GM, gm, and it's that time of the week again – time for your weekly dose of news from the space as well as updates from Ambire 🔥 

But before we begin…

🐂 Ambire’s DeFi Bull Camp 🐂 charges ahead with another PUMPING week of opportunities.

From Monday, Feb 5th to Sunday, Feb 11th, 2024, traders can compete for a chance to win a share of the $1,000 weekly prize pool on GMX.

Discover more about how you can participate and enhance your chances of winning here!

What else we’re talking about today:

• 🧙 Farcaster - the new Crypto Twitter?

• ⛓️ ENS and GoDaddy collab to bring crypto domains to main web

• 🔥 New special Web3 on Fire Podcast with Jonezee from GMX

• 🥷 Crypto crimes can get you a LIFE SENTENCE in Korea

• 🪙 Monero gets delisted from Binance

Let’s get down to it!

Farcaster - the new Crypto Twitter?

Web3/Crypto side Twitter (better known by CT acronym) has changed a lot in recent years, especially now when Elon Musk has acquired, and then proceeded to neglect Twitter (now called X).

With hoards of scam bots patrolling Twitter every day, it has become a chaotic and endless abyss of noise, making it increasingly challenging for investors and enthusiasts to follow relevant updates without being caught up in a scam 😥 

But gladly…

Crypto people aren't taking that well, so they've always been searching for alternatives, platforms like Mastodon come to mind, and while it is indeed an option, it's a bit clunky and doesn't offer the same level of engagement as Twitter/X.

The latest contender in the race to become the new crypto Twitter is Farcaster, a platform that promises to bring together all the best features of Twitter combined with blockchain technology.

What is it exactly?

• Built on Optimism (OP, a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum), Farcaster aims to be the go-to social media platform for anything related to web3 and crypto. It was started by Dan Romero and Varun Srinivassan, both previously at Coinbase.

• It's open source, meaning anyone can build on it, and according to the team behind Farcaster, they want to ensure an environment with no censorship where users have full control over their audience, interactions, and information.

How does it work?

Farcaster uses a hybrid architecture approach - user identity is stored on-chain while data on interactions and posts are stored off-chain. This allows for faster transaction speeds and better scalability 👇️ 

The platform is secured through smart contracts, which run on the Optimism network. This means that all interactions and content posted on Farcaster are immutable and cannot be altered or censored by a central authority.

Web3 and Social Finance enthusiasts keep experimenting with different ideas and approaches to building decentralized social media platforms 🧠 and who knows, maybe after all this time we could finally have a viable alternative to the current centralized (and now censored) social media giants.

No more bots, no more scams, and full control of your data - these are certainly noble goals.

ENS and GoDaddy collab to bring crypto domains to main web

ENS (Ethereum Name Service) and GoDaddy, one of the largest domain registrars in the world, have joined forces to allow users to link their traditional domain names with ENS blockchain-based names ⛓️ 🌎️ 

This is in order to bridge the gap between traditional DNS (Domain Name System) and blockchain technology, making it easier for over 20 million GoDaddy users to access the benefits of ENS without any additional costs or technical knowledge 🤔 

With this collaboration, users can connect their existing domain names, such as .com, to their ENS-compatible crypto wallets, which is something many in the crypto space wished for. GoDaddy also noted that this will make it much easier for users to receive crypto payments.

• ENS is currently the most widely used naming protocol in the crypto world, allowing users to associate human-readable names (e.g. "john.eth") with long and complex Ethereum addresses, similar to how traditional DNS works with website URLs.

• According to Nick Johnson, founder of ENS, this collaboration will streamline the way users interact with web domains by combining the familiarity of DNS with the potential of blockchain technology.

It's maybe not that big of a step for the whole crypto, but it's a huge leap for the mass adoption of Ethereum. The more user friendly and functional the tech becomes, the more likely it is to reach wider audiences.

Special Web3 on Fire podcast: GMX redefining DeFi with decentralized perpetual exchanges

This episode of Web3 on Fire Podcast is a special one - it comes while Episode 2 of the Ambire DeFi Bull Camp, in which we explore perpetual swaps in partnership with GMX, is in full swing!

Listen to the episode, and of course, don’t forget to participate in the DeFi Bull Camp to win a share of this week’s $1,000 prize pool 💰

In this limited edition episode, Ambire host Rob is joined by Jonezee, Communications Contributor for GMX, who shares insights into the journey of GMX, highlighting the platform's commitment to true decentralization, security, and innovation.

Crypto crimes can get you a LIFE SENTENCE in Korea

Korea is one of the most crypto friendly countries, but that does not mean it will tolerate illegal activities in the market ⚖️ 

• Recently, South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) has announced a new law under the Virtual Asset Users Protection Act to protect investors from market crimes 🥷 

• According to the FSC, individuals who make more than 5 billion won ($3.8 million) through illegal crypto trading schemes can face life imprisonment. The law also prohibits using undisclosed important information, market manipulation, and other illegal trading practices.

The act was most likely introduced in response to a major industry crisis involving Terraform Labs and its founder, Do Kwon. In May 2022, the collapse of Terra's market caused over $450 billion in losses. This incident shed light on the need for stricter regulations to protect investors.

The Virtual Asset User Protection Act is expected to come into force on July 19, 2024 after it was enacted on July 18, 2023, though the FSC already has the authority to supervise and inspect virtual asset business operators.

This means that they can investigate and take action against unfair trading practices, ensuring compliance with the law.

Monero gets delisted from Binance

Monero has been a sore spot for regulators and authorities recently due to its core use case i.e its privacy features 👇️ 

• Unlike most crypto coins and protocols, Monero obfuscates its user’s sending and receiving addresses, transaction amounts, and balances.

• It is currently not possible for government agencies to trace transactions using Monero.

• This has made it a go-to currency for pro-privacy users.

• This feature has also made it a target for regulators and authorities, who have been pushing exchanges to delist it from their platforms and who believe that the coin could be used for illicit purposes.

Not your keys - not your coin - a sound advice

For this reason, Binance has delisted Monero along with three other privacy coins - Aragon (ANT), Multichain (MULTI), and Vai (VAI). The decision was announced on February 6th and will be effective from February 20th.

The market reaction to the delisting was big, to say the least, with Monero experiencing a massive panic sell-off. This decision did not surprise pro traders as Binance had already labeled XMR under its "Monitoring Tag" on January 4th.

So is it over for for XMR? 🤔 

Absolutely not.

Monero maxis even celebrated this on Twitter. Some enthusiasts believe that this could be a good thing for Monero and privacy-focused projects in general.

👉️ They believe this will fuel positive developments in the open-source and decentralized landscape, positively affecting XMR.

In the short term, we might see further sell-offs as things progress. Other exchanges or ramp services may be affected by this delisting, causing more panic selling events.

But in the end, the coin does what it's intended to do, whether it's listed on exchanges or not. Therefore, investors might see this as an opportunity in the long run.

Other worthy reads

Weekly narratives by Viktor:

Fastest growing protocols by Prithvir:

OpenSea was flipped by Blur, it’s final:

MEMES

That's all for now, frens.

We'll meet in a week! And remember, the market conditions are temporary, but our commitment to building a better DeFi is here to stay. Thanks for joining us, and we look forward to seeing you back next week. Cheers!

Yours, The 🔥 Team

Brought to you by Ambire: The Only Web3 Wallet That You’ll Need!