Bitcoin
Coinbase’s payments platform for merchants will no longer support Bitcoin and other UTXO coins unless customers have an existing account with the exchange.
Decentralized exchange FixedFloat confirmed there was a theft of funds from its platform shortly after unusual blockchain transaction activity suggested at least $26 million had been stolen earlier in the day.
New proposals, fundamental changes in Bitcoin’s technology, and the increasing prevalence of layer 2 networks have all helped bring in a new era for the oldest blockchain network.
Regulation
John Deaton, an attorney who has been a sharp critic of the U.S. authorities’ tackling of crypto regulation, is reportedly taking a “serious look” at entering the race.
The cost to attack Bitcoin ranges from $5 billion to $20 billion, while it would cost over $34 billion to attack Ethereum, according to CoinMetrics. Even then, researchers found no way for the attacker to profit and the network would still survive.
DeFi
With the Dencun upgrade scheduled to go live on the mainnet in March, Uniswap plans to roll out V4 in the third quarter of the year. The protocol says this version will have the “most rigorously audited code ever deployed on Ethereum.”
Business
Armstrong laid out the company’s approach to regulation on its fourth-quarter earnings call.
Lawmakers complimented the design of crypto as the hearing contended with the idea that what makes crypto at risk for illicit use is exactly what makes it attractive for legal users, too.
The largest U.S. crypto exchange beat analyst estimates for both the top and bottom lines, and its shares jumped almost 14% in after-hours trading.
Blockchain infrastructure firm Witness is intended to help developers combine the flexibility and cost savings of offchain data with onchain security and ownership.
