This Week on Unchained: Solana’s Recovery, White Hat Hackers, BTC Price Prediction, and More!
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The likely impending approval of spot bitcoin ETFs has already sparked a major rally in the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but will the bull run continue once the funds are up and running? On this episode of Unchained, the founder and CEO of Global Macro Investor, Raoul Pal, describes why a spot bitcoin ETF is such a significant development, likening it to a free trade agreement with the traditional financial world. He also discusses what effect a spot Ether ETF is likely to have on Ether prices, the relative merits of Ether vs. Solana, the usefulness of BRC-20 tokens and why 2024 is likely to be a very good year for crypto and the economy as a whole.
The Chopping Block: Top White Hat Hacker Samczsun Discusses the State of Crypto Security
Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, they are joined by Samczsun, an anonymous security researcher at Paradigm, who delves into the intricacies of crypto security, ethical hacking and the shifting landscape of smart contract vulnerabilities. He also discusses his strong feelings about the “Code Is Law” philosophy and gives tips on how people in crypto can best protect their online security.
Solana’s native token SOL has been one of the best-performing cryptos of the year, up more than 500% so far, but you wouldn’t have guessed that would be the case given how closely tied the blockchain was to FTX, which held huge amounts of SOL and was a big supporter of the platform. The blockchain also experienced numerous outages in 2022. But Anatoly Yakovenko, Solana’s co-founder, says the discipline imposed by FTX’s collapse, as well as improvements to the technology, have made Solana stronger.
On this episode of Unchained, Yakovenko talks about the impact of FTX’s collapse, his early impressions of Sam Bankman-Fried, the SEC’s designation of SOL as a security, how entrepreneurs are leaving the U.S. because of the regulatory risk, SOL’s share of the stablecoin market, and why he thinks it’s inevitable that finance will eventually run on something like Solana.
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Here are some of the most important news of this week:
Bitcoin Surges Past $40,000 for First Time Since April 2022
Bitcoin breached the $40,000 mark for the first time in 18 months following dovish comments from the Federal Reserve and continued optimism about a potential spot Bitcoin ETF approval in January 2024.
Arbitrum DAO Passes $23M Backfund Proposal
The Arbitrum community passed a proposal to disburse millions of extra dollars towards projects that have been approved but not funded by its STIP.
FTX-Linked Wallet Unstakes $90 Million Solana, Sends it to Coinbase
On-chain data shows that a wallet address linked to FTX has been unstaking millions of dollars-worth of SOL and transferring it to crypto exchange Coinbase.
Bitcoin Funds Saw $133 Million Inflows Last Week
Bitcoin led the inflows into digital asset investment products last week, followed by Ethereum and blockchain equities.
Coinbase Wallet Unveils Crypto Transfer Feature Via WhatsApp, TikTok Links
Coinbase Wallet users can now send funds through any platform that they can share a link through, with no fees for sending USDC.
NFT Trading Activity on Ethereum Surges, Reaching a Six-Month High
NFTs are not dead, these are instead experiencing a resurgence in trading volume following a two-year low.
Dogecoin, Oldest Meme-Fueled Crypto, Turns 10 Years Old (That’s About 56 in Dog Years)
“My biggest takeaway is that people are crazy,” says Billy Markus, the co-creator of the “sh*tcoin” that has a $14 billion market cap.
Ethereum Virtual Machine Chain Inscriptions Gain Traction, Dominating Polygon Transactions
While Bitcoin Ordinals are making headlines, inscriptions on Ethereum Virtual Machine blockchains have gained traction in recent weeks, according to a Dragonfly data analyst.
Former Binance CEO CZ Ordered to Remain in the US Until February Sentencing
A District Judge has granted the government’s motion to keep former Binance CEO Chanpeng Zhao in the U.S. until his sentencing date next year.
Blockchain Infrastructure Provider LayerZero Labs Will Have Token in 2024
LayerZero Labs will have a token in the first half of 2024, the provider of blockchain infrastructure said in a Thursday post on X.
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