BTC Miners Lose $1B in Crypto Crash

Crypto exchanges are halting Ethereum withdrawals during the Merge

Aug 17, 2022

The largest bitcoin miners lost over $1 billion in crypto crash. Traders now expect new yearly lows. Bitcoin could be the key to the universe. I thought it was the number 42.

Crypto exchanges are halting Ethereum and ERC-20 token withdrawals during the Merge. Vitalik Buterin wants to burn ether staked by sanction-complying validators. I’m glad I moved all my Ethereum off of Coinbase, except for my staked ETH 2.0.

Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky reportedly took control over the company’s investment strategy and personally directed investments based on bad information. The crypto lender has $2.8 billion in crypto liabilities, and it’s expected to reach negative liquidity by October. How’s that for a dumpster fire?

Ripple is now on the Inc. 5000 list. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a brief concerning the Hinman speech in its lawsuit against Ripple. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo refers to XRP as a “digital currency.” The SEC really doesn’t want the opinion of former SEC chairman William Hinman to be considered at trial. That speech would hurt the commission’s case against Ripple and could move the needle in XRP’s favor.

Tencent halts sales on its NFT platform after regulatory scrutiny.

Meta launches Horizon Worlds in France and Spain. Wharton launches Ivy League’s first certification program in the metaverse.

Coin Center says ban on Tornado Cash exceeds statutory authority. I agree. This needs to be challenged. The downside of sanctioning Tornado Cash.

USDT’s market cap is up by $2 billion. Are people dumping USDC for Tether?

The Fed issues guidance to banks who want to get involved in crypto.

United Nations trade and development division wants to curb cryptocurrencies in developing nations. (The following three policy briefs are MUST-READS)

The takeaway from these three briefs, for me, is that status quo financial system operatives are afraid of cryptocurrencies. They don’t support monetary freedom. They are worried that cryptocurrencies will devalue fiat currencies (as if fiat currencies need help being devalued). In short, the very qualities that make cryptocurrencies valuable and desirable are seen as a threat by members of the world’s financial system, the hub of which are central banks. We in the crypto world need to keep singing Free the Money, Free the People!

A Trezor hardware wallet was cracked in 24 hours.

Harvard: The metaverse will enhance companies’ physical locations.

Ethereum Name Service and Unstoppable Domains have new competition, courtesy of Tencent.

Loop Markets has finally rolled out their NFT marketplace on June. And they’ve announced the airdrop of LOOP tokens for wallet holders who lost value in the TerraUSD fiasco earlier this year. Seriously, I have all but lost interest in Loop Markets now. I’ve got no interest in NFTs. I’ve tried them, but it’s like going shopping for clothes, trying a few on, and deciding that none of them are your style. Therefore, any platform that launches an NFT platform as if that is their primary offer is saying to me, “We think these digital pieces of nothingness are the bomb for no reason other than they’re popular, and because they’re popular, we think you’ll like them.” Problem: I generally don’t go for things that are popular. I think there are other reasons to get into things. I look for those reasons. Now, if Loop Markets launches its community platform again and allows posters to earn for creating content, I may be interested in that. But it’s doubtful. I think, generally, their priorities are misplaced, and always have been.

Truth in Advertising (TINA) sends letters to celebrities, including Justin Bieber and Eva Longoria, for promoting NFTs without disclosing their relationship to the brands. Some of the celebrities respond. At issue here is whether these celebrities are obeying the law.

When you buy an NFT, what do you actually own? What NFT artists are actually selling is a story.

$1.9 billion in crypto has been stolen this year through various hacks, according to Chainalysis. Alan Vey, founder and chairman of Aventus says:

Many of these hacks can be attributed partly to human or coding errors, but it's equally important to note the lack of proper procedures being followed when building these projects.
Ultimately, there will always be an inherent vulnerability associated with bridges, because two different blockchain systems are talking to each other without the same means of consensus.
With alternative architectures for bridging, such as Polkadot’s parachain ecosystem, for example, this problem doesn't occur. In fact, it cannot occur because every chain fundamentally relies on the same consensus.

In Vey’s mind, bridge hacks are due primarily to a lack of consensus. The non-coder side of me wants to know why this is a hurdle that cannot be overcome. Is there truly no way to build security into a bridge, or is it simply that developers are cutting corners on testing?

Why Americans should oppose a digital dollar.

Leo Finance recently launched its Twitter-like product LeoThreads, not it’s launching LeoTok to draw in the TikTok crowd. Is it merely a rumor, or true? I have no reason to suspect this is a rumor, but I find it hard to believe anything I read on the internet that doesn’t link to its source.

Thomas Wolf explains why Stellar is becoming a favorite crypto. What is your favorite non-bitcoin, non-ether cryptocurrency? Comment below.

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