CRYPTO WEEKLY 17th April 2018

Here’s your ultimate guide to designing Dapps for the Ethereum blockchain
Designing Dapps for Ethereum is getting progressively easier as more advanced development tools are rolled out, but there are several key considerations entrepreneurs should keep in mind when designing their own Dapp – ranging from thoroughly testing all assumptions, to striking the right balance of incentives and disincentives for one’s community.

Take a look at this autopsy of a sophisticated Ethereum-based scam
It seems the infamous “Nigerian Prince” email scam has been reincarnated as a highly sophisticated, Ethereum-based scam aimed at defrauding unsuspecting users of their Ether. Taking a closer look at how this scam works is worthwhile, as it illustrates the importance of securing one’s private keys, while also not falling prey to the social engineering elements of the scam.

Hong Kong’s chief financial regulator says that most ICOs are frauds – and should be regulated as such
According to a recent speech given by the deputy head of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, most ICOs are downright fraudulent, and investors should be cautious about investing in token offerings moving forward. The revelation comes just weeks after Hong Kong authorities closed down an ICO for offering unregistered securities for sale in the city-state.

Here’s how crypto is hastening the rise of publicly-governed platforms
As “commodity applications” like Facebook and Twitter become analogous to public utilities, crypto is helping an entirely new generation of institutions regain the trust of their users through decentralized, consensus-based decision-making. This is leading to a rise of decentralized systems, which will eventually come into direct competition with platforms.

Numerous inconsistencies have many concerned that Verge could be the next BitConnect
The privacy-centric cryptocurrency is raising red flags for many investors, primarily through the disappearance of 18m tokens from its “fundraising wallet”. As a result, investors are concerned that the cryptocurrency could be repeating the same mistakes as BitConnect, a Ponzi scheme that is now under investigation by regulators.

Ending Ethereum inflation is a viable prospect – here’s why that matters
When Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin made an April Fool’s joke that a hard cap should be imposed on the supply of Ether, many didn’t take him seriously. But as it turns out, Buterin was only half-joking, and his proposal has ignited a fresh round of debate in the crypto community on the merits of a hard cap, and how it might end inflation of the cryptocurrency.

Dive deep into Filecoin in this presentation by Protocol Labs CEO Juan Benet
In this recent speech from last month’s Blockchain Berlin conference, Protocol Labs CEO Juan Benet took attendees on a deep dive of Filecoin – a portfolio company of Protocol Labs that’s building a token-based, decentralized digital storage network that allows anyone to become a storage provider using their own hard drive space.

• Influential crypto YouTuber hacked out of $2m during a livestream. Link
• Introducing Munt: a quick and easy way for anyone to accept crypto payments. Link
• Coinbase has just acquired Cipher, an Ethereum Dapp browser. Link
• Binance will be rolling out Whitelist for Withdrawals for all users. Link
• Korbit, one of Korea’s oldest exchanges, to start trading Litecoin. Link
• Coinsource has installed over 20 new Bitcoin ATMs around Washington DC. Link
• Samsung to expand its crypto mining business this year. Link
• Sia Tech to launch their ‘Tokenized Securities Offering’ today. Link
• 16 of Japan’s largest crypto exchanges form a new self-regulatory group. Link
• DNAtix has transferred an entire sequence of DNA through the Ethereum blockchain. Link
• Barclays is looking into opening a crypto trading desk this year. Link
• Meet the 12-year old that just launched his first crypto startup. Link