2022 was a rather challenging year for the crypto sector, and the prevalence of Ponzi schemes, decentralized finance scams, nonfungible token rug pulls and questionable centralized exchange bookkeeping put the issue of ethics in the space on blast. Of course, the negative news of last year wasn’t an outlier or a one-off — generally, “good” ethics have been an issue in crypto for years, and it’s probably safe to assume that challenges will continue to dot the landscape for the foreseeable future. Within the context of media, it’s important to recognize that objective, unbiased news reporting and transparency are paramount …

What are the real-world challenges of implementing NFTs at scale across supply chains? Technology is often only a means to an end and is seldom a silver bullet. There are several real-world issues that can hinder progress with rolling out NFTs and blockchains across supply chains globally. The benefits of digital twins for real-world goods can’t be underestimated. However, today’s supply chains globally are extremely intermediated and run on trust. A farmer in Africa sells their produce to an intermediary as they have for years. This develops a certain amount of trust between the two parties. As a result, resistance …

A major validator for the privacy smart contract layer-1 blockchain Secret Network has announced that it will no longer provide nodes and support for the network. On Jan. 29, major validator Smart Stake announced that it would be shutting down its Secret Network validator nodes on Feb. 21. Smart Stake cited “complex/stressful validator operations, cost/effort of validator ops, and recent events,” as reasons for withdrawing its services. Smart Stake is a staking and validator service provider that supports several networks including Crypto.com, Polygon, Cosmos, and until recently Secret Network. PSA for @SecretNetwork delegates of Smart Stake: Smart Stake will be …

At a time of bear market-induced uncertainty, crypto investors often tend to stick with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) to evade impermanent losses. As a result, the significant movement of such assets intrigues the community as they try and decipher the intent behind the move. Two addresses that have remained dormant for over four years recently came back to life to transfer 22,982 ETH to new addresses — leaving investors scratching their heads. The ETH tokens in question originated from trading platforms Genesis and Poloniex and were found transferring 13,103.99 ETH and 9,878 ETH, respectively. #PeckShieldAlert 2 Dormant addresses transferred …

The cryptocurrency exchange Bybit joins the parade of exchanges in the industry pushing for transparency post the FTX catastrophe. On Dec. 12, it announced that it has launched a Merkle Tree-based proof of reserve system. The new transparency initiative allows its users to directly verify Bybit’s holdings, along with their personal assets deposited into the exchange. The feature is available to all users with funds in both trading accounts and funding accounts, which also includes crypto holdings in Bybit Earn products. Additionally the new feature enables verification of Bybit’s wallet ownership, that assets are held with a 1:1 ratio. Ben …

The web3 space is rapidly growing, but the security aspect of it still has to go through an evolution in order to meet the expectations of the community. Following the major shock of the FTX crisis and the now notorious hack of the exchange, crypto enthusiasts and investors are looking for ways to secure their assets and protect themselves from malicious actors and scammers. And while web3 is steadily infiltrating the everyday lives of people globally, there is a lot to be done in terms of security practices in the space. The key components of creating a reliable relationship of …

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is working with accounting firm Mazars as part of its proof-of-reserve (PoR) audits triggered by the fall of FTX. Mazars, the accounting firm that worked for former United States President Donald Trump’s company, was appointed as an official auditor to conduct a “third party financial verification” as part of Binance’s PoR updates, The Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 30. The accounting firm is reportedly already reviewing all Binance’s publicly shared information on Bitcoin (BTC) PoR and will also be verifying future updates and tokens, a spokesperson for Binance reportedly said. “The first verification update for BTC …

Cryptocurrency exchange CrossTower Inc has agreed to buy digital asset trading platform BEQUANT, which comes after months of window shopping by CrossTower for crypto companies, including a recently revised offer for Voyager Digital's assets. The Nov. 28 acquisition will provide CrossTower with over 600 new professional exchange clients in addition to its existing clientele. The incoming clients are based across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America and are collectively making over $400 billion annually. The purchase comes as CrossTower CEO Kapil Rathi stated on Nov. 24 that CrossTower has long been on the lookout to buy digital asset …

What are the challenges with Web3 For mainstream adoption of Web3, prevalent challenges need to be dealt with. These include centralized infrastructure, lack of regulatory clarity and rug pulls. While Web3 is perceived to be decentralized, developers integrate Web3 applications with Web2 protocols to make them work. This creates a scenario where functioning of decentralized applications is hinged to a centralized infrastructure. Another major challenge before Web3 is a lack of regulatory clarity. Blockchain technologies are advancing fast, and regulators will take time to catch up. Absence of regulatory oversight has led to unethical behavior in some projects as happened …

Decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap's recently updated privacy policy appears to have attracted the ire of some members of the community, with concerns that collecting and storing user data works against crypto's core values. In recent responses to a November blog post regarding its updated privacy policy, some vocal members of the community suggested it i uncharacteristic for a decentralized entity to collect and store information about its users. In the Nov. 11 post from Uniswap Labs, released around the time of FTX’s collapse, the decentralized exchange released its privacy policy to explain how it collected and stored user data. “With …

What are the common crypto whale tracking tools? Whale tracking tools like Whale Watchers, Whale Bot Alerts and others can help investors spot whale action and make quick and timely decisions. Whale tracking tools come with different capabilities, some can be just a simple window on top of a blockchain, while others have analytics and charting capabilities across multiple blockchains. Some only cover crypto whale tracking, while others offer NFT whale tracking too. Various analytics tools offer just simple analytics and notifications on whale activities, while others provide users with more comprehensive learning opportunities on charts and analytics. Some just …

United States acting controller of the currency Michael Hsu acknowledged his skepticism about cryptocurrency and clarified his position on regulation in two thematically linked lectures October 11. “While I am skeptical of crypto’s real world utility today and hyper-aware of the risks it poses to consumers and the financial system, I cannot say with certainty that crypto is useless and should go away,” he said. Hsu began the day at DC FinTech Week, where he talked about identifying risk. One of the risk “lenses” he spoke of was skeuomorphism, or referencing familiar things to explain the unfamiliar — a common, …