Yesterday in Crypto - Issue #32

Read time: ~7 minutes

Remember the mysterious bitcoin wallet that we wrote about last Wednesday? If not, click HERE.

🚀 What's happening?

On-chain sleuths have discovered that the mysterious wallet belongs to Robinhood, although the company has yet to confirm or deny. The popular trading app has accumulated over $3 billion worth of Bitcoin in the past three months. This makes Robinhood the third-largest Bitcoin holder.

The company's Bitcoin purchases are a sign of growing institutional adoption of the cryptocurrency. Institutional investors are typically more risk-averse than retail investors, so their interest in Bitcoin is a vote of confidence in the asset.

🤔 But why?

The company has over 20 million users, so its decision to invest in Bitcoin could help to attract new investors to the market. However, Robinhood has not disclosed why they are buying Bitcoin. Some analysts believe that Robinhood is preparing to offer Bitcoin futures trading. Others believe that the company is simply diversifying its investment portfolio.

🌏 The Future

The future of Bitcoin is uncertain, but Robinhood's Bitcoin purchases are a positive development for the cryptocurrency. They signal that institutional investors are taking Bitcoin seriously and that the asset is becoming more mainstream.

The memecoin Pepe is in the news again, but this time for all the wrong reasons.

🚀 What's happening?

A major controversy has erupted in the Pepe Coin community after the anonymous founder of the project accused three former team members of stealing 16 trillion tokens, worth around $15.7 million, from the project's multi-sig wallet.

💡 Quick Refresher on Pepe:

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency that are often based on internet memes or other cultural phenomena. They are often seen as being more volatile than traditional cryptocurrencies, and they can be subject to wild price swings.

Pepe was created in April of 2023 - making it a relatively new coin. It’s based off of the popular Pepe the frog meme. As is the case with most meme coins, Pepe has no utility.

🔍 The Claims

The founder claims that the three former team members changed the number of signatures required to operate the wallet from 5/8 to 2/8, and then used their majority control to withdraw the tokens.

The founder has also alleged that the three former team members were involved in a "rug pull," which is a type of scam in which investors are lured into a project and then the developers abandon it, taking the investors' money with them.

🤔 The Response

The three former team members have denied the allegations, and have said that they will be taking legal action against the founder. The Pepe Coin community is divided over the issue, with some investors calling for the founder to be removed from the project, and others supporting him.

The controversy has cast a shadow over Pepe, and it remains to be seen how the project will recover.

Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network that provides secure and reliable data feeds to smart contracts.💡Quick refresher

• Smart contracts: Smart contracts are self-executing contracts that are stored on a blockchain. They are used to automate transactions and agreements.

• Oracles: Oracles are entities that provide data to smart contracts. They can be used to get data from the real world, such as price feeds, weather data, and other events.

🔍 The Problem

Smart contracts are unable to access data from the real world without oracles. This can lead to problems such as inaccurate or outdated data, which can in turn lead to losses for users of smart contracts.

🧠 The Solution

Chainlink solves this problem by providing a decentralized oracle network that is secure, reliable, and tamper-proof. Chainlink oracles are run by a network of nodes that are incentivized to provide accurate and up-to-date data.

🖥️ The Technology

Chainlink uses a variety of technologies to ensure the security and reliability of its oracle network. These technologies include:

• A decentralized network of nodes: Chainlink oracles are run by a network of nodes that are distributed around the world. This makes it difficult for any single entity to control or manipulate the network.

• Secure multiparty computation: Chainlink uses secure multiparty computation to ensure that the data provided by oracles is accurate and tamper-proof.

• Proof of stake: Chainlink uses proof of stake to secure its network and prevent malicious actors from taking control.

🛍️ Use Cases

Chainlink oracles can be used in a variety of applications, such as:

• Decentralized finance (DeFi): Chainlink oracles can be used to provide price feeds for DeFi applications, such as lending and derivatives platforms.

• Insurance: Chainlink oracles can be used to provide real-world data for insurance applications, such as weather data or traffic data.

• Supply chain management: Chainlink oracles can be used to track the movement of goods and materials in a supply chain.

• Gaming: Chainlink oracles can be used to provide random numbers for games, or to track the results of sporting events.

🌐 The Team

The Chainlink team is composed of experienced engineers and entrepreneurs with a proven track record in the blockchain industry. The team is led by Sergey Nazarov, the co-founder of Chainlink.

💰 The Funding

Chainlink has raised over $70 million in funding from investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and 1Confirmation.

📱The Roadmap

Chainlink is currently working on a number of projects, including:

• The development of new oracle types: Chainlink is developing new oracle types to support a wider variety of use cases.

• The expansion of the Chainlink network: Chainlink is expanding the network of nodes that run its oracles.

• The development of new tools and infrastructure: Chainlink is developing new tools and infrastructure to make it easier for developers to use Chainlink oracles.

• Chainlink is also developing their Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) to help blockchains communicate with one another

📜 Conclusion: 

Chainlink is a promising project that has the potential to revolutionize the way that smart contracts interact with the real world. The project has a strong team, a solid technology, and a clear roadmap. As long as smart contracts are in use, oracles will be needed - and Chainlink is poised to stay the leader in the space.

That’s all for today. We’ll see you tomorrow.

“You can’t stop things like Bitcoin. It will be everywhere, and the world will have to readjust. World governments will have to readjust.

— John McAfee, Founder, McAfee