Coinbase Launches Wallet-as-a-Service to Bring Millions to Web3

March 9, 2023 Bitcoin.com

ConsenSys eyes Web3 notification service refinement with Hal acquisition

February 21, 2023 Coin Telegraph

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The acquisition will allow ConsenSys’ Web3 API provider Infura to integrate Hal’s configurable webhooks or notification service in its developer stack.

Blockchain technology services provider ConsenSys acquired Hal, a no-code blockchain development tooling platform, to disrupt alerts and notifications at the protocol level in Web3.

The acquisition will allow ConsenSys’ Web3 API provider Infura to integrate Hal’s configurable webhooks or notification service in its developer stack. As a result, the move will help developers create alerts and notifications at the protocol level for various signals.

According to ConsenSys, Infura offers a suite of tools to connect apps, which the developer community can use to connect apps to the Ethereum network and other decentralized platforms.

*A workflow showing how Infura facilitates access to Web3. Source: ConsenSys*

Infura co-founder Eleazar Galano revealed the company intends to fill the gaps in the building process of apps for the crypto ecosystem. Speaking about ConsenSys’ acquisition of Hal, Galano stated:

“Enabling developers a seamless end-to-end experience is a key goal and one of the most important trends is low code / no code solutions.”

In February 2022, ConsenSys acquired Ethereum wallet interface provider MyCrypto to improve the security of MetaMask and its user experience.

We are very excited to bring the @MyCrypto team to @MetaMask! The two teams have been friends and Ethereum colleagues with shared values since 2016.

Together we will continue to build increasingly user-centric, extensible, and decentralized products.https://t.co/A7y8pkrg7f
— Joseph Lubin (@ethereumJoseph) February 1, 2022

ConsenSys acquired Hal to build upon this year-old initiative and enable MetaMask to offer a dynamic, personalized notification system.

ConsenSys CEO Joe Lubin recently told Cointelegraph that “we’ve retained virtually all of our capabilities” despite having to lay off 11% of its workforce.

Lubin highlighted concerns around raising cash in the crypto ecosystem at the Web3 builder-focused event, Building Blocks 23, in Tel Aviv, Israel. He added:

“And VCs are not kind and generous. They’re going to withhold until some sort of shakeout happens in the tech space, I believe.”

Regarding the job cuts, Lubin believes ConsenSys is now in a stronger position to withstand unforeseen global economic troubles.

Bakkt Shifts Focus to B2B Technology Solutions, Plans to Discontinue Consumer App

February 13, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Bank of England thinks digital pound can co-exist with private stablecoins

February 8, 2023 Coin Telegraph

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The central bank wants an e-GBP to be retail-focused and could form part of a “mixed payments economy” alongside cryptocurrency stablecoins.

The United Kingdom is a step closer to launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC) after releasing a consultation paper explaining the proposed digital pound, which the public has nicknamed “Britcoin.”

The 116-page consultation paper was jointly released on Feb. 7 by the Bank of England (BoE) and the U.K. Treasury. A technology working paper was also released delving into the technical and economic design considerations.

Despite the rise of privately-issued stablecoins in recent years, the paper said that CBDCs such as the digital pound can co-exist in what they expect to be a “mixed payments economy.”

“In much the same way that cash exists alongside private money, the digital pound does not need to be a dominant form of money in order to meet its public policy objectives. The digital pound could exist alongside other forms of money, including stablecoins.”

While the BoE and the Treasury hope to have a digital pound launched by 2025 “at the earliest,” at this stage, they’re still not 100% certain that it will be launched at all.

“The Bank and HM Treasury consider a digital pound is likely to be needed in the UK though no decision to introduce one can be taken at this stage,” the paper stated.

The paper explained the primary motivator behind launching the digital pound is to ensure U.K. central bank money remains “an anchor for confidence and safety” in the country’s monetary system and to “promote innovation, choice, and efficiency in domestic payments.”

The model for the digital pound as outlined in the consultation paper. Source: Bank of England.

To achieve this feat, the e-GBP would need to be largely adopted in the retail ecosystem through a series of “public-private partnerships.”

“For the digital pound to play the role that cash plays in anchoring the monetary system, it needs to be usable and sufficiently adopted by households and businesses.”

Users will be able to access e-GBP by connecting to private sector-run API that in turn connects to the core ledger.

*The platform model of the digital pound. Source: The* *Bank of England.*

Other programmability features including smart contracts and atomic swaps — which enables assets to move across networks — will be enabled.

While the paper states the private sector would help build such infrastructure, it also considers imposing individual limits between 10,000 to 20,000 British pounds ($12,000 to $24,000) to essentially prevent its use as a savings account:

“A limit on individual holdings would be intended to manage those risks by constraining the degree to which deposits could flow out of the banking system. That is important during the introductory period as we learn about the impact of the digital pound on the economy.”

Privacy concerns that many in the crypto community have voiced were also acknowledged. Without going into detail, the paper stated an e-GBP would be subject to “rigorous standards” of privacy and data protection.

It further explained that users will “have at least some level of privacy” because transactions will be recorded anonymously on the core ledger.

The paper said a “digital pound will not be anonymous” as user verification is needed “to prevent financial crime” but added neither the government nor the BoE would have access to personal data. Source: The *Bank of England*

The paper outlined, however, that an e-GBP may impact the business models of commercialized banks through what is known as “bank disintermediation” — where fewer deposits are made into commercial banks.

“The digital pound would not fundamentally alter the traditional channels of money creation, but it might affect monetary stability. [...] Bank disintermediation might affect the transmission of monetary policy to the real economy,” the consultation paper stated.

The central bank also believes the digital pound could bring about more financial inclusivity among the U.K. population.

‘Decentralized Infura’ may help prevent Ethereum app crashes: Interview

February 6, 2023 Coin Telegraph

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The initial “Dfura” marketplace, which is currently in development, is expected to include up to 10 Web3 data providers.

Infura is developing a decentralized marketplace of data providers that will help to prevent Web3 app crashes in the future, according to a Feb. 6 Cointelegraph interview with Infura researcher Patrick McCorry.

McCorry stated that the new “Dfura'' or “decentralized Infura” will help to ensure that blockchains remain decentralized by distributing data provider services among multiple providers in a marketplace. It will have “up to 10 providers initially” that will “work together to bootstrap the network and then […] Gradually iterate and get more players.” Some potential partners will meet at ETH Denver in late February or early March to discuss the project's next steps.

The new project will not be a new blockchain. Instead, it will be a marketplace that matches consumers of blockchain data with data providers, as McCorry explained:

“There'll be a marketplace where basically the new providers will sign up, they'll have some stick in the system. They can place the resources that they have available, so I can say, I can satisfy these requests at this price. Users could come along and then buy those resources and then it's like a matchmaking service of users.”

McCorry believes this will make the Web3 ecosystem more resilient by allowing users to rapidly switch to a new provider if the one they are currently using experiences an outage. He also stated that the new “Dfura” might be more censorship-resistant than the current service because providers will be spread out over many different geographical areas and operating under different jurisdictions.

Infura is a suite of APIs and developer tools that is used by Web3 app developers to pull data from blockchains. It is used by many different Web3 apps, including Metamask, Gnosis, Aragon, and others. It is also used by many centralized exchanges to track deposit and withdrawal transactions.

Although blockchain networks charge transaction fees to prevent too many transactions from overloading servers, these fees are only charged to users writing data to the blockchain. Infura has emerged as one way to charge developers or users for reading data, which does not usually incur a transaction fee on-chain.

As Infura has become increasingly used by developers, it has come under fire for allegedly being too centralized. In November 2020, the Metamask wallet app stopped working for most users when Infura servers went down, and some centralized exchanges were prevented from getting accurate transaction data from it anymore. This led some critics to question whether Ethereum can be genuinely decentralized as long as developers depend on Infura to provide data for their users.

Parts of this article were based on an interview with Patrick McCorry conducted by Cointelegraph’s Andrew Fenton at Starkware Sessions 2023 in Tel Aviv.

Privacy of 100,000 Crypto Traders Compromised As Trading Bot Firm Confirms Hack After Warning From Changpeng Zhao

December 30, 2022 The Daily Hodl

Under-the-Radar Ethereum Rival Soars 50% in Just One Week, Evading Bitcoin and Crypto Market Malaise

July 14, 2022 The Daily Hodl

$250K bounty ‘not too low to be insulting,’ says Coinbase white hat hacker

February 21, 2022 Coin Telegraph

<div>0K bounty 'not too low to be insulting,' says Coinbase white hat hacker</div>

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The white-hat hacker responsible for discovering a crisis-level flaw in Coinbase API said the $250K bounty was not "too low."

On February 11th, two days before the Super Bowl and Coinbase’s $14 million color-changing QR code advert, an engineer was desperately trying to reach out to Coinbase management and the development team.

Anyone here can get me a direct line with someone at @coinbase , preferably management or dev team, possibly @brian_armstrong himself?

I'm submitting a hacker1 report but I'm afraid this can't wait. Can't say more either, this is potentially market-nuking.

DMs open.
— Tree of Alpha (@Tree_of_Alpha) February 11, 2022

Tree of Alpha had discovered “a flaw in the new Advanced Trading feature would have allowed a malicious user to sell BTC or any other coin without owning them.” The flaw in the code had the potential to “nuke” the market.

Commenting on the flaw, Tree of Alpha told Cointelegraph that the “vulnerability itself was indeed worrying,” sharing that “some oversight on both the dev team and the QA/testing team was needed to let this happen.”

“While the advanced trading product was not available for everyone and was still in beta testing, a significant number of users could have used the exploit.”

However, thanks to the hacker's quick reactions and an “overwhelming community response,” the danger was averted and Coinbase avoided a “possible crisis.”

As is common with white hat hacking, a bounty was duly awarded. Coinbase has initially awarded $250,000–an insignificant sum for the Silicon Valley-born unicorn. Twitter was quick to judge the quarter-million sum as a “bear market” bounty, particularly considering the scale of the hack and that Coinbase executives earn that figure annually.

*Coinbase executive salaries according to Comparably. Source: Comparably*

Tree of Alpha told Cointelegraph that the amount was “not too low to be insulting.”

“While a higher bounty might have been wise to deter more grey hats from exploiting vulnerabilities, it is common in the crypto sphere to lose touch with the value of money. For most working human beings, $250K is a very decent sum.”

Ultimately, the events shone a light on the importance of white hat hacking for a relatively nascent industry. The U.S. State Department recently announced it would offer up to $10 million in crypto rewards to white hat hackers; however, Tree of Alpha affirmed that “white hat hacking is crucial yet criminally overlooked by companies.”

In a word to the wise, they concluded:

“Companies won't hesitate to spend tens of millions on marketing but won't spend a fraction of it on making sure there is something left to market.”

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong was among the first to thank the white-hat hacker for saving his company:

.@Tree_of_Alpha you're awesome - a big thank you for working with our team

love how the crypto community helps each other out!
— Brian Armstrong - barmstrong.eth (@brian_armstrong) February 11, 2022

API3 price gains 55% after new partnerships and exchange listings attract investors

February 17, 2022 Coin Telegraph

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Partnerships, cross-chain integrations and a major exchange listing provided a 50% boost for API3 price.

In the emerging Web3 world, data is the most valuable commodity, and oracle solutions provide a valuable role in facilitating the accurate and secure transmission of data between blockchains and data sources.

One project that is taking a different approach to developing oracles is API3 (API3), a project which harnesses application programming interfaces (APIs) to create first-party oracles through the use of decentralized APIs capable of broadcasting data directly to blockchain networks.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a low of $3.22 on Feb. 3 the price of API3 climbed 72% to reach a daily high of $5.55 on Feb. 17 as the wider cryptocurrency corrected after news of Russia escalating it's incursion into Ukraine made waves in the news.

*API3/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView*

Three reasons for the resiliency in API3 price include a partnership with Amberdata to release beacon data feeds, the launch of Airnode on the Avalanche network and a new exchange listing at Binance.

Amberdata and the launch of beacon data feeds

The recent bullish momentum for API3 kicked off when the project revealed a new partnership with the digital data asset provider Amberdata to release beacon data feeds for the crypto community.

In partnership with @API3DAO, a leading first-party #blockchain oracle solution providing a seamless Web3 wrapper that enables Web API providers to offer their data directly on-chain, we are pleased to announce the launch of Amberdata Beacons. https://t.co/TZbR5tCoFc
— Amberdata.io (@Amberdataio) January 19, 2022

According to Amberdata, beacon data feeds “create a transparent, scalable and cost-effective solution for data providers to publish data feeds on-chain directly.”

As opposed to traditional data feeds that conceal where information is sourced, beacons utilize API3’s first-party oracles to feed data directly on-chain instead of first passing through third-party intermediaries.

Oracle providers have generally handled data transfers in a third-party fashion, but API3's approach of using decentralized APIs and on-chain data recording offers an alternative design that is attracting the attention of developers and blockchain protocols.

Airnode integration and API3 Alliance partnerships

A second development making the bullish case for API3 has been the launch of Airnode on the Avalanche network.

API3 Airnode is live on @AvalancheAVAX mainnet!#Airnode enables @HeimdallLand to feed data on socially active #cryptocurrencies to the blockchain & improve real-time fund management of the Avalanche Social Index $aHYPE @dao_kassandra

More info belowhttps://t.co/J5Z63lQAvF
— API3 (@API3DAO) February 14, 2022

Airnode is Web3 middleware designed to connect any web API directly with blockchain applications to make real-world data accessible via smart contracts, a process that cuts out middlemen service providers and helps transform data providers into their own blockchain oracles.

Over the past few months, more than 150 data providers have joined the API3 Alliance to go along with a new partnership with NEAR protocol and Aurora that will provide access to more than 180 API providers.

API3 lists on Binance

A third factor that provided API3 with an added boost over the past month was a new listing on Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume.

#Binance will list @API3DAO #API3 https://t.co/M25whlBkNQ
— Binance (@binance) January 21, 2022

Evidence of the significance of this listing can be found when looking at the 24-hour trading volume for API3 which increased 752% from an average of $17 million prior to the listing, to $145 million on Jan. 21.

API3 is now available on four out of the top six cryptocurrency exchanges by volume including Binance, Coinbase, KuCoin and Huobi Global.

VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for API3 on Feb. 11, prior to the recent price rise.

The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historical and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.

*VORTECS™ Score (green) vs. API3 price. Source:* *Cointelegraph Markets Pro*

As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for API3 spiked into the green zone on Feb. 11 and hit a high of 75 around nine hours before the price began to increase 43.47% over the next five days.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

CoinMarketCap to integrate crypto price data into Presearch

October 5, 2021 Coin Telegraph

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Presearch is a default search engine on all new and factory-reset Android devices sold in the U.K. and Europe.

Crypto data provider CoinMarketCap continues expanding its reach by integrating its crypto price data into Presearch, a major decentralized search engine.

CoinMarketCap has partnered with Presearch to provide its data feeds to the search engine, allowing users to see CoinMarketCap price data directly on Presearch, according to a Tuesday announcement shared with Cointelegraph.

With the partnership, Presearch’s 2.4 million registered users will instantly see a CoinMarketCap-provided overview for any crypto-related term on the engine, including prices, daily volumes, a market capitalization, circulating supply and total supply.

“The function will roll out immediately tomorrow and will be available wherever users use the search engine,” a spokesperson for Presearch said, adding that the new functionality will be available from the web to mobile.

Additionally, Presearch will get exposure to CoinMarketCap’s millions of visitors via a marketing campaign featuring ongoing promotions. According to data from traffic analytics platform SimilarWeb, CoinMarketCap had 187 million total visits in August 2021. The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, acquired CoinMarketCap in April 2020.

Launched in 2017, Presearch is a decentralized search engine compensating users for searching on their platform with a cryptocurrency called Presearch (PRE) tokens. “We think the timing for Presearch couldn’t be any better due to the growing backlash against the tech titans like Google, Facebook and Amazon,” Presearch said at the launch. At the time of writing, one PRE token is trading at $0.42, with a market cap of $144 million.

Last month, global tech giant Google listed Presearch as a default browser option for all new and factory-reset Android devices sold in the United Kingdom and Europe.

API

Amberdata and the launch of beacon data feeds

Airnode integration and API3 Alliance partnerships

API3 lists on Binance

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