The Disrupt

“On Thursday, Ethereum developers decided to consider eight Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) for inclusion in the network’s upcoming hard fork, called “Shanghai.” Having EIPs “considered for inclusion” (CFI) means that the developers will commit to developing these proposals and will run them through tests on developer networks (devnets).

Even before the core developers met, they’d determined that Beacon Chain withdrawals, or EIP 4895, was definitely going to be part of the fork. This means that once Ethereum goes through its next upgrade, users that staked ether prior to the Merge by locking them up in the Beacon Chain smart contract will be able to access them, along with any additional accrued rewards.

For now, EIP 4844, also known as proto-danksharding, is in the CFI package. EIP 4844 is a significant step the protocol would take toward making the network more scalable. The implementation of the EVM Object Format (EOF) [also] made it into the batch, which is a collection of EIPs that essentially upgrade the Ethereum Virtual Machine, the environment where Ethereum is able to deploy smart contracts. Most of the changes are focused on making the smart contract execution safer, by verifying that certain conditions are met.

[For timing], some developers want to expedite Shanghai and include only the ETH withdrawal EIP along with a few other smaller EIPs, sometime in March 2023. Then, a subsequent fork would include another significant scaling upgrade – proto-danksharding – and would ship sometime during the fall of 2023. Other developers want a bigger, comprehensive Shanghai upgrade to happen that would include both major upgrades. Last month, developers introduced the Shandong testnet, where they can explore and resolve any bugs related to some of these EIPs.”

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“Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has confirmed that the exchange’s U.S. wing will be making a fresh bid for crypto lender Voyager now that the defunct FTX is unable to follow through with acquiring it. Following Voyager’s bankruptcy, FTX emerged as the front runner to acquire the lender, with Binance’s bid said to be held back over concerns that it would represent a national security concern for the U.S. government.

I think the U.S. national security concerns were rumors spread by FTX to try and push us out of the bid. There was never any concerns about us participating in the bid.”

See Also: Binance Targets $1B Recovery Fund for Distressed Crypto Assets: Bloomberg
See Also: CrossTower eyeing further crypto acquisitions outside of Voyager bid

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“Chainalysis’ research lead found that Mt. Gox averaged 46% of all exchange inflows in the year leading up to its collapse in 2014, compared with FTX’s average of 13%.

Jardine [further] noted in 2014, when Mt. Gox collapsed, that centralized exchanges (CEXs) were the only players in the game. Meanwhile, in late 2022, nearly half of all exchange inflows were captured by decentralized exchanges (DEXs) such as Uniswap and Curve.

When it’s boiled down to market fundamentals, there’s no reason to think the industry can’t bounce back from this, stronger than ever.”

See Also: No Let-Up in Demand for Bitcoin, Ether Puts After Dovish Fed Minutes

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“The former FTX CEO said he will be speaking at a conference by The New York Times, the same outfit that wrote the recent puff piece on Bankman-Fried. Bankman-Fried announced he will be speaking with The New York Times journalist Andrew Sorkin at the DealBook Summit “next Wednesday.” The news was confirmed publicly by Sorkin.

Vocal members of Crypto Twitter have questioned why the former CEO of the now-bankrupt exchange continues to walk free, given the events over the last month.

U.S. Attorney John Deaton and founder of Crypto Law remarked to his 229,300 Twitter followers that if U.S. law enforcement doesn’t arrest and charge Bankman-Fried — who’s currently situated in the Bahamas — for fraud and theft offenses if he enters the U.S. next week, then the justice system “has been compromised.”

The fact he is going to be speaking on stage at a damn conference rather than in custody being investigated for fraud and theft is incredible.”

See Also: Why Isn’t Sam Bankman-Fried In Handcuffs Yet?

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“Cryptocurrencies without an issuer such as bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) are not securities, Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority said Thursday.

The rules say that transferable instruments with an issuer are likely to constitute a security. That means they must produce an honest prospectus of information for potential investors, and must apply an EU law known as MiFID, which requires financiers to be clear and to avoid conflicts of interest. Even if those rules don’t apply, there are still existing requirements on crypto companies to apply anti-money laundering procedures, the guidance said.”

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“The firm said that when using Infura, which is the default remote procedure call (RPC) provider, on digital wallet MetaMask, Infura will collect the user’s IP address and Ethereum wallet address for transactions. If a user switches to a different RPC on MetaMask the financial data will not be collected.

Meanwhile, Crypto Twitter community members expressed displeasure at the move, which some felt invaded a user’s privacy.”

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“Russian lawmakers are working on amendments to launch a national crypto exchange. This effort is reportedly supported both by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Russia, which have a long history of disagreement over crypto regulation in the country.

It makes no sense to deny the existence of cryptocurrencies, the problem is they circulate in a large stream outside of state regulation. These are billions of tax rubles of lost tax revenues to the federal budget.

See Also: IMF calls for tighter crypto regulation in Africa as the industry unfolds

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“Avengers: Endgame directors the Russo brothers will produce a mini-series based on FTX’s collapse, with “multiple Marvel actors” in talks to star.

Describing the collapse of FTX as ‘one of the most brazen frauds ever committed,’ the Russo brothers called Bankman-Fried, ‘an extremely mysterious figure with complex and potentially dangerous motivations.’ It will be based on “insider reporting” from multiple unnamed journalists who’ve covered the FTX saga and its founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.”