Your Weekly Crypto Updates #15 ??

?? Fake ChatGPT Tokens Flood the Market

Scammers are issuing fake tokens branded after ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot, despite having no official association with the tool.

Over 170 ChatGPT-branded tokens have been issued on decentralized exchanges, and hundreds of fake tokens have been issued in the past few weeks, with some seeing thousands of dollars in trading volumes.

Blockchain security firm PeckShield has detected dozens of newly created BingChatGPT tokens, of which three appear to be honeypots, and two have high sell tax. These fake issuances follow Microsoft’s move to integrate OpenAI’s chatbots for search services on its internet browsers.

?? Teacher Caught Mining Crypto in School

A Massachusetts town official has been accused of running an illegal cryptocurrency mining operation from a crawl space under Cohasset High School. Nadeem Nahas, the former assistant facilities director, was charged with fraudulent use of electricity and vandalizing the school and pleaded not guilty in court on Friday.

The operation had been running from April to December 2021 and cost the school approximately $17,500 in electricity. Authorities were alerted in December 2021, and after a three-month investigation, Mr Nahas was identified as the suspect.

Cryptocurrency mining uses huge amounts of electricity due to the heavy computer calculations needed to verify transactions.

?? The First Litecoin NFTs are Here

Bitcoin developer Anthony Gurrera forked the code behind Bitcoin Ordinals to the Litecoin blockchain, creating the first non-fungible tokens (NFT) on Litecoin.

This was in response to a public bounty of 15 Litecoin tokens offered to any developer who could fork Ordinals to the Litecoin blockchain. Ordinals Protocol allows users to inscribe references to digital art into small transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain, creating Bitcoin-based NFTs.

Bitcoin Ordinals have seen success, with over 153,000 inscriptions created in just over three weeks after launch.

?? XRP Surpasses 4,600,000 Total Wallet Addresses

Despite the ongoing legal battle between Ripple and the SEC, the acquisition growth of XRP has not been hindered as the token now has over 4.6 million total wallet addresses, according to crypto data library Messari.

The legal conflict between Ripple and the SEC has been ongoing for two years, but recent developments suggest that it may soon come to an end.

?? Coinbase To Suspend Binance USD (BUSD) Stablecoin Trading

Coinbase has announced that it will suspend trading of Binance USD (BUSD) from March 13, stating that the stablecoin no longer meets its listing standards.

The suspension will apply to Coinbase.com, Coinbase Pro, Coinbase Exchange, and Coinbase Prime. BUSD users will still be able to access and withdraw their funds.

The move caused a 1% drop in Binance coin (BNB), which was trading at $302.57 at the time of writing.

?? Coinbase Launches a Layer-2 Blockchain

Coinbase has launched Base, an Ethereum-focused layer-2 (L2) blockchain, to make it easier for developers to build decentralized applications (dApps) and for users to access them through Coinbase products.

Base aims to be a "secure, low-cost, developer-friendly" chain built on the MIT-licensed OP Stack in collaboration with layer-2 blockchain Optimism.

A number of crypto businesses, platforms, marketplaces and infrastructure firms have committed to building on Base, and the chain will be integrated across Coinbase's exchange, wallet, NFT marketplace and developer products. The goal is to bring a billion users into the crypto economy, Coinbase said.

?? Crypto.com Suspends USD Deposits and withdrawals via Silvergate

Silvergate , a bank that serves several cryptocurrency companies, has been under scrutiny for failing to file its annual report on time and reporting a $1 billion net loss in Q4 2022.

This has led firms including Coinbase, Circle, Paxos, Galaxy, and CBOE to suspend their operations with the bank as a precautionary measure.

Crypto.com also temporarily suspended USD deposits and withdrawals via Silvergate, citing concerns, but assured that customer funds are safe and other deposit and withdrawal methods remain available.

?? Hong Kong to Issue Licenses for Crypto

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has opened a public consultation period to receive feedback on its proposed licensing regime for cryptocurrency exchanges, which is set to take effect in June 2023.

The regulator’s proposal requires that all centralized cryptocurrency trading platforms operating in Hong Kong must be licensed, and it seeks to determine whether licensed exchanges should serve retail investors in the country and what measures should be implemented for “robust investor protection measures.”

The SFC’s proposed regulatory guidelines are based on existing requirements for licensed securities brokers and automated trading venues, while modifications have been made to some of the existing prerequisites.

?? Spotify Tests NFT-Enabled Playlists

Spotify is testing a new service called "token-enabled playlists" in partnership with Overlord, allowing NFT holders to access curated music via their wallets.

The service is available to Android users in the US, UK, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand and is also accessible to token holders within the Fluf, Moonbirds, and Kingship communities. The testing period lasts three months, during which curated playlists will be updated and accessible via a unique link.

Spotify previously helped artists promote third-party NFT offerings through their profiles. In 2022, the platform saw an 18% YoY increase in users, with 489 million monthly active users.

?? Visa & 萬事達卡 Hit the Brakes on Crypto Products

Visa and Mastercard have slowed down their plans to partner with crypto firms. The decision is attributed to the increasing number of bankruptcies and failures in the crypto sector throughout 2022.

A spokesperson for Visa cited recent high-profile failures in the sector as a reminder of the long way crypto has to go before becoming a part of mainstream payments and financial services.

Mastercard, on the other hand, remains focused on blockchain technology and its application to address current pain points and build more efficient systems. This news comes as a surprise, given that both payment firms have previously embraced Bitcoin and other crypto assets.

Sam Bankman-Fried - The Disastrous Collapse of FTX ??

?? SBF Should Have Only Flip Phone!

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, is facing bail restrictions proposed by a US Department of Justice attorney following suspicions that he attempted to contact witnesses while on bail for charges including wire fraud and money laundering.

The proposed restrictions include the use of a non-internet-connected flip phone and a whitelist of approved websites for his laptop, as well as restricted use of video games and other connected applications.

The filing was made "on behalf of the parties," suggesting that Bankman-Fried's defence counsel agreed to the proposed conditions.

?? Former FTX Director of Engineering Pleads Guilty to US Criminal Charges

Nishad Singh, former director of engineering at bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has agreed to plead guilty to US criminal charges as prosecutors investigate members of Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle. Bankman-Fried, FTX's founder, was charged with fraud and conspiracy in December 2021.

Singh's plea follows the cooperation of Caroline Ellison, Alameda's former CEO, and Gary Wang, FTX's former CTO, with prosecutors.

Singh was a close friend of Bankman-Fried's younger brother and became FTX's director of engineering in 2019. In 2020, Singh allegedly tweaked FTX's software to exempt Alameda from having its assets sold automatically if it were losing too much-borrowed money.

?? FTX’s SBF Faces New Criminal Charges

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former boss of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, has been hit with four new criminal charges, accusing him of conspiring to make illegal political donations and bank fraud.

Prosecutors claim Bankman-Fried conspired with two other FTX executives to donate tens of millions of dollars to influence US politicians to pass laws favourable to the company through straw donors and corporate funds to evade contribution limits.

He already pleaded not guilty to defrauding customers and investors, using customer deposits to fund Alameda Research, buy the property and make political donations.

That's all for this week's?Your Weekly Crypto Updates???

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Crypto 101 with Tian Beng ??

?? The Byzantine Generals Problem

The Byzantine Generals Problem is a problem in computer science that illustrates the difficulty of achieving consensus or agreement among a group of computers in a distributed system.

It is named after a hypothetical scenario where a group of generals, each commanding a portion of an army, must coordinate their attack on an enemy. The problem arises when some of the generals are traitors and may send false information to confuse others.

The challenge is to come up with a protocol that allows the loyal generals to reach a consensus on a coordinated attack, even in the presence of traitors. In other words, the Byzantine Generals Problem is about how to ensure that a distributed system can reach a reliable decision, despite the possibility of faulty or malicious nodes.

?? How Does Bitcoin Solve the Byzantine Generals Problem?

Bitcoin solves the Byzantine Generals Problem through a decentralized consensus mechanism called Proof-of-Work (PoW). In the Bitcoin network, nodes known as miners compete to solve complex mathematical problems, with the first miner to solve the problem adding a new block of transactions to the blockchain. This process requires a significant amount of computational power, making it difficult for any one node or group of nodes to take control of the network.

Once a block is added to the blockchain, it becomes part of the public ledger that all nodes in the network can see and verify. This means that any attempted tampering with the blockchain would be immediately detected by the other nodes, making it very difficult for a malicious actor to successfully execute a double-spending attack or manipulate the blockchain.

Through this process, the Bitcoin network achieves consensus among its nodes without the need for a central authority or trusted third party, solving the Byzantine Generals Problem in a decentralized way.

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