BlockProf

wormholes, LexPunK_Army, CryptoMom

Red Alert! Wormhole ahead.

Many people believe that, rather than a fight to the death Highlander style between Ethereum and other layer 1 alt chains, the future of crypto is a multi-chain future. Wormhole is a service that facilitates financial transactions across different blockchains through a smart contract escrow-like system. Well a hacker exploited a vulnerabity in Wormhole and stole $325 million worth of Ether this week. And he/she was pretty proud of themselves.

But, crypto world fixes its own problems. Jump Trading swooped in, replaced the $325 million, and patched things up. Whew.

Security refresher

Don’t know about you, but I could use a refresher on personal crypto security. Great one on wallet security here from Ledger Donjon. The takeaway, keep life simple, use a hardware wallet.

Stablecoin hearing

We have a stablecoin hearing coming up! House Financial Services invites Undersecretary Liang to testify about the President’s Working Group’s report. No surprise, the administration thinks stablecoins should only be issued by banks, and they are still threatening to designate stablecoins for special Fed regulation.

Reading the latest from Messari on stablecoins, I was struck by how useful the diversity of stablecoin models can be from a systemic risk perspective. Maybe you agree, maybe you don’t?

Prof. J.W. Verret, JD, CPA/CFF, CVA, CFE @JWVerret

Systemic risk in 2008 was fueled by system wide homogeneity in financing methods. Banks originated mortgages in asset bubble packaged and held by GSEs. But stablecoins are heterogenous (fiat, collateral, algo) so less systemic risk. Messari has more

messari.ioCrypto Research, Data, and ToolsGain an edge over the crypto market with professional grade data, tools, and research.

Don’t Ever Underestimate the LexPunK_Army!

My friends at LexPunK_Army, (American Bar Association is TradFi, LexPunK_Army is Defi and dope!) have mobilized over the SEC’s new exchange rules that seem to threaten Defi. They are doing a comment letter campaign “First Raid Initiative” which sounds a lot cooler than a plain old comment letter. Check them out:

LeXpunK_Army @LeXpunK_Army

We are SO excited to launch our FIRST RAID INITIATIVE. LeXpunK partnered with the great minds at @PacDao to provide a template form for DeFi developers and enthusiasts to comment on the SEC’s proposed amendments to Regulation ATS.

pac.xyzPAC - PhatCatPAC DAO: On-Chain Crypto Activism https://pac.xyz/

Who doesn’t like to see themselves on the internet?

Went on on Pymnts.com TV to talk about stablecoins, digital asset regulatory reform, and my proposal for a Digital Asset Genesis Block. Check it out, (video starts 5 min in).

Meet Commissioner Peirce

It’s so cool that CryptoMom, SEC Commissioner Peirce, makes herself available to the public. Who else does that?

Hester Peirce @HesterPeirce

I plan to be in Boston February 24 & 25. If you want to meet with me to discuss SEC issues (but not ongoing enforcement actions), email CommissionerPeirce@sec.gov with Boston in the subject line.