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- 8/26/24: Pavel Visits Paris ⛓️💰💻
8/26/24: Pavel Visits Paris ⛓️💰💻
Top News
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov arrested in France
Ethereum Foundation reveals $100M/year budget
Polygon, Avalanche, and ZKsync Discord’s get hacked
Specs’ Insights
1. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov arrested in France
Arrest of Pavel Durov is a disturbing attack on free speech and a threat not just to Telegram but to any online platform.
Governments should not engage in censorship. This is a blatant and deeply troubling overreach of power.
— Lex Fridman (@lexfridman)
7:01 PM • Aug 25, 2024
⌐◪-◪ → The CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France this weekend for refusing to cooperate with their government to censor or moderate certain chat rooms.
Tech and finance leaders like Lex Fridman, Vitalik Buterin, and Balaji have condemned the arrest, calling it a blatant attack on free speech and governmental overreach.
This case seems like another example of “it’s not the tool that commits the crime, but the person,” similar to arguments from Tornado Cash developers. But why would Pavel fly into France knowing there was an active warrant for his arrest?
To be clear, I don’t think anybody should be arrested for creating a platform where people interact freely — like the Silk Road, Telegram, or X — but again, there could be more to this story.
Zooming out, here’s where I think Pavel went wrong. Telegram parades itself as a free speech platform, one that is against censorship and surveillance, but I’m not sure it was actually architected that way.
2. Ethereum Foundation reveals $100M/year budget
Note that #Ethereum Foundation deposited 35,000 $ETH($94.07M) into #Kraken just now!🚨
etherscan.io/address/0xde0b…
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain)
5:32 PM • Aug 23, 2024
⌐◪-◪ → The Ethereum Foundation moved over $100M to Kraken, which was quickly revealed to be their annual budget for grants, salaries, and other expenses.
Crypto Twitter is upset about two main issues:
The large amount of money being spent.
The lack of transparency.
Personally, I don’t think the amount is an issue—$100M isn’t as much as people think, but how it’s spent matters. The real concern is the lack of transparency.
DCinvestor proposed a simple 3-step framework: a budget breakdown, smaller transfers, and clear disclosures. I think it’s a solid approach.
I’m disappointed in the Foundation’s lack of transparency—it feels more like a government move than a decentralized community effort.
3. Polygon, Avalanche, and ZKsync Discord’s get hacked
SECURITY ALERT: The official Avalanche Discord has been compromised.
Please do not interact with any accounts or click any links until further notice.
— Avalanche 🔺 (@avax)
5:23 PM • Aug 25, 2024
⌐◪-◪ → The Discords of several major projects, including Polygon, Avalanche, and ZKsync, were hacked, sharing the same link to a scam token.
One user, ValidatorK, lost $150k in Ethereum after clicking what appeared to be an official announcement from Polygon’s Discord.
This is a good reminder about TAP—the Three-Address Protocol: a simple wallet setup that separates your accounts into a vault wallet, a general transaction wallet, and a minting wallet.
Even seasoned veterans can make mistakes. It’s easy to click a bad link when you’re in a rush, pulling an all-nighter, or just not paying attention.
Everything Else
⛓️ Crypto & DeFi
Bitcoin reaches $65K as Powell says time has come for rate cuts
Bitcoin ‘bull market’ back, according to the IFP index
Vitalik questions DeFi yields on X
Fifty-one L2s built on the OP stack alone
MacOS ‘Cthulhu Stealer’ malware drains wallets
TON falls 20%, reassures investors that community is strong
JLP hits ATH as an alternative play on majors
Stablecoin market cap hits new ATH, surpassing 2022 record
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong released an on-chain score checker
🏦 Wallstreet & VC
Bitcoin ETFs log $250M inflows, highest after July
Binance Labs announces investments in AI-powered DApps
Chainbound raises $4.6M to develop transaction protocol Bolt
Semler Scientific buys additional Bitcoin worth $5M
🏛️ Legal & Regulatory
SEC lawsuit against Kraken moves forward, judge rules
US trustee challenges FTX restructuring plan on legal concerns
State of Wyoming plans its own stablecoin: CNBC
Kamala re-flipped Donald Trump on Polymarket
🌎 Rest of the World
Hong Kong rejects some crypto firms seeking licenses
India's CBDC reaches 5M users, gradual rollout planned
Hong Kong Bitcoin ETFs hit HK $2B in assets under management
WazirX to enable rupee withdrawals starting today
Argentina introduces Ethereum education in high schools
Thailand authorities raid illegal mining operation
🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse
3 XCOPY Editions sweeped
Bybit lists SUNDOG on TRX
Fantasy Top volume increases indicating come back
Phantom adds real-time support for interest-bearing assets