WhiteboardCrypto Newsletter - Oct 5

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

Sub-Saharan Africa leads crypto adoption

A recent Chainalysis report shows that while Sub-Saharan African countries are small share of the global crypto market (less than 3%), they rank second internationally for crypto adoption. Many countries, like South Africa and Nigeria, allow citizens and businesses to transact in crypto, and many local banks are on board. They use it as a hedge against inflation, and stablecoins make up almost half of the crypto held by Sub-Saharan Africans. Partially, this adoption is based on limited access to traditional financial services, but the governments are also friendly towards it (for the most part). This shows a way forward for wider crypto adoption - and crypto being used as a means of exchange rather than just a store of value.

Learn more here.

Tornado Cash case proves difficult

A motion to dismiss the US case against Tornado Cash dev was denied. The judge verbally stated that code is not speech so is not protected by the 1st amendment. She also ruled that there is no custody requirement in defining a money transmitter, which indicates that even a smart contract could be considered a money transmitter, and thus be subject to laws and regulations governing money transmission, including licensing. This effectively includes all of DeFi and could mean that any dev tied to a smart contract used by criminals could be held accountable for that use. That may be a bit of an extreme interpretation, and we have no reason to believe that it will be applied that far (because this is only one judge in one case saying as much, and it would also be very costly for the US courts), but the implication is there.

Learn more here.

TEEs allow unique ways to tweet

Azuki is a popular NFT project centered around anime-style characters and a growing digital community. Flashbots is a research and development organization focused on improving transparency and fairness in blockchain transactions. They teamed up this week to use TEEs—Trusted Execution Environments—to let @dgtlemissions tweet from Bobu’s account. Bobu is a character from the Azuki universe and was part of an experiment in decentralized ownership; the Azuki team created the "Bobu" token, allowing holders to own a piece of Bobu and make decisions on his actions in the Azuki world. TEEs allow secure, onchain interactions that prove everything is done safely, instead of using passwords. This is part of Azuki’s plan to explore new ways for fans to interact with characters.

Learn more here.

Betting on election is legal in the US

Kalshi, a prediction market platform, recently won a federal court ruling allowing it to list election betting contracts. The court dismissed a motion from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that tried to block these contracts, which would allow users to bet on outcomes of U.S. elections. Kalshi has argued that its offerings are legally sound and provide a regulated way for users to predict election results.

Learn more here.

Bridging between Sui and Ethereum just got safer

Sui, a Layer 1 blockchain, has launched a native bridge to Ethereum. This bridge allows assets to move directly between the two networks, enhancing Sui’s interoperability and opening up new possibilities for DeFi projects. Third party bridges are by far one of the most vulnerable points in crypto, so by enabling seamless asset transfers without the need for third-party bridges, the integration improves security and the user experience across both ecosystems.

Learn more here.

Thanks for reading and I hope you learned something!

- Theodore