Companies race to solve bitcoin’s security problem despite slumping prices 2321

Start-ups are driving ahead with plans to solve the issue of custody, or having a place to securely store cryptocurrency. For institutional investors that are used to having money safely stored or FDIC insured, where they would put their high-paying clients’ cryptocurrency is said to be the biggest question mark.

“Institutional investors are very interested in finding a solution, but they haven’t seen one that they think is perfect for various reasons,” said Monica Summerville, senior analyst at TABB Group specializing in financial technology. “They still self-custody, and manage all their own keys.”

Summerville works with one family office that stores clients’ cryptocurrency on tiny, USB drive-looking devices in order to guard against hacks. The devices they use are about the size of a baby carrot, and fund managers organize them in binders to keep money organized until there’s a better alternative.

Other smaller retail investors opt to keep cryptocurrency on an exchange or have their own offline, arguably safer methods called “cold storage.” But it’s more complicated for family offices and hedge funds. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires private funds to use a third party, like a bank or another regulated financial institution for those holding more than $150 million in assets.

In cryptocurrency, often the only thing standing between money and a hacker is what’s known as a “private key” or an alphanumeric code to access funds. Companies that manage these cryptographic keys are known as custodians, acting like traditional Wall Street custodians such as State Street and Bank of New York.

The race to custody

Crypto company BitGo is among the companies looking to fill that gap. On Thursday, it received a state trust company charter from the South Dakota Division of Banking, making it the only regulated custody offering that’s built just for storing digital assets.

“This is the missing piece for infrastructure — it’s a treacherous environment today” BitGo co-founder and CEO Mike Belshe told CNBC. “Hedge funds need it, family offices need it, they can’t participate in digital currency until they have a place to store it that’s regulated.”

BitGo is opening itself up to regulatory scrutiny that isn’t required for most cryptocurrency companies. The Palo Alto, California-based start-up will file financial audits, adhere to “know your customer” and anti money-laundering rules, and file monthly disclosures.

Belshe, who started as a software engineer at HP and Netscape, said BitGo will eventually look to become a broker-dealer, but he declined to give a timeline.

‘Plethora’ of opportunity

BitGo is not the only one plowing ahead on custody solutions. Coinbase, Gemini (run by the Winklevoss twins), Ledger and ItBit are also looking to be those trusted safeguards. Japanese bank Nomura announced plans in May to offer crypto custody. Goldman Sachs and Northern Trust are also reportedly exploring offering custodial services.

Sanford C. Bernstein is among the firms arguing that reputable custody is one of the biggest headwinds to institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies. Solving that problem could be one way to make money in the space, according to Bernstein.

“As the crypto-asset class seasons and institutional demand builds, there are a plethora of opportunities for traditional firms to engage in the eco-system,” Bernstein analyst Christian Bolu wrote in a note to clients in August. “These include the provision of custodial and asset management services as well as traditional brokerage functions like market-making.”

Part of the hesitation from institutional investors is headline risk. As of the end of June, $1.6 billion in cryptocurrency had been stolen from clients, according to CoinDesk’s 2018 State of Blockchain Report.

Hacks have also been an issue for bitcoin prices this year. Cryptocurrencies have lost more than 60 percent of their market capitalization since the beginning of this year, according to CoinMarketCap.com. Trading volumes of cryptocurrencies have also plummeted 65 percent while the price of bitcoin has fallen 50 percent this year. Despite waning interest, Belshe is betting that BitGo will at least still have cryptocurrency to store long-term.

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zkPass pre-alpha testnet opens for public testing 5958

In a significant stride towards revolutionizing data privacy and verification, zkPass, the innovative privacy-preserving protocol for private data verification, announces that its Pre-alpha Testnet is open for public testing.

A Glimpse into the Future: zkPass Pre-alpha Testnet

The zkPass Pre-alpha Testnet presents a transformative approach to private data verification. Built on the bedrock of Multi-Party Computation (MPC), Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP), and Three-party Transport Layer Security (3P-TLS), zkPass introduces TransGate—a gateway empowering users to selectively and privately validate their data from any HTTPS website. This encompasses diverse data types, including legal identity, financial records, healthcare information, social interactions, work history, education, and skill certifications. zkPass achieves these verifications securely and privately, obviating the necessity to reveal or upload sensitive personal data to third parties.

The Power of Scalability

zkPass can be readily incorporated into multiple application scenarios, including composable decentralized identity passes, DeFi lending protocols based on off-chain credit, privacy-ensured healthcare data marketplaces, and dating apps featuring verifiable zkSBTs, etc. Wherever there is a need for trust and privacy, zkPass can provide a solution.

By employing cryptographic technologies like MPC, ZKP, and others, zkPass enables users to validate their private data through the verification of their HTTPS-based web session—eliminating the need for file uploads or the exposure of sensitive details.

For example, through zkPass, Alice can prove:

  • Based on her server response to the Steam/GOG website, she has purchased 10+ games with 100+ hours of gameplay and is not required to disclose any other private information about her account to a third party.
  • Based on her server response with the Harvard Alumni website, she has a Bachelor’s degree and is an alumnus of Harvard University, but does not disclose any of her other superfluous personal data.
  • Based on her server response with the Porsche website, she owns a Porsche, but does not disclose her frame number, purchase order, or other private data.
  • Based on her server response with the bank’s website, she owns assets greater than $100K, but does not disclose any of her specific account assets, transfer records, or other private data.

zkPass can be applied in various scenarios to enhance user experience, trust, and privacy:

  • The Metaverse/GameFi program is looking for gaming ambassadors to participate in a test and offer a reward, and they can easily verify that Alice is their target user.
  • Alice can seamlessly access the Alumni DAO via her zkPass zkSBT while ensuring privacy and trustworthiness.
  • Alice leveraged her RWA ZKPs to establish a reputation for high ratings, which allowed her to access a DeFi lending platform and secure lower mortgage and borrowing rates, ultimately boosting her capital efficiency.

By redesigning the TLS protocol to Three-party TLS, zkPass makes it seamless for any HTTPS-based website to be used as a trusted data source for provenance of zero-knowledge metadata without having to authorize any APIs.

Open Invitation to Shape the Future

zkPass launched its Pre-alpha Testnet in July, receiving an overwhelming response with over 200,000 waitlist signups. Currently, tens of thousands of whitelisted users have already generated more than 100,000 zero-knowledge proofs, each representing their respective private data, identity, or ownership.

User feedback holds immense importance as it helps refine and enhance their solution. The public release of the Pre-alpha Testnet extends a warm invitation to technology enthusiasts, privacy advocates, and individuals who deeply value secure data practices. This invitation aims to shape the future landscape of data privacy alongside zkPass collectively.

Participating in the Pre-alpha Testnet not only grants users early access to an advanced solution but also empowers them to actively contribute towards its improvement. This collaborative effort is a key driver in tailoring zkPass into a privacy-focused protocol that empowers users in an increasingly data-centric world.

How to Get Involved

Getting involved in zkPass’s Pre-alpha Testnet is simple:

  1. Users can Install the TransGate Extension from Google Chrome Web Store.
  2. Interested users join pre.zkpass.org to be a part of the Pre-alpha Testnet and experience firsthand the power of private data validation.

More tutorial details can be found on the doc wiki and engage with the zkPass community. Users are invited share their insights, and become an integral part of shaping this groundbreaking technology.

About ZkPass

zkPass is an advanced privacy-preserving protocol for private data verification. It allows users to securely and selectively validate their data from any HTTPS website, making it highly versatile for various applications, including banking and DeFi lending protocols. zkPass is the ideal solution whenever trust and privacy are essential.

Yield IQ Announces Launch on Arbitrum 6231

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Maximizing earnings from liquidity provision and strengthening the Arbitrum ecosystem

August 31, 2023 — Yield IQ, the revolutionary liquidity provision tool that seeks to unlock new revenue streams for cryptocurrency token holders, is now live on the Arbitrum chain. Developed by a team of visionary developers and innovators in the DeFi space, Yield IQ limits impermanent loss and opens up new possibilities for individuals to effortlessly earn through liquidity provision.The launch presents an unprecedented opportunity for token holders, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and other DeFi projects to maximize their earnings through Yield IQ’s innovative strategies of yield optimization and liquidity management—while actively contributing to the growth and resilience of the broader Arbitrum ecosystem.

Arbitrum was chosen for this latest launch due to its scalability and efficiency, which will allow Yield IQ to maximize performance and better empower liquidity providers to generate substantial returns with improved liquidity, reduced costs, and enhanced trading opportunities. Yield IQ Vaults are also available on the Ethereum and Polygon networks.

Among the myriad benefits, Yield IQ’s introduction to the Arbitrum chain offers liquidity providers:

  • Improved Liquidity: Pairing Arbitrum tokens (ARB) with another token of choice can both enhance liquidity and foster a healthier, more vibrant ecosystem.
  • Additional Earnings for DAOs: When a Yield IQ deposit widget is integrated to a partner’s frontend paired with Chainlink Automation, projects become eligible for an additional 5% of the trading fees generated by the token’s pool. These earnings flow directly into the users’ DAO treasury, strengthening their financial position.
  • Lucrative Returns: To ensure a promising investment opportunity for DAOs seeking stable and reliable returns, Yield IQ offers a 25% Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for ARB deposits paired with ICHI over the next 12 months, backed up with up to 50k ICHI tokens.

“Right now, arbitrage traders are winning the battle over liquidity,” said Coburn Murray, CEO of values-driven investment firm Ethos Capital. “For most providers, it is not profitable or practical to ensure liquidity. Yield IQ, however, empowers providers to earn the most from their deposits, and we are excited to partner with the Arbitrum community to deliver optimal results and trading opportunities.”

Developed and launched by Offchain Labs in August 2021, Arbitrum was designed to improve transaction speeds, enable scalability and ensure increased network privacy. The ecosystem sparked industry conversations earlier this year by airdropping $120 million worth of tokens to projects built on its network—and, in the process, both highlighting the potential for blockchain projects to utilize incentives and rewards for participation.

Since inception, Yield IQ has achieved remarkable success—boasting a median 30% annualized return on Polygon and partnering with Retro—a leading ve(3,3) DEX and a new automated liquidity management marketplace. By accessing Yield IQ via Retro’s front end, users are able to lock their tokens for voting and gain influence over emission destinations, earning fees and rewards from the pools they support. This incentivizes users to thoughtfully consider their votes and helps steer the DEX in the right direction, promoting a community-driven ecosystem.

Yield IQ efficiently deploys liquidity to Uniswap V3 concentrated liquidity pools. With a single token deposit, projects can passively earn returns while the algorithm actively manages their preferred token and generates trading fees from liquidity pools. By leveraging a fully automated, on-chain liquidity provision strategy, Yield IQ enables liquidity providers to mitigate common challenges in generating consistent profits, capital inefficiencies, and a lack of expertise in liquidity provision strategies.

The launch on Arbitrum further strengthens Yield IQ’s commitment to empowering users and contributing to the growth and resilience of the broader DeFi ecosystem. When ARB tokens are deposited into Yield IQ Vaults, token holders contribute to the strength and growth of the entire Arbitrum ecosystem. This means more stable prices, more efficient trades, and a wealth of opportunities for projects to flourish.

Learn more by visiting the ICHI Website, Medium, Twitter, Telegram, or Discord.

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About Yield IQ

Yield IQ is a fully automated, single sided concentrated liquidity provision strategy. By making rebalancing decisions based on token composition instead of token price, Yield IQ limits impermanent loss and generates industry leading results. True to the spirit of DeFi, Yield IQ is governed by a self-executing smart contract, ensuring impartiality and decentralization. This ensures unrestricted, permissionless access and unalterable protocol behavior, serving as a truly decentralized financial tool.

AltLayer’s Rollups Suite Extends Support to OP Stack 5786

AltLayer has announced extended support for the OP stack, the Optimism Collective’s open-source, modular codebase, within its rollups suite. This means that dApps can spin up a customized OP Stack through AltLayer’s no-code rollup platform in just a few clicks, enjoying a hassle-free deployment experience. AltLayer will manage all node infrastructure for projects so that developers can focus on their core business and technical operations.

The OP Stack is the standardized, shared, and open-source development stack that powers Optimism, including OP Mainnet. It helps define a specific layer within the Optimism ecosystem. Alternatively, it can be used as a modular component within another layer, say for example, as infrastructure for a Layer 2 blockchain.

Dr. Amrit Kumar, COO, AltLayer said: “The Layer 2 space is very fragmented at present. With the emergence of scaling solutions on Ethereum came ecosystems that were built differently, with varied infrastructure. This created barriers for users who needed a cohesive and accessible network. The OP Stack will unlock new possibilities within Ethereum and beyond. We’re excited to streamline access to this stack and its benefits for anyone deploying rollups with AltLayer’s RaaS products, and look forward to collaborating further with the Optimism Collective.”

“With more and more OP Chains and OP Stack forks in the Optimism ecosystem, more developers than ever have the opportunity to experiment and build with the OP Stack codebase,” said Smit Vachhani, Head of DeFi Partnerships at OP Labs. “With their rollup suite now supporting the OP Stack, AltLayer is providing an even broader set of builders with access to a modular, easy-to-use codebase.”

For a detailed understanding of the OP Stack’s architecture and vision, check out this official, handy resource.

About AltLayer

AltLayer is an open and decentralized protocol for developers to launch highly elastic application-tailored rollups. The AltLayer protocol consists of a core network called the Beacon Layer that serves as a common sequencing, execution, and verification network for all rollups enshrined to it. Built on top of this protocol, AltLayer offers a no-code Rollups-as-a-Service dashboard that allows not only developers but also those with little to no coding experience to spin up a customized rollup within 2 minutes with only a few simple clicks.

Vechain and SingularityNet Combine Blockchain + AI To Drive Sustainability and Build Advanced Enterprise-Grade Tools 6824

Vechain and SingularityNET, industry leaders in blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) respectively, are thrilled to announce their strategic collaboration. This partnering of technical giants unites powerful emerging technologies with the potential to radically change how the global economy operates, offering powerful enterprise-grade tools to tackle challenges in the field of sustainability and traditional businesses.

In particular, the alliance holds great promise for vechain’s ambitions with Boston Consulting Group, partners, collaborating on building ‘ecosystems’ wherein individuals and businesses are incentivised to act sustainably. SingularityNet’s AI capabilities offer immense potential to enhance and improve these ecosystems, utilising AI technology to pore over data, and improve their efficacy.

Vechain and SingularityNET intend to launch joint research initiatives to fortify the efficacy of each respective platform and ingrain the pair at the heart of future digital development. The combination of these technologies can equip businesses with intelligent tools, signalling the onset of a new phase in the era of digitisation.

Dr. Ben Goertzel, the visionary CEO of SingularityNET, expressed his excitement for the massive potential of this partnership:

“The last few years have taught the world that when the right AI algorithms meet the right data on sufficient processing power, magic can happen.

What’s even better is when the algorithms, data and processing are decentralized in deployment, ownership and control — which is exactly the sort of magic that’s going to happen putting the SingularityNET ecosystem’s AI algorithms together with vechain’s deep and diverse enterprise data, on the joint, secure distributed processing power of the two networks.

This combined power will be applicable to sustainability as one of our initial focus areas, but in the end extends across essentially all vertical markets. It’s hard to overestimate the potential here.”

Vechain’s CTO Antonio Senatore commented:

“We’re excited to be collaborating with leading Web3 AI platform, SingularityNET, combining our rich streams of enterprise data with SingularityNET’s powerful and versatile platform.”

“Blockchain and AI offer game-changing capabilities for industries and enterprises and are opening new avenues of operation. We look forward to working closely with the SingularityNET team to build out new services and continue to advance the fore of possibility in web3 and sustainability.”

Vechain and SingularityNET are enabling a new, more interconnected and automated world, driving new capabilities in the fields of industry and in particular, for action around sustainability.

Notifi Integrates with Osmosis to Provide Real-Time Alerts for its DeFi Users 7322

Notifi, a leading cross-chain messaging infrastructure layer for web3, is excited to announce its integration with Osmosis. As a premier DeFi hub and Layer 1 chain built on Cosmos, Osmosis boasts a total value locked (TVL) of over $120M. This integration empowers Osmosis users with real-time notifications and alerts via in-app, email and Telegram, keeping them informed about their pool positions and other account activities, enhancing their user experience.

Notifi continues to build white-label integrations with custom UI and alerts tailored to individual dApps, and recently introduced a new feature – anonymous in-app notifications and alert history. Launching first with the Osmosis integration, this feature is an integral part of Notifi’s new SDK. It enables users to maintain their anonymity while still receiving critical alerts and updates. This eliminates the need for users to sign up for push notifications to email, Telegram, Discord, and SMS. Those who prefer the traditional channels can still sign up as they used to.

“We’re thrilled to announce our strategic integration with Osmosis, one of the true blue-chip projects in the rapidly evolving DeFi space.” – Paul Kim, CEO and Co-Founder at Notifi.

Osmosis, a leader in the space pushing the boundaries on usability and design within web3, is the gateway to the interchain. Connecting 50+ sovereign Layer 1s through the Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol (IBC), Osmosis offers a suite of DAO-gated dApps – including the recently launched Mars lending and credit protocol, along with forthcoming features like Levana perps, Quasar strategy vaults, and the Ion Cosmos ETF, IBCx. Osmosis continues to innovate, providing UX-optimized DeFi and paving the way for a cross-chain future.

“Notifi integrating with the Osmosis UX is a much needed puzzle piece for a seamless connection between Osmosis and its users.” – Sunny Aggarwal, Osmosis Co-Founder.

The recent introduction of Supercharged Liquidity by Osmosis, which improves upon the Concentrated Liquidity mechanisms available on other DeFi platforms, provides a highly efficient and user-friendly liquidity provision solution. Notifi will support this new feature, and other customizable notifications and alerts. These features not only improve user experience but also empower them with timely information. Additional notifications and real-time alerts will be added in phases over the coming months.

About Notifi

For more information, visit www.notifi.network

RISC Zero’s open source Zeth proves Ethereum blocks in minutes, instead of hours 7388

RISC Zero, developers of leading general purpose zero-knowledge (ZK) virtual machine technology, today announced Zeth, a first-of-its-kind “Type 0” (fully Ethereum-compatible) zkEVM built on the RISC Zero zkVM and Bonsai proving service. Zeth is a new way of architecting L2’s and scaling Ethereum, making this milestone release a significant step forward for ZK tech and the Ethereum ecosystem. Zeth paves the way for unprecedented ease in building powerful and efficient ZK infrastructure such as ZK rollups, ZK light clients, and ZK bridges.

Type 0: A new category of zkEVM

Ethereum was not originally designed around ZK-friendliness, so there are many parts of the protocol that take a large amount of computation to ZK-prove. Type 1 aims to replicate Ethereum exactly, and so it has no way of mitigating these inefficiencies. At present, proofs for Ethereum blocks take many hours to produce. However, using Zeth, Ethereum blocks can be proven in minutes.

“This is a watershed moment for the blockchain industry and the Ethereum ecosystem – Zeth is a compelling example of RISC Zero’s mission to maximize the utility of zero-knowledge cryptography. Our technology allowed Zeth to be built at a tiny fraction of the cost of similar efforts; RISC Zero’s zkVM can be used by any team to build innovative new offerings in record time.” said Brian Retford, CEO and Co-Founder of RISC Zero.

Roughly one year ago, Vitalik published The different types of ZK-EVMs. Zeth was built using standard Rust crates — the same crates used by popular full nodes like Reth. Because it makes no changes to Ethereum semantics and reuses code from popular Ethereum node software, Zeth is a new category of zkEVMs — Type 0 zkEVM (fully Ethereum compatibility and high code reuse).

ZK rollups and zkEVMs

Existing ZK rollups and zkEVM circuits are monolithic in design and lack upgradability without a high level understanding of ZK cryptography from the developer. In contrast, RISC Zero’s zkVM-based approach to Zeth enables any developer to customize and modify to suit their needs.

Zeth makes it possible to ZK prove a given Ethereum block without relying on a validator or sync committee in minutes. And with RISC Zero’s support for onchain verification, anyone can cheaply verify those proofs on chain. Zeth provides everything needed to generate ZK proofs for EVM-based blocks. This is a key component in any zkEVM or bridge.

Zeth, based on revm, and can easily be adapted to support other zkEVMs and EVM-compatible chains. This ensures easy updates to Zeth for future EIPs while providing modularity that enables developers to build their own block construction logic into Zeth.

As a Type 0 zkEVM, Zeth enables developers to build ZK rollups with completely native EVM and Ethereum support. Zeth is open source, so developers can easily modify and use it in their projects. The proofs can be verified onchain (perfect for bridges and L2s) or in native apps (perfect for full nodes and light clients).

To start building with Zeth, go to https://github.com/risc0/zeth

About RISC Zero

RISC Zero is revolutionizing the internet by creating the infrastructure and tooling for Web3 developers around the globe to build zero-knowledge proof software. The project is on a mission to empower Web3 developers to build with the latest zero knowledge technology, enabling individuals worldwide to leverage its benefits. Backed by notable investors, including Blockchain Capital and Bain Capital Crypto, RISC Zero has raised a $40M Series A.