Read in the Digest:
- U.S. Senate FTX collapse hearing highlights gaps in regulatory authority
- Magic Eden launches Solana NFT protocol to enforce creator royalties
- Ankr Protocol loses $5 million in exploit, Binance pauses withdrawals
- Orca brings fiat-to-crypto transactions to Solana via Stripe Integration
U.S. Senate FTX Collapse Hearing Highlights Gaps in Regulatory Authority
In a December 1st hearing, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Rostin Behnam and U.S. Senators agreed that the collapse of FTX has brought notable gaps in current legislation to light.
In the hearing, Senator Tina Smith commented that the implosion of FTX was “shocking, not surprising,” and there will continue to be future crises as long as regulatory gaps remain.
The CFTC boss lobbied for greater oversight for his agency in regulating the crypto industry, arguing that “there will remain gaps in a federal regulatory framework, even if other regulators act within their existing authority.”
Behnam said extending CFTC authority is “about filling a gap,” pointing to the success of LedgerX. He also urged Congress to act fast on crypto regulation.
Flipsider:
- Politicians who received donations from FTX’s Bankman-Fried have either returned or re-donated around $1.2 million to a charitable organization.
Why You Should Care
The collapse of FTX has raised the question of how much oversight will be given to regulatory agencies in a bid to clamp down on a reoccurrence.
Magic Eden Launches Solana NFT Protocol to Enforce Creator Royalties
Magic Eden, the leading non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace for Solana-based digital art, has launched a new protocol to allow creators to enforce royalties on all new collections using the tool.
The Open Creator Protocol (OCP) of Magic Eden is built on top of Solana’s SPL token standard and will allow royalty enforcement for new collections starting on Friday, December 2nd.
To protect creator royalties, Magic Eden’s OCP allows creators to ban marketplaces that have not protected royalties on their collection – similar to the move from competing marketplace, OpenSea.
In addition, Magic Eden says it will continue to maintain optional royalties on its platform for collections that do not adopt the OCP.
Flipsider:
- Magic Eden explains that it cannot “retroactively apply OCP to existing collections” and creators will need to conduct “burn [and] re-mints.”
Why You Should Care
Magic Eden’s OCP could help attract creators to its marketplace at a time when competing marketplaces are refusing to honour royalties.
Ankr Protocol Loses $5 million in Exploit, Binance Pauses Withdrawals
Ankr, a blockchain-based cross-chain infrastructure protocol, has suffered a $5 million exploit resulting from a bug in its code that allowed for unlimited minting of its reward-bearing staking tokens – aBNBc.
Security research firm PeckShield reported that the exploiter was able to mint six quadrillions of the aBNBc token without any sort of verification. The Ankr development team confirmed the exploit via Twitter.
PeckShield also reported that the Ankr exploiter transferred 900 BNB worth around $253,000 into Tornado Cash and bridged USDC and ETH to Ethereum. The exploiter currently holds 3,000 ETH (around $3.8 million) and 500,000 USDC.
In all, the exploit was valued at around $5 million. However, Binance’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao reported that the exchange had frozen about $3 million that the exploiter moved to Binance.
Flipsider:
- The Ankr team has announced that all underlying assets on Ankr Staking were safe at this time, and all infrastructure services were unaffected.
Why You Should Care
The exploit of Ankr once again puts focus on the major flaw that decentralized finance (DeFi) has been unable to overcome.
Apple Blocks Coinbase Wallet over 30% Gas Fees Cut on NFT Transactions
On Thursday, December 1st, America’s biggest crypto exchange, Coinbase, announced on Twitter that it had disabled non-fungible token (NFT) transfers on its iOS wallet app over a dispute concerning Apple’s in-app purchase policy.
According to Coinbase, Apple requests a 30% cut on any Ethereum gas fees paid NFT transactions via the wallet app, as part of the company’s in-app purchase policy updated in October.
Coinbase said the policy aims at protecting Apple’s profit at the expense of consumer investments. In addition, Apple blocked Coinbase’s last app release until the crypto exchange disables the NFT feature.
Coinbase has said the policy is “akin to Apple trying to take a cut of fees for every email that gets sent over open internet protocols.” The move has sparked outrage in the crypto community, which has spoken against the tech giant.
Flipsider:
- Coinbase explained that they cannot comply with Apple’s 30% payment due to the company’s in-app purchase system’s lack of support for crypto payments.
Why You Should Care
Many believe that Apple’s strict NFT fee policy will make it more difficult for users to transfer their assets and limit mainstream adoption of NFTs.
Orca Brings Fiat-to-Crypto Transactions to Solana via Stripe Integration
Orca, a Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX), has debuted fiat purchases and fiat-to-crypto transactions on the Solana chain by integrating Stripe’s new fiat-to-crypto on-ramp solution.
In what marks Stripe’s first integration with a decentralized exchange across any blockchain, users can now make fiat purchases for tokens such as USDC and SOL via the on-ramp solution built in Orca.
Tokens purchased by users with the solution will be transferred back to their Solana wallets, where they will appear in the token panel.
Orca’s co-founder, Ori Kawn, in speaking on the integration explained that a core part of the company’s mission “is to enable broader economic access” to decentralized finance (DeFi).
Flipsider:
- Orca’s announcement comes after Stripe announced the launch of its new fiat-to-crypto payments offering for Web3 companies on Thursday, December 1st.
Why You Should Care
Orca’s integration will make DeFi more accessible to users and could help boost the Solana ecosystem shaken by the FTX collapse.