Bitfinity Weekly: Crypto Whirlwind

Welcome to Issue #106 of Bitfinity Weekly for our #BITFINIANS community. If this newsletter was forwarded to you, sign up here.

What's in Today's Email?

• Global Crypto News
• This Week in our Blog
• NFT Market Bytes
• Tweet of the Week
• Meme Time
• A Matter of Opinion

Global Crypto News

Crypto Whirlwind: Alexey Pertsev, one of the lead devs behind crypto mixer Tornado Cash, is filing for an appeal with the Dutch legal system following his guilty verdict on Tuesday. Pertsev, who was found guilty by a panel of three judges, was sentenced to 64 months of prison for his involvement with Tornado Cash. While Pertsev was not found to be guilty of money laundering, the court ruled that he was liable for criminal activity as Tornado Cash is an illicit platform with no blocks against suspicious users. Fellow Tornado Cash dev Roman Storm currently awaits a September trial date in the U.S.

Dump dot Fun: Solana memecoin launchpad Pump.Fun was hacked on Thursday by a former team member. Millions of $SOL were stolen via leveraging flashloans to withdraw funds from the platform. The Pump.Fun team quickly upgraded their contracts and prevented further issues from arising, and Phantom wallet placed restrictions on the site so its users could stay safe. Saturday morning saw reports of the hacker being doxxed and arrested.

Plugging the Drain: The developers behind Pink Drainer, a wallet drainer kit service notorious for being linked to the loss of millions of dollars in drainer exploits, are shutting down their infrastructure. One of the devs said in a Telegram announcement that, "We have reached our goal and now, according to plan, it's time for us to retire", and ensuring former customers that "All stored information will be wiped and securely destroyed."

The Return of Caturdays: Traders in both TradFi and DeFi enjoyed a meme-fueled week following the return of Roaring Kitty on Twitter. Roaring Kitty (real name Keith Gill) is an investor and YouTuber who rose to infamy during the beginning of the 2021 memestock run, who largely disappeared from the internet and stayed silent for the past three years. Not only did 2021 memestocks see a massive surge, but so did memecoins in crypto, though the dust seems to have settled by the weekend for both categories.

This Week in our Blog

Take advantage of the post-Runes launch cool down and get to know the tech behind this new type of inscriptions. In this article we cover all the basics, plus how to navigate launchpads to mint and even etch your own Runes.

Runes Launchpads: Platforms for Etching and Minting Runes

As interest in Runes protocol declines, now is the perfect time to learn about etching, minting, and launching fungible tokens on Bitcoin. This guide covers Runes launchpads, wallets, and Bitfinity’s role in scaling tokenization.

Bitfinity BlogFred

NFT Market Bytes

Luxury Suit: A disgruntled customer is suing luxury fashion house Dolce & Gabbana over NFT purchases. The lawsuit, representing a proposed class of similarly affected individuals, claims D&G's NFTs were supposed to include metaverse outfits and access to exclusive rewards and events. However, the NFTs arrived 20 days late, were initially unusable, and are now worth 97% less.

Mojito Drive-Thru: Legacy car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz' NXT branch is partnering with web3 payment gate Mojito to release its latest NFT collection, titled "The Era of Technology", featuring six iconic cars produced between 2000-2017. The collection is just the beginning of the collaborative efforts between the two companies. Mojito will support Mercedes-Benz NXT's web3 infrastructure, aiding in token creation, smart contract deployment, and customer management.

Super Punk'd: CryptoPunks announced "Super Punk World", a new NFT collection curated by Nina Chanel Abney, who is serving as the project's 'Punk in Residence'. The collection is set to debut at Abney's "Lie Doggo" exhibition later this month, and pieces will be auctioned to interested bidders. Abney is the first traditional world artist to serve residency under the Punk in Residence program, which Yuga Labs unveiled back in February.

Tweet of the Week

Meme Time

A Matter of Opinion

The guilty verdict against Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev has sent shockwaves through the blockchain industry, raising concerns about a chilling effect on the development of privacy and security-enhancing digital tools. Is it right to imprison or otherwise punish people for writing code?

Pertsev, who was sentenced to over five years in a Dutch prison this week, has filed for an appeal, but it's hard to say what chances he has as this category of the law simply has no precedents to help us gauge potential outcomes.

The conviction has certainly sparked anger and frustration within the crypto community, who argue that criminalizing codewriting harms online privacy. The case highlights the tension between fostering innovation and preventing the misuse of technology, as Tornado Cash, designed for transaction anonymity, was also used for laundering illicit funds. This verdict is seen as a pivotal moment for privacy in blockchain, with many calling it an international landmark case.

Understandably, the court's decision to sentence Pertsev sparks fears that it may deter developers from building similar technologies and slowly kill off privacy services altogether. All eyes now turn to the upcoming US trial of fellow Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, which could further influence the landscape of privacy-focused blockchain development... A concerning future indeed, for an industry that began out of a need for digital anonymity and privacy.

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*Important Disclaimer: While every effort is made on this website to provide accurate information, any opinions expressed or information disseminated do not necessarily reflect the views of Bitfinity itself. The information provided here is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice.