EthHub Weekly #52
Happy Birthday to Us, EthHub bounties, Fixing the Ethereum Fee Market and much more!
Curated by Anthony Sassano (@sassal0x) and Eric Conner (@econoar)
đ Happy Birthday to Us!
Itâs been one whole year since I started this newsletter (formerly known as Block by Block) and I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone that supported me under Block by Block and now continues to support Eric and Iâs efforts in building out EthHub. Hereâs to another great year of newsletters!
In other EthHub newsâŚ
Eric published an important blog post this week titled âFixing the Ethereum Fee Marketâ which describes EIP-1559 - a new mechanism for Ethereumâs fee market that, if implemented, would save up to 90% on transaction costs, greatly improve user experience, enshrine the economic value of ETH at the protocol level and much more. I highly recommend giving the post a read!
Want to earn money by contributing to EthHub? Well now you can as our first bounties are now live over at Gitcoin! We currently have bounties for our Eth1.x and Eth2.0 sections and we will be adding more over the coming weeks.
Looking for a job in crypto? Weâve got a new section at the bottom of the newsletter that showcases the best jobs that were listed on Cryptocurrency Jobs over the last 7 days! Be sure to check the list each week to see if you may be a fit for any of the roles.
Have a great week everyone!
-Â Anthony
News of the Week
đ¤ŻÂ Coinbase Lets Ex-Hacking Team Employees Go
Coinbase is parting ways with several employees from Neutrino following widespread criticism over the crypto exchangeâs acquisition of the blockchain analytics firm.
CEO Brian Armstrong announced in a blog post on Monday that Coinbase and Neutrino have decided they will let go Neutrino employees who previously worked for Hacking Team, whether or not they still have any current affiliation with that company.
Itâs unclear exactly how many of Neutrinoâs employees had worked for Hacking Team, except for the three senior executives listed on the blockchain-sleuthing startupâs website: CEO Giancarlo Russo, CTO Alberto Ornaghi, and CRO Marco Valleri.
The announcement came after widespread criticism of Coinbaseâs decision to buy Neutrino, which was revealed on Feb. 19.
đ Fidelity Bitcoin Custody Business Now Live
Fidelity Digital Assets, a new company created by the investing giant last year, has quietly rolled out its cryptocurrency custody and trade execution operations. In the past few months it has been up and running with institutional investors like hedge funds and family offices, according to its top executive.
Fidelityâs new company will execute trades on multiple exchanges for professional investors. It also handles custody, or the safe storage of digital assets. Until Fidelity, there had been a noticeable lack of a big U.S.-based company in that business.
âď¸Â OneCoin Leader Arrested by U.S Authorities
U.S. prosecutors in New York have arrested a âtop leaderâ of the OneCoin project, saying it stole âbillionsâ from investors through an alleged pyramid scheme.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) has indicted Ruja Ignatova and Konstantin Ignatov on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering, claiming the two defrauded investors out of âbillions of dollarsâ using a fraudulent cryptocurrency. Konstantin Ignatov was arrested on wire fraud charges at Los Angeles International Airport earlier this week as part of the investigation.
According to a press release, prosecutors are alleging that OneCoin is a pyramid scheme, where members receive commissions to recruit other individuals to the project. These recruits are required to purchase crypto packages, and OneCoin currently claims to have 3 million members worldwide.
While Konstantin Ignatov has been arrested, Ruja Ignatova remains at large. Another defendant, Mark Scott, was arrested last year in Massachusetts.
đ¸Â Crypto Prime Broker Raises $12 Million
Tagomi, a startup that bills itself as cryptoâs answer to Wall Street prime brokerages, has raised another $12 million in a funding round led by Paradigm.
Other participants in the round announced Monday include Pantera Capital, Four Arrows and Multicoin Capital. Tagomi previously secured backing from Digital Currency Group, Peter Thielâs Founders Fund, Collaborative Fund and others. The firm has raised a total of $28 million to date.
In traditional finance, prime brokerage refers to a bundle of specialized services offered by investment banks and securities dealers to their hedge fund clients. Tagomi is âagency-only,â meaning that the firm offers consulting services for its clients to determine âhow best to execute a trade or fund strategyâ.
The brokerage offers trading services for bitcoin, ethereum and other digital assets, and went live in December.
Project Updates
Ethereum Cat Herders Update #4
Updates from the Cat Herders on governance, recent meetings, community outreach and notes on the latest ProgPoW developments.
Mkr.tools Stability Fee Page
Mike McDonald updated his Mkr.tools website this week with a brand new section that allows you to view how the stability fee has affected draws/wipes over time and also see the historical âspellsâ that have been cast.
DAI Support on Dharma
You can now borrow and lend the DAI stablecoin on Dharmas Lever platform! Early users can currently borrow DAI for a tiny 0.10% APR using the platform.
Introducing 0x Global Community Meetups
The 0x Global Community Meetup program allows meetup organizers to apply for a swag box for themselves and their meetup attendees - provided they meet the relevant meetup requirements.
Opera Browsers Crypto Wallet Coming to iOS Soon
You can now sign up to test Operas Crypto Wallet and Ethereum Dapp explorer if you use an iOS device. Simply head here.
Opera is also going to be integrating ENS and IPFS!
BlockFi Launches Interest Account
You can now securely store your BTC or ETH at BlockFi and receive 6% annual interest, paid monthly in crypto.
Introducing Alethio API and Analytics Suite
Alethio have opened up their real-time Ethereum data and will offer it via a subscription-based API. Theyâve also released 2 new products - Alethio Monitoring and Alethio Reporting.
0x Developer Update #16
Xianny N recaps the core teams first ever retreat in California, the ZEIP-23 vote, the release of new and updated contracts and much more.
The Gitcoin Torch
Vivek Singh from Gitcoin formally introduces us to the Gitcoin Torch - the brainchild of EthHub co-founder Eric Conner! The Gitcoin Torch is a community effort to spur funding of Ethereum projects using the Gitcoin Grants platform.
LocalCoinSwap P2P Exchange Launched
Missed this in last weeks newsletter! You can now buy, sell and trade Bitcoin, Ethereum and over 20+ different cryptocurrencies using more than 250 different payment methods in over 190 countries around the world and there is no KYC.
Introducing Dharmalytics
Matt Tyndall has created an interactive loan explorer for the Dharma Protocol. Check it out here.
Community Member Spotlight
This week weâre highlighting an underappreciated member of the community - Timur Badretdinov (aka Destiner).
Timur is currently working on DEX.AG which aggregates order books from decentralized exchanges to find you the best price for asset. Timur has also been a great contributor and supporter of EthHub since the early days.
If youâd like to see more of Timurs work be sure to check out his Github profile!
On-Chain Activity
Over 1100 loans issued and over $500,000 USD principal borrowed on Dharma since its launch.
Makers stability fee raise doesnât seem to be causing people to burn DAI just yet.
After a record December, various DeFi platforms are seeing a decline in volume.
Interesting Tweets
Ecosystem Bits
Blog Posts
Fixing the Ethereum Fee Market (EIP-1559) (recommended read)
A Universal Framework for Understanding Incentive Design in Crypto and Fiat Systems - Part 1
Aliens, Jedi & Cults đ˝đ§đźââď¸đŽ (recommended read)
When Lightning STARKs (recommended read)
Electronic Cash, Decentralized Exchange, and the Constitution
Podcasts
Gitcoin: Growing Open Source Software with Kevin Owocki - Into the Ether
How to Earn Money on Collateral in DeFi â and Why Thatâs Risky - Unchained
ETH2.0 Update With Danny Ryan - Zero Knowledge
POV Crypto Episode 34âââRise of Moloch & Ethereum 2.0 - POV Crypto
Videos
Misc
The Digital Trinity: Technology, Markets, and Policy (CFTC post)
Danny Ryans Zero Knowledge Podcast Recap by Trenton Van Epps
Looking for Work?
New jobs listed on Cryptocurrency Jobs this week
Product Manager, Growth - Circle
Product Designer - Compound
Corporate Counsel - Radar Relay
Donations:Â 0xA19FCDaD77C1F0fd184689aca88BabCF68010347