WhiteboardCrypto Newsletter - May 3

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

Scammers target snail mail

As if crypto didn’t have enough scams already, scammers are now mailing physical letters to addresses leaked in Ledger’s 2020 data breach. Ledger, a major hardware wallet company, was hacked in July 2020, exposing the personal information—emails, names, phone numbers, and addresses—of around 270,000 customers. The security flaw was quickly fixed, but it seems that scammers are still finding this old information and trying to scam people, so please be very careful and remember that Ledger will NEVER ask for your recovery phrase.

Learn more here.

Ethereum’s next hardfork set for end of 2025

The next hardfork of Ethereum, called Fusaka, is expected to launch in Q3 or Q4 2025. A hardfork is when the blockchain has enough updates to warrant creating a new chain altogether, though the end users don’t usually know this happens as it all keeps working as smoothly as it already was (if all goes well, and the Ethereum devs work very hard and do a lot of testing to make sure it will).

Importantly, it will exclude a proposed update to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) that would have changed how code and data were processed to improve security and efficiency. But it was controversial, with critics saying it adds more complexity which could bring more vulnerabilities, and supporters saying it will modernize and future-proof smart contracts. Instead, the hard fork will include scaling improvements and standardizing the bytecode used.

Learn more here.

US crypto regulation still uncertain

The Trump administration has declared they want defined crypto market regulations by August, which is a great idea in concept, but in practice it is proving unlikely. Why? No one can agree on exactly how it should be regulated. Should the Howey Test apply to crypto at all? Should the SEC be in charge of crypto regulation and enforcement? How explicit do expectations need to be before something is considered a security? Should there be a difference between centralized and decentralized exchange regulation? There are so many questions and no clear answers that the August deadline feels more like a dream at this point, so if you’ve been eagerly awaiting this clarity, you may still need patience.

Learn more here.

MOVE creators purposefully create pump n dump

The MOVE token collapsed this week after a report came out showing that the creators purposefully set up a pump and dump scheme for the token’s value. Pump and dump schemes mean that the token price is inflated, usually through manipulation or market making tactics, and then the creators and insiders sell it, making the price drop, usually at the users’ and public’s loss. Based on the report, Coinbase has decided to suspend trading of the token starting May 15, though what exactly that means isn’t yet clear.

Learn more here and here.

US just rules Tornado Cash can’t be sanctioned again

At least not on the same charges. The cryptocurrency mixer was first sanctioned in 2022, meaning US residents were not allowed to use the exchange and could be fined heavily or even jailed if they did. The sanction was unprecedented as it was the first time code was sanctioned. In December 2024, an appeals court ruled that the sanction was an overreach of Congressional authority, and Tornado Cash was removed from the sanctions list in March. This week, a judge ruled that, without new legal justification. The cofounders are still being charged, however, and crime that is proven to have occurred on the mixer may still be prosecuted.

Learn more here.

Thanks for reading and I hope you learned something!

- Theodore