Coinbase Gives Binance a Taste of Its Own 💊

In today's edition: 🎙️ New episode on crimes, 🧑‍🎨 more NFTs on Bitcoin, ⛔ Coinbase and BUSD, 💵 DCG losses, and more!

February 28, 2023

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🎆 Unchained Relaunched: Learn 🤓

by Lipsa Das

Futile or too early to tell? Attempts to build “stable” cryptocurrencies that run entirely on code have so far failed.

by Lipsa Das

Decentralized exchanges—DEXes—are catching up with their centralized counterparts. How do these self-governing marketplaces work?

New Show Today!

Andy Greenberg, senior writer for WIRED and author of “Tracers in the Dark,” takes us inside the world of crypto-tracing crimebusters and voices the ambivalence of Bitcoin – a cypherpunk creation – eroding financial privacy. Hear how the longtime crypto scribe got law enforcement and sleuthing firms like Chainalysis to open up about their major wins in taking down darknet kingpins.

Show highlights:

  • why Andy thought early on that Bitcoin would enable crypto anarchy

  • how blockchain analytics started being used to tackle crime

  • why the IRS Criminal Investigation unit was more open to discussing its techniques 

  • how Andy learned many new things about already well-known stories when writing about them for the book

  • the methods used to bring down the “biggest dark-web drug lord” in history

  • did AlphaBay’s Alexandre Cazes really kill himself in a Thai prison?

  • how researcher Sarah Meiklejohn developed tools to deanonymize Bitcoin and why she’s now uncomfortable that her techniques were adopted by Chainalysis and sold to law enforcement

  • how Monero is harder to trace than Bitcoin but not untraceable

  • what the impact of zero-knowledge technology will be for blockchain analytics firms

  • whether the cypherpunk ethos is dead

  • why the mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity will never die

What’s Poppin’?

In an unexpected pivot from its Ethereum-based roots, Yuga Labs plans to launch a limited edition collection of 300 NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Coinbase plans to suspend BUSD trading on all its platforms next month amid an SEC investigation into the Paxos-issued stablecoin.

Robinhood said it was served with subpoenas from the SEC and California Attorney General’s Office after several crypto companies went bankrupt in 2022.

Digital Currency Group reported losing over $1 billion last year, citing the negative impact of crypto asset prices and Three Arrows Capital’s default upon Genesis.

In Other News…✍️✍️✍️

  • Binance denied allegations from Forbes about moving $1.8 billion of collateral for stablecoins for undisclosed purposes without informing clients.

  • Voyager Digital agreed to reserve $445 million after being sued by Alameda Research for loan repayments according to a court filing, with both parties agreeing to participate in non-binding mediation to resolve remaining disputes.

  • Voyager, amidst its bankruptcy proceeding, transferred $154.4 million worth of USDC from Coinbase to its "Voyager 1" Ethereum wallet, selling off assets at a rate of $100 million per week, according to Arkham Intelligence.

  • Vauld, an Asian crypto lender, was granted another extension for its legal protection from creditors until March 24 to explore options for its financial troubles.

  • Yuzu Kano, the former CEO of Japanese crypto exchange BitFlyer, is reportedly aiming to reclaim the position and lead the company once again.

  • Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF managing director, said that banning crypto should not be ruled out completely if they begin to pose higher risks to financial stability.

Today in Crypto Adoption...

  • Scroll took a major step forward in the development of its zk-EVM by launching a testnet version of its Ethereum Layer 2 network on the Goerli testnet.

The $$$ Corner…

  • Decentralized exchange Mangrove raised $7.4 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Cumberland and Greenfield Capital. 

What Do You Meme? 

📈 Your Market Update 📉

  • BTC is down .54%, trading at $23,289

  • ETH is down 1.03%, trading at $1,621

  • BTC dominance: 40.58%

  • Crypto market cap: $1.11 trillion

*All data as of today, 5 am ET

Recommended Reads

  1. Some personal user experiences by Vitalik Buterin

  2. Hildobby from Dragonfly on royalties and fees:

  3. Joshua Durham on the “digital first scale” doctrine:

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