1. Coinbase’s response to SEC’s Wells Notice

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong & Chief Legal Officer has released a video in response to the Well’s Notice received by SEC.

Some points highlighted in the video are:

• SEC has not provide a clear regulation framework for other crypto entities to follow.

• Coinbase is willing to work within the regulatory framework but they want a clear rule book and market structure for trading cryptocurrencies.

• Not all cryptocurrencies are securities, some are commodities and some are stablecoins.

• In the past, Coinbase has spent years engaging with the SEC, shared legal views on asset listing and staking, and repeatedly asked the SEC for clarity on how Securities law might apply to Coinbase. However, SEC has never responded.

• Coinbase has been listed in the stock exchange and the SEC has went through rigorous discussions such as Asset listing, staking, Coinbase Wallet and Legal analysis related to those products before being approved for listing.

• Coinbase does not list securities, underwent robust screening process based on SEC guidance, and rejected 90% of assets they review (which also explains why either they don’t list a lot of popular coins or rejected them). Beside this, they hold a license from New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) where they are not allowed to list securities on their platform.

I support Coinbase for asking for clear regulatory framework on operating cryptocurrency businesses in the US as they are one of the vital exchanges for fiat on/off ramps. Even though their main intention is to keep their business afloat from regulatory scrutiny, getting a clear crypto regulatory framework will expand more crypto exchanges & startups adoption in the US the right way.

2. Argentina’s IMF bailout deal includes a condition to become anti-crypto

Argentinian senators just approved a $45 billion bailout deal with the IMF that will help the country avoid an imminent default on its debts, with one condition: Argentina is “to take a strong anti-cryptocurrency stance to prevent money laundering, informality and disintermediation in order to further safeguard financial stability”.

In another words, it’s just a bunch of bullshit. IMF is using this tactic as a way to undermine the adoption of cryptocurrencies in Argentina while also bullying Argentina into stick with the US Dollar where the Argentinian Pesos is suffering from double digit inflations.

Probably not a sound choice as the US Dollar is also experiencing high inflation though not in double-digits, and has suffered a blip in the reserve currency dominance by the BRICS nations & the middle east. Furthermore, withdrawing money in Argentina is limited to a maximum of just $200 USD a day, while the ATM fees is at $11 USD per transaction (as of 2019).

In contrast, using cryptocurrencies will give Argentinians the benefits of:

• Send & receive money anywhere in the world permissionless and without any limits.

• Send & receive money with at least a significantly lower transaction fee than ATMs.

• Alternative money option for medium of exchange to mitigate away from pesos that is suffering from double-digit inflation.

• Truly in control of their money in their own private crypto wallets.

   

   

3. Trust Wallet had an issue with their private key generator that is breachable

Trust Wallet has found a vulnerability in their backend code whereby their pseudo-random number generator used to generate new mnemonics seed phrases could only produce an approximately 4 billion possible seed phrases. This poses a huge security risk as it significantly increases the chances of hackers cracking the code to obtain your seed phrases.

Only wallet versions 0.0.172 & 0.0.182 are affected, so whoever’s using Trust Wallet with those version and has stored large amounts of money there, please move your funds elsewhere as soon as possible, especially to a hardware wallet. Check out my previous article for explanation on self-custody wallets.

4. Hong Kong’s Crypto Licensing Regime Expected to Launch Next Month

Hong Kong is expected to launch their licensing regime for crypto firms in May, with access to retail crypto traders & investors by 1-June-23. This means more crypto startups & exchanges are able to operate in Hong Kong, with the possibility of:

• Offering crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

• Tokenization of green bonds.

• Development of Hong Kong’s own central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The new rules also expect to let retail investors to trade major cryptocurrencies such as BTC & ETH. This is a major step forward towards bringing huge crypto adoption from the Asian countries, majorly China. Let’s hope other major cryptocurrencies will follow suit and regulate them in an open-minded way that still promotes the growth of real-world utility with cryptocurrencies, unlike what the US is currently doing now.

5. Ordinals Finance reportedly conducted a $1M rug pull

Another rugpull has happened in the Ethereum DeFi space. Ordinals Finance (even the name sorta copied from Bitcoin Ordinals) has been reported by a popular smart contract audit firm called CertiK that the protocol’s developer pulled 256 million of their native tokens called OFI using a safuToken function.

As many rug pull projects did, they sent these tokens to separate Ethereum accounts through multiple transactions and then deposited the tokens into Tornado Cash, where it uses a smart contract called a “mixer” to create anonymous transactions.

Rug pulls are pretty common in the DeFi space, and even multiple security audits won’t stop this from happening. Therefore, you should never put more money than you can afford to lose, and always understand how these DeFi platforms works by diligently reading their documentation, follow their social channels for technical updates, asking other experts for second opinion & ensure their smart contracts are open sourced for you to check before you participate.

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