Arbitrum
TLDR
ArbiSwap has pulled the rug from under users after developers allegedly removed over $100,000 from the projects liquidity pools .
Arbitrum DEX ArbiSwap Rug Pulls Users for Over $100K
The newly launched ArbiSwap app appears to have rug-pulled users after removing over $100,000 from the platform’s liquidity pools.
ArbiSwap’s native ARBI tokens fell from $1.50 to a fraction of a cent last week. Blockchain data shows the developers minted one billion fake tokens, swapping these for USDC and then for nearly 69 ETH.
ArbiSwap offered the swapping of various cryptocurrencies for low fees on its platform and advertised giving back 100% of all generated revenue to holders of ARBI, which likely piqued the quick interest for ArbiSwap among users.
BNB Chain
TLDR
An article from the Wall Street Journal has alleged that Binance had developed plans to avoid potential prosecution from US authorities in 2019
Binance’s BUSD market capitalization has fallen out of the Top 10 projects and is currently resting around $8.4B
PancakeSwap V3 will be released on the BNB Smart Chain in April
Texts From Crypto Giant Binance Reveal Plan to Elude U.S. Authorities: WSJ
A recent Wall Street Journal article has alleged that Binance attempted to avoid potential prosecution from US authorities in 2019.
The information indicates that Binance.US set up a corporation in the US that would license technology from Binance but maintain, or appear to maintain, independence to draw US regulatory scrutiny away from Binance.
However, documents and interviews revealed that Binance and its US partner Binance.US could be more interwoven than the companies led authorities to believe, sharing staff, finances, and an affiliated entity. If regulators determine that Binance.US is a subsidiary of Binance and not an independent company, it could provide them with the firepower they need to bring Binance under the microscope.
BUSD Stablecoin Market Cap Falls Below $10B After Coinbase Delisting
Binance USD (BUSD) has fallen to $8.4B market capitalization, according to data from Coingecko. This is the first time BUSD’s circulating supply has gone below $10 billion since June 2021.
Demand for BUSD has been rapidly declining since Paxos announced on Feb. 13 it would stop minting new BUSD tokens, citing orders from state regulator New York Department of Financial Services. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was reportedly preparing to sue Paxos for offering unregistered securities.
U.S.-based crypto exchange giant Coinbase announced this week that it would pause trading of BUSD on the platform starting March 13. Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong cited liquidity concerns for delisting the stablecoin.
PancakeSwap V3 Is Coming to BNB Smart Chain
Decentralized cryptocurrency exchange PancakeSwap announced that a new version of its application would become available to BNB Smart Chain users next month.
The launch of PancakeSwap V3 is slated for the first week of April. It will be accompanied by a suite of upgrades to the service, such as more competitive trading fees and improved liquidity provisioning, according to the company press release.
PancakeSwap V2 is currently the fifth most popular choice among decentralized exchanges, with around $98 million in trading volume over the past day, according to data from CoinGecko.
Ethereum
TLDR
The Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade has been delayed until April
Smart Account abstraction was announced as a surprise launch during WalletCon in Denver
Smart accounts are expected to help mainstream adoption by introducing privacy and user-friendly tools
ConsenSys completed a private beta phase of its zkEVM network and is set to begin public testing on Mar. 28.
Shanghai Upgrade Hard Fork Is Now Slated For April, Says Ethereum Dev
The highly anticipated Ethereum Shanghai upgrade has been pushed back to April 2023. The final dress rehearsal for Shanghai has been slated for a March 14 launch, while the real thing will happen a few weeks later.
Initially estimated for late March, the Shanghai upgrade will now likely be deployed sometime within the first two weeks of April. The delay was announced at an Ethereum developer meeting on March 2.
Ethereum core developer and project coordinator Tim Beiko said, “For mainnet, we usually want to give people at least two weeks after the announcement,” before adding, “so imagine Goerli happens on the 14th, everything goes well, on the 16th, we agree to move forward with mainnet — I think the earliest that puts us is like the first week of April.”
The long-awaited Shanghai mainnet upgrade will allow the phased withdrawal of Ethereum staked on the Beacon Chain.
Ethereum ERC-4337 'smart accounts' launch at WalletCon: Account abstraction is here
The new launch of the ERC-4337 standard has enabled the introduction of smart accounts, known by blockchain developers as “account abstractions.” These core contracts are expected to help mainstream adoption by simplifying specific crypto processes.
“New users will no longer need to learn about complicated seed phrases or the technical process of setting up a wallet to onboard into the decentralized world of crypto,” said Ethereum Foundation security researcher Yoav Weiss.
Account abstraction also enables the unique cryptographic keys used for cryptocurrency to be stored on standard smartphone security modules, upgrading them to de facto hardware wallets.
It also enables two-factor authentication; signing transactions on your phone using a fingerprint or face scan; setting monthly spending limits on an account; and using session keys to play blockchain games without constantly approving transactions.
The ERC-4337 standard has passed an audit by Open Zeppelin. It will be available on every Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible network, including Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, BNB Smart Chain, Avalanche, and Gnosis Chain.
ConsenSys announces public testing of ZK-Rollup network compatible with Ethereum
Blockchain development firm ConsenSys will begin a public test of a zkEVM rollup network compatible with Ethereum on Mar. 28.
"Our zkEVM is the culmination of years of research by ConsenSys R&D and offers fast finality, high throughput, and the security of Ethereum settlement," the development team said. The rollup will include built-in integrations with popular Ethereum tools such as RPC service Infura, development platform Truffle, and the MetaMask wallet.
While ConsenSys is one of the top contenders, it will remain in a testing phase for some time. On the other hand, Polygon is attempting to take the lead by releasing their zkEVM on the Ethereum mainnet in the beta phase on March 27, one day before the ConsenSys public testnet goes live.
Optimism
TLDR
A former Tornado Cash developer has released a new crypto mixing service on Optimism Testnet.
Tornado Cash Fork, Privacy Pools, Deployed on Optimism Testnet
A former Tornado Cash developer claims to be building a new crypto mixing service to solve a “critical flaw” of the sanctioned crypto mixer. The code of a new Ethereum-based mixer, “Privacy Pools,” was launched on GitHub on March 5 by its creator, Ameen Soleimani.
In a 22-part Twitter thread, Soleimani explained that the “critical flaw” with Tornado Cash is that users cannot prove they’re not associated with North Korea’s Lazarus Group or any criminal enterprise.
While Privacy Pools is already live on Optimism, Soleimani noted that the first version of the privacy protocol is still in its “experimental” stage because the code isn’t complete and has not been audited. Still, he is “pretty close to having this ready.”
The developer hopes this can help “start a conversation” with U.S. regulators on how on-chain privacy can be preserved whilst restricting criminal activity using ZK proofs.
Polygon
TLDR
Polygon released their decentralized ID project, Polygon ID.
The project is intended to provide private identity verification through the use of zero-knowledge (zk) proofs.
NFT marketplace Magic Eden started a “Mint Madness” promotion in March designed to encourage NFTs in GameFi.
Argentina's leading digital asset platform, Ripio, joins the Polygon ecosystem.
The company has a reach of over 7 million users in the South American region.
Polygon launches decentralized ID product powered by ZK proofs
Polygon has launched a decentralized identity solution that provides the tools for developers to create self-sovereign, decentralized, and private identity solutions enabled with zero-knowledge proofs.
Polygon ID went live on March 1 as an open-source licensed platform that is entirely self-service. According to the project developers, the integration of the zero-knowledge proofs allows users to verify credentials without revealing their data.
The new platform is touted to solve the problems developers face in managing user data with greater control over online identifications, especially the information shared with private and public institutions. According to Polygon, off-chain data is applicable for trustless on-chain verifications in the new offering, a significant milestone in enabling trust and verifications in a user-friendly environment.
Magic Eden Announces 'Mint Madness'
NFT marketplace Magic Eden has announced a series of free mints for over a dozen web3 gaming projects that will be rolled out during March. 'Mint Madness' will begin on Friday, March 3, with Planet Mojo, exclusively on Polygon.
As part of 'Mint Madness,’ Magic Eden will be posting a leaderboard across social media channels, tracking which users are trading NFTs from the Mint Madness collections listed on the secondary marketplace. The top 10 traders by volume, applicable only to Polygon collections, will be entered into a prize pool of 20,000 MATIC, with the first-place finisher receiving a prize of 4,500 MATIC.
Among the projects launching mints during Mint Madness, nine will be on Polygon, three will be on Ethereum, and one will be on Solana.
The promotion is intended to encourage using NFTs as user engagement tools to promote a highly captive and invested audience.
Ripio Comes to Polygon to Accelerate Blockchain Adoption in Latin America
Ripio, Argentina's leading digital asset platform, is joining the Polygon ecosystem to speed the adoption of Web3 applications in Latin America.
The Buenos Aires-based company, with more than 7 million users in the region, is bringing its Ripio Trade, Ripio Portal, and Ripio Wallet products to the Polygon network. Ripio will also use a range of scaling tools offered by Polygon Labs in its development of a B2B blockchain.
Ripio Portal is a digital wallet that supports different blockchain networks, including Ethereum and Polygon. Users can buy, sell, receive, send, exchange tokens, store digital assets, and play Web3 games.
The addition of Ripio is the latest move by Polygon Labs in Latin America. In October, the team announced a partnership with Nubank, one of the world’s largest digital banking platforms with over 70 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, announced plans. Nubank is launching its cryptocurrency token, Nucoin, with the help of Polygon Supernets technology.
Solana
TLDR
Gaming Engine Unity is adding support for 13 different blockchain-based software developer kits in its efforts to enter the GameFi market.
Gaming Engine Unity Taps MetaMask, Immutable X, and Solana for Web3 Developer Tools
According to a recent press release, Unity's leading game development platform is tapping into Web3, releasing a “decentralization” category in its online storefront.
As a part of the toolkit, Unity is adding support for 13 different blockchain-based software developer kits (SDKs) from chains and products, including Algorand, Aptos, Dapper Labs’ Flow blockchain, Immutable X, MetaMask, Solana, and Tezos.
Unity aims to provide game developers with the necessary tools to connect with web3 gaming, a fast-growing portion of the crypto sector. With the decentralization storefront in the Unity Asset Store, developers can build and utilize blockchain technologies such as non-fungible tokens and the metaverse to bolster gameplay experiences.
Boom or Bust?
TLDR
A recent proposal to alter Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions would prohibit the former CEO of FTX from using smartphones or playing games with chat or voice capabilities.
US Department of Justice goes after Sam Bankman-Fried’s Smartphone and Video Games.
The United States Department of Justice has recently proposed new bail conditions for the former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried.
According to the proposal, SBF would be prohibited from using smartphones, tablets, computers, and any video game platforms or devices that allow chat and communication and any smart devices with internet capability.
The proposal restricts his communication to “a flip phone or other non-smartphone with either no internet capabilities or internet capabilities disabled.“
The temporary terms include no contact or communication with current or former employees of FTX or Alameda Research, except in the presence of counsel, along with a prohibition of using any encrypted or ephemeral call or messaging application as a virtual private network or VPN.
Under the proposed conditions, a new laptop with limited functionality will be provided to SBF that will feature a specified VPN that “will only permit the defendant to access websites that have been whitelisted.”
The aforementioned whitelist will be restricted to pre-approved websites that fall under those required for SBF’s legal defense and those that SBF would like to use for recreational purposes that “do not pose a risk of danger to the community.”
With over 1,000 games under his belt, this latest proposal threatens to undermine SBF’s attempts to break out of League of Legends' lowest skill tier.
Bankman-Fried’s last known game appears in September 2021, possibly not long after the now-infamous Sequoia pitch. In it, he played Vayne, the monster hunter who dedicated her life to destroying the demon that killed her family. He got six kills and four assists but died 11 times. A highly relatable performance, though likely not one to inspire cosmic brain status.