Magic Eden Launches Bitcoin Ordinal Inscription Market, Partners With Hiro, Xverse to Bolster Support

March 21, 2023 Bitcoin.com

MetaMask enables direct crypto purchases in Nigeria

March 21, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Crypto investors in Nigeria no longer need to rely on centralized exchanges for buying cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Self-custody cryptocurrency purchases are becoming easier in Nigeria as major crypto wallet MetaMask expands direct onramps with local banks.

MetaMask’s parent firm ConsenSys announced on March 21 a new integration with crypto fintech MoonPay, enabling users in Nigeria to purchase crypto via instant bank transfers.

The new feature is available within the MetaMask mobile and Portfolio Dapp, significantly simplifying the process of buying crypto without using credit or debit cards in Nigeria.

Before the partnership, MetaMask users in Nigeria had access to the MetaMask wallet but the process of buying crypto was costly and time consuming, MetaMask product manager Lorenzo Santos told Cointelegraph. He stated:

“While Moonpay had a card integration feature, about 90% of attempts to buy crypto with a credit or debit card were declined.”

With the new integration supporting local bank transfers, crypto purchases on MetaMask are now faster and cheaper, allowing users to access crypto without sending assets from a centralized exchange.

MoonPay chief product and strategy officer Zeeshan Feroz told Cointelegraph that the integration is estimated to reduce the decline rate for direct crypto purchases in Nigeria from 90% to 30%. He noted that customers of all banks in Nigeria will have access to the service through Bank Transfers, which is a widely used payment method across Nigerian e-commerce businesses.

Even despite the current issues with crypto onramps in Nigeria, the country has emerged as a major market for MetaMask, ranking third in mobile monthly active users, Santos said. “It is also among the top ten countries regarding visitors to metamask.io over the last month,” he added.

According to the Chainalysis 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Nigeria is one of the world’s top 20 ranked countries in terms of cryptocurrency adoption. Some reports suggest that 35% of the Nigerian population aged 18 to 60 owned or traded cryptocurrencies in 2022. That is despite the Central Bank of Nigeria banning banks from servicing crypto exchanges in February 2021.

In December 2022, local media reported that the Nigerian government was preparing to pass a law that would recognize the usage of Bitcoin(BTC) and other cryptocurrencies as a means to keep up to date with “global practices.”

Microsoft Working on New Ethereum Wallet Amid Foray Into Crypto and NFTs: Report

March 19, 2023 The Daily Hodl

European Parliament votes to form final law on EU digital wallet

March 16, 2023 Coin Telegraph

CBDC

Introduced in 2021, the European Digital Identity framework aims to enable and protect digital identity of EU citizens.

European lawmakers are moving forward with the introduction of a European Union-wide digital wallet by passing a plenary vote on moving the initiative to interinstitutional negotiations.

The European Parliament on March 15 voted in favor of negotiating a mandate for talks with the EU member states on the revision of the new European Digital Identity (eID) framework, according to an official announcement. The plenary vote resulted in 418 votes in favor and 103 votes against the initiative, with 24 parliament members abstaining from the vote.

Following the plenary’s endorsement, the EU council is now ready to start the discussions on the final form of the legislation immediately, the lawmakers said. Parliament’s position during the negotiations will be based on the amendments adopted in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) in February, the announcement notes.

As previously reported, ITRE included the standard of zero-knowledge proofs in its eID amendments, intending to allow EU citizens to fully control their identity data.

“The scheme would allow citizens to identify and authenticate themselves online — via a European digital identity wallet — without having to resort to commercial providers, as is the case today — a practice that has raised trust, security and privacy concerns,” the European Parliament said.

Introduced in June 2021, the eID legislative proposal aims to create a “European Digital Identity” and a dedicated digital wallet for citizens and businesses in the EU. The “European Digital Identity Wallet,” also known as EDIW, aims to allow people and companies in the EU to store identity data like name and address as well as digitized documents, including data on bank accounts, birth certificates, diplomas and other documents for cross-border use.

Metamask addresses privacy concerns with new features for enhanced control

March 14, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The new features allow a user to manage which servers are able to receive their IP address.

Web3 wallet app Metamask has introduced a number of new features aimed at enhancing privacy and giving users more control, according to a March 14 blog post by the developer. The new features come after Metamask had previously been criticized for allegedly intruding on users’ privacy.

MetaMask Mobile v6 is now available to everyone! Our biggest release yet fixes issues around slow load times and provides a new and improved UX that gives users more control over their funds and digital identities.

Upgrade to the latest version todayhttps://t.co/tGtA4GUXR1
— MetaMask (@MetaMask) March 14, 2023

Previously, Metamask used its Infura RPC node to connect to Ethereum automatically, whenever a user first set up the wallet. Although the user could change the settings later, this still meant that the user’s public address was transmitted to Infura before they had a chance to change their node, according to a report from Ethereum node operator Chase Wright.

Infura is owned by Metamask’s parent company, Consensys.

Under the new version of Metamask extension, labeled “10.25.0,” users are prompted with the option to use an “advanced configuration” during setup. Choosing this option reveals a number of settings that can be configured, including one that allows the user to choose a different RPC node than the default Infura one.

In addition to letting the user enter their own node details, the “advanced configuration” dialogue box also allows them to turn off incoming transactions, phishing detection, and enhanced token detection. These features require data to be sent to third-parties such as Etherscan and jsDeliver, according to the app’s UI. Users concerned about privacy can now turn off these features during setup if they want to.

According to the post, the new mobile version of Metamask also includes privacy enhancements. Previously, the app did not allow users to connect one account to a Web3 app while leaving another account disconnected. The user only had the option of connecting all of them or none at all.

However, the new version allows users to select which particular accounts they want to connect to an app, without disclosing the other addresses they control.

In its post, Metamask stated that it has always intended to preserve privacy for users and that it believes these new features align with these values, stating:

“Data exploitation goes against MetaMask core values. Instead, we believe in equipping our community with the founding principles that guide our development—true ownership and privacy[…]We are committed to protecting the privacy of our users so that you will not, and ultimately, cannot be exploited by yet another centralized entity.”

On November 23, Metamask became heavily criticized in the crypto community for releasing a privacy policy that stated it would collect IP addresses from users. Consensys responded to the criticism on Nov. 24 by saying that RPC nodes have always collected IP addresses and that the substance of the privacy policy was not new, although the language used in it had changed. On Dec. 6, Consensys announced that IP addresses collected through Infura would no longer be stored for more than 7 days.

FTX-related stablecoins on the move: $145M transferred to crypto exchanges

March 14, 2023 Coin Telegraph

FTX-related stablecoins on the move: 5M transferred to crypto exchanges

Coin Telegraph

Three wallets, reportedly associated with both FTX and its subsidiary, Alameda Research, have moved 69.64 million USDT and 75.94 million USDC.

Amid the multiple ongoing investigations, FTX continues to move funds. The addresses, related to the failed crypto exchange, reportedly transferred around $145 million in stablecoins to a range of operating platforms.

As Lookonchain spotted on March 14, three wallets, associated with both FTX and its subsidiary, Alameda Research, have moved 69.64 million USDT and 75.94 million USDC. The Tether reserves have gone to custodial wallets on such platforms as Coinbase, Binance and Kraken. All funds in USDC were transferred to Coinbase custodial wallet.

Both FTX and Alameda are in the process of recovering their assets as they face the demands to return the funds to different groups of investors. According to FTX attorney Andy Dietderich, already by January 2023, the troubled cryptocurrency exchange has recovered $5 billion in cash and liquid cryptocurrencies. However, its total liabilities exceed $8.8 billion.

The latest update in the FTX bankruptcy case came as a new deal had been struck with a company owned by the government of Abu Dhabi. Alameda Research sold its remaining interest in venture capital firm Sequoia Capital to the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund for $45 million.

In March, Alameda Research has filed suit against Grayscale Investments in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware. The suit seeks to “unlock $9 billion or more in value for shareholders of the Grayscale Bitcoin and Ethereum Trusts […] and realize over a quarter billion dollars in asset value for the FTX Debtors' customers and creditors,” according to a statement.

As cases against FTX pile up, some plaintiffs requested the consolidation of lawsuits against the bankrupt exchange. However, on March 8, a judge denied the consolidation request, highlighting that the defendants have not yet been allowed to respond. U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Corley recently denied the request to consolidate five proposed class-action suits against FTX.

CoinTracker integrates with H&R Block to offer crypto tax preparation

March 9, 2023 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin regulation

The new integration allows crypto users to automatically fill out the crypto portion of Form 8949, which is used to report capital gains and losses from investments for tax filings.

Crypto tax software provider CoinTracker is integrating its software with H&R Block, a company that helps millions of customers prepare their income taxes across Canada, the United States and Australia.

In an announcement seen by Cointelegraph, CoinTracker noted the partnership will allow American H&R Block customers to use CoinTracker and automatically fill in their Form 8949 regarding crypto trades. This form is submitted during tax season to report one’s capital gains and losses from investments.

Previously, users had to cut and paste crypto trade data into each form field on the H&R Block app, which could lead to mistakes. Under the new integration, H&R users can import their crypto transactions from “most” exchanges into their H&R Block tax returns.

Good news for Crypto holders. Filing cryptotaxes has never been easier. File with H&R Block Online, connect to Cointracker and just click import. More intuitive. More accurate. Learn more about how crypto can impact your taxes: https://t.co/XYjzra3z5B pic.twitter.com/6gGXlyNyr0
— H&R Block (@HRBlock) March 6, 2023

H&R Block is an American tax preparation company founded in 1955. In 2020, H&R Block had around 20 million tax customers.

The two companies also made some additional upgrades for the 2023 tax season as a result of the integration, including the offer of free CoinTracker accounts to all H&R users who have fewer than 25 crypto trades, as well as certain discounts for other H&R users.

In a statement, CoinTracker COO Vera Tzoneva said that the new integration should cut down on the hassle of paying crypto taxes, stating:

“The process of crypto tax filing is far too complex. We remain fixated on delivering peace of mind and the requisite tools for all crypto users. Partnering with H&R Block is a major step toward realizing this vision.”

Tax season is seen by some as a confusing and complex time for some crypto traders. While legally defined “crypto brokers” are required to issue a Form 1099-B to each customer, the Internal Revenue Service has yet to clearly explain what firms fall under the definition of “brokers.”

Most centralized exchanges produced the required forms for their users but not decentralized finance protocols. This has left some taxpayers relying on blockchain explorers to determine their gains and losses.

Even if a taxpayer only uses centralized exchanges, tracking gains and losses can still become complex if the user transfers crypto between exchanges, as this can cause transactions to show up on multiple forms.

CoinTracker’s crypto tax software is one of many.

Over the past few years, several crypto tax software solutions have been offered, including CoinTracker, Koinly, Taxbit, CoinLedger, TokenTax and others. These products allow the user to enter their exchange and wallet accounts into a single interface that tracks all of their transactions.

However, not all solutions are integrated with tax preparation platforms like H&R Block, TurboTax, FreeTaxUSA, etc.

Multisig wallets vulnerable to exploitation by Starknet apps, says developer Safeheron

March 9, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The vulnerability allegedly allows Web3 apps using the Starknet protocol to bypass the security protection of private keys in MPC wallets, potentially exposing users' private keys to wallet providers.

Certain multisignature (multisig) wallets can be exploited by Web3 apps that use the Starknet protocol, according to a March 9 press release provided to Cointelegraph by Multi-Party Computation (MPC) wallet developer Safeheron. The vulnerability affects MPC wallets that interact with Starknet apps such as dYdX. According to the press release, Safeheron is working with app developers to patch the vulnerability.

According to Safeheron’s protocol documentation, MPC wallets are sometimes used by financial institutions and Web3 app developers to secure crypto assets they own. Similar to a standard multisig wallet, they require multiple signatures for each transaction. But unlike standard multisigs, they do not require specialized smart contracts to be deployed to the blockchain, nor do they have to be built into the blockchain’s protocol.

Instead, these wallets work by generating “shards” of a private key, with each shard being held by one signer. These shards have to be joined together off-chain in order to produce a signature. Because of this difference, MPC wallets can have lower gas fees than other types of multisigs and can be blockchain agnostic, according to the docs.

MPC wallets are often seen as more secure than single signature wallets, since an attacker can’t generally hack them unless they compromise more than one device.

However, Safeheron claims to have discovered a security flaw that arises when these wallets interact with Starknet-based apps such as dYdX and Fireblocks. When these apps “obtain a stark_key_signature and/or api_key_signature,” they can “bypass the security protection of private keys in MPC wallets,” the company said in its press release. This can allow an attacker to place orders, perform layer 2 transfers, cancel orders, and engage in other unauthorized transactions.

Safeheron implied that the vulnerability only leaks the users’ private keys to the wallet provider. Therefore, as long as the wallet provider itself is not dishonest and has not been taken over by an attacker, the user’s funds should be safe. However, it argued that this makes the user dependent on trust in the wallet provider. This can allow attackers to circumvent the wallet’s security by attacking the platform itself, as the company explained:

“The interaction between MPC wallets and dYdX or similar dApps [decentralized applications] that use signature-derived keys undermines the principle of self-custody for MPC wallet platforms. Customers may be able to bypass pre-defined transaction policies, and employees who have left the organization may still retain the capability to operate the dApp.”

The company said that it is working with Web3 app developers Fireblocks, Fordefi, ZenGo, and StarkWare to patch the vulnerability. It has also made dYdX aware of the problem, it said. In mid-March, the company plans to make its protocol open source in an effort to further help app developers patch the vulnerability.

Cointelegraph has attempted to contact dYdX, but has been unable to get a response before publication.

Avihu Levy, Head of Product at StarkWare told Cointelegraph that the company applauds Safeheron's attempt to raise awareness about the issue and to help provide a fix, stating:

“It’s great that Safeheron is open-sourcing a protocol focusing on this challenge[...]We encourage developers to address any security challenge that should arise with any integration, however limited its scope. This includes the challenge being discussed now.

Starknet is a layer 2 Ethereum protocol that uses zero-knowledge proofs to secure the network. When a user first connects to a Starknet app, they derive a STARK key using their ordinary Ethereum wallet. It is this process that Safeheron says is resulting in leaked keys for MPC wallets.

Starknet attempted to improve its security and decentralization in February by open-sourcing its prover.

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

March 9, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Coinbase launches wallet-as-a-service for businesses

March 8, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The adoption of Web3 wallets is hindered by complex seed phrases and a poor user experience, according to Coinbase.

Crypto exchange Coinbase has launched a new business solution for enterprises looking to offer Web3 wallets to their customers — a move it says will help streamline the adoption of Web3 products and services.

Coinbase’s wallet-as-a-service, or WaaS, provides enterprises with the technical infrastructure to create and launch customizable on-chain wallets, the exchange announced on March 8. Specifically, WaaS provides a wallet application programming interface (API) that allows businesses to create wallets for simple customer onboarding, loyalty programs or in-game purchases.

According to Coinbase, Web3 wallets have struggled to gain wider mainstream acceptance because of their complexity, poor user experience and the challenges associated with maintaining mnemonic seeds.

When asked about how WaaS solves the complexities of Web3 wallets, the head of product at Coinbase’s Web3 Developer Platforms, Patrick McGregor, said the new solution provides “control over end-to-end product experiences,” a reduction in “implementation cost and complexity” and helps brands improve security while reducing risks.

“Today, companies are forced to push their users through confusing onboarding flows, often instructing users to download third-party self-custodial wallets,” he said. “This context switching results in high drop-off rates during onboarding, meaning a company is never able to deliver its product to users.”

Imagine your seed phrase is now public information. What do you do next? https://t.co/BNTEjaCMaM
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) December 20, 2022

The WaaS toolkit incorporates multi-party computation (MPC), a form of cryptography that allows multiple parties to jointly compute a function without revealing their inputs to one another. In practice, MPC is said to enhance private key security within Web3 platforms. An MPC crypto wallet allows users to store their digital assets more securely because their private keys are split into multiple parts and distributed among the parties involved in the protocol.

“The problems of key loss that plague the traditional self-custody world are avoided with WaaS’ MPC cryptographic functionality," McGregor explained. “Our [software development kits] provide robust, user-friendly backup functionality to ensure that users continue to maintain access to their assets.”

The crypto exchange’s WaaS infrastructure is currently being used by companies such as Floor, Moonray, thirdweb and tokenproof.

Web3 infrastructure development appears to be heating up amid crypto winter, as startups, corporations and investors look to define the future vision of the decentralized internet. Although not everyone is convinced that current Web3 modalities are advancing the principles of decentralization, developments around MPC and decentralized privacy suggest many in the industry are taking it seriously.

McGregor noted that many companies are “seeking to build for Web3 ahead of the next bull market,” a period in which cryptocurrency prices generally rise. Coinbase is “seeing strong excitement about token-gated content (for both online opportunities and physical real-world use cases), moving loyalty programs on-chain, deep integrations between games and assets owned by users, and more.”

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