• The Wall Street Journal reported in January that FTX’s new owner, John J. Ray III, was considering rebooting the exchange.
• However, interviews with former customers suggest that there may not be much to revive due to woefully high latency, bugs in the API traders used to interface with FTX, and coding mishaps.
• This could explain why no public progress has been made since Ray’s initial comments two months ago.

Overview of FTX

The Wall Street Journal reported in January that John J. Ray III, the new owner of FTX, was considering rebooting the exchange. Before its spectacular collapse in November 2022, FTX had been one of largest players in crypto trading, especially in derivatives trading. Consequently, a potential resurrection was tantalizing for both its creditors and former clients alike.

Challenges Facing A Reboot

However, interviews with people from major trading firms that once did business at FTX have questioned whether there is anything worth reviving due to technical issues plaguing the exchange since its inception. Issues such as woefully high latency and bugs within the API traders used to interface with FTX have hampered its success up until now and potentially explain why no public progress has been made since Ray’s initial comments two months ago.

Potential Solutions

In order for a successful reboot of this exchange to occur, improvements must be made on all fronts – both financially and technically – so that it does not experience similar problems as before. Financial solutions such as debt restructuring or asset sale could help alleviate some of the financial woes which caused it to collapse originally; however technical solutions are also needed if it wants to build trust amongst its former customers again. These can include developing more robust APIs and better security measures which can prevent future incidents from occurring again in the future.

Conclusion

Overall, while a potential reboot of FTX is still possible given the right conditions and improvements being made on both financial and technical fronts; however current evidence suggests otherwise due to many challenges faced by this project including those discussed above regarding latency issues and coding mishaps which plagued this exchange up until now. It remains unclear if these issues will be rectified so that a successful revival can take place or if we will continue seeing stagnation from this project moving forward.

Future Outlook

Only time will tell how successful or unsuccessful a potential revival of FTX will be should it move forward; however what is certain is that any attempt must address all underlying problems before it can become viable again in today’s market environment where trust between exchanges and their customers are paramount for success..

• John Knopf, an Emmy Award-nominated landscape photographer who works for National Geographic, was an early adopter of the NFT phenomenon.
• Together with seven other prominent photographers – Alejandro Cartagena, Ben Strauss, Cath Simard, Dave Krugman, Isaac “Drift” Wright, J.N. Silva and Ravi Vora – Knopf helped found FOTO to train artists to work in Web3.
• FOTO has grown to hundreds of members of amateur and professional artists today and helped elevate digital art through sponsored galleries and events in partnership with Time magazine.

Introducing John Knopf

John Knopf is an Emmy award-nominated photographer who works for National Geographic. He came into crypto during the heady days of the NFT bull market thinking he could make a “quick buck,” but quickly became enthralled with the potential of distributed networks.

The Birth of FOTO

Knopf joined forces with seven other prominent photographers – Alejandro Cartagena, Ben Strauss, Cath Simard, Dave Krugman, Isaac “Drift” Wright, J.N. Silva and Ravi Vora – to form FOTO; a collective designed to train artists on how to work in Web3. The goal was to elevate digital art forms which is reflected in their motto: “Elevating Digital Culture”.

Building A Community Through Crypto

FOTO has since grown to include hundreds of members both amateur and professional alike from all corners of the globe. As well as curating members art for exhibitions at sponsored galleries and events; they also strive to create a culture that is accessible by everyone regardless of experience or background within crypto by providing educational resources such as tutorials or live streams on how anyone can get involved within this ever-evolving digital world we find ourselves living in today!

Partnerships With Time Magazine

FOTO’s commitment towards elevating digital art has been supported through partnerships with major publications such as Time magazine who collaborated with them on their own NFT drops throughout 2021 and featured some of Knopf’s work too! This not only helps promote digital art but also helps spread awareness about cryptocurrency & blockchain technology as a whole which can be beneficial for everyone!

“Quick Buck” To Community Builder

What started out as a way for Knopf himself to make a quick buck quickly turned into something much more meaningful – building an entire community around cryptocurrency & blockchain technology while promoting & celebrating digital culture along the way! This shows just how powerful Web3 can be when leveraged correctly!

• New York State Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against KuCoin, alleging that the exchange is violating securities laws by offering tokens – including ether – without registering with the attorney general’s office.
• This is the first time a regulator has claimed in court that ether is a security.
• The SEC and CFTC have differing views on whether bitcoin and ether are commodities or securities.

New York Attorney General Alleges Ether Is a Security

The New York State Attorney General Letitia James has filed suit against crypto exchange KuCoin for allegedly violating securities laws by offering tokens – including Ether – without registering with the attorney general’s office. This marks the first time a regulator has claimed in court that Ether is a security.

Differing Views On Bitcoin & Ether As Commodities Or Securities

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler has hinted that his agency might consider Ether to be a security, while its sister regulatory agency – the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) – has long maintained that both Bitcoin and Ether are commodity assets.

What Is The Martin Act?

The New York Attorney General’s suit argues that Ethereum should be considered a security under the Martin Act – an 102 year-old anti-fraud law which gives the Attorney General powers to investigate securities fraud and bring both civil and criminal actions against offenders.

Purpose of Lawsuit

According to its press release, this lawsuit is part of ongoing efforts to crack down on unregistered cryptocurrency platforms which are operating outside of legal regulations in order to protect investors from financial harm.

Conclusion

The outcome of this case could have far reaching implications for cryptocurrency regulation in the United States as it will set an important precedent for how regulators view cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum in regards to their designation as commodities or securities moving forward.

• The non-fungible token (NFT) trading volumes reached $2 billion in February, the highest since before the crash of Terra and its UST and LUNA tokens.
• The surge is largely attributable to the rising popularity of zero-fee marketplace Blur, which conducted incentivized trades ahead of a native token airdrop.
• According to DappRadar’s report, Blur is overtaking market share from OpenSea but is not bringing new traders into NFTs.

Record Trading Volume in Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Space

According to DappRadar’s February report, NFT trading volumes hit an all-time high of $2 billion – the highest since before the meteoric crash of Terra and its UST and LUNA tokens in May 2022. This huge spike was due to catalysts such as ongoing NFT marketplace war and Yuga Labs’ successful launches. Much of the surge is attributable to the rising popularity of zero-fee marketplace Blur, which conducted incentivized trades ahead of its native token airdrop in mid-February.

OpenSea vs Blur

Blur is overtaking market share from historically leading NFT marketplace OpenSea; however, it does not bring new traders into NFTs. While OpenSea targets retail traders, Blur’s focus on professional traders may be raising trading volumes rather than increasing adoption rate.

Yuga Labs’ Role in Market Growth

Yuga Labs has also been credited for driving much of this growth with their loyal fans and successful launches. Their new CEO Daniel Alegre made his first public appearance since assuming his position in late February 2021.

The Future Of The Non-Fungible Token Space

Despite the positive impacts this growth has had on increasing trading volume, Sara Gherghelas believes that it has not resulted in more widespread adoption yet and that “as of right now they are just bringing hype with the token launch.” What remains to be seen is how this will affect the future development and sustainability of this space as more players enter into it over time.

Conclusion

February’s record highs show that there is strong potential for growth within the non-fungible token space despite current shortfalls related to adoption rates and lack thereof by zero fee marketplaces like Blur. With Yuga Labs driving further success through their loyal fanbase and ambitious launches though, it still stands that there could be great things ahead for this budding industry if those trends continue moving forward into March 2021 or beyond!

• Coinbase announced an Ethereum layer 2 scaling product that uses Optimism’s technology.
• The news has caused a surge of optimism token prices, with some doubling in value over the past week.
• Coinbase is joining Optimism as a core developer on the open source OP Stack and working to create a thriving community of other developers.

Coinbase Unveils Its Layer 2 BaseCoin

Coinbase, a Nasdaq-listed digital-assets exchange, announced Thursday its launch of an Ethereum layer 2 scaling product called Base that utilizes Optimism’s technology.

Markets Surge with Optimism Ecosystem Tokens

The news has sparked a surge in token prices from the Optimism ecosystem such as VELO, SONNE, OPX, PERP and more seeing double-digit gains within 24 hours.

Base to be Decentralized and Permissionless

Base aims to be decentralized, permissionless and open to anyone with the vision of creating a standard Superchain powered by Optimism. This will also be interoperable with other blockchains such as Solana but won’t have its native token.

Optimism Joins Coinbase as Core Developer

Coinbase is joining forces with Optimism as a core dev on their open source OP Stack and is working towards growing their community of developers around it.

Crypto Twitter Speculation

Speculations from Crypto Twitter are suggesting that Coinbase may be looking into creating its own native token for Base soon enough.

• CoinDesk has won a major award for its investigative journalism on the unraveling of FTX’s empire.
• The award is a huge moment, not just for CoinDesk, but for crypto media generally.
• Professional journalism can play an important role in bringing transparency to the opaque and scam-ridden crypto industry.

CoinDesk Wins Major Award

CoinDesk has won a major award for its investigative journalism on the unraveling of FTX’s empire. This Polk Award is one of the most prestigious in journalism and is a source of immense pride for all of us at CoinDesk. The award underscores the role that sound, professional journalism can play in bringing transparency to the too-often-opaque and, sadly, scam-ridden crypto industry.

Role Of Professional Journalism

Professional journalism can play an important role in bringing transparency to the opaque and scam-ridden crypto industry. As Deputy Editor-in-Chief Nick Baker and Executive Editor Marc Hochstein put it: “There is little precedent in journalism history for a story that made such an impact and did it so quickly.” It takes technical grounding to cover this complex topic properly as scammers hide behind techno fog and mainstream coverage may leave a lot to be desired. With its deep bench of reporters, CoinDesk uniquely combines the best of mainstream reporting with expertise on cryptocurrency topics.

Award Recognizes Journalists’ Work

The Polk Award recognizes Ian Allison and Tracy Wang’s joint work leading to three November scoops which revealed FTX’s empire issues. Ian’s initial scoop on Alameda’s balance sheet was followed by his followup on Binance being likely to withdraw its bailout and Tracy’s bombshell on CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s “cabal of roommates” that ran FTX).

Fallout For Victims Of FTX’s Empire

Unfortunately there are victims in the fallout from what Ian and Tracy uncovered but it would have eventually been exposed if not earlier; this is why independent media is vital for an industry with trust issues.

Conclusion

Ultimately this major award serves as recognition not only for CoinDesk but also for all crypto media outlets who demonstrate their commitment to providing quality reporting within this complex technological space – playing an integral part in exposing fraud while also maintaining trust within the industry overall.

• Aavegotchi, an open-source NFT gaming protocol, is introducing the Forge upgrade to increase engagement with wearables.
• The Forge allows players to create wearables by smelting unwanted items and combining them with new materials.
• The upgrade is meant to tokenize the different economic values of wearables and introduce deflationary mechanics.

Aavegotchi Launches ‘Forge’ Upgrade

Aavegotchi, an open-source NFT gaming protocol, has announced the launch of its new Forge upgrade in order to increase engagement with wearables. The AavegotchiDAO voted Monday in favor of launching the Forge which focuses on improving the wearables market.

What Is The Forge?

The Forge is a new upgrade dedicated to improving Aavegotchi’s wearables market by introducing greater diversity and utility. This will be done by tokenizing the different economic values of wearables, allowing for granular control over inflation and deflationary mechanics while still creating new content. Players can also create their own unique wearables by smelting existing ones and recombining them with other materials, adding composability to protocol assets.

Motivation Behind Proposal

The motivation behind this proposal comes from a consistent reduction in secondary market value and sales volumes of existing wearables. This prompted creators of the proposal to introduce a more engaging way for users to interact with these assets through increased composability and deflational mechanisms such as melting excess items into more valuable ones.

What Are Wearables?

Wearables are foundational assets within the Aavegotchi protocol which give each NFT ghost a fashionable outfit that directly influences their value and rarity within the game’s metaverse. They have three attributes – collateral stake, traits, and wearable – that dictate their worth in comparison to other Aavegottis on chain.

Conclusion

By introducing The Forge upgrade, Aavegotchis will experience improved usability when it comes to managing their non-fungible tokens within the protocols metaverse while also encouraging further interaction between users via meltable assets that are capable of increasing in value over time through deflationary mechanics built into its design structure..

• Uniswap’s Version 3 (v3) will be deployed on Boba Network following a favorable community vote.
• The proposal was backed by FranklinDAO and Ethereum development and investment lab ConsenSys.
• The Boba Foundation has committed to $1 million worth of BOBA tokens to foster the adoption of Uniswap v3 on the Boba Network.

Uniswap DAO Approves Boba Network Deployment in Latest Community Vote

The decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap’s Version 3 (v3) will soon be deployed on Boba Network following a favorable community vote with over 51 million UNI staked for the vote.

Proposal Backed By FranklinDAO and ConsenSys

The proposal was backed by FranklinDAO and Ethereum development and investment lab ConsenSys. This partnership allows for cheaper and faster user transactions compared to other blockchains.

Boba Foundation Commits $1 Million To Foster Adoption Of Uniswap v3

The Boba Foundation told CoinDesk that it had committed to $1 million worth of BOBA tokens to foster the adoption of Uniswap v3 on the Boba Network. These tokens will be sent to a multisig wallet co-owned by the Uniswap Grants Program and the Boba Foundation, which will distribute the funds to promising Boba-based projects aiming to boost the adoption of Uniswap v3 on the Boba Network.

Advantages Of Deploying On Boba Network

By deploying on Boba Network, Uniswap has an opportunity to expand its community base significantly increasing both its total value locked and its transaction volume. As of Tuesday, Boba Network holds over $4.5 million in locked value.

Conclusion

UniSwap has made a significant move towards expanding their platform by deploying V3 onto the layer 2 Blockchain, allowing for faster user transactions with larger potential userbase as well as greater rewards for users who participate in its network.

• Zodia Custody and SBI Digital Asset Holdings have joined forces to form a crypto asset custodian for institutional investors in Japan.
• The joint venture is subject to anti-trust and foreign direct investment clearances, as well as licenses from the Japanese regulator, the Financial Services Agency.
• The aim of this venture is to appeal to institutions interested in crypto investment and adoption.

Zodia Custody Teams Up With SBI Digital Asset Holdings

Cryptocurrency storage provider Zodia Custody has announced a joint venture with Japanese financial services firm SBI Holdings’s crypto arm – SBI Digital Asset Holdings (SBI DAH) – to set up a crypto asset custodian for institutional investors.

Aimed at Institutions Interested in Crypto Investment and Adoption

The firms are aiming to appeal to institutions interested in crypto investment and adoption but put off by a lack of custodial services that meet the grade of provider in the traditional finance (TradFi) industry.

Ownership of Joint Venture Split 51%-49%

Ownership of the joint venture will be split 51%-49% in favor of SBI DAH. This venture is subject to anti-trust and foreign direct investment clearances, as well as licenses from the Japanese regulator, the Financial Services Agency.

Backed By Standard Chartered and Northern Trust

Zodia Custody is backed by Standard Chartered and Northern Trust.

Julian Sawyer: “Gold-Standard Crypto Asset Custody Services” < p >Julian Sawyer, Zodia’s CEO said: “Partnering with SBI DAH ensures the joint venture will offer gold-standard crypto asset custody services in Japan.”

• The newly formed U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on digital assets, financial technology and inclusion, chaired by Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), plans to prioritize stablecoin regulation among its to-do list.
• Hill noted that the subcommittee wants to pursue a privacy statute federally, which he believes is important to developing a secure digital asset infrastructure.
• The subcommittee also aims to establish clarity on which agency, the SEC or the CFTC, will seek explicit oversight in the crypto industry.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently formed a new subcommittee dedicated to digital assets, financial technology, and inclusion. Chaired by Rep. French Hill (R-Arkansas), the subcommittee plans to prioritize stablecoin regulation among its to-do list. According to Hill, the subcommittee’s stablecoins draft will serve as a model for how it will approach digital asset regulation moving forward.

Hill also highlighted that the subcommittee is looking to pursue a privacy statute federally. He believes that this is important to ensure the development of a secure digital asset infrastructure. In addition, the subcommittee is aiming to establish clarity on which agency, the SEC or the CFTC, will seek explicit oversight in the crypto industry.

Hill said that the subcommittee is working on a number of initiatives such as increasing consumer protection, promoting responsible innovation, and exploring the benefits and risks of digital assets. He noted that the subcommittee’s goal is to ensure that we have a consistent regulatory regime that both protects consumers and encourages innovation. Hill also mentioned that the subcommittee is looking to engage with the industry, regulators, and other stakeholders to ensure that the regulatory framework is tailored to the needs of the industry.

In conclusion, the U.S. House of Representatives is taking an active role in developing a regulatory framework for the crypto industry. The subcommittee is determined to prioritize stablecoin regulation while also promoting responsible innovation and consumer protection. The subcommittee is also looking to engage with the industry, regulators, and other stakeholders to ensure that the regulatory framework is tailored to the needs of the industry.