9/30/24: The Greater Good ⛓️🛡️💰

Top News

  1. Vitalik proposes new metrics to measure Ethereum’s core values

  2. Stand With Crypto endorses 39 House and Senate candidates

  3. FTX to set aside $230M for shareholders, not creditors

Specs’ Insights

1. Vitalik proposes new metrics to measure Ethereum’s core values

⌐◪-◪ → Vitalik wants us to assimilate. On Friday, he published a 2,000-word blog post outlining metrics to measure a project’s “Ethereum Alignment” — or how aligned it is with Ethereum’s core values.

Here are the metrics he proposed to make Ethereum alignment more legible:

  • open source → the gold standard is FSF and OSI 

  • open standards → ensuring use of ERC standards

  • decentralization → the walkaway and insider attack test

  • positive sum → value accrual to Ethereum and the world

The main takeaway is that we need to ensure we’re building a cohesive Ethereum ecosystem and not “138 incompatible fiefdoms,” as Vitalik put it.

2. Stand With Crypto endorses 39 House and Senate candidates

⌐◪-◪ → Stand With Crypto, the political advocacy group launched by Coinbase, just endorsed 39 House and Senate candidates — 20 Republicans and 19 Democrats.

More interestingly, however, is the fact that they abstained from endorsing candidates in key battleground states like Michigan, Arizona, and Ohio — races that may determine control of Congress’ upper chamber.

Decrypt speculates this was a reaction to the controversial Fairshake Super PAC (also backed by Coinbase) in these same races — however, Stand With Crypto hasn’t responded to any requests for comment yet.

The biggest race to watch still seems to be Deaton (R) vs. Warren (D) in Massachusetts — she’s one of crypto’s biggest (and most powerful) critics.

Check out Stand With Crypto’s full list of endorsed candidates here.

3. FTX to set aside $230M for shareholders, not creditors

⌐◪-◪ → Take a back seat, creditors! According to a new document, FTX is setting aside up to $230M of proceeds from government forfeitures for certain shareholders.

Usually, shareholders are the last to be reimbursed in the bankruptcy process, only after creditors have been made whole — making this pretty unusual. Furthermore, creditors had no input on this decision, leaving many feeling scammed yet again.

To make matters worse, creditor claims are being denominated in USD, meaning a creditor who lost 1 BTC will only receive $16k, based on Bitcoin’s value in USD at the time of loss. Very different from the Mt. Gox bankruptcy process.

Looking forward, the confirmation hearing, where a judge will approve or deny the reorganization/reimbursement plan, is scheduled to take place on October 7th at 10 am ET. Stay tuned.

Everything Else

⛓️ Crypto & DeFi

  • Ethereum staking yields could outpace US rates

  • Ethena community considers integrating Ethereal DEX

  • Crypto whale loses $32M in phishing attack

  • Ethereum transaction fees hit 3-month high

  • Onyx hit with a $3.2M exploit, the second attack within a year

  • Bedrock exploit lets users swap 1 BTC for 1 ETH, $2M lost

  • EigenLayer transferability unlocks, Binance to list token

  • Token unlocks this week: SUI, OP, IMX, DYDX, WLD, PRIME, GAL

  • Kaito adds feature that measures “KOL Mindshare”

🏦 Wallstreet & VC

🏛️ Legal & Regulatory

  • Mango Markets settles with the SEC over unregistered securities charges

  • Republican control of Senate would benefit crypto, says Sen. Lummis

  • DOJ seizes $6M linked to crypto romance schemes

🌎 Rest Of The World

  • Bithumb, South Koreas 2nd largest crypto exchange, eyes the NASDAQ

  • Australia’s Vinyl Group acquires London-based Serenade

  • China’s ex-Minister of Finance calls crypto a “crucial aspect” of the economy

  • Bitcoin shows positive 30-day correlation with China’s central bank

  • Japan plans to review its crypto rules according to anonymous official

  • Taiwan now lets “professional investors” to invest in foreign Bitcoin ETFs

🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse

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