🔥 Biden's executive order on crypto
This is Shashank’s Newsletter, a newsletter with bite sized content on everything that happened in web3 over the past week.
In today’s email,
🔥 Biden’s executive order on crypto
💳 Stripe supports crypto businesses
🔏 Privacy networks on the rise
🚀 Great talent migration from web2
👨💻 Blockchain development guide
Weekly gainers
🔥 Biden’s executive order on crypto
Biden administration signed an executive order calling for every relevant Federal agency to understand and develop policies for crypto. The news even caused a short-lived cheer in Bitcoin from around 38.5k to 42.3k.
It’s important to note that the executive order did not outline any immediate regulatory implications but called upon the regulatory bodies to come up with a framework. The SEC has been given 180 days to provide recommendations regarding consumer protection issues. They are also looking into other policies to ensure financial inclusion, stability and that the US is well placed in this competitive landscape. Overall, much more clarity in policies could unlock more growth in the industry.
Assets like BTC and ETH have not been classified as securities as they are both viewed as currencies. But it’ll be interesting to see how the SEC reviews NFTs as the market is strongly growing with over 17 billion$ locked.
But most importantly, Biden has acknowledged the innovative potential for crypto assets and is allowing Web3 companies to innovate around these technologies with caution.
💳 Stripe supports Crypto businesses
Payments giant Stripe added support for Crypto businesses like Exchanges, NFT marketplaces, and DeFi applications.
What does this mean for crypto businesses? They can have a faster on-ramp to local fiat payments across 180 countries. They can also easily verify their users with Stripe identity and onboard users with KYC (verifying the authenticity of identity documents). FTX, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange has already partnered with Stripe and has seen massive improvements to their user onboarding process.
This is really game-changing for crypto businesses and helps bridge the gap with traditional finance infrastructure.
🔏 Privacy networks on the rise
One of the main focus areas of Biden’s executive order is around blockchain security and consumer protection.
What’s the problem? All data on the blockchain is public. This makes it very easy to exploit accounts with high value NFT and tokens. For instance, you can just check anyone’s assets by entering their public wallet address on zapper using https://zapper.fi/account/($wallet_address).
What’s the solution? Aztec network uses cryptography to hide identities (sender/ recipient) and balances. Network observers can’t even see which asset or service a transaction belongs to.
How does Aztec work? This is deep crypto tech and I’ll try my best to ELI5 this. Public assets become notes in the Aztec system. A note is the private version of a public asset: ETH (token) → zkETH (note).
1. User creates a zk-proof of the notes they wish to keep private.
2. They send the proof + transaction notes to Aztec for verification of no double-spend.
3. If proof OK → Aztec executes the transaction as outlined in the proof.
In summary, digital assets can finally leverage the security of a public blockchain like Ethereum, without having to compromise on confidentiality -- a necessity for an Internet-based financial system.
🚀 Great talent migration from web2
Several large groups of talented engineers, builders, leaders are moving to web3 from top companies like Youtube, Lyft, Snap and many more. There are lots of unsolved problems in the space and the migration of such great talent will help bring some practical solutions to fruition.
Famous words from Chris Dixon - “What the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten years”. Follow the nerds cos that’s where the future is!!!
If you are an engineer in large tech and are interested in exploring opportunities in web3 and believe in decentralization, feel free to drop an email at 0xshash.eth@gmail.com. I’m happy to walk you through the web3 landscape and identify opportunities based on your goals. LFG!! 🚀
👨💻 Blockchain development guide
If you are interested in blockchain development, devpill.me is an amazing resource to get guidance in terms of what you should learn and in what order. It’s one of the best aggregator of resources on how to learn blockchain development and all of it's specializations like DeFi, smart contract, security, front end, and backend development. It even includes tips on how to get hired.
How did you enjoy this week’s edition?