Anwar A.

San Francisco-based Movement Labs is close to securing a $100 million Series B funding round co-led by CoinFund and Nova Fund. The fresh capital will allow Movement Labs to enhance its blockchain infrastructure, integrating Facebook’s Move Virtual Machine with Ethereum.

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Yet Another SEC Crypto/DAO Victory (A Settled Action) Just about every crypto iteration is an investment contract of some sort, triggering the U.S. securities laws. That is now axiomatic. Whatever the concoction, if an entity sells securities ('33 Act), transacts in securities ('34 Act) or bundles securities ('40 Act), that security and/or entity must register with the SEC. That's why the SEC's winning streak of 200+ crypto-related enforcement actions continues ad infinitum. Learn more about it all on an X Space I did this weekend with special guest, Daren Firestone who runs the website cryptowhistleblower.com. The Space is captioned "SEC Crypto Enforcement Update/Why Crypto is a Mammoth Ponzi Scheme/AMA." 6,600 have already tuned in -- check it out at: https://lnkd.in/ed859CMD Today's SEC enforcement action involved settled SEC charges against Mango DAO and Blockworks Foundation for engaging in the unregistered offer and sale of crypto assets called “MNGO” tokens. The SEC also settled charges against Blockworks Foundation and Mango Labs LLC for engaging in unregistered broker activity in connection with various crypto assets being offered and sold as securities on the Mango Markets platform. https://lnkd.in/e8HBM2-T Per the SEC, starting in August 2021, Mango DAO, a purportedly decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, and Blockworks Foundation, a Panamanian entity, raised more than $70 million from unregistered offers and sales of MNGO tokens, the so-called governance tokens of the Mango Markets platform, to hundreds of investors worldwide, including in the U.S. The SEC also alleges that, since at least August 2021, Blockworks Foundation and Mango Labs each operated as an unregistered broker by actively soliciting and recruiting users of Mango Markets to trade securities; providing advice and valuations as to the merits of an investment in securities; and helping to facilitate securities transactions on the Mango Markets platform by assisting customers in opening accounts and regularly handling customer funds and securities. https://lnkd.in/e8HBM2-T Per Jorge G. Tenreiro, Acting Chief of the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit: “Since the inception of our crypto enforcement program, our view has been that the label ‘DAO’ does not change the reality of who is behind a project, what activities they engage in, or whether their activities need to be registered. Nor does engaging in intermediation of securities with the aid of automated or open source software change the nature of such activities. If you engage in securities-intermediary functions, you must register or be exempt from doing so, regardless of the technology employed and the type of legal entity used.” Fail not at your peril crypto-promoters, issuers and shills, the SEC has you squarely in their sights, and is coming at you -- and they will not miss.

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Great example of a normalized open scam, #bitcoin. Yes, “it goes up”, but it also goes down and its only documented use cases are criminal activity. Meanwhile you could have put this money in a bank stock, or #costco instead and “doubled your money”. The key difference is Costco is actually useful and has book value as well, meaning if you sold the assets in a bankruptcy it is still worth quite a bit. Bitcoin is vaporware BS.

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Earning with Stablecoins in the TON Ecosystem (Part 1) Latest Update as of June 11, 2024 (https://lnkd.in/e-4UK6P5) I've never been full of love and admiration for the TON network, largely due to the lingering disappointment from the ICO era of 2017-2019, when 99% of projects failed to deliver on their promises to small investors. Telegram official Wallet (specifically its CeFI component) offers an opportunity to earn 50% annual interest for the first 2 weeks and 25% for the following 2 weeks. Restrictions: 1️⃣ KYC Requirement: Prepare your passport or driver's license; it will take SumSub about two hours to review them. 2️⃣ Maximum Deposit: 3000 USDT. 3️⃣ Rewards: Paid in TON, with a minimum withdrawal amount of 1 TON (equivalent to $7). 4️⃣ Minimum Deposit: $240 (since earning 1 TON is required to make a withdrawal). 🎁 Maximum Profit Calculation: With a deposit of 3000 USDT, the potential earnings are: $86.53 = 3000 * 0.5 / 52 * 2 + 3000 * 0.25 / 52 * 2 #ton #ton_wallet

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Your USDT can be frozen right in your wallet. How is this possible? In 2023, Tether (the issuer of USDT) made an important announcement that shook the crypto community. The company froze 161 addresses under OFAC sanctions and continued close cooperation with regulators worldwide. 🔘 How does the freezing of USDT and USDC work? Despite their popularity, stablecoins USDT and USDC are managed by centralized companies — Tether and Circle. This means they have full control over issuance, transactions, and even freezing funds at specific addresses. This practice isn’t new. The first freezes by Tether date back to 2017, and the number of frozen addresses has increased each year. For example: Tether has already frozen 1,820 addresses with assets totaling $1.27 billion. Circle has frozen 241 addresses with $80 million. (A more modest amount) 🔘 Why are addresses frozen? Sanctions and fraud prevention. Companies comply with regulatory requirements, such as those from OFAC and the U.S. Department of Justice, freezing funds related to criminal activity. Reputation protection. Tether responds to reports of scams or mistakes. In 2020, they reversed a $1 million transaction mistakenly sent by a user. Maintaining relationships with regulators. Companies strive to keep good relations with regulators, especially in the U.S. In 2023, Tether spent around $700,000 on lobbying and holds more U.S. debt securities as reserves for its stablecoin than countries like Australia or Spain. 🔘 Why is this dangerous? While the freezing feature helps protect against fraud and illegal activity, it contradicts the principles of decentralization. Cryptocurrencies were designed to be an independent system, where decisions are made based on strict algorithms, without human intervention. 🔘 How does freezing work technically? It’s important to understand that the assets you see in blockchain explorers (like Etherscan) are not actually stored on addresses. They are merely data broadcast by USDT/USDC smart contracts. If the issuer decides to burn the assets, they simply stop showing up at that address. That’s how the ERC20 standard works. 🔘 What about DAI? DAI from MakerDAO was long considered a decentralized alternative to USDT and USDC. However, the new stablecoin USDS (instead of DAI) from MakerDAO (now SKY) introduces the possibility of freezing funds in smart contracts. While the community will decide on the freeze parameters, this step is driven by inevitable regulatory requirements. This shows how even decentralized projects are forced to adapt to new conditions. 🔘 How to avoid being frozen? Avoid sanctioned addresses. Check your counterparties and the origin of funds through AML services. Use reliable platforms. Buy USDT and USDC on trusted exchanges with good reputations or from exchangers you can trust. 💬 Freezing stablecoins is a reality we have to face. Full decentralization is becoming a utopia.

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When immutability poses as security... Cointelegraph reports: "A trader who recently revealed they had lost $26 million back in June after copying in the wrong deposit address says the experience has been “max pain.” Pseudonymous crypto investor qklpjeth told Cointelegraph that they accidentally transferred 7,912 Renzo restaked ETH (ezETH) — worth $26.4 million at current prices — to a safe contract address on June 19. Unfortunately, they said they entered the incorrect address and sent the funds to a safe module instead of his own safe, meaning that the tokens were “locked and unable to be withdrawn.” When asked about how the mistake was made, qklpjeth offered a short response: “In one word: wrong copy.”" 🤭 Crypto dyslexia strikes again. How is that one word? "While the mishap occurred nearly five months ago, they only recently put the call out to white hat hackers on X after exhausting all the traditional avenues for recovering their funds. Qklpjeth said they asked for help publicly in the hope that someone would be able to identify and exploit a smart contract bug that would allow them to recover their funds in full." 🙄 Where to begin? The fact that immutability is not security as sometimes you do want to be able to freeze/reverse transfers such as in cases of fraud/mistake. Or as I explained (https://lnkd.in/eMi-sdBa): "Immutability is often promoted as censorship resistance when it is better regarded as change resistance. Change is neither inherently bad (censorship) nor good (rectification). Context is key, and unthinking adoption of the blockchain will impede rectification, the typical remedy for inaccurate ledgers and other judicial remedies." In short, be careful what you wish for. Nor does the remedy of exploiting the smart contract bug augur well. Any bug that can be exploited can be exploited for ill or good. So any means for Qklpjeth to recover his mistaken transfer is equally an opportunity for black hats to steal from others. But hey, nuance is lost in the cryptoverse. 🤷🏻 Remarkably: "Meanwhile, Harrison Seletsky, director of business development at digital identity platform SPACE ID, told Cointelegraph that the multimillion-dollar mishap was a “wake-up call” for better user experience in the crypto industry. “It’s shocking that simple copy and paste errors are still costing people millions in crypto,” he said." Apparently, in the cryptoverse, they've never heard of the expression, "to err is human", perhaps because they've evolved to the point of 24/7 vigilance and are no longer human? 🤷🏻 "“It’s an awful experience to go through and I truly hope that this crypto user can recover their assets, but stories like this are a wake-up call for our industry. We need to do better.”" 🤔 How about permitting rectification? But then what would be the point of the blockchain? https://lnkd.in/gHY53BFp

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Will Do Kwon have fun being poor? The Financial Times reports: "Terraform Labs, the company behind the $40bn collapse of TerraUSD digital tokens in 2022, has agreed to pay $4.47bn in a case brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, making it the latest major cryptocurrency company to pay a hefty US penalty. The collapsed stablecoin operator and its chief executive, Do Kwon, were found liable by a New York jury in April in a civil case brought by the SEC, which accused them of arranging a cryptocurrency fraud that led to billions of dollars in losses." The civil penalty will essentially ensure that Terra is dead as a dodo: "“The entry of this judgment would ensure the maximal return of funds to harmed investors and put Terraform out of business for good,” the SEC said in a letter filed with the court. As part of the agreement proposed by the SEC to the court, Kwon will pay $204mn. He is also banned from serving as an officer or director of any public company." 🤔 I wonder who's going to have fun being poor now? Nor is his wealth his only (or even most immediate) concern: "Kwon is wanted by the US and South Korean authorities on separate criminal charges, but remains in Montenegro amid a legal fight over his extradition." So far the appetizer to his legal troubles seems sour but I wonder if the main course wouldn't be worse: downright bitter. But perhaps he will learn to look for the silver lining (after all, rose tinted glasses seem to come as standard issue for crypto participants): prison will spare him the cost of paying for food and lodging?

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The Yield Protocol hack underscores the urgent need for DeFi to evolve beyond conventional security measures. AI-driven threat detection offers proactive, intelligent safeguarding capabilities. 🚀 Could AI be the sentinel that DeFi desperately needs? #recruitment #crypto #blockchain #web3

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🚨 JUST IN: CFTC Chairman says 70-80% of cryptocurrencies are non-securities 🚨 Yes, you read that right. The CFTC Chairman's latest statement could reshape crypto regulation in the US. Here's why this matters: ▪️ 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁: Cryptocurrencies classified as non-securities will likely fall under CFTC oversight, not the SEC. This means different compliance requirements and potential ease for crypto tax practitioners. ▪️ 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝘀: An Illinois court confirmed Bitcoin and Ethereum as commodities under CFTC oversight. ▪️ 𝗦𝗘𝗖 𝘃𝘀. 𝗖𝗙𝗧𝗖: The SEC has historically viewed many cryptos as securities. This new declaration from the CFTC contrasts sharply, highlighting ongoing regulatory debates. ▪️ 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: The CFTC Chairman is urging Congress for clear legislative action. If granted, the CFTC could set a comprehensive regulatory framework within a year. Regulations are evolving. Stay informed.

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🚀Competition in Cheap and Fast LLM Token Generation 🚀 The field of large language model (LLM) token generation is rapidly advancing, with several companies competing to offer the fastest, most affordable, and efficient solutions. In this post, we'll explore the innovations from Groq, SambaNova, Cerebras, and Together.ai, highlighting their unique approaches and technologies. ⚡ Groq: Speed and Efficiency Redefined Groq is revolutionizing AI inference with its LPU™ AI technology. The LPU is designed to deliver exceptional speed and efficiency. Speed: Groq’s LPUs provide high throughput and low latency, ideal for applications that demand rapid processing. Affordability: By eliminating the need for external switches, Groq reduces CAPEX for on-prem deployments, offering a cost-effective solution. Energy Efficiency: Groq’s architecture is up to 10X more energy efficient compared to traditional systems. 🏢 SambaNova: Enterprise-Grade AI at Scale SambaNova’s fourth-generation SN40L chip is making waves with its dataflow architecture, designed for handling large models and complex workflows. Performance: The SN40L chip delivers world record performance with Llama 3.1 405b, utilizing a three-tier memory architecture to manage extensive models efficiently. Dataflow Architecture: This architecture optimizes communication between computations, resulting in higher throughput and lower latency. Ease of Use: SambaNova’s software stack simplifies the deployment and management of AI models. ⏱️ Cerebras: The Fastest Inference Platform Cerebras is known for its Wafer-Scale architecture and weight streaming technology, offering some of the fastest inference speeds available. Inference Speed: Cerebras claims their platform is 20X faster than GPUs, providing a significant boost in performance. Context Length: Their technology supports a native context length of 50K tokens. Training Efficiency: With support for dynamic sparsity, Cerebras models can be trained up to 8X faster than traditional methods. 💸 Together.ai: Cost-Effective and Scalable Inference Together.ai stands out with its cost-efficient inference solutions and scalable architecture. Cost Efficiency: Their platform is up to 11X cheaper than GPT-4o when using models like Llama-3. Scalability: Together.ai automatically scales capacity to meet demand, ensuring reliable performance as applications grow. Serverless Endpoints: They offer access to over 100 models through serverless endpoints. 🎥The advancements by Groq, SambaNova, Cerebras, and Together.ai highlight the rapid evolution in AI inference technologies. On my YouTube channel, "Murat Karakaya Akademi ( https://lnkd.in/dEHBv_S3 )," I frequently discuss such innovations and their impact on the AI landscape. Sources 📚 [1] Groq: https://groq.com/ [2] SambaNova: https://sambanova.ai/ [3] Cerebras: https://cerebras.ai/ [4] Together.ai: https://www.together.ai/

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Easily the best, simplified summary of why people use stablecoins: "...a single stablecoin can serve a different purpose depending on jurisdiction. For instance, in high-inflation nations like Zimbabwe and Nigeria, stablecoins have been adopted as alternative means of payment, remittances, and stores of value assets. Meanwhile, in advanced economies, stablecoins are widely used to fund cryptocurrency purchases." What do these use cases have in common? Both groups are using stablecoins to hedge their risk against a more volatile currency or cryptocurrency. Many people - especially from large financial institutions in major-currency economies - have long said volatility was the biggest problem with cryptocurrencies. But volatility relative to what? It's much easier to see the utility of crypto when you're dealing with friction resulting from relatively extreme volatility. This is why so many payments experts from Southeast Asia and who operated in a pre-Euro Europe caught onto crypto much faster than their friends in the US and Canada. These are also both 'cross-border' transactions - moving value between markets or networks with high friction around money movement, mostly due to financial regulations. Stablecoins make it easier to access previously closed-off markets, whether USD in a bank, or BTC on a blockchain. It took me longer than I'd like to admit to appreciate the potential for stablecoins, but am excited to see how they're doing incredible work to make financial markets more open and accessible. Watch how Circle and Tether.to brought the space to where it is today, and how newcomers like Ripple, Ethena Labs, and Versal, Inc. are bringing it forward.

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🚨FBI warns about ICHcoin preying on U.S. crypto investors The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has flagged ICHcoin as a scam targeting American investors by luring them through social media and coaxing them into sending large sums of money. Victims see false gains, only to be left empty-handed. On Thursday, the FBI spotlighted ICHcoin, a fake crypto scheme that exploits U.S. investors. The Houston FBI office seeks to identify more victims of this ploy. ICHcoin is dubbed a "con job" that launches on platforms like Instagram and Facebook, then switches conversations to WhatsApp. Investors believe in fake growth, only to be ignored when they want their money back. Some have lost everything.... Protect your investments guys✌🏽. ------------------------------- ➕ Follow for more ♻ Share with your network

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Crypto's utility grows... in scams and frauds. CoinDesk reports: "Investors lost a record $5.6 billion to crypto-related financial crime in 2023, up 45% from 2022, according to a new report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center. According to the report published Monday, investment fraud was the most pervasive – and expensive – type of crypto-related fraud in 2023. Of the more than 69,000 reports of crypto-related crime the agency received last year, nearly half were reports of investment fraud, and investment fraudsters made off with a whopping $4 billion. And while crypto crimes only made up about 10% of the complaints the FBI received, the $5.6 billion figure was roughly half the overall loss by complainants." 10% of complaints but 45% of losses but regardless of which figure one focuses on, does crypto even feature in 10%, much less 45%, of real world utility? 🤔 As ever, the cryptoverse continues to demonstrate that it is more bane than boon. "Last year, the most prominent type of crypto-related investment fraud was what the FBI described as “confidence-enabled” schemes. Sometimes called “pig butchering,” this type of investment fraud takes place over long periods of time as scammers form relationships with their victims, usually over messaging apps, before encouraging them to invest huge amounts of money in fraudulent cryptocurrency platforms that they are unable to withdraw from." This is hardly surprising. The cryptoverse is obsessed with ledger security but much more blasé about systemic security. Unsurprising given its libertarian origins, of course, but hardly fit for purpose for wider adoption. As Dr Eliza Mik and I pointed out years ago now (https://lnkd.in/f8qt-cU): "What is the point of securing the network if the end users are left exposed? “Only amateurs attack machines; professionals target people”. The risks of hacking have resulted in the practice of keeping private keys in socalled cold wallets, which are media, including paper, unconnected to the Internet. However, this trades off convenience for security. Such keys can also be “stolen” if they are gleaned by dishonest strangers. Good old-fashioned violence will also do the trick." According to Crypto Briefing (https://lnkd.in/dwXb32qP): "For the crypto industry, these findings highlight the urgent need for improved security measures, enhanced user education, and stronger collaboration with law enforcement agencies. The substantial increase in fraud cases may also prompt regulators to scrutinize the sector more closely, potentially leading to stricter oversight and compliance requirements for crypto firm." 🤣🤣🤣 Good luck getting the cryptoverse on board with compliance with regulation. https://lnkd.in/dXHndpA5

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https://lnkd.in/gH7-eH5C Also..... The largest single category of that stablecoin-enabled crime was sanctions evasion. In fact, across all cryptocurrencies, sanctions evasion accounted for more than half of the $24.2 billion in criminal transactions Chainalysis observed in 2023, with stablecoins representing the vast majority of those transactions. ------- As I pointed out in my public consultation to Legco since much of the Hong Kong Executive Council including the Chief Executive, Secretary of Security, and Chief of Police are under US sanctions, Hong Kong should encourage the development of virtual assets to advance Chinese national security. Because I am a US citizen, I can't be directly involved in sanctions busting activities, but I can salute the people who are. Anyway Legco has asked Customs and Excise to do a survey of the OTC markets to see what's going on, and I think they will find a bunch of patriots that are using their skills at moving money to advance Chinese national security. Turns out when you run a cash business, you want clean, honest, effective cops, and you aren't that happy when there are riots everywhere. Kind of bad for business.

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Big news day for us here at ZKsync including Deutsche Bank, Lens (Avara), and Sophon Labs... 1. Deutsche Bank taps ZKsync for compliance-driven Ethereum L2 blockchain - Project Dama 2 is part of Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)'s Project Guardian involving 24 financial institutions exploring blockchain-based asset tokenization. - https://lnkd.in/g5iAKEXS 2. Aave protocol developer secures $31m for Lens, a high-performance blockchain for consumer apps - ZKsync is the base technology using validiums making transactions much more affordable to create a new design space for consumer applications - https://lnkd.in/gKx47WuB 3. Sophon mainnet goes live with $500m TVL and strategic industry collaborations - Along with Beam, they are launching a $150m gaming fund and accelerator in Abu Dhabi plus a $40m Tactical Compute Initiative targeting AI x crypto - https://lnkd.in/grCp2Bh6 #ethereum #blockchain #gaming #ai #crypto

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