Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Kyber Network has advised liquidity providers on its Elastic product to withdraw funds after finding a potential vulnerability, it said in a tweet. Source
The latest price moves in bitcoin (BTC) and crypto markets in context for April 17, 2023. First Mover is CoinDesk’s daily newsletter that contextualizes the latest actions in the crypto markets. Source
The mysterious company that calls itself nothing is helping zero-knowledge firms to scale blockchain quickly and cheaply. That’s something. And that’s why =nil; Foundation is one of CoinDesk’s Projects to Watch 2023 Source
“With traditional NGOs, it’s not that at all,” Cole said. Overhead costs and administrative fees for traditional donation methods can eat up as much as 30% of the cash value. “I was, like, why can’t we do this with Oxfam or any of these other NGOs?” Cole said when he and Williams reached out to humanitarian aid organizations, they found that the organizations were struggling with major technological challenges in running their cash transfer programs. Source
Blockchains face existential peril from super-fast computers that can break the encryption protocols on which crypto depends. Quantum computers aren’t here yet, but if developers wait to devise defenses the fight will be over before it’s begun. That’s why BTQ is one of CoinDesk’s Projects to Watch 2023. Source
“We did an extensive deep dive on available wallets, comparing things like onboarding time, network compatibility, etc. Rainbow came out ahead for our use case,” said Darrell Jones, CEO and co-founder of City3, a Oakland-based community currency nonprofit backed by Coinbase Giving and the Ethereum Foundation. Jones added that City3 has “onboarded over 1,100 folks IRL” at four West Oakland Farmers Market events, with “more than 60% being folks of color,” he said. “Rainbow offers the best experience for newcomers by far.” Source
This decentralized, global team of developers is ignoring the urge to be the first to scale Ethereum. For its holistic approach to build broadly and transparently, Scroll is one of CoinDesk’s Projects to Watch 2023. Source
For most people, crypto custody comes down to the choice of holding their own keys or giving them to an exchange. Fedi offers an intriguing third way – to share the burden with trusted family and friends. That’s why Fedi is one of CoinDesk’s Projects to Watch 2023. Source
“You send money that you see as dollars from the United States, and it’s received on the other side. They receive it in their local currency, either in a bank or in a mobile account,” explains Manuela Rios, Strike’s vice president of product. Rios, who joined Strike from Robinhood Markets in December 2021, knows the challenge of remittances intimately. Her grandmother lives in Colombia, and Rios describes having to jump through expensive or complex hoops every year to send her abuela a simple gift of birthday cash. Source
Censorship or the lack thereof has long been a pain point for social media users and providers. Just recall the controversial cancellations and reversals on Twitter, crypto’s and President Donald Trump’s once-favorite social media site. In January 2021, while Twitter was a public company run by Jack Dorsey, Trump was permanently banned for tweets he sent prior to the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Then in November 2022, when Twitter was a private company run and owned by Elon Musk, the Trump ban was…