Temporary failure in the Arbitrum network
On December 15, Arbitrum One became unavailable, interrupting its activity for an hour and a half. This happened due to a sharp and significant increase in the load on the network. However, at the time of writing, we are pleased to note that the Arbitrum One network has restored its functionality and is functioning stably.
Ledger Critical Vulnerability
Ledger has publicly announced that it successfully patched a vulnerability within 40 minutes of discovery that was responsible for a recent hacking incident. Ledger CEO, Pascal Gauthier, explained that the roots of this weakness go back to a phishing attack that targeted data belonging to a former employee of the company.
On December 14, an attacker successfully compromised the Ledger Connect Kit code library, widely used for authorization by leading crypto services. The attacker managed to introduce a drainer into this code, a malicious smart contract capable of stealing funds from user wallets when interacting with it.
Ledger said the malicious code was successfully disabled and Ledger Connect is now safe to use. At the same time, the developers recommend that their customers clear the cache in their browsers and refrain from using the service for the next 24 hours.
SEC rejects Coinbase's rulemaking petition
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected Coinbase's request for new rules for the cryptocurrency sector. This disappointed market participants, but was not surprising. Immediately following the SEC's decision, Coinbase announced its intention to file a lawsuit against the agency in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Coinbase requested new rules from the SEC in July 2022, arguing that existing rules were not suitable for digital assets and a new regulatory framework was required. In March, the exchange again contacted the SEC to clarify how proof-of-stake protocols relate to securities laws.
The Coinbase team recognizes the complexity of developing regulation for cryptocurrencies, but believes that the best outcome will be achieved when the SEC takes into account the complexities and engages market participants in developing clear policies and principles.
Do Kwon will remain in prison until February 2024
A Montenegro court has decided to keep the founder of Terraform Labs (TFL), Do Kwon, in custody until February 15, 2024, at the request of the United States. This information was provided by court spokeswoman Maria Rakovi in an interview with Bloomberg. This decision is a response to requests from the United States and South Korea, which intend to prosecute the crypto entrepreneur on charges related to the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin.
Earlier, in November, the High Court of Montenegro approved the possibility of Kwon's extradition and gave the Minister of Justice the right to choose the country for this procedure. However, lawyers for the head of TFL appealed this decision, and it is currently under appeal.
Avalanche entered the top 10 by market capitalization
Avalanche (AVAX) has reached the top 10 cryptocurrencies, overtaking Dogecoin (DOGE) to become ninth in market capitalization, thanks to an impressive 50% gain over the past seven days. This rise of Avalanche occurred amid the correction that major cryptocurrencies are experiencing.
Polygon Labs is dropping support for Edge in favor of CDK
Polygon Labs has decided to end accepting deposits for its Edge project, also known as Supernets, and shift its focus to further development of the Chain Development Kit (CDK).
Polygon Edge, originally released as an open source tool under the Apache 2.0 license, previously served to create custom blockchains compatible with Ethereum. However, according to the official statement, the Polygon team has identified new priorities for development.
Instead of continuing work on Polygon Edge, the focus will be redirected to the Polygon CDK, a set of tools designed to create a variety of Layer 2 solutions based on ZK (zero knowledge) snapshots that will be built on top of other blockchains. Networks built using the SDK are expected to be compatible with the wider blockchain ecosystem.
Biometric crypto wallet from Hitachi and Concordium
Hitachi's research division and the Concordium Foundation are working on a biometric cryptocurrency wallet. This will allow you to create seed phrases using biometric data, simplifying the process of secure account access. The first stage is a “proof of concept”. If the project goes ahead, it will use Hitachi's Public Biometric Infrastructure and Concordium's identification system. Concordium believes that a biometric wallet will be useful in ensuring the security of user access to accounts.
