/ 15) Bitcoinist - https://bitcoinist.com/ 16) CryptoPanic - https://cryptopanic.com/ 17) Crypto News - https://cryptonews.com/ 18) U Today - https://u.today/ 19) CoinGraph - https://www.coingraph.news/ - 20) Decrypt https://decrypt.co/ - 21) Blockworks https://blockworks.co/ - 22) CryptoCapitalNews https://cryptocapitalnews.com/ — 23) Protos https://protos.com/ 👛 Wallets 👛 Wallets are the foundation for getting involved & staying in crypto. Wallets are exactly what they sound like, places to securely store/view your crypto asset holdings. Wallets typically come in 2 flavors, Chain-specific & Chain-agnostic. Chain-specific wallets are tied to a single blockchain platform (i.e ETH/BNB). These will only be able to store their native chain tokens, but allow the users to interact with on-chain assets/applications. Whereas chain-agnostic wallets might allow their users to store crypto assets from any blockchain, but that is the limit of their capabilities as they are usually single-purpose only (storage) 1) MetaMask - https://metamask.io/ 2) MEW - https://www.myetherwallet.com/ 3) Dynamic - https://www.dynamic.xyz/ 4) XDEFI - https://www.xdefi.io/ 5) Enkryptic - https://www.enkrypt.com/ 6) Argent - https://www.argent.xyz/ 7) Dopamine - https://dopamineapp.com/ 8) TrustWallet - https://trustwallet.com/ 9) Eidoo - https://eidoo.app/ 10) Dapppocket - https://www.dapppocket.io/ 11) Atomic Wallet - https://atomicwallet.io/ 12) Bread Wallet - https://brd.com/ 13) Guarda - https://guarda.com/ 14) Exodus - https://www.exodus.com/ 15) ZenGo - https://zengo.com/ 16) Coinomi - https://www.coinomi.com/en/ 17) Luno - https://www.luno.com/en-US 18) Ambire - https://www.ambire.com/ 19) Jaxx - https://jaxx.io/ 20) Edge - https://edge.app/ 21) Freewallet - https://freewallet.org/ 22) Coinbase Wallet - https://www.coinbase.com/wallet 23) Coin Wallet - https://coin.space/ 24) Ballet Wallet - https://www.ballet.com/coins/ 25) Unstoppable - https://unstoppable.money/ 26) Brave Wallet - https://brave.com/wallet/ 27) BitPay - https://bitpay.com/wallet/ 28) Crypto.com - https://crypto.com/us/defi-wallet 🔎 Explorers 🔍 Explorers are software tools that allow users to inspect the activity that has happened/is happening on-chain. Explorers are typically built-to-blockchain, meaning every chain needs its own explorer. Given the girth of data these tools access, explorers tend to be multi-purpose tools (i.e. data providers/ analytics dashboards/compliance). 1) Ethscan - https://etherscan.io/ 2) Bitquery - https://explorer.bitquery.io/ 3) Blockchair - https://blockchair.com/ 4) Tokenview - https://tokenview.io/ 5) Blockcypher - https://www.blockcypher.com/ 6) GetBlock - https://getblock.io/explorers/ 7) ViewBlock - https://viewblock.io/ - 8) BreadCrumbs https://www.breadcrumbs.app/ 9) Beaconchain - https://beaconcha.in/ 10) Blockstream - https://blockstream.info/ 11) Ethplorer - https://ethplorer.io/ 12) OXT - https://oxt.me/ 13) Xscan - https://xscan.io/ 14) Sochain - https://sochain.com/ 15) OkLink - https://www.oklink.com/en 16) Pingpub - https://ping.pub/ ⛓ On-Chain Data ⛓ On-chain data tools are closely related to explorers in the sense that they allow users to inspect the activity that has happened / is happening on-chain. The main difference between the On-chain Data tools & Explorers is the UI & granularity of data they provide.*The main difference between On-Chain data providers & traditional market data is the absence of information that is external to any blockchain. 1) Glassnode - https://glassnode.com/ 2) Dune Analytics - https://dune.com/home 3) IntoTheBlock - https://www.intotheblock.com/ - 4) Mempool https://mempool.space/ 5) Artemis - https://www.artemis.xyz/ - 6) Parsiq https://www.parsiq.net/ 🌉 Bridges 🌉 Within the context of cryptocurrency, a bridge is a software tool or protocol that allows otherwise non-compatible blockchains a method to transfer digital assets between one another. 1) MultiChain - https://multichain.org/ 2) CrossChain Bridge - https://www.crosschainbridge.org/ 3) Celer C Bridge - https://cbridge.celer.network/1/56/USDC 4) Synapse - https://synapseprotocol.com/ 5) Connext - https://bridge.connext.network/USDC-from-ethereum-to-binance 6) Relay - https://www.relaychain.com/ 7) Symbiosis - https://symbiosis.finance/ 8) Umbria - https://umbria.network/ 9) EverBridge - https://www.everrise.com/everbridge/ 10) Bungee - https://www.bungee.exchange/ 11) Portal Bridge - https://www.portalbridge.com/#/transfer 12) Nomad - https://www.nomad.xyz/ 13) Hop - https://hop.exchange/ 14) PolyBridge - https://bridge.poly.network/ 15) SolarBeam - https://app.solarbeam.io/bridge 16) Orbitchain - https://orbitchain.io/about 💹 DEXes 💹 Decentralized Exchanges are the new financial trading paradigm. Generally free from traditional regulatory scrutiny, DEXs are places to buy, sell, swap & provide liquidity for crypto assets. 1) UniSwap - https://uniswap.org/ 2) 1inch - https://app.1inch.io/ 3) DexTools - https://www.dextools.io/app/en 4) DexGuru - https://dex.guru/ 5) GeckoTerminal - https://www.geckoterminal.com/ 6) PancakeSwap - https://pancakeswap.finance/ 7) TraderJoe - https://traderjoexyz.com/avalanche 8) Arken - https://swap.arken.finance/ 9) Flooz - https://flooz.trade/trade 10) Balancer - https://balancer.fi/ 11) Bancor - https://home.bancor.network/ 12) Airswap - https://www.airswap.io/#/ - 13) Sushiswap https://www.sushi.com/ 14) Paraswap - https://www.paraswap.io/ 15) Jupiter - https://jup.ag/ 16) ThorChain - https://thorchain.org/ 17) WooFi - https://fi.woo.org/ 18) DYDX - https://trade.dydx.exchange/ - 19) Slingshot https://app.slingshot.finance/swap/ETH 20) Apex Exchange - https://www.apex.exchange/ 21) Osmosis - https://app.osmosis.zone/ 22) Curve - https://curve.fi/#/ethereum/swap 23) Tokenlon - https://tokenlon.im/instant 24) Swapz — https://www.swapz.app/ 📅 Calendars & Event Schedules 📅 Keeping up with the Kardashians is much easier than keeping up with your favorite crypto protocol; the question then becomes HOW do you plan to manage the onslaught on events? While there is no easy answer, using a Crypto Calander will definitely help: 1) CoinMarketCal - https://coinmarketcal.com/en/ 2) CoinDar - https://coindar.org/ 3) CoinsCalendar - https://coinscalendar.com/ 4) CryptoTotem - https://cryptototem.com/ico-calendar/ 5) CoinCarp events - https://www.coincarp.com/events/ 6) VestLabs - https://vestlab.io/calendar 🪂 Airdrops 🪂 The most popular tool for distribution in the entire industry, airdrops are incentives that are offered/provided at the earlier stages of a project’s development to help bootstrap it’s alpha community members. 1) Earnifi - https://earni.fi/ 2) airdropsio - https://airdrops.io/ 3) AirDropAlert - https://airdropalert.com/ 4) AirdropsLive - https://airdrops.live/ 5) AirdropBob - https://www.airdropbob.com/ 6) AirDropAddict - https://airdropaddict.com/ 7) CoinAirDrops - https://coinairdrops.com/ 8) ICOdrops - https://icodrops.com/ 💸 Grants 💸 Grants are a necessary component to helping startups & innovators get their ideas off the ground. In the world of crypto & blockchain grants are usually offered & deployed on a chain/case-specific basis. In order to be properly up to date on grant opportunities it is best to be actively involved in individual projects and/or blockchains. 1) Blockchain Grants - https://www.blockchaingrants.org/ 2) GitCoin - https://gitcoin.co/grants/ 3) Consensys - https://consensys.net/grants/ — 4) Concoridum https://concordium.com/grants/ 5) Web3 grants - https://web3grants.net/ 6) Web3Foundation - https://web3.foundation/grants/ 7) Ramp Rate - https://ramprate.com/blockchain-grant-opportunities/ - 8) Unigrants https://www.unigrants.org/ 9) Aave grants - https://aavegrants.org/ 10) Near grants - https://near.org/ecosystem/get-funding/ 11) Eth Foundation - https://esp.ethereum.foundation/ 12) Zcash grants - https://grants.zfnd.org/ 13) Alchemy Dev grants - https://www.alchemy.com/developer-grant-program — 14) dydx grants https://www.dydxgrants.com/ 15) Solana grants — https://solana.org/grants 16) Gate grants - https://www.gate.io/grants 17) Cryptoneur - https://www.cryptoneur.xyz/en/web3-grants 🛡 Audits 🛡 Audits are used to assess the quality/security of a protocol. When considering a protocol to use, it is nearly impossible to understand all of the associated risk factors, even for professionals. It is crucial that every serious project employs some form of audit for every individual piece of software. 1) Certik - https://www.certik.com/ 2) Consensys Dilligence - https://consensys.net/diligence/ 3) Hacken - https://hacken.io/services/smart-contract-security-audit/ 4) Open Zepplin - https://www.openzeppelin.com/security-audits 5) Trail of Bits - https://www.trailofbits.com/ 6) Slowmist - https://www.slowmist.com/ 7) Solidified - https://solidified.io/ 8) Chain Security - https://chainsecurity.com/smart-contract-audit-reports/ 9) PeckShield - https://peckshield.com/#home 10) Halborn - https://halborn.com/ 11) Quantstamp - https://quantstamp.com/ 12) Solidity Finance - https://solidity.finance/ - 13) Immune Bytes https://www.immunebytes.com/ 14) NumenCyber - https://www.numencyber.com/ 🌊😎 Cool & Honorable Mentions 😎🌊 There are always exotic instruments & services being built to help make sense of the wild world of crypto; some of these are difficult to classify but still deserve attention for serving their own unique & useful purpose(s). 1) Fiat Leak - https://fiatleak.com/ 2) Everest - https://everest.link/ 3) Revoke.cash - https://revoke.cash/ 4) CryptoQuant - https://cryptoquant.com/asset/btc/summary - 5) CryptoFees https://cryptofees.info/ - 6) Hashrate Index https://data.hashrateindex.com/asic-index-data — 7) LunarCrush https://lunarcrush.com/home — 8) Santiment https://santiment.net/ 9) Gas Fee Calculator - https://www.cryptoneur.xyz/en/gas-fees-calculator This list is by no means exhaustive, there are thousands of other tools/resources out there. Odds are, you do not even need 1/10 of those on this list; so my recommendation is don’t waste time wishing for better tools — learn how to masterfully use a few key ones provided above. If you went through the entire list, you might have noticed that there are no CEFI (centralized financial) tools on this list. This was done on purpose, given the madness that transpired with centralized exchanges/service providers throughout 2022. If you would like me to add any specific resource that might be beneficial to others, just drop a comment below or send me a DM on Twitter. Otherwise; I hope you find these tools helpful in building your knowledge & financial freedom. Thank you so much for reading! 🥂🚀 See you in the next Bull Market 🚀🥂 Also published here.

200+ Essential Crypto & DEFI Tools for 2023

You’re making the best of a bear market that might be a bull market, depending on who you talk to. Maybe you’re thinking about selling or taking profits before the next crash? Maybe you’re HODLing in anticipation of the bull run? Are you making the mistake of not staking? A little something in return With staking, sometimes called bonding or locking-up tokens, you leave your altcoins with the protocol in return for rewards. It’s like passive income, paid in crypto. Theoretically, staking helps to grow the network, make it more resilient and secure, improve governance, and boost operational capacity. can tell you more about the benefits in the . Blockworks Investor’s Guide to Staking https://blockworks.co/news/the-investors-guide-to-staking?embedable=true For our purposes, staking is an investment strategy. If you already believe the protocol can deliver something valuable and you’re putting your time, money, and energy into it, why not get some free crypto for doing so? Compound your investment returns One cool thing about staking? If you choose to put your staking rewards back into the protocol, you can supercharge the growth of your investment. It’s like compound returns with your bank. Each time you collect interest, you recycle it back into your account. People sometimes do this with stock dividends. According to some analysts, those reinvestments account for most of a stock portfolio’s growth over time. Staking is the same concept. While that means you’re not selling any of your rewards, the hope is you’ll have something better to look forward to over time, especially if the protocol grows and does well. Beat token inflation And what if the protocol doesn’t grow and do well? You’re going to need some way to overcome the constant inflation that comes with token rewards. With every tokenomic model that uses staking, the protocol continually releases new tokens. this is a form of inflation. Each new token dilutes the value of the others. This pushes prices down (more tokens chasing the same money). It’s one way protocols shed rent-seekers, speculators, and people who don’t want to commit to the protocol. When you stake, you turn the tables. You make the protocol work for you, rather than against you. I have several altcoins that have gone down in price while the total value of my investment has gone up, simply because I stake and reinvest my rewards. Know before you go Only some altcoins offer staking. Use to find which ones or check your favorite altcoin’s socials. You can find all of this information on the “social” and “info” sections for your altcoin. StakingRewards.com CoinGecko Then, make sure you know how it works—for example, what’s the yield? How long do you need to lock up your tokens? What about fees to withdraw your tokens? What wallet do you need to use? Unfortunately, I can’t walk you through all the steps for every altcoin. I’m just a bitmoji! At the same time, I’m happy to share what I know. If you ever want to talk to me about specific projects, how to get started, or other things that may cross your mind, feel free to connect with me on or . Superpeer Tealfeed Some tips I’ll defer to Google and your project’s blog for further details. Some bits of advice before you go. Get your altcoins off the exchanges and into your wallet. Some exchanges offer to stake your crypto for you. While that is probably easier than doing it yourself, it comes with a big cost and a big risk. First, you’re giving up some portion of your rewards to the exchange. Second, you never know if the exchange will have your crypto when you want to take it back. In other words, you will lose a portion of your rewards and you might also lose all of your crypto. Practice with small amounts before you do big amounts. After you move your crypto into your wallet, practice staking with a small amount before you commit your full allocation. Of course, this might cost a little extra in fees. So, why do it? Because you might make a mistake. The staking process isn’t always easy or intuitive. When you stake, you’re using smart contracts to interact with the protocol. Those smart contracts don’t offer refunds, nor do they come with a customer service department! Some teams and communities can help, but they usually can’t get your crypto back. Practice with one altcoin can help you with others, too. Once you know how to interact with one protocol, you will find it easier to interact with other protocols. The general process is similar across all altcoins even if the wallets, apps, and specific steps are different. Look into small projects where your money will buy you a bigger stake in the project. Over time, as altcoin projects grow and fail, you will get better results from having a larger stake in a smaller project than a smaller stake in a larger project. Your staking rewards will give you a bigger relative stake and hopefully, if the network grows, an outsized return compared to your stake in larger projects that have less upside. I mention some of these projects in . my altcoin reports Also talk about some big projects you may want to avoid in . my Top 100 altcoins I talk about altcoins often in my newsletter, . Head over to the newsletter and if you like what you see, sign up (for free)! Crypto is Easy This post is also available as an NFT on . Mirror https://mirror.xyz/0x9a6600c7B40801dda9A0Fa4E8DE7b1B99FE524a7/3J8ST4HIwloQMjoq3_Q3PE382wWtC47BGEP6ePPvXNw?embedable=true Mark Helfman publishes the newsletter. He is also the author of three books and a top bitcoin writer on and . Learn more about him in his and connect with him on . Crypto is Easy Hacker Noon bio Superpeer

Altcoins: Stake Now or Forever HODL Your Peace

The last week has been fairly quiet in the markets, and had it not been for BTC’s 5% tumble in price yesterday, the same could be said for crypto. The reason for this tumble are likely found in the midst of the uncertainty found around crypto-friendly bank Silvergate, which has been having more than a tough time lately. First the bank could report a loss of around $1B due to the FTX saga, and yesterday the company then announced that it would not be able to file its annual report in time which sent its shares down 55 per cent. Crypto Lens - Stablecoins under attack! The amount of value sitting in stable coins has fallen to its lowest point since May 2022. This decrease has historically meant rising prices for other crypto assets, but the latest fall can probably be attributed to the fact that the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) took the first stab towards the stablecoin sector when it recently issued a Wells Notice to Paxos, the BUSD stablecoin issuer. Percentage of the total crypto market cap comprised of stablecoins: Blockworks Liquid Staking TVL Supasses DeFi Liquid staking, which allows users to earn rewards for locking their Ethereum (ETH) on the proof-of-stake (PoS) network, has in popularity in recent months. seen a surge The total value of crypto assets deposited in liquid staking protocols has now surpassed that of decentralized lending and borrowing protocols, making it the second-largest sector in the DeFi space. According to data from , the total value locked in liquid staking protocols was $14.1 billion as of Monday, while the total value locked in DeFi lending and borrowing protocols was $13.7 billion. Decentralized exchanges, with deposits of $19.4 billion, hold the top spot. DeFi Llama With the Ethereum Shanghai upgrade scheduled for this month, liquid staking protocols (LSDs) are likely to attract even more capital in the near future. (Originally by CoinDesk) reported Noteworthy Mentions NFTs and Traditional Industries: A New Frontier for Creative Commerce This week, Hackernoon featured our latest research article as one of their top stories. In this special piece, we delve into the world of NFTs and how they are revolutionizing industries such as gaming, financial markets, and sports. If you're keen to learn more, you can access the full feature . here Ulrik Lykke Provides Commentary on Danish Crypto Protocol, Concordium In an article on (Danish), Ulrik Lykke commented on the recent change in leadership at Concordium, stating that there may actually be a silver lining with the project's former CEO, Lone Fønss Schrøder, stepping down. børsen.dk Industry Shakers Coinbase unveils a Layer-2 blockchain Coinbase recently launched Base, an Ethereum-focused layer-2 (L2) blockchain to simplify the creation of decentralized applications (dApps) for developers and streamline the user experience. As the second largest crypto exchange, Coinbase seeks to enhance the utility of dApps and make them more accessible through their products. FTX Japan allows total withdrawal of funds As FTX customers around the world wait for the conclusion of the FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) litigation, FTX Japan users have begun to take out all of their funds. A day after reinstating withdrawals, FTX Japan disclosed that close to 6.6 billion yen ($50 million) had been removed. Confirmations from several members of the community have established that all of their money was paid out. FATF Agrees on Action Plan to Drive Implementation of Global Crypto Norms The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has devised a strategy to ensure swift compliance with its global cryptocurrency standards, according to a report from its latest plenary meeting. The international watchdog highlighted that several nations have yet to follow its guidelines, including the "travel rule,". Although FATF updated its crypto standards in 2019, it found last June that just 11 out of 98 surveyed regions enforced the travel rule and called for quicker action. Silvergate stock crashes after delay of annual report On Thursday, the value of Silvergate shares plummeted almost 50% after the firm revealed it was assessing its capability to remain a viable business. The disclosure of this information came with Silvergate's admission that it would not be able to submit its annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission by the due date. Subsequently, Coinbase exchange declared it will no longer be using Silvergate (SI) for dollar payments for institutional customers, and it will instead switch to Signature Bank (SBNY). Australian central bank to launch ‘live pilot’ of CBDC In the coming months, Australia's central bank will be launching a "live pilot" of a central bank digital currency. This trial will include the use of offline payments, tax automation and a CBDC for Web3 commerce and will involve a range of participants, such as Commonwealth Bank, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Bank, and payment providers like Mastercard. Also published . here

The Silver Lining with Silvergate

In the presentation below, Niklas Kunkel, Oracle Core Unit Facilitator at MakerDAO, talks about the role that oracles play in bridging real world assets on-chain. https://youtu.be/rFv4FWMtlRE?embedable=true Below are further explanations of key points highlighted during his talk. Introduction to MakerDAO & Stablecoins MakerDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that guides the development of the Maker protocol. The Maker protocol is built on Ethereum and makes use of smart contracts to generate and maintain their stablecoin, Dai. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that maintain a stable value by being pegged to other stable assets or by using algorithms. Stablecoins generally fall into the following categories; Stablecoins that are backed 1:1 by one or more currencies such as the US dollar and Euro. Oneexample of a fiat-backed stablecoin is . Fiat-backed: USDT Stablecoins that are backed by other cryptocurrencies like Ether (ETH). Since cryptocurrencies are more volatile than fiat currency, crypto-backed stablecoins are usually overcollateralized. This means that instead of being backed 1:1, the amount in reserves would be higher than the value of the stablecoins in circulation. Crypto-backed stablecoins are issued on-chain using smart contracts. is an example of a crypto-backed stablecoin. Crypto-backed: Dai Stablecoins that are backed 1:1 by physical commodities such as gold. is an example of a commodity-backed stablecoin. Commodity-backed: Paxos Gold Stablecoins that make use of algorithms to manage the circulating supply based on market prices. is one example of an algorithmic stablecoin. Algorithmic: Ampleforth According to Niklas, the Maker team developed one of the first oracles on Ethereum. Back in 2014 when they were developing the protocol, there were no oracle solutions available that suited their needs. The team decided to build their own oracle with the intention of switching to another service later on. However, nothing suitable was ever developed and MakerDAO still uses their own oracle today. Niklas is currently responsible for leading the oracle unit of the Maker protocol. DeFi, DEXs & CEXs Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has faced unprecedented growth over the last 2 years. As a result, Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs) have also seen a surge in the amount of usage, with volumes now with centralized exchanges (CEXs) like Coinbase. competing DEXs are peer-to-peer marketplaces built on chain that enable the permissionless trading of assets. This is done by creating liquidity pools and incentivizing users to deposit assets to these pools through a process called yield farming. refers to the process where users deposit cryptocurrency assets into liquidity pools in exchange for trading fees. Assets are automatically swapped between traders and liquidity pools using smart contracts. While CEXs have Order Books that match bids to asks, Automated Market Makers, AMMs, are essential to  DEXs like Uniswap or Curve, acting as the mechanism that sets the price of tokens in a liquidity pool. Yield farming Hyperreflexivity of DeFi In his presentation, Niklas describes DeFi as being “hyperreflexive” in nature. He illustrates this point by describing the following scenario; During bull markets, as the price of popular cryptocurrency tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum go up, the demand for also increases. As a result, the yield that can be earned for lending also goes up in order to incentivize users to provide liquidity for this leverage. This leads to a large amount of capital flowing into DeFi protocols. leverage As more and more users start , the Total Value Locked ( ) on AMMs like and go up. This ends up serving as a positive feedback loop – a higher TVL attracts more and more users to put their capital into the protocol. The inherent problem with this hyperreflexivity is that when asset prices drop, all the feedback loops explained previously that help DeFi thrive go in reverse, and capital flows out just as quickly as it flowed in. yield farming TVL Uniswap Curve Connecting DeFi to the Real World According to Niklas, in order for DeFi to grow beyond this hyperreflexive bubble, it must be connected to the real world. There are over 100 trillion dollars worth of assets in the traditional financial (TradFi) system versus approximately 100 billion dollars worth in DeFi. Even in a bear market, there is a chance that DeFi can continue to grow by absorbing these Real World Assets (RWAs). The growth from that can outscale any negative macroeconomic pressures. Absorbing RWAs into the DeFi ecosystem would also lower overhead costs in traditional markets by minimizing the need for middlemen typically required in traditional finance. According to Niklas, DAI could be a benefactor of this as the most time and stress tested decentralized stablecoin. One problem with connecting RWAs to DeFi is that the majority of these assets are highly illiquid, meaning they are not actively traded on markets. It is also difficult to derive fair market values for these assets. Financial information pertaining to these assets are heavily censored, with limited information available about the relevant counterparties. If the asset originators are the only source of the data, there is a moral hazard involved as they would be incentivized to report market data that benefits themselves. Implementing RWA oracles In the framework prescribed by Niklas, in order to implement RWA oracles, 3 main players are required – The asset originator, an auditor and the data consumer, who is the ultimate end user consuming the oracle data. Asset originators should submit underlying data on the asset, and not the price. They should not be setting the price of an asset themselves. Rather, they should be submitting data that can be utilized to derive a fair price.  Asset originators are incentivized to provide valid data because an auditor is going to check that this data is correct. If the auditor concludes otherwise, the asset originator can get their credit ratings slashed. Nevertheless, asset originators are assumed to be adversarial and will try to obtain an edge where possible. The role of an auditor is to validate that the data supplied by the asset originator is legitimate. The data consumer will define a data model for how prices should be derived. Auditors then validate the data inputs provided by the asset originator, and plug these inputs into the aforementioned data model. In this model, it is important to note that it is the data consumer who is paying the auditor for their services. The auditor and the asset originator cannot be morally aligned, or aligned in any business sense. A good counterexample would be this from ‘The Big Short’, where the ‘asset originator’ is the one giving business to the ‘auditor’, incentivizing the auditor to fake the validity of the data inputs. scene MakerDAO & RWA Maker has begun the absorption of RWAs into the DeFi ecosystem through a series of partnerships stated below: – MakerDAO is helping to provide short term mortgages for people who want to buy and sell homes quickly for a profit. New silver – Credit tenant lease financing. MakerDAO provides capital, so 6S Capital can finance the construction of buildings when they have guaranteed tenants. 6S Capital – A financier which allows MakerDAO to divert USDC on their balance sheet into US treasuries. US treasuries are extremely liquid, resulting in higher yields with lower risks involved. Monetalis – Covered bonds backed by home loans. Forge wants to 40 million Euros worth of bonds, proposing a 30 million DAI debt facility. Societe Generale (Forge) finance In the current crypto market, there are many who believe that there is a lot of value to be extracted from traditional markets which could help offset some of the revenue lost from crypto. While embracing RWAs could help protocols like Maker maintain its position as a leading DeFi protocol despite market conditions, there is still some concern over the centralized aspect of traditional assets. In his interview with , manager of Real World Assets at MakerDAO, TJ Ragsdale, explained that “the goal is really to take advantage of all the value that lives out there in the real world, and as Maker — with our unique position in the market, build in transparency and determinism that we all love about crypto into those traditional systems.” Blockworks The Blockchain Oracle Summit was the world’s first conference to fully focus on the importance of oracles and the potential value they bring to DeFi and beyond. Leading oracle experts from around the world gathered in Berlin to take deep-dives into their work. Find out more about MakerDAO: MakerDAO Documentation MakerDAO Twitter MakerDAO Discord MakerDAO Youtube Niklas Kunkel Twitter Niklas Kunkel Github

How Oracles Act a Catalyst in Bridging Real World Assets On-Chain

Earlier this week, the US government charged well-known crypto exploiter Avi Eisenberg with commodities fraud and market manipulation for his attack on Mango Markets, a DeFi platform. Maybe posting your crimes on Twitter is not the best idea? While I can never condone somebody knowingly committing a crime, I’d like to propose we make Avi’s actions legal for DeFi protocols (not legacy finance), with a catch. A proving ground for financial experiments If you want to have robust, automated, decentralized financial protocols, you need people to test, stress, and undermine those protocols. How else will you know whether they’re safe or where their vulnerabilities lie? Testnets, audits, and bounties only go so far. They can’t replace actual usage by thousands of users in a real-world context. DeFi protocols have no complaint desks. You can’t sue a smart contract. The world’s governments have no regulatory framework for global, open-source computer code that runs at scale without restriction. What if we create a global DeFi sandbox, with incentives and rewards for creating and destroying financial models before releasing them into the wild? Or, releasing them into the wild with clear disclosures and perhaps a “gate” (e.g., authentication for wallets to segregate money/contracts within the sandbox from money/contracts in the real world)? Let’s throw in a two-year safe harbor period—or even government grants—for experimentation on DeFi protocols and algorithmic stablecoins. What about a robust privacy framework to go along with it? Disclaimers on front-ends, websites, and messages delivered to connected wallets before executing transactions? As long as participants know what they’re getting into and the inevitable failures do not harm the wider financial system, maybe we should give predators, speculators, and engineers a way to fool around with the technology IRL without fear of arrest or triggering a wider financial crisis. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another Let the winners make a lot of money. Let the losers lose a lot of money. Progress ensues. Whatever you can make from exploiting the protocols, you keep forever. After a certain amount of time, the experiment ends, results are shared, and the protocol goes public. Market manipulation becomes illegal again. I touched on this idea briefly in the September 2022 monthly issue of my newsletter, Crypto is Easy. https://cryptoiseasy.substack.com/p/crypto-is-easy-september-2022#details?embedable=true riffed on this idea in of the newsletter. Byron Gilliam the October 25, 2022 issue Blockworks Daily Call it a proving ground for DeFi. A playground for speculators. A safe space for developers, engineers, and those who want to profit from their failures. If you, like me, believe DeFi protocols will power white-label financial services for big banks and back-end development platforms for the next wave of financial services, we people to push these protocols to their breaking point. need https://twitter.com/dataarocks/status/1608018434637586432?embedable=true Kill the weak protocols so only the strong ones thrive. Show what works, what doesn’t, and how to build a better financial system. Anything that survives will have our trust and confidence. Trust costs a lot of time and money Our legacy financial system offers trust and confidence, but at a huge cost. We need massive bureaucracy, laws, rules, and regulations to make it function. Financial entities need extensive oversight and costly compliance processes to make it run. Finance workers need expensive certifications, years of education, and deep social and professional networks to make it work (often, just to work). find Trust is an expensive, complicated thing that takes years to develop. Even then, we get failures all the time. Sometimes, those failures are so large, they threaten the very system that trust is based on. Is it so bad to want some part of that system to work with the same precision and certainty as a calculator? At pennies on the dollar for what we pay today? Rules, then innovation “Composability” is a big deal in DeFi. It’s the whole point—create global, permissionless financial protocols that engineers can stack and configure to generate yield, harness public capital, and make markets more efficient. We can’t get to that point without a lot of experimentation and failure. Not just creative destruction, but also constructive destruction. For the first time, we can test financial concepts in the real world, but most of those tests involve tampering and fraud. Let’s create a legal framework that gives manipulators and fraudsters a place to ply their craft for the benefit of all of us. At stake is a world where even the poorest of the poor can access humanity’s collective wealth and anybody with some financial savvy and a laptop can compete with the biggest financial entities on earth. For the sake of a stronger, fairer, more efficient financial system, can’t we allow bad people to do bad things in a safe environment where they get rewarded for their efforts without risking the welfare of those who choose not to participate? This post is also available as an NFT on . Mirror https://mirror.xyz/0x9a6600c7B40801dda9A0Fa4E8DE7b1B99FE524a7/jjftl3OVvRbFDj0mY7eMhuV9I4uCXXM6T10woB6d6Ck?embedable=true Mark Helfman publishes the newsletter. He is also the author of three books and a top bitcoin writer on and . Learn more about him in his and connect with him on . Crypto is Easy Medium Hacker Noon bio Superpeer

Should We Legalize Market Manipulation for Crypto?

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