WhiteboardCrypto Newsletter - Dec 16

Welcome back to this week's edition of our WhiteboardCrypto Newsletter!

China deals with privacy

China’s national-level blockchain initiative called Blockchain Service Network announced on Dec 12 that they are launching a service called RealDID. This digital identity service will issue real-name identity certificates to users who can then choose what information to provide to online data services. Simply put, people will be able to verify their real identity, including names, addresses, birthdates, etc., without giving their personal information to social media or other websites. This sounds great for privacy, but since it’s a government service, it actually allows the government to monitor their citizens’ online activity more closely.

Learn more here.

Ledger has another bad PR week

The hardware wallet company Ledger has had a bad year. This summer, they announced a Recover feature that got the crypto community up in arms. This week, the library of codes that connect user wallets to dapps was hacked and malicious code was inserted. The hacker got away with almost $500k of assets. Supposedly the solution has been put in place already, automatically, but the crypto community doesn’t really care—this may be one step too far for the company’s already shaky trust. You can follow the instructions at this link to make sure you are safe to use defi again.

Learn more here.

Smart contract frauder pleads guilty

Shakeeb Ahmed, the hacker who stole almost $13 million from Solana DeFi platforms over the summer, pleaded guilty on Thursday. He will pay back the entirety of the funds and faces up to 5 years in prison. This is the first conviction for a hack that involved manipulating smart contracts specifically, so may set a precedent for future convictions.

Learn more here.

Coinbase’s request for rules denied by SEC

In July 2022, Coinbase filed a petition to the US Securities and Exchange Commission requesting clarity on rules and regulations about securities because the current “rules for securities just do not work for digital assets.” The SEC denied the petition because they want to work at their own pace, apparently, and don’t feel that now is the right time to be making changes. We ask, if not now, when?

Learn more here.

Thanks for reading and I hope you learned something!

- Theodore

P.S. Does anyone want to know about Trump's NFT news?