⌐◪-◪ → This is a pretty surreal day. I've been a member of the CryptoPunks community since 2017, and the project has (more or less) never been touched by its creators/owners/developers.

For those who don't know - CryptoPunks was created by Matt & John at Larva Labs, who later sold the CryptoPunks IP to Yuga Labs, the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club.

Now, Yuga Labs seeks to—carefully—upgrade the legacy (pre-ERC-721) project with a new wrapper contract designed by the legendary coder and CryptoPunk 0xQuit.

I haven't delved into the new wrapper contract to understand its new features or, more importantly, what it might be preparing for in the future, but make no mistake - this is a very big deal and worth understanding.

If you want to follow along as I learn more about the contract and its implications, join the Specs Telegram Chat below. This chat is the real alpha.

⌐◪-◪ → The US has officially finalized the forfeiture of 69,370 Bitcoin ($3B USD) from the now-defunct Silk Road dark web market.

The government was already in control of the crypto after it was handed over by a so-called "Individual X" who hacked the Silk Road and gained control of funds, according to the original complaint.

Meanwhile, Ross Ulbricht (aka Dread Pirate Roberts) is serving a life sentence in jail for founding and operating the Silk Road from 2011 to 2013.

Sometimes I wish they'd set Ross free—but then again—he apparently hired a hitman. Maybe this is best.

⌐◪-◪ → I've gotta be honest, I'm loving Bitwise's commercials featuring the "world's most interesting man."

While things are definitely not back in full force, it's starting to feel like the big crypto marketing budgets are back - with Hashdex releasing their own—albeit a different style—Bitcoin ETF commercial too.

It appears that big crypto marketing budgets are back, with Hashdex having their own—albeit a different style—Bitcoin ETF commercial as well.

The Super Bowl should be interesting this year, especially if the Bitcoin ETFs are approved in time.