pSTAKE Finance

Ben Strack

A federal judge wants Binance founder Changpeng Zhao to stay in the US as he awaits sentencing. At least for now.



Zhao and the exchange he founded pleaded guilty to violating US anti-money laundering laws last week.&nbsp;



The US Department of Justice <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-settlement-message-to-crypto-industry">detailed $4.3 billion in fines and forfeitures</a> for Binance during a Nov. 21 press conference. Attorney General Merrick Garland alleged at the time that the company’s compliance team knew the exchange was used for money laundering and illicit financial activities.&nbsp;



Zhao was released on a $175 million bail bond and is slated to be sentenced in February. He is a citizen of the United Arab Emirates and Canada.



Magistrate Judge Brian Tsuchida proposed allowing Zhao to return to the UAE to be with his partner and three children prior to sentencing — finding he was at “no risk of flight,” according to a Nov. 23 court <a href="https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/dwpkawagrpm/11242023zhao_defense.pdf">filing</a>.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-changpeng-zhao-deal-unpacked">Here are the details of Binance and Changpeng Zhao’s plea deal</a>



But US District Judge Richard Jones put a pause on Zhao’s return to the UAE “until such time as this court resolves the government’s motion for review,&#8221; according to a Monday <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.328570/gov.uscourts.wawd.328570.42.0.pdf">disclosure</a>. 



The <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/binance">Binance</a> founder, as part of pleading guilty, agreed to step down from the company’s CEO post — <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/changpeng-zhao-announces-resignation-binance">naming Richard Teng as his successor</a>. Teng was Binance’s head of regional markets and previously spent time in regulatory roles at the Abu Dhabi Global Market and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.



Teng claimed in a blog <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/blog/from-our-ceo/my-first-blog-as-binances-ceo-2887294642016890803?ref=AZTKZ9XS&amp;utm_source=RichardTwitter&amp;utm_medium=GlobalSocial&amp;utm_campaign=GlobalSocial">post</a> Monday that Binance is “stronger today than we have ever been.” He doubled down on previous <a href="https://twitter.com/_RichardTeng/status/1727214060406808920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1727214060406808920%7Ctwgr%5E50743ffb1242a01c516ed19cf0c8af6d809321d3%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fblockworks.co%2Fnews%2Fbinance-outflows-stabilize">comments</a> he made on X that the company maintains “robust revenues and profits” and that user assets are backed one-to-one.



“As an industry, we require more focus than ever on collaborating with policymakers,” Teng wrote. “Only then may we effectively contribute to the development of a globally harmonized regulatory framework that will foster innovation while providing critical consumer protections.”



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Binance’s Zhao ordered to stay in US for now

Jack Kubinec

Google Cloud has joined EigenLayer’s “Operator Working Group” alongside more than 65 other operators and solo stakers, a representative for EigenLabs, the developer behind EigenLayer, told Blockworks.&nbsp;



Google Cloud Web3 now <a href="https://goerli.eigenlayer.xyz/operator/0x8a2e63fb50c6e4ac207d17712fc18c8813b1079d">appears</a> as a node operator on the Goerli testnet for EigenLayer — a restaking protocol that lets ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth">ETH</a>) be staked on multiple platforms at once. Google Cloud confirmed the cloud computing service’s participation in EigenLayer’s testnet in an email to Blockworks.&nbsp;



Google Cloud declined to comment on whether it has plans to move to <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/eigenlayer">EigenLayer</a>’s mainnet or if the protocol would be added to Google Cloud’s Blockchain Node Engine.



EigenLabs also couldn’t confirm whether <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/google-cloud">Google Cloud</a> would remain as a node operator once node operation goes to mainnet. Representatives said they expect Google Cloud’s support to continue, since the goal of testnet is to prepare for mainnet.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/eigenlayer-deploys-on-ethereum-mainnet">EigenLayer went live for stakers</a>, who earn rewards by locking in their staked ether, in June. Operators, who enhance security and allow stakers to delegate assets, are still in testnet.&nbsp;



EigenLayer has <a href="https://www.blog.eigenlayer.xyz/launch-of-the-stage-2-testnet-eigenlayer-eigenda/">said</a> it expects mainnet deployment to happen in the first half of 2024.



Google Cloud, the cloud computing service offered by Google, has been on a steady march into Web3 since Bloomberg first <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-19/google-forms-blockchain-group-under-newly-appointed-executive">reported</a> Google’s creation of a blockchain division in January 2022.



Later that year, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/google-signals-major-crypto-push-with-ethereum-solana-support">Google Cloud released the Blockchain Node Engine</a>, a service meant to let developers run blockchain network nodes more easily. Google Cloud launched a web3 startup program in April 2023.



Google Cloud showed an interest in staking before the EigenLayer integration, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/google-cloud-polygon-validator-proof-of-stake">becoming a Polygon validator</a> in September. The investment was minimal from the tech giant, though: Google Cloud has the second-smallest <a href="https://staking.polygon.technology/validators">stake</a> out of more than 100 validators.&nbsp;



The cross-chain protocol <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/layerzero-google-cloud-oracle-operator-messaging">LayerZero partnered with Google Cloud</a> in September 2023, with the company becoming LayerZero’s default oracle to verify transactions across blockchains.&nbsp;



Google Cloud’s move into Web3 has not been without controversy, with some seeing the behemoth cloud computing service’s presence as a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/google-cloud-layerzero-0xresearch-oracle-provider">strike against decentralization</a>.



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Google Cloud confirms participation in EigenLayer testnet

David Canellis

Binance coin and XRP, two of the largest cryptocurrencies on the market, are diverging.



Only $2 billion separates BNB and XRP’s market caps — now $35.7 billion to $33.2 billion.&nbsp;



That puts XRP squarely in flipping distance: If BNB stays flat, XRP could firmly eclipse it with just an 8% price rally.



The two were way further apart at the start of the year. BNB’s market cap was more than double XRP’s back then — long before Changpeng Zhao’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/changpeng-zhao-announces-resignation-binance">forced resignation as CEO of Binance</a> last week.



In fact, XRP briefly flipped BNB in July when a US federal court ruled Ripple’s XRP <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/judge-rules-ripple-xrp-not-security">sales to retail weren’t securities</a>. The news ballooned its price by 75% and once again made XRP the fourth-biggest cryptocurrency on the market, behind bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/BTC">BTC</a>), ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/ETH">ETH</a>) and tether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/usdt">USDT</a>).



XRP — one of the oldest cryptocurrencies, initially issued in 2012 — had handed fourth place back to BNB by the next month. The token is the native asset of the Ripple Ledger — now stylized as the “XRP Ledger” — pitched as a low-cost intermediary asset cross-border remittances.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/bnb">BNB</a>, on the other hand, is the native token for Binance Smart Chain, a network similar to <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/tron">Tron</a>. The network supports its own bevy of tokens and applications, including typical cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, wrapped tokens, memecoins, decentralized exchanges and DeFi protocols. Traders can also use BNB to reduce trading fees on <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/binance">Binance</a>.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-flourish wp-block-embed-flourish"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="Interactive or visual content" src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/15911487/embed#?secret=sftc6S6JpP" data-secret="sftc6S6JpP" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="575" width="700"></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">XRP flipping BNB would be a return to the old normal</figcaption></figure>



BNB first overtook <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/xrp">XRP</a> in February 2021, as the last bull market was picking up steam. Sans for a brief moment a few months later, BNB has been valued above XRP ever since.



All that could change for good if both cryptocurrencies keep their current trajectories. BNB has been retracing ever since its all-time high in November 2021 — now 67% below that point.



XRP meanwhile has been on the mend, now up by more than three quarters since it bottomed out in September. BNB is only up 6% across that time.



Granted, both cryptocurrencies face existential threats. While the US has dropped claims against Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ripple-sec-jury-trial-spring">jury trial in spring next year</a> will decide whether Ripple’s XRP sales to hedge funds and other institutional investors violated securities law.&nbsp;



Ripple’s future will stay in the balance until that matter is settled.



Binance’s problems are more pressing: it must fork out $4 billion to US authorities, its founder Zhao has been forced to step down and prosecutors are pushing for 18 months in prison for Bank Secrecy Act violations.



In response, BNB has sunk more than 10% since Zhao’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-changpeng-zhao-deal-unpacked">guilty pleas were confirmed</a> last Tuesday. XRP is about even.



Granted, Binance is still the world’s largest crypto exchange by reported volume by far.&nbsp;



But between the lost billions and the three-year market surveillance program forced on the exchange, the case for Binance losing ground to other prominent global platforms seems a lot stronger.



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XRP threatens to flip Binance’s cryptocurrency once and for all

Last week, the discount at which Grayscale Bitcoin Trust shares trade compared to its net asset value closed at a level unseen since 2021.



But it is unlikely to get much lower than its current 8% discount, some segment observers say. Its shares trading at a premium are even less probable, they agree.



Eligible shares of GBTC are quoted on the OTC Markets Group. The value at which those are sold has fluctuated in the form of premiums and discounts to the value of bitcoin that it holds.&nbsp;



The shares haven’t traded at a premium since February 2021, according to <a href="https://ycharts.com/companies/GBTC/discount_or_premium_to_nav">YCharts.com</a>. And the discount was as steep as 46% in January, the data shows.&nbsp;&nbsp;



But the discount shrunk to roughly 8% on Friday, reflecting <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/21shares-bitcoin-etf-approval-incoming">increased investor confidence</a> in the potential approval of a bitcoin spot ETF. Following its <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/grayscale-sec-spot-bitcoin-etf">court win against the US Securities and Exchange Commission</a>, Grayscale is <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/where-does-grayscale-gbtc-stand#">working on converting GBTC to an ETF</a> — a move the firm has said would essentially get rid of the current discount on its shares.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/grayscale-gbtc-ethe-discounts">Grayscale trust discounts keep shrinking — here’s why</a>



The discount has historically moved as bitcoin’s price has.&nbsp;



A dip in price to about $35,700 last week — as news unfolded about <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-settlement-message-to-crypto-industry">the guilty pleas of Binance and its CEO</a> — was offset by clarity that such regulatory action against the exchange had been resolved, Fineqia International analyst Matteo Greco said in a Monday research note. This led to what he called “renewed stability in the market.”&nbsp;



Bitcoin’s (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">BTC</a>) price was at about $37,500 around 12:00 pm ET Monday — down 0.4% in the previous 24 hours.



“Any news related to settlements between law enforcement and digital asset service providers plays a vital role in bridging traditional finance and digital assets, increasing the likelihood of capital inflow from traditional finance investors,” Greco added in the note.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Will discount turn to premium?</h2>



Chase White, senior research and policy analyst Compass Point Research &amp; Trading, said uncertainty remains around when the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec">SEC</a> could allow GBTC to convert to an <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/etf">ETF</a>. Barring any concrete news on that front, the discount is likely to stay at a high single digit to low double digit discount compared to its net asset value, he said.&nbsp;



“This is because there’s still a risk that the conversion is not approved,” he told Blockworks. “And if the discount gets too low [or] becomes a premium, traders playing for the narrowing of the discount will sell their positions — because the trade is over and they know a premium will be wiped away at conversion just like a discount would be.”



Fund group Ark Invest has recently sold shares of <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/gbtc">GBTC</a> — most recently shedding 94,624 shares of the trust from its Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) on Nov. 24.&nbsp;



Dave Nadig, a financial futurist at data firm VettaFi, said there is “no mechanical reason” for GBTC to trade at a premium.



“If anything I expect outflows as parity approaches, which, because of no redemption, means more discount,” Nadig said.



Likely the only way the GBTC discount completely disappears is if other fund issuers get regulatory approval to launch a spot bitcoin ETF, Greco said. The SEC is set to rule on such <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-decision-date-bitcoin-etf">a proposal by Ark Invest and 21Shares by Jan. 10.</a>



“This way customers would know that with almost certainty the GBTC conversion will be approved shortly, and buying at a discount would basically mean a strong likelihood of buying BTC at a lower price compared to the market price,” Greco told Blockworks.&nbsp;



GBTC had previously traded at a premium when ways to get exposure to bitcoin were more limited, he added. Investors have found other proxies to do so in the past three years or so.



“In the off chance that it did trade at a premium, we think that would be short lived,” White said. “Traders would sell out of their positions.”



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Could GBTC’s shrinking discount turn to a premium?

Macauley Peterson

Two recent catastrophic exploits of two DeFi protocols differed in many ways, yet shared one commonality — both were audited multiple times.



Raft Finance, a stablecoin provider inspired by Liquity but backed by staked ether, fell victim to an infinite mint bug two weeks ago. KyperSwap saw its liquidity pools drained on Nov. 23.



The Raft team’s post-mortem <a href="https://mirror.xyz/0xa486d3a7679D56D545dd5d357469Dd5ed4259340/_Nk6_1_VvInyC0pdvHiZuAXiqm6tYSsGYGHSfOhcO1I">analysis</a> of the incident pointed out that, “the exploited Raft smart contracts were <a href="https://docs.raft.fi/additional-information/security">audited</a> by Trail of Bits and Hats Finance. Unfortunately, the vulnerabilities that led to the incident were not detected in these audits.”



Kyber Network similarly flagged its platform’s audits from vaunted security experts, including 100proof, ChainSecurity and participants in an audit competition organized by Sherlock.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">7/ Security measures we’ve taken include internal smart contract checks, &amp; audits by 100proof (whitehacker), ChainSecurity, &amp; community developers via Sherlock’s audit competition. We encouraged further checks on the smart contracts through our Bug Bounty Program with Immunefi.&mdash; Kyber Network (@KyberNetwork) <a href="https://twitter.com/KyberNetwork/status/1728115872403976485?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Raft procured even more audits by Curious Apple and Aviggiano throughout 2023, indicating ongoing security evaluations and improvements​​ that have led onlookers to <a href="https://x.com/davgarai/status/1723351273817219445">question</a> the assumption that an audited protocol is necessarily safe.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/exploit-ether-defi-protocol">Raft Finance floats user bailout plan after odd exploit</a>



What’s needed is a “paradigm shift” in how blockchain projects tackle threats in the face of examples like these, says Halborn’s chief operating officer Dave Schwed, highlighting “sophisticated manipulation of smart contract functions.”



“It highlights the importance of projects taking a proactive and layered approach to security, beyond just relying on external audits,” Schwed told Blockworks.



Other smart contract specialists, including Yearn Finance security researcher Storming0x, concur. They <a href="https://x.com/storming0x/status/1724239791837917554">said</a> on X that it’s “a waste for a project to get an audit” absent attention to other best practices.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">IMO is a waste for a project to get an audit without good testing, coverage, fuzzing and at least 1 good peer review. Why? Because a good auditor will find most evident high issues at surface given the small amount time but not have time to go in depth. 7/ <a href="https://t.co/t64H0RVtC2">pic.twitter.com/t64H0RVtC2</a>&mdash; Storm Blessed 0x (@storming0x) <a href="https://twitter.com/storming0x/status/1724239791837917554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 14, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



It is also difficult for ordinary users to tell whether an audit covers the final code in production.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The <s>Devil</s> vulnerability is in the details</h2>



Theoretically, a user could compare the audited code with the current published version, Schwed noted.



“Most audit reports show, or should show, a hash of the repo of the code that was audited,” he said. “There should be some automated mechanism to compare the code audited and the code in production enhancing transparency and trust.”



Michael Lewellen, head of solutions architecture at Open Zeppelin, noted that &#8220;change management&#8221; — ensuring the production version matches the audited one — was not an issue in Raft&#8217;s case. However, he does see a tendency for some development teams to ignore the advice of their auditors.



“Trail of Bits, despite missing the bug itself, did note in their report that the Raft codebase could have made improvements to their testing and verification,” Lewellen told Blockwoks.



“These recommendations should not be taken lightly by projects that might otherwise assume the audit report gives them the all-clear to launch without making improvements to other parts of their security stack,” he added.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Making users partly whole</h2>



After receiving feedback that it was unfair to exclude those who sold their R following the depeg event, Raft <a href="https://forum.raft.fi/t/raft-recovery-plan/237">retracted</a> its initial recovery plan.



A revised “recovery plan” was <a href="https://docs.raft.fi/additional-information/raft-recovery-plan-claim-your-dai">published</a> Friday, giving victims <a href="https://x.com/raft_fi/status/1728038665736290780?s=20">until</a> the end of March 2024, to recoup a portion of their losses.



“After substantial feedback from the Raft community, the Raft Recovery Plan has been finalized, resulting in a 42% recovery rate. This guide is for all the affected users who were included in the Raft Recovery Plan to claim their DAI,” the plan said.



For Kyber, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/kyberswap-hacker-stole-48m">the scale of the loss was significantly greater</a> — some $48 million. The road to recovery is still unclear.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">9/ We are grateful for the overwhelming support from those who have offered assistance in aiding in the investigation. Our heartfelt appreciation goes out to our users &amp; partners who believe in our product &amp; mission. Updates will be provided as the situation unfolds.&mdash; Kyber Network (@KyberNetwork) <a href="https://twitter.com/KyberNetwork/status/1728115876749275229?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The KyberSwap exploit, noted for its <a href="https://twitter.com/KyberNetwork/status/1728115867580527071?s=20">unusual sophistication</a>, has left DeFi users wondering about the level of yield that could justify their risk-taking.



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Latest DeFi exploits show audits are no guarantee

Decels, or decelerationists, are back in the spotlight thanks to the OpenAI soap opera. Sam Altman’s momentary ousting was, in one <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/21/technology/openai-altman-board-fight.html">version</a> of the story, an attempted coup by safety-obsessed doomers who worried he couldn’t be trusted to build such powerful technology.



Or, depending on which reports you believe, it was a move to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/22/sam-altman-fired-y-combinator-paul-graham/">mitigate</a> Altman’s own hunger for corporate power.



And the US Securities and Exchange Commission is the top US “decel,” said former Kraken CEO Jesse Powell in response to a recent securities suit brought against the crypto exchange he co-founded.



Both debacles have shown us a fresh, exciting way to divide us by our philosophies: Are you a progress-loving accel (accelerationist) who embraces innovation at all costs, or are you an anxious decel eager to slow tech entrepreneurs down?



Accels would say amplifying capitalism is critical to humanity. They say we need more money, more funding and more entrepreneurs to discover all the technologies, from artificial intelligence to life extension, to concepts we’ve yet to even dream of.



“Effective acceleration” is the move until we hit the singularity, a point in the future where technology supersedes humanity altogether and runs the show from there (we clearly need some help).



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Securities laws are so decel&nbsp;</h2>



It’s easy to see how accels and decels would butt heads over AI. If you believe in its potential, then the stakes are extremely high.



Decels are more anti-politiks who would rather we all take a beat and mull where this big ship is headed. Less “progress for the sake of progress,” more “make progress more difficult,” even if it means fewer Silicon Valley startups.&nbsp;



Despite the fact that Karl Marx <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/11/accelerationism-how-a-fringe-philosophy-predicted-the-future-we-live-in">himself</a> may have been one of the very first accels, more hardline decels would <a href="https://runway.org.au/manifesto-of-decelerationism/">argue</a> powerhouses like Amazon and Walmart have been a net negative for society. Their proliferation only enriches a reactionary class of billionaires who’ve built empires on exploitation. Best antagonize them into slowing down.



But beyond <a href="https://bitcoinmagazine.com/hyperbitcoinization">hyperbitcoinization</a>, there’s no crypto version of the singularity. It’s difficult to say what crypto-accels would strive for beyond anarcho-capitalism on the blockchain.&nbsp;&nbsp;



From crypto’s perspective, the US is the antagonizer intent on controlling its growth. The SEC has long pushed the idea that almost every cryptocurrency on the market is an unregistered <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/11/26/sec-cracks-down-on-initial-coin-offerings.html">security</a>, even before <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/gary-gensler-regulation-sec-advice">Gary Gensler</a>.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Message is clear: $30m buys you about 10 months before the SEC comes around to extort you again. Lawyers can do a lot with $30m but the SEC knows that a real fight will likely cost $100m+, and valuable time. If you can&#39;t afford it, get your crypto company out of the US warzone.&mdash; Jesse Powell (@jespow) <a href="https://twitter.com/jespow/status/1726794688433369290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Powell is clearly not a fan of crypto-deceleration</figcaption></figure>



Not to mention, the Federal Reserve continuously <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/legal-expert-avanti-may-face-uphill-battle-getting-fed-payment-access">refuses to award</a> “master accounts” to startup banks operating in the crypto space — which would grant them, among other things, easy access to the US banking system and federal deposit insurance.



A truly accel US might open all capital controls and flood the ecosystem with funding — innovation no matter what, regardless of how many investors bottom out along the way.&nbsp;



Even a sorta-accel US would agree to the “safe harbor” <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/public-statement/peirce-statement-token-safe-harbor-proposal-2.0">proposed</a> by dissenting Commissioner Hester Peirce, which would give crypto startups three years to rapidly innovate (read: decentralize) before having to worry about US securities laws.&nbsp;



The SEC has instead sued names including <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-drops-dismisses-garlinghouse-case">Ripple</a>, <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2019-202">Block.one</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-sues-justin-sun">Justin Sun</a>, <a href="https://thenextweb.com/news/messaging-app-kik-shutsdown-kin-sec-fight-ico">Kik</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-sues-coinbase">Coinbase</a> and now <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/kraken-commingle-customer-funds">Kraken</a> for alleged violations. The US is no longer a place where you can easily attempt to innovate with crypto.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Can’t extradite what you can’t locate&nbsp;</h2>



It wasn’t very accel of the DOJ, either, to force Binance founder Changpeng Zhao to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/doj-indictment-binance-changpeng-zhao">step down as CEO</a> over the breaches of the Bank Secrecy Act.&nbsp;



Of course, money laundering happens in crypto — it’s valuable money. You should see how much laundering happens in <a href="https://www.europol.europa.eu/crime-areas/economic-crime/money-laundering#:~:text=The%20United%20Nations%20Office%20on,and%201.87%20trillion%20each%20year.">fiat</a> or priceless <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2019/09/the-art-of-money-laundering-and-washing-illicit-cash-mashberg">art</a>.



But so far, Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto has escaped any government attention (as far as we know, anyway).



That’s not to say that Satoshi Nakamoto wouldn’t be given the Changpeng Zhao treatment if they miraculously returned tomorrow. Ransomware is classed a national security <a href="https://partners.wsj.com/cisco/cybersecurity-simplified/ransomware-is-a-national-security-threat/">threat</a>, and almost all cases involve BTC as a medium of exchange.



If Zhao was responsible for money laundering and other sketchy activity flowing through his software, could regulators concoct a way to hold Nakamoto accountable for creating money so perfect for ransomware, even though centralized exchanges have little in common with the Bitcoin blockchain?



Probably. Dumber things have happened. Perhaps Nakamoto didn’t want to risk it — with one theory suggesting they disappeared after a <a href="https://thenextweb.com/news/satoshi-nakamoto-left-bitcoin-because-of-the-cia-theory-cryptocurrency">meeting</a> with the CIA.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Today we filed an amicus brief in the 5th Circuit appeal of Van Loon v. Treasury regarding OFAC’s sanctions against Tornado Cash. Read Senior Counsel <a href="https://twitter.com/MTCoppel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MTCoppel</a>&#39;s thread below for more. 👇<a href="https://t.co/1pmSAt1Bds">https://t.co/1pmSAt1Bds</a> <a href="https://t.co/c5ScaTDr9N">https://t.co/c5ScaTDr9N</a> <a href="https://t.co/e9ySvcKdeM">pic.twitter.com/e9ySvcKdeM</a>&mdash; Blockchain Association (@BlockchainAssn) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlockchainAssn/status/1726709704792100951?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The US has also gone after makers of crypto mixer Tornado Cash</figcaption></figure>



The most accel thing the US ever did for crypto was concede there’s nobody to sue or extradite over the creation and utility of Bitcoin. In a way, this gave BTC cover to be classed a commodity. Although, that could be just because they have no idea who Nakamoto is or their whereabouts.



The second most accel thing was allowing the CFTC to approve ether (ETH) futures, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-and-ether-are-commodities-says-cftc-in-binance-lawsuit">laying the groundwork</a> for its own commodity classification. But the path to that classification remains murkier, and until that changes, Jesse Powell’s point remains.



Jesse Powell’s warning for crypto startups who can’t afford to take on a costly legal battle with a largely decel US echoes his past stance on New York’s BitLicense, which prompted Kraken to exit the Empire State entirely all those years ago:&nbsp;



“Get your crypto company out of the US warzone.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>


<div class="wp-block-post-author-biography">David is an Editor based in The Netherlands focused on data-driven journalism. Previously, he wrote for TheNextWeb&#8217;s crypto vertical before launching Protos in 2021. He&#8217;s a reformed hardline Bitcoiner passionate about permissionless and decentralized networks. Contact David at david@blockworks.co</div>


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Would the US arrest Satoshi Nakamoto if they returned today?

Bessie Liu

Ethereum transaction fees would be five times more expensive if not for layer-2 rollup networks like Optimism and Arbitrum.



That’s according to a recent report from blockchain infrastructure unit Chainstack. Aside from fees between 360% and 419% higher, transactions themselves would take nearly twice as long on average, Chainstack found. 



Wait times would even stretch to 114 seconds compared to a block time of about 12 seconds (the minimum wait time if transactions are sent between blocks).



Rollups are designed to solve the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/core-dao-solve-blockchain-trilemma">blockchain trilemma</a> — a tradeoff layer-1 networks must make between security, scalability and decentralization. Blockchains can only offer two of those elements at any one time, says Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who <a href="https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/04/07/sharding.html">popularized</a> the concept <a href="https://blog.bigchaindb.com/the-dcs-triangle-5ce0e9e0f1dc">laid</a> out in 2016.



Ethereum, for example, is built with security and decentralization in mind. But it&#8217;s not totally scalable — transaction fees generally rise alongside user activity and can grow exponentially at times of peak demand.



With rollups, Ethereum is able to offload some of the pressure. There are two popular rollup solutions today: Optimistic rollups and zero-knowledge (zk) rollups. 



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ethereum-optimistic-rollups">Optimistic rollups</a>, such as Arbitrum and Optimism, process transactions off-chain and then post the data of the transaction back onto Ethereum as “calldata.” ZK rollups, such as Polygon zkEVM and zkSync Era, post all data on-chain but use cryptography to validate whether transactions are accurate without revealing the information itself. 



Usage of rollups has grown considerably over the past two years, with Arbitrium and Optimism <a href="https://dune.com/blockworks_research/l2-comparison-dashboard">often</a> together handling more daily transactions than Ethereum mainnet.



“&#8230; it&#8217;s clear how roll-up transactions have gone from representing a minor fraction of the network&#8217;s activity in 2021 to playing a vital part in Ethereum&#8217;s functioning by 2023,” Chainstack wrote.



The report added that the growing number of transactions illustrated the crucial functioning of rollups to Ethereum’s overall network efficiency.&nbsp;



Although, Ethereum gas fees (currently about $1 on average) have seen a constant uptrend between 2021 and 2023 despite the popularity of rollups. But Chainstack reasoned that L2 networks have still served as a necessary and useful counterbalance. 



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Rollups saved Ethereum users a boatload of gas fees: Report

Hind Kurhan

The 2023 crypto winter has been challenging for many, not least the thieves who target crypto wallets, platforms and token protocols. So far this year, they’ve only managed to steal $1 billion in crypto assets — a steep fall from 2022’s <a href="https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/2022-biggest-year-ever-for-crypto-hacking/">record $3.8 billion</a>.&nbsp;



Unfortunately, the decline appears to have more to do with a reduction in available capital than with stronger defenses. And while the scale of attacks has fallen, their frequency has in fact <a href="https://www.dlnews.com/articles/regulation/why-criminals-only-stealing-one-billion-in-crypto-is-bad/">risen sharply</a>: from 60 hacks in 2022 to 75 as of the end of October. And the year isn’t over.



If decentralized finance is ever to be widely accepted by retail and institutional investors, then it needs to achieve its goal of democratizing global finance.&nbsp;



We must collectively do better at closing the loopholes that malicious actors are forever looking to slip through.&nbsp;



The key to locking the door against bad actors? We need to vastly improve security auditing, which, at present, is inconsistent at best and a rubber-stamp exercise at worst.&nbsp;



Specifically, our industry as a whole needs to adopt a consistent auditing methodology for decentralized technology that is rigorous, standardized and repeatable — as robust as what protects traditional finance.



Such an auditing standard, coupled with a public commitment by auditing firms to the principle of responsible disclosure — the willingness to call out projects that refuse to listen to or act on recommendations — will encourage projects themselves to raise their security standards.



Atomic Wallet’s refusal to heed a February 2022 <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/02/10/least-authority-discloses-security-risks-in-atomic-wallet/">public disclosure</a> of serious security vulnerabilities by auditor Least Authority resulted in <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/north-korean-hackers-swipe-over-100m-from-atomic-wallet-users">the loss of more than $100 million</a> to hackers in June 2023.&nbsp;



At its best, a third-party security audit is a thorough investigation by a skilled team that analyzes every aspect of a system’s design and implementation, seeking out weaknesses and flaws that could affect operations or users — or offer bad actors access to sensitive data or assets.&nbsp;



A good audit also carefully assesses whether developers and designers have adhered to best practices in a system’s creation and roll-out.



Vulnerabilities come in many forms; incorrect or insufficiently secure cryptography, sensitive information leaks, unprotected system parts, inconsistencies between system design documentation and the code used in implementation.



Weaknesses like these can result in anything from the exposure of sensitive and secret user data to the loss of user and system assets.



That audits are as detailed — and consistent — as possible is therefore essential to both a project and its users’ safety.



There are dozens of firms out there offering audit services, but with no industry standard, quality can and does indeed vary drastically. Even within reputable firms, there is neither consensus on what should be audited nor a consistent set of yardsticks.



There is, of course, no guarantee that even the most experienced auditors will either sniff out every weakness in a system or protect every user from loss. But if they are thoroughly and regularly carried out, security audits have been proven to sharply reduce the risk of a serious vulnerability going undetected.



Read more from our opinion section: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/blockchain-security-team-communication">It’s time for blockchain security firms to join forces</a>



However, audits can’t stop social engineering attacks — those that involve the manipulation of human beings — such as when North Korean group Lazarus <a href="https://www.elastic.co/security-labs/elastic-catches-dprk-passing-out-kandykorn">convinced engineers</a> at an unidentified crypto exchange earlier this year to download malware disguised as an arbitrage bot. Preventing that type of attack only comes from vigilance and team training.&nbsp;



It is true that every audit will be different, just as every project is different.&nbsp;



But my long experience in the security auditing space has taught me there are specific steps an auditor must take to maximize the effectiveness of the security audit for the benefit of clients, users and the ecosystem.&nbsp;&nbsp;



What are these requirements? An auditing standard that aims to make decentralized systems more resilient and protect their users from potential losses must include an exhaustive assessment of the following:&nbsp;



<ul>
<li>The project’s threat model&nbsp;</li>



<li>The security by design&nbsp;</li>



<li>The security of implementation</li>



<li>The use of dependencies</li>



<li>Testing&nbsp;</li>



<li>Project documentation</li>



<li>The scope of the audit, and whether or not it is sufficient.</li>
</ul>



To ensure that any improvement in standards benefits blockchain as a whole, we also advocate knowledge-sharing and the creation of public goods such as research, tooling and training.



By working together to improve the standards of the security auditing industry as a whole — and thus the decentralized technology sphere — we can go a long way toward stopping the blockchain black hat hackers from breaking 2022’s record for crypto assets stolen.



And that’s one record we don’t want to see broken again.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>


<div class="wp-block-post-author-biography">Hind Kurhan is a Co-Founder of Thesis Defense, a decentralized technology security auditing company whose mission is the facilitation of broad adoption of decentralized technology by improving security and audit consistency throughout the blockchain sphere.
</div>


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Blockchain needs standards

Hannah Finnerty

Get ready: Spotify Wrapped is just days away.&nbsp;



We get it, your number-one artist is likely Taylor Swift, and your top track is probably that one song you don’t know the name of that you’ve been playing on repeat since you discovered it on TikTok this summer.&nbsp;



Nothing wrong with being a Swiftie. But if you wanted to diversify a bit, good news — you have a week or two to turn that around.



Let’s take a look at five podcast episodes — all available on Spotify — from the Blockworks archives so you can show your friends you have range (and a bit of crypto know-how):



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">1. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ftx-empire-sam-bankman-fried-trial-recap-week-one">‘Bombshell’ testimony and ‘hard to watch’ cross-examinations: A firsthand account of the SBF trial</a></h2>



Blockworks reporter Casey Wagner appeared on the Empire podcast to discuss her time covering <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sbf-trial">Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial</a> in New York. (Yes, your friends will say, “Oooh, they like true crime!”)



Sure, the trial has come and gone. And yes, we all know the outcome. Spoiler alert: SBF is guilty.



But Wagner offers up an in-person perspective, which is highly unusual for crypto reporting. In an industry where most news gathering is done through a computer screen, the trial was an opportunity for color and character where often there is none.



She shares tales of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sam-bankman-fried-trial-sleeping-juror">jurors too sleepy</a> to be bothered, the occasional collapse of Barbara Fried’s typical stony composure, and of the defense’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/gary-wang-ftx-not-fine">painful cross-examinations</a> and frantic binder flipping.



This interview was released after the first week or so of the trial. Much of Wagner’s conjecture holds up to the test of the time.



“It’s looking bad for Sam,” Wagner said.



It’s almost as if she had a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sam-bankman-fried-found-guilty">crystal ball</a>.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">2. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-gets-roasted">Solana ‘roast’ reveals painful truths</a></h2>



Throw some logs on the fire, and pass the bag of Jet-puffed: It’s time for a roast. (Your friends will say, “Oooh! They like respectful debate!”)



In this episode of Lightspeed, Superteam founding member Kash Dhanda and Framework Ventures principal Brandon Potts offered up their critiques of the Solana ecosystem — no holds barred.



Dhanda picks on Solana’s civil war — an “annoying and unnecessary” conflict between the ecosystem’s diehard builder types and the Web3 NFT folks.



“There are these two groups that don’t seem to talk that much, and they actually seem to not think very highly of each other.”



(Solana is not only fighting internally: The monolithic vs. modular blockchain dispute <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/monolithic-modular-blockchain-debate">recently reared its head</a> again.)



Another pet peeve of Dhanda’s: They may be divided, but the Solana community has a shared “culture of&nbsp; entitlement.”&nbsp;



Just because you survived the bear market doesn’t mean you deserve a gold medal, he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">3. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-crackdown-got-you-down">Crypto crackdown got you down? Historian Rosenthal says we’ll ‘get it right’ — eventually</a></h2>



History is doomed to repeat itself.&nbsp;



Josh Rosenthal, historian and co-founder of The 6ixth Event, said on the Empire podcast that crypto has found itself in one of those repetitive narratives. (Your friends will say, “Oooh! They’re interested in history!”)



When limited liability companies first hit the scene in the early 1900s, Rosenthal said they were perceived as great evils that would be “the end of economics,” that would “undo the Renaissance,” and destroy “the spirit of capitalism.”



Lo and behold, the LLC would bring about the beginning of the American financial system as we know it today.



But the US government’s first reaction to the LCC? Ban it.



A <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/doj-announcing-crypto-actions">similar situation is unfolding now</a> — over a century later — with crypto.&nbsp;



If you’re interested in financial history, listen to this episode. If you’re not interested in financial history, well, you should still listen to this episode.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">4. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/tinder-web2-apps-monetization-web3">Reaching a billion users is ‘the wrong goal’ for crypto, says former Tinder VP</a></h2>



Forget the next billion users. We need to focus on usability, Jeff Morris Jr. said on the Lightspeed podcast. (Your friends will say, “Oooh! They like smart commentary from business execs!”)



The former vice president of product and revenue at Tinder says “the benefit of Web3 is — everything is very monetizable. It’s one of the reasons why I actually think the space is really interesting as an investor.”



But before we bring more people into the space, he argues Web3 needs to improve the quality and ease of user experience.



Morris gives Friend.tech as an example. To most crypto-native users, the social media app is fairly accessible, he said. But what would users unfamiliar with Web3 have to say about the app?&nbsp;



“We have a long way to go.”&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">5. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/proving-humanness-on-internet">Proving ‘humanness’ is no easy task on the internet</a></h2>
</blockquote>



This will lead to an immediate “Oooh! They&#8217;re plugged into the AI debate.”



On this episode of Empire, Worldcoin co-founder Alex Blania (yes, that <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/worldcoin-privacy-concerns">Worldcoin</a>) talks about increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence and the problems that arise from such developments.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/worldcoin-eyeballs-scan-brooklyn">Worldcoin hackable by cutting off someone’s face, draping it over your own</a>



If computers are getting better and better at behaving like humans, how do we prove that we’re human?&nbsp;



Worldcoin’s proposed solution? The iris-scanning Orb, of course.



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Resuscitate your Spotify Wrapped with these 5 podcast episodes

Katherine Ross

2023 has been a tumultuous year following the late 2022 collapse of FTX and the slew of bankruptcies that happened after the UST depeg.&nbsp;



It’s also been a year with a lot of legal action, and we mean a lot. From bankruptcies to regulatory lawsuits to class action suits, there’s been a boat load of back and forth.



But, when looking at the most notable cases this year, only a few come to mind.



Let’s start with the most obvious ones: the Securities and Exchange Commission’s cases against Binance and Coinbase.&nbsp;



The suits shocked the crypto world this summer after being filed back to back. While the companies face some of the same charges, the lawsuits are inherently different.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">SEC v. Binance</h2>



The <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-allegations-against-binance">regulator accused Binance</a> of not only offering unregistered securities, but also of commingling customer funds.&nbsp;



The lawsuit, filed back in June, also named Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, BAM Trading and BAM Management — the latter two entities run Binance US.&nbsp;



The unregistered securities claims by the SEC target BNB, Binance’s native token, and BAM Trading’s staking program.&nbsp;



Binance filed a motion to dismiss back in September, but the SEC pushed back against the filing earlier this month.&nbsp;



The defendants made the argument that the commission had failed to “plausibly” allege securities violations and that the SEC was overstepping its regulatory reach.&nbsp;



The SEC, in its response, said that the invocation of the major questions doctrine — a Supreme Court <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-1530_n758.pdf">ruling</a> that seeks for agencies to prove “clear congressional authorization’ for the authority it claims.”



The case, however, is ongoing.



Now, keep the overreach argument in mind for Coinbase.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">SEC v. Coinbase</h2>



A mere day after the SEC targeted Binance, it unveiled another lawsuit. This time, the regulatory agency targeted Coinbase.&nbsp;



While some of the accusations in the Binance suit may have come as a shock, the Coinbase suit wasn’t too surprising. The US-based exchange had already received a Wells notice, which is the SEC’s warning before action is taken, earlier this year.&nbsp;



In fact, Coinbase had actually served the SEC with a suit prior to the SEC serving Coinbase. What goes around… it seems.&nbsp;



On June 6, the SEC announced that it was targeting Coinbase for alleged securities violations and accused it of operating as an unregistered exchange.



“But while paying lip service to its desire to comply with applicable laws, Coinbase has for years made available for trading crypto assets that are investment contracts under the Howey test and well-established principles of the federal securities laws,” <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-sues-coinbase">the SEC claimed in June</a>.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-binance-suits-different">One lawyer told Blockworks at the time</a> that while there were similarities between the Coinbase and Binance suits, there’s a “fundamental difference” between them. That difference? Coinbase is being accused in a “straight registration violations case.”



But let’s talk about a similarity the two have, which brings us right back to the major questions doctrine.&nbsp;



Coinbase has also <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-sec-motion-securities">used major questions in its attempt to dismiss the suit</a>. It’s also claimed that the regulator can’t “seize power” in regulating crypto, and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-cant-seize-power">therefore doesn’t have the authority it claims to bring a case against the exchange</a>.&nbsp;



In its case against the SEC (not the SEC’s case against Coinbase, don’t get them confused!) Coinbase tried to push the SEC for clarity on crypto regulation. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-responds-coinbase-mandamus">However, the SEC pushed back against it</a>.



Similarly to the suit against Binance, this case is ongoing.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Legal woes of Celsius</h2>



Unlike the rest of the cases, Celsius didn’t face just one suit. Are you ready for some alphabet soup?



The Federal Trade Commission, SEC, Commodities and Futures Trading Commission all filed suits against Celsius, with a few naming ex-CEO Alex Mashinsky.&nbsp;



On the same day, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against Mashinsky as well.



The <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-sues-celsius-former-ceo-for-market-manipulation-securities-fraud">SEC accused both the bankrupt lende</a>r and its former CEO of unregistered and “fraudulent” crypto asset sales.&nbsp;



The <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cftc-ftc-sue-celsius">FTC accused Celsius of duping customers</a> into depositing crypto by claiming that deposits were safe. Spoiler alert: They weren’t.



It also announced a $4.7 billion settlement with Celsius — but not Mashinsky.



The CFTC accused Celsius of acting as an “unregistered commodity pool operator of the Celsius Pool by soliciting, accepting, and receiving assets for the purpose of trading commodity interests” and for defrauding investors.&nbsp;



The DOJ specifically targeted Mashinsky, and it was <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/doj-freezes-mashinsky-assets">later revealed that they also froze his assets.&nbsp;</a>



The Justice Department claims that Mashinsky “orchestrated a scheme to defraud customers of Celsius Network” alongside the former Chief Revenue Officer Roni Cohen-Pavon.



Mashinsky <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/mashinsky-files-dismissal-ftc">filed a motion to dismiss</a> the FTC’s suit against him in September.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">New York Attorney General vs. Gemini, Genesis, DCG</h2>



Say that five times fast.&nbsp;



Back in October, the NY AG released a “sweeping lawsuit” targeting Digital Currency Group, DCG CEO Barry Silbert, ex-Genesis CEO Michael Moro, Gemini and Genesis.&nbsp;



The <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/genesis-gemini-nyag-lawsuit">suit claims that both Gemini and Genesis conspired to commit</a> two schemes with the Gemini Earn product, leading to investor losses of over $1 billion in November of last year.&nbsp;



Oh, and also that Gemini Earn falls under the definition of an investment contract.



“The Genesis Entities, DCG, Moro, and Silbert falsely assured counterparties and the public that Genesis Capital was ‘well-capitalized’ and that DCG ‘absorbed the losses’ from the Genesis Entities,” the complaint claims.&nbsp;



Through this, Gemini “falsely” claimed to the public that the Genesis Capital loan book was overcollateralized, which was not the case.



Gemini used the suit as a way to show that it — alongside Earn users — were “victims of a massive fraud and systematically ‘lied to’ by these parties about ‘Genesis’s financial condition.&#8217;” It also pushed back against being named in the suit, claiming it was just a victim and was also “defrauded.”



Gemini targeted Silbert, Genesis and DCG following the fallout of the Earn program. It filed a lawsuit against Silbert and DCG earlier this year as well.



DCG, on the other hand, claimed it cooperated with the NY AG’s investigation and was “blindsided by the filing of the complaint.”



Yes, this case is also ongoing.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">USA v. Sam Bankman-Fried</h2>



Alright, this isn’t technically a 2023 court case since the original charges were announced back at the end of 2022, but it’s definitely one of the biggest cases to go to trial this year, so we saved the best for last.



A panel of jurors <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sam-bankman-fried-found-guilty">found Bankman-Fried guilty</a> of all seven counts of fraud as his October trial came to a close.&nbsp;



The trial, which lasted a month, saw former FTX insiders including Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend and former inner circle take the stand and testify that, at Bankman-Fried’s urging, FTX commingled customer assets prior to its November 2022 collapse.&nbsp;



There were also a number of highlights from the trial, from jurors (who would later find Bankman-Fried guilty) <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sam-bankman-fried-trial-sleeping-juror">falling asleep</a> during testimonies, to Ellison explaining how <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sam-bankman-fried-trial-day-6">FTX and Alameda used alleged Thai sex workers</a> in an attempt to bribe Chinese officials.



Bankman-Fried’s courtroom days aren’t over, however, as he still faces a possible 2024 trial centered on his political donations.&nbsp;



At least that indictment was filed in 2023!



Bankman-Fried’s sentence remains unknown, though he has a date set earlier next year with Judge Lewis Kaplan to decide how long Bankman-Fried will remain behind bars.



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From SBF to Binance: Biggest court cases of 2023

It’s the most wonderful time of the year — that “wonderful” misery you find yourself in as you frantically brainstorm thoughtful gifts for everyone in your life.



At least one of those people is into crypto (that’s why you clicked on this article, after all).



Maybe you have no idea where to start (“What is this bitcoin thing, anyway?”). Maybe you’ve already thought of the usual suspects: a hardware wallet (smart, but overdone), $25 worth of a random token sent to their wallet (well intentioned, but lazy and uninspired — the crypto version of a gift card), and an NFT (okay, but you’ll get decision fatigue from picking which one).



Either way, I’ve come up with a handful of options that are sure to bring a smile to their face, even if the markets take a tumble.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">For the aspiring real estate mogul:&nbsp;</h4>



Perusing Zillow used to be entertaining. But peeking at property prices these days has me weeping while I write another rent check (yes, a check). Instead of buying real property, give your loved one the gift of virtual real estate. Get them in on the ground floor of metaverse development. It’s more original than an acre on the moon, and at the very least it’ll probably be a first at your family festivities.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">For the person who read every word of Blockworks’ SBF trial coverage:</h4>



They followed <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sbf-trial">Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial</a> from afar. Now, give them a piece of the action. Plane tickets to New York City and a few nights at a hotel are all they need to attend <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sbf-guilty-verdict-sentencing">his sentencing hearing</a> currently scheduled to start March 28, 2024.



(You might also need to gift a sleeping bag or collapsible lawn chair so they’re cozy and comfortable while they wait for a seat in the courtroom at 3 am.)



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">For the one that takes musical theater a little too seriously:</h4>



Speaking of New York, take your friend or family member to Broadway for the world’s first musical all about crypto. Rather originally dubbed “<a href="https://www.cryptothemusical.xyz">Crypto: The Musical</a>,” the show is described as having “the comedy of Book of Mormon, the heart of Legally Blonde, the realism of Hamilton.” A tall order.



For the low, low price of $1,000 in USDC or USDT, you too can reserve 1 VIP ticket. The troupe is planning to make its Broadway debut in the spring of 2024.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">For the one decorating for the holidays on Nov. 1:</h4>



This <a href="https://oldworldchristmas.com/products/bitcoin-ornament">bitcoin ornament</a> will help their tree sparkle a bit brighter for years to come.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">For the self care-obsessed:</h4>



They’ve probably been to a spa before, but have they been to a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/brooklyn-bitcoin-mining-spa">day spa powered by Bitcoin</a>? 



Bathhouse, located in Brooklyn, regulates the temperature of its thermal pools with byproduct heat from bitcoin miners. A day pass is $45-$70 and includes access to multiple Bitcoin-heated pools, saunas, steam rooms and a heated hammam. They also offer massage services.



Few things are better than unwinding in a vat of bitcoin juice.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">For the page turner:</h4>



Skeptic musings, historical takes on SBF, and crypto smut: You’ve got plenty of options to choose from. The highlights:



<ul>
<li>Zeke Faux’s Number Go Up. An investigative reporter&#8217;s take on crypto. A skeptic of the crypto space, Faux starts the book off: “From the beginning, I thought that crypto was pretty dumb. And it turned out to be even dumber than I imagined.” Our opinion editor <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-book-scam-tether-ftx">couldn’t put it down</a>.</li>



<li>How the FTX Bankruptcy Unwound Crypto’s Very Bad Good Guy, by Brady Dale. A crypto history, focused on the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/brady-dale-sam-bankman-fried">tale of Sam Bankman-Fried prolific rise</a> to Bahamas-penthouse stardom and subsequent tumble to despised industry villain.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Going Infinite. Yet another postmortem of the FTX catastrophe, albeit one much more favorable to Bankman-Fried. Our opinion editor had some <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sam-bankman-fried-michael-lewis">choice words</a> for Michael Lewis’ SBF bootlicker prose.</li>



<li>My First Crypto Sex Party. Yes, the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/first-crypto-sex-party-bitcoin-erotica">crypto erotica crossover</a> your gift recipient has been waiting for. I would imagine the audience for this 27 page-book by Honey Justine is pretty limited, but who am I to judge?&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">For the HODLrs who wants to evolve into their final form:</h4>



Can you imagine unwrapping anything more exciting than a <a href="https://www.blockworksresearch.com">subscription to Blockworks Research</a>? (I’m a company woman, what can I say?) For the day traders of crypto, this is the gift that keeps on giving. Access to in-depth reports written by some of the brightest minds in crypto? Sign me up!



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">For your buddy who’s iced up:&nbsp;</h4>



Diamonds are a degen’s best friend. There’s no shortage of crypto inspired jewelry out there, but this <a href="https://lirysjewelry.com/products/nft-crypto-man-charm-in-solid-gold-or-silver?variant=42576254992620&amp;currency=USD&amp;utm_medium=product_sync&amp;utm_source=google&amp;utm_content=sag_organic&amp;utm_campaign=sag_organic&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiAmNeqBhD4ARIsADsYfTcLmnr-38zRrVay_Xyx6SHdXCeDNwcXNjRz6DL67fJCdGtxEUXUhpwaAp_bEALw_wcB">Crypto Punk necklace</a> is a not-so-subtle nod to their fat bag and Web3 interests. (There’s also a cubic zirconia option if you’re looking for something a bit cheaper — no judgment, this cycle has been hard on all of us.)



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">For your friend at the office:</h4>



Socks. A tried and true classic. A little impersonal, but can you really go wrong with <a href="https://cryptowardrobe.com/products/ethereum-socks">Ethereum socks</a>? Nothing wrong with sticking to the basics.



Alternatively, give them <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/unisocks">SOCKS</a>, an ERC-20 token that can be burnt to redeem an <a href="https://socks.uniswap.org">actual pair of socks</a>. Only 315 SOCKS are still in circulation, going for a mere $35,000 a pair — you could give them the rarest (and most expensive) pair of socks they’ll ever own.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>


<div class="wp-block-post-author-biography">Hannah Finnerty is Blockworks&#8217; editorial operations manager and is based in the US. Hannah previously worked in podcast production for The National in Abu Dhabi. She graduated from Bowling Green State University with a degree in multiplatform journalism and Middle Eastern politics. Contact Hannah at hannah@blockworks.co.</div>


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Gifts for the crypto lovers in your life (that aren’t NFTs)

Some victims of the $48 million KyberSwap hack are no doubt waiting anxiously for the DeFi platform’s attacker to make their next move.



Others, though, seem to be taking a more proactive approach: talk directly to the exploiter through the Ethereum blockchain.



“Hello! You did amazing job, you are amazing man!” one person wrote in a message attached to a transaction overnight.



“Im drained for over $155k USDC, you can check my wallet. Could you please send some $ to help my family? I can get you the funds into any wallet just help me out please! :(.”



Other messages are much more formal: “Hello sir/madam! I was lp [liquidity provider] on [Arbitrum] — 259809.7 DAI.”



“I would like to negotiate, and ask how much would you be willing to take as a bounty? I believe code is law, and its totally up to you. Thanks in advance!”



KyberSwap aggregates liquidity across DeFi into a single pool, enabling services such as decentralized exchanges and wallets to offer end-users instant token swaps through a web of smart contracts.



Chain watchers first <a href="https://twitter.com/spreekaway/status/1727462694138024249">spotted</a> something was up with KyberSwap on Wednesday evening. Millions of dollars in crypto were suddenly siphoned from KyberSwap contracts deployed to Ethereum, Polygon, Coinbase’s Base, Arbitrum and Optimism, with the latter two hardest hit.



A complicated series of flash loan attacks and other targeted exploits had <a href="https://twitter.com/0xdoug/status/1727613541115429314">resulted</a> in emptied token liquidity pools.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">1/ Finished a preliminary deep dive into the Kyber exploit, and think I now have a pretty good understanding of what happened. This is easily the most complex and carefully engineered smart contract exploit I&#39;ve ever seen&#8230;&mdash; Doug Colkitt (@0xdoug) <a href="https://twitter.com/0xdoug/status/1727613541115429314?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



KyberSwap responded by urging users to pull funds from the platform, with about $77 million quickly withdrawn. Now, less than $8 million is kept with KyberSwap, per DeFiLlama.



So far, the stash remains in the hacker’s various addresses. After the attack subsided, the hacker initiated <a href="https://etherscan.io/tx/0x7a8912583520304ce2364fa165dafe94461a91ab2dcf45dab942e296594dc40a">a transaction</a> with the following message:&nbsp;



“Dear Kyberswap Developers, Employees, DAO members and LPs, Negotiations will start in a few hours when I am fully rested.”&nbsp;



That was about a day and 18 hours ago. Nothing since.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/Qa4Bi4XQdpFucYMd0vZJt1jSqbNzxAXJl2LUcp4eX-WF_5lCXaTLGcuag-adxrf8cxjnZ0KQZ1XhqevIIW-5depXGNsK205H2UfLpTLnGY9xO6Mjj7tBbtHk9yMls9I5XSBtOOv9MLOXWpFzomh8Khc" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Ethereum allows messages to be added to the input data field when sending transactions. This one cost about $2.</figcaption></figure>



While some messages tell the hacker they could keep some of the crypto if they return the rest, it’s unclear whether notes like “if that money are gone my children can school anymore, because don&#8217;t have money again, please help me” are legitimate stories from real victims.



Some messages are more lighthearted: One says: “hi. congrats for the hit thats a crazy thing, you looks like a smart, arrogant &amp; funny guy, could we talk in telegram or else? :)”



Another: “Hi legend pls send me 1mill to become the top g for life, thx love u”



There are others that offer advice: “I don&#8217;t know what you want to do next, but just want to remind that stablecoins like USDC have an address blocking function in the smart contract code.” A few even apparently sent tips, including some for 0.001 ETH ($2.06) and one for 0.0000069 ETH ($0.014).



Often hackers wait days, months, or even years before attempting to launder stolen crypto. Sometimes, the hacker returns the funds after taking 10% or 20%, playing off the whole thing as a gray-hat stunt.



Who knows where the Kyber case will end up.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/YZ0qPRtT3xcaAOvr2JREsX_dWSkjDfC-HUqtIhY_wMqLu3d6KEt9oVxAX4JLe22URrmhMwtTTxX9k-XHJYjfegLD5aigo5RazgEMq3yGHdZac8Hz_y9Wkf-QNJk5r9IgmzyaRLSsF9hfxorYHO3cYhY" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Whether it’s real or pretend, this message is still sad</figcaption></figure>



In any case, it wasn’t bad enough that Ethereum network participants had to cryptographically verify the integrity of CryptoDickButts and Pixelverse Poops.



Now, they must forever ensure nonsense like, “Could you teach me your ways senpai? I too would like to make generational wealth in seconds please,” remains untampered-with, forever written to the blockchain. Great.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



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Fan mail and ETH tips sent to KyberSwap hacker who stole $48M

In just a few days, the amount of value sent into the Blast deposit contract on Ethereum has increased by an order of magnitude to $390 million.



A smart contract, advertised as a “bridge” for a yet-to-be-developed optimistic rollup, has received about $340 million in ether and $50 million in stablecoins since launching Monday.



The <a href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x5f6ae08b8aeb7078cf2f96afb089d7c9f51da47d">contract</a> is controlled by a <a href="https://app.safe.global/settings/setup?safe=eth:0x67CA7Ca75b69711cfd48B44eC3F64E469BaF608C">Safe 5-key multisig</a> where 3 keys are required to execute transactions. However, one of the 5 keys has no transaction history, and the other 4 show initial ether deposits from the same Ethereum <a href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x62abcf00d56057edcbcd8122dc06ab6a1fa643dd">account</a>.



There is no way for an outside observer to know whether the five keys were generated by five independent entities or people.



A thread on X from Blast <a href="https://x.com/Blast_L2/status/1728096111313973317?s=20">claims</a> they are using best practices, and that the signers &#8220;are deeply technical engineers who have experience with high stakes applications ranging from financial applications to smart contracts.&#8221;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">You want to make sure that each signing key of a multisig is independently secure. This helps make the multisig antifragile. Each key should be in cold storage, managed by an independent party, and geographically separated.&mdash; Blast (@Blast_L2) <a href="https://twitter.com/Blast_L2/status/1728096108378025998?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Development of the project, backed by VC firms Paradigm and Standard Crypto, along with a slew of influential <a href="https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi/status/1726830156545994959/photo/1">crypto personalities and traders</a>, is being spearheaded by <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/blur">Blur</a> co-founder, Tieshun Roquerre who goes by the pseudonym “Pacman.”



The <a href="https://x.com/PacmanBlur/status/1628223380314001408?s=20">former</a> Thiel Fellow and <a href="https://tieshunroquerre.com/">MIT dropout</a> previously told Blockworks that the project uses “the same security model” as other L2s specifying Optimism, Polygon, and Arbitrum.



However, each of these networks, while not fully trustless, has additional security components besides a multisig. For instance, Arbitrum has a publicly elected “security council” with 12 members, only two of which are on the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/offchain-labs">Offchain Labs</a> development team.



Blockworks contacted Paradigm and Standard Crypto and Pacman for clarification.



Deposited ether cannot be withdrawn until February 2024, when the development team must modify the deposit contract, presumably alongside the launch of an actual rollup.



Ethereum layer-2 tracker L2BEAT lists the project in it’s “<a href="https://l2beat.com/scaling/summary#upcoming">Upcoming</a>” section, but were it active today it would rank between zkSync Era, which launched mainnet in October 2022, and dYdX V3 the StarkEx rollup that has been active since April 2021.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/PVUJako77FavDnqoiTYlTrj0sPNQvQrbkUG0sEYcExADFS16O0xNPE-VJ7_Ky8c1-zwACTHspHhHW9Z9q54FAdgmzSvPVdrkyFURSTBLyrmxm1ZySD2pzaB_Tk1GUkeWu9om6ped5WAWqnk54_LW-NA" alt=""/></figure>



Active Ethereum L2s; Source; <a href="https://l2beat.com/scaling/summary#active">L2BEAT</a>



One depositor tossed 10,000 ETH, worth $21 million at the time, into the contract in a <a href="https://etherscan.io/tx/0x1e701748ca280f83fbf9d3432d7ab2df14fc82af4acd69049bb34fbdf80914b6">single transaction</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">“Collective brain of Crypto Twitter” weighs in</h2>



Many crypto observers have expressed surprise at Blast&#8217;s rapid growth in the face of uncertain risks.



Blast has touted on its X account that ether staking represents “risk-free return,” a view which Lido DAO members, including Blast investors, have expressed lacks nuance.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">important to clarify that this statement is false. while i am of the opinion that staking needs to be made as close to risk-free as possible, we are not there today. there are governance, contract, and operator risks involved. anyone using Blast needs to keep these in mind <a href="https://t.co/8z9dVJhr6J">https://t.co/8z9dVJhr6J</a>&mdash; sacha💧 (@sachayve) <a href="https://twitter.com/sachayve/status/1726992845431848990?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Orlando Cosme, founding attorney of OC Advisory, criticized the project, calling it an “onchain hedge fund” that is “proving regulators’ point.”



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Blast is proving regulators’ point. An onchain hedge fund controlled by a 3/5 anon multisig isn’t defi. It’s “trust me bro.” And centuries of “trust me bro” is why financial regs exist. Crypto’s value add—and why crypto needs diff regs—is trust reduction. We can do better.&mdash; orlando.btc (@Orlando_btc) <a href="https://twitter.com/Orlando_btc/status/1727738246401077737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



A straw poll conducted by Tangent Ventures founder Jason Choi, seeking to tap “the collective brain of CT,” has garnered over 2,500 respondents. The unscientific opinion poll puts the odds of an exploit of the deposited crypto assets between now and February at 64%.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Will Blast bridge be exploited before February?&mdash; Jason Choi (@mrjasonchoi) <a href="https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi/status/1727912768312115558?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Offchain Labs’ Chief Strategy Officer, A.J. Warner, noted Thursday <a href="https://x.com/ajwarner90/status/1727552749535941004?s=20">in an X post</a> that the Arbitrum development firm had considered a similar design but opted not to pursue it.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Btw, this doesn’t mean staking bridged funds is per se a bad idea. There are ways to manage/disclose risks etc. in theory. It’s just obvious that the way Blast is doing it isn’t how we would approach it.&mdash; A.J. Warner (💙,🧡) (@ajwarner90) <a href="https://twitter.com/ajwarner90/status/1727566510900588899?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Very few of the listed investors have publicly addressed criticisms of the project to date, though some <a href="https://x.com/Evan_ss6/status/1727161373950615693?s=20">claim</a> to have privately communicated concerns.



Dovey Wan, a Blast investor and Founder of Primitive.Ventures, <a href="https://x.com/DoveyWan/status/1727519384179294574?s=20">promoted</a> the project’s success attracting capital as having “pre-bull energy,” and “strong pumpanomics,” while hand waving away concerns over the security of funds, by acknowledging “it&#8217;s just a multisig managed by 5 [profile pics] online.”



Wan urged crypto users to “bridge for culture bridge for fun bridge for what you can afford to lose it all,” alongside the vacuous caveat that the promotion was “no FA DYOR” — not financial advice, do your own research.



Updated Nov. 24, 2023 at 12:37 pm ET with update from Blast on multisig.

Blast TVL hits $390 million, with no product

Terraform Labs and former CEO Do Kwon remain locked in a legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission over the now-infamous depeg and collapse of the stablecoin UST.



The lawsuit was filed back in February, less than a year after the depegging triggered a domino effect for crypto firms. UST’s collapse led to multiple bankruptcies and exposed the weaknesses within FTX’s now-failed exchange empire.&nbsp;



Yet — as evidenced by the trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried — both FTX and Alameda were in trouble prior to the depegging.



The SEC’s lawsuit <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/do-kwon-indicted-for-fraud">isn’t the only one that Kwon faces</a>. Kwon was indicted in March by a grand jury on fraud charges — including wire fraud, securities fraud and commodities fraud. South Korean authorities also issued a warrant for his arrest in October of last year.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/do-kwon">Kwon</a> faces possible extradition to either the US or South Korea after fulfilling a four-month sentence in Montenegro. 



The Terraform Labs founder was initially denied an appeal by the Montenegrin high court following a March arrest for forging travel documentation. But new reporting from the <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3242774/extradition-south-koreas-cryptocurrency-king-do-kwon-approved-montenegro-court?utm_source=rss_feed">South China Morning Post</a> indicates that the High Court has cleared the path to extradition, leaving it up to government officials to decide where Kwon will ultimately be sent.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-terraform-labs-ust-depeg">Jump Crypto president pleads the Fifth when asked about alleged Do Kwon bribe</a>



Both the SEC and Terraform have filed motions seeking a summary judgment, which would avoid the case proceeding to a full trial. The motions come after an October deadline for discovery, or the process of obtaining information ahead of a trial.



In the SEC’s motion, the regulator claimed that Terraform and Kwon “struck a secret side-deal with a third party to push UST back up to $1, in exchange for selling that party LUNA at dramatically reduced prices.”



The name of the third-party was redacted from the public filing.



The SEC also claimed that Terraform offered unregistered securities, a claim the regulatory agency has made against other crypto companies, including Binance, Coinbase and Ripple.&nbsp;



However, a decision handed down in the SEC’s case against Ripple may have weakened the claims — at least, that’s the argument Terraform’s counsel attempted to make earlier this summer.



After a judge ruled that Ripple’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/judge-rules-ripple-xrp-not-security">programmatic sales did not constitute securities offerings</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/terraform-lawyers-use-ripple-ruling-dismiss-suit">Terraform filed a motion to dismiss</a>, claiming that the ruling confirmed “the legal insufficiency of the SEC’s argument that UST, LUNA, wLUNA, MIR and mAssets were securities because of the way they were allegedly sold.”



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/do-kwon-us-deposition-impossible">Do Kwon deposition in the US is ‘impossible,’ lawyers argue</a>



Judge Jed Rakoff, who’s overseeing the case, failed to agree however. In a 50-page opinion, Rakoff denied the motion and gave an interpretation of the Howey test — the test used by the SEC to determine what constitutes a security — at odds with the interpretation from Judge Analisa Torres, who oversaw the Ripple judgment.&nbsp;



“Simply put, secondary-market purchasers had every bit as good a reason to believe that the defendants would take their capital contributions and use it to generate profits on their behalf,“ Judge Rakoff ruled in late July.



The SEC, in its request for summary judgment, argued that Rakoff should issue a ruling without going to trial because there’s “no genuine dispute as to any material fact.”



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/terra-ceo-kwon-return">‘Of course Kwon is welcome back,’ says Terra interim CEO</a>



Terraform and Do Kwon made the same argument in their motion for summary judgment, albeit for the opposite reason.&nbsp;



“After two years of investigation, the completion of a discovery period that resulted in the taking of more than 20 depositions, and the exchange of over two million pages of documents and data, the SEC is evidentiarily no closer to proving that the Defendants did anything wrong,” lawyers for both Kwon and Terraform asserted at the end of October.



Rakoff, however, in his denial of the aforementioned dismissal asserted that the SEC made both “factual allegations” and “asserted a plausible claim.”



The judge has yet to issue a decision on the summary judgments requests.



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Where things stand: The SEC vs Do Kwon and Terraform Labs

The crypto ecosystem has achieved an array of major technology milestones over the past year.&nbsp;



Despite a series of unfortunate events in 2022 — with the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, and then later the bankruptcy of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX — the blockchain tech space proved resilient in 2023.



In particular, we’ve seen developments in the infrastructure and technology sectors with new innovations designed to make blockchains faster, more secure and private.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Major advancements in zero-knowledge technology&nbsp;</h2>



This year marked the launch of a series of zero-knowledge (zk) rollups.&nbsp;



First, we saw the launch of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/zksyncs-evm-era-opens-to-the-public">zkSync Era</a>, followed closely by <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/polygon-unveils-zkevm-the-holy-grail-of-scaling">Polygon’s zkEVM</a>, later <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/linea-mainnet-ethereum">Linea</a>, and more recently, the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ethereum-rollup-zksharding-nil-mainnet">=nil; Foundation</a> —&nbsp;just to name a few.



Rollups share the same goal: make blockchains operate more efficiently by reducing the amount of block space needed to make a transaction by executing more transactions off-chain. This will, as a consequence, also reduce gas fees and fixed costs.&nbsp;



Zero-knowledge rollups, in this particular case, are not only able to perform off-chain executions, but they are also able to determine if the information is accurately executed without disclosing the information on the mainnet.&nbsp;



This differs from optimistic rollups, which automatically presume that information is accurate and rely on fraud proofs to challenge suspicious transactions.



It is important to note that more work still needs to be done to ensure zkRollups are completely decentralized and permissionless. Existing zero-knowledge technology is subject to upgradability risks.



&nbsp;These risks refer to whether or not a blockchain can be upgraded or subject to changes — with blockchains being more secure if they can not be upgraded.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">More interconnected blockchains</h2>



Blockchain interoperability also made some impressive improvements this year.&nbsp;



From the introduction of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/chainlink-ccip-launch">Chainlink’s CCIP </a>to LayerZero&#8217;s recent partnership with <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/layerzero-google-cloud-oracle-operator-messaging">Google Cloud</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/jpmorgan-tokenized-blockchain-portfolio-avalanche">JPMorgan</a>, cross-chain interoperability protocol teams are actively working on connecting various private and public blockchains.



Blockchain interoperability protocols enable smart contracts across different blockchain networks to communicate with each other and facilitate the transfer of liquidity.&nbsp;



This is typically achieved through burning tokens in the smart contract of a source chain and then minting new, corresponding tokens on a destination chain.&nbsp;



Another way to transfer tokens is through bridging, where tokens are locked on a source chain and then minted natively on the destination chain.&nbsp;



Such tools can enable users of various blockchains to seamlessly swap, lend and stake their tokens across various ecosystems for a small gas fee.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Bringing more real-world assets on-chain through tokenizations</h2>



To bring more liquidity on-chain, developers real-world asset (RWA) protocols are also looking at ways these assets could serve as collateral through tokenization.



RWAs in the space could include assets such as cash, gold, real estate and US treasury bonds, for example. One of the most well-known RWAs today would be stablecoins — like Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT, which are widely used across DeFi protocols.&nbsp;



Some of the protocols behind on-chain financing include <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/centrifuge-real-world-assets-tokenization-ethereum">Centrifuge</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/maple-finance">Maple Finance </a>and <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/research/goldfinch-a-strong-contender-in-the-on-chain-private-credit-markets">Goldfinch</a>.



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3 of the biggest blockchain tech developments in 2023

Molly Jane Zuckerman

Reading is my passion. Crypto is not.&nbsp;



However, I find reading so important that I’ve still made a point of stressing the need to read books (ideally fiction) in order to be better at your job — even if your job is in the crypto industry. In fact, I’ve written a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/dear-crypto-read-a-book-already">whole column</a> begging the crypto industry to read. (My favorite <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/13pjpc8/comment/jl9v7mj/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web3x&amp;utm_name=web3xcss&amp;utm_term=1&amp;utm_content=share_button">response</a> to said column: “How is crypto going to read a book, it doesn’t have eyes.”)



For this end-of-year crypto reading last wrap-up, I will be making several concessions by adding in some non-fiction to my recommendations — as well as some light warnings of books that crypto people should stay away from.



Top of my list for best crypto books in 2023 is Number Go Up, the story of both Tether and Sam Bankman-Fried, written by Bloomberg journalist Zeke Faux. As I wrote in my <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-book-scam-tether-ftx">review</a>, the best types of non-fiction books are those that read like fiction — and this is one of them. While Faux began the book with the idea of finally uncovering all of Tether’s secrets, his failure to do so led him to a much more timely story — putting him in the room with Bankman-Fried right up until his arrest last November. I’d compare Number Go Up to the more scintillating non-fiction books, right up there with Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.



Moving forward, my second book recommendation for 2023 is an oldie, but a goody: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Even though this hefty novel was written in 1999, Stephenson’s science-fiction tale of a twisted World War II includes some of the first imagining of how a digital gold currency would work. And if you like Cryptonomicon, I’d recommend that you go even further back to his 1992 Snow Crash, where he used the word “metaverse” for the first time. Even though, unfortunately, Stephenson made his own (possibly misguided) foray into actual cryptocurrency with a metaverse blockchain project, that doesn’t take away from the importance of his earlier writings.



My third book recommendation is a bit more unusual to find in a crypto reading list — Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto. I’ve <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-murder-mystery-books">written already</a> about my frustrations with the new prevalence of using cryptocurrency and NFTs as plot devices in murder mysteries, but this story of an elderly tea expert in Chinatown solving a murder is a delightful read. You’ll be less surprised than I was when you discover NFTs lie at the heart of the murder, because this book is on a crypto reading list already.



Last but not least, I’d be remiss if I didn’t include a brief note on the two crypto books that I read this year that I would not recommend to any crypto person. The first is Michael Lewis’ Going Infinite, which I <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sam-bankman-fried-michael-lewis">panned</a> as an overly enthusiastic portrait of Bankman-Fried that glosses over all of the bad parts. The second is My First Crypto Sex Party, which is the latest in a line of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/first-crypto-sex-party-bitcoin-erotica">very silly crypto erotica</a> — the book is 27 pages too long, and it’s only 27 pages long.



And then, just because I loved it so much, the last book on my crypto book list is Biography of X, by Young Lions award winner Catherine Lacey. It has nothing to do with cryptocurrency, blockchain or any metaverse, but as <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/dear-crypto-read-a-book-already">I’ve written before</a>, sometimes just reading a good novel will make you better at other parts of your life.



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