Friends, Be Careful of North Korea

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Good Morning.

September is historically a down month and we’re already witnessing that on the first few trading days of the month. The NASDAQ fell thanks to NVDA’s subpoena and seasonality, and unsurprisingly, crypto is affected as a risk-on asset.

In Today's Email:

• What Matters: FBI on North Korean hacker 👾 

• Case Study: Revolutionizing crypto UX 🖼️ 

• Governance & Features: MKR-AAVE join forces 🤝 

You read and share. We listen and improve. Send us feedback at [email protected].

TOGETHER WITH

NPC Labs

NPC Labs, a pioneering platform bridging digital and physical assets, is thrilled to announce its participation in Coinbase's Onchain Summer event.

NPC Labs is at the forefront of the phygital revolution, offering a comprehensive platform that connects digital assets to real-world items. As a one-stop solution for creating, monetizing, and scaling global distribution networks, NPC Labs empowers creators and businesses to seamlessly bridge the gap between the digital and physical realms.

• NPC Labs just launched its first NFT series for Base Onchain Summer with a series of notable artists including NYGILIA, Gabe Weis, JaneDoe, Kevin Genido, K.O, Jordan Donald, Sam Tavill, Qing The Creator, and other talented creators.

• NPC Labs is also teaming up with Playground to release a new dedicated mint and redemption platform for Base, built on NPC’s fulfillment rails: base.npclabs.xyz 

• The intellectual property rights of each artist and their collectors are also stamped onchain, thanks to the support of MINTangible, NPC Lab’s partner for IP management. In addition, Geeq is helping NPC preserve the historical record of the drop onchain through NPC Labs' first Geeq Stack--a milestone catalog uniting pioneering artists in one historic record.

For more information about NPC Labs and their participation in Base's Onchain Summer, please visit npclabs.xyz or follow @NPC_Labs on X

WHAT MATTERS

FBI: North Korean Hackers Aggressively Target Crypto Employees

State of play: The FBI warns that North Korean hackers are actively targeting employees in the web3 industry to steal crypto.

• The North Korean hackers use sophisticated social engineering, impersonation, and tailored scenarios to gain trust and access to company networks.

• They also research potential targets and conduct pre-operational preparations for malicious activities.

• FBI suggests companies avoid storing sensitive crypto data on internet-connected devices, not perform debugging exercises on work computers, and use strong verification systems.

What’s next: The FBI and other security agencies will likely continue to investigate and track North Korean cybercriminal activity.

Why it matters: According to The Block, North Korean hackers have stolen $3B in crypto as of July 2024.

Our take: The web3 industry may need to collaborate on developing new security protocols and best practices to combat these evolving threats.

For builders and investors: Be careful.

CASE STUDY

Particle Network: Revolutionizing Crypto UX

Credits to Kairos Research for the original tweet

Particle Network's comprehensive approach to user abstraction has the potential to significantly improve the crypto user experience, attracting a new wave of users and driving further adoption.

By owning the full abstraction stack and focusing on integration with existing wallets and Dapps, Particle is well-positioned to make a meaningful impact on the crypto ecosystem.

Particle Network is revolutionizing crypto UX by addressing key pain points in the industry:

Simplified User Experience:

• Chain Abstraction: Eliminates the need for users to understand complex blockchain infrastructure, enabling seamless cross-chain transactions.

• Wallet/Account Abstraction: Streamlines wallet creation and management, offering features like social logins and enhanced security.

Unified Infrastructure:

• Particle Chain: A modular layer 1 providing the backend for multi-chain, smart contract wallets.

• Universal Accounts: A single address and seed phrase for managing assets across multiple chains.

• Universal Liquidity and Gas: Simplified cross-chain asset transfers and gas payments.

PARTI Token and Ecosystem:

• PARTI serves as both a native PoS asset and a gas payment token.

• Its value is driven by network usage and transaction fees.

Take a peek at our referral reward at the bottom of this issue. Share this newsletter and receive our list of 500 crypto VC individuals 👇

INSIGHTS

Matter Labs Cuts Staff as ZKsync Demand Falls

Matter Labs, the company behind Ethereum Layer 2 protocol ZKsync, has announced a 16% reduction in its workforce.

• This decision comes as the company faces changing market conditions and a shift in demand towards ZK Chains.

• The move follows a decline in active addresses on ZKsync, which peaked at over 450,000 in April but dropped to around 92,600.

• CEO Alex Gluchowski stated that the company is adapting its strategy and team composition to better meet the evolving needs of developers building on the ZKsync Era.

• Gluchowski emphasized that launching new products like Elastic Chain and ZK Nation prompted reevaluating the company's strategy and goals.

• Despite the layoffs, Matter Labs remains committed to accelerating the mass adoption of crypto for personal sovereignty.

FEATURES & GOVERNANCE UPDATE

Sky and Aave Partnership: Sky Aave Force

Aave and Sky (formerly Maker), two decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, have announced a collaboration called Sky Aave Force to bridge DeFi and traditional finance.

• This involves integrating Sky's new token Sky Dollar (USDS) and Savings Sky Dollar (sUSDS) into Aave, allowing them to be used as collateral, borrowed, and swapped.

• This move is expected to boost the adoption of USDS and increase Aave's total value locked and revenue.

• A Direct Deposit Module is proposed within Aave's Lido-specific instance to enable direct transactions of USDS tokens from Sky to an Aave lending pool, further promoting USDS adoption.

Other notable feature updates:

• AO launched ArFleet.

• Sk launched Sky.money.

• Stacks launched its Nakamoto Upgrade.

• Story Protocol launched its first public testnet.

• Soneium launched the Soneium Minato Testnet.

• Frax Finance launched the Frax Name Service (FNS).

• EigenLayer launched permissionless token support on the mainnet.

QUICK BITES

• Matter Labs cuts workforce by 16%.

• CFTC recovers $18M worth of crypto.

• Nexo resumes UK client registrations.

• Polygon transitions MATIC token to POL.

• Bitcoin hash rate hits new ATH even as price falls.

• Binance reveals details on its upcoming Solana LST.

• Qatar improves regulatory clarity for cryptocurrency.

• Ripple CEO says its new stablecoin is very close to launch.

• SEC charges and settles with crypto-focused Galois Capital.

• Ex Mt.Gox CEO set to launch a new crypto exchange this month.

• Trump-backed DeFi protocol reportedly based on Dough Finance.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

• Murtaza’s read on Chris Dixon’s book reflection.

• Chris Carella’s read on the primitives of a Farcaster app.

• DeFi Ignas’ read on the current crypto market sentiment.

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.