GM, frens! As we navigate this ever-evolving landscape, remember that every challenge is an opportunity in disguise. Embrace the journey and keep pushing the boundaries of what's possible.

Just like we’ve embraced the challenge laid out before our W3OF Degen Portfolio! So where do we currently stand?

It’s now been 2 months since we started the Portfolio challenge 🥳 While we are all waiting for greener time in the markets, it’s time for another poll that will decide how to rebalance the portfolio.

🗳 Vote below and don’t hold back your gems and discuss the next moves in the #web3-on-fire channel on Discord!

In today’s newsletter, we are also discussing:

• ✉️ Notcoin launch on TON chain turns heads

• 🌪️ Tornado Cash dev gets 64 months in jail

• 💣️ US bans Chinese crypto miners based near nuke base

• 🔨 "Genesis is coming" - Hoskinson is teasing Cardano upgrade

 Notcoin launch on TON chain turns heads

Notcoin, a ‘gaming’ token available on the popular messaging app Telegram’s own chain, TON, has made a splash in the market with its recent launch.

• With a market cap of $940 million (at ATH) Notcoin has become one of the most talked-about tokens in the crypto community 🗣️ 

• The token saw an insane trading volume of $294 million within the first hour of its listing on exchanges. This can be attributed to the immense popularity of TG as a crypto messaging app 🤔 

Notcoin was distributed through an airdrop and made available on various exchanges, with 4.5% of the total supply reserved for users on Binance Launchpool and OKX Jumpstart.

This has helped Notcoin gain traction among a wider audience 📢 

The game

Notcoin started as simple app/game on Telegram, the game involved collecting virtual coins and completing challenges (“farming”) within the app 👨‍🌾 

These in-game balances were recently converted to the actual token at a ratio of 1000:1. According to the devs, 35 million users participated in the game during its January to April run.

Notcoin has also introduced a staking mechanism 🥩 to incentivize players to hold onto their tokens.

This will result in extra rewards for players and also give them access to more lucrative staking pools based on their level in the game.

TG's crypto journey was pretty successful so far, TON itself is currently very close to its all-time highs and with it's growing userbase and overall adoption, the future looks bright for TON projects 😎 

Tornado Cash dev gets 64 months in jail

• Alexey Pertsev, the 31-year-old Russian developer of Tornado Cash, has been found guilty by a Dutch judge on Tuesday and will remain in jail until the public prosecutor finds an appropriate prison for his crimes.

• The crimes being referred to are related to the use of Tornado Cash as a tool for money laundering 💸 

Not by the dev himself, apparently, but by others, as the court believes that Tornado Cash does not pose a barrier to criminals seeking to launder their assets and that seems to be enough to put a man in jail for a long time 🤷 

• The indictment shared ahead of the trial pointed out that, between July 9, 2019 and Aug. 10, 2022, Pertsev regularly committed money laundering activities with Tornado Cash 🌪️ 

• It was also mentioned that he should have suspected the illegal origin of the transactions made on the platform.

• Pertsev was first arrested in August 2022, when Tornado Cash was blacklisted by the US government after they alleged that the platform was being used for money laundering activities associated with North Korean hacking group Lazarus.

• The Lazarus hacking group has been linked to a number of high-profile hacks totaling billions worth of stolen crypto.

Pertsev's colleagues, Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, are also facing charges of money laundering and sanctions violations in the US. While Storm will go to trial this September, Semenov has not yet been arrested 🥷 

The trial will also for sure result in an unpleasant precedent for all the other privacy tools developers, even those not related to crypto. So, the effects of this case will be felt much wider.

US bans Chinese crypto miners based near nuke base

No it's not a spy movie plot.

The President of the US, Joe Biden has ordered a Chinese crypto mining facility to shut down due to the national security risks it poses 🤔 

• MineOne, a company majority-owned by Chinese nationals, was found to have set up its operations within a mile of Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming without proper clearance from CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States).

• The facility is literally 1 mile away from the military base that houses Minuteman III nuclear missiles 🚀 

• The White House order also states that MineOne must remove all equipment and improvements made on the property ⚒️ 

The Department of Treasury released a statement saying that “specialized foreign-sourced equipment used for cryptocurrency mining was found on the property, raising concerns about national security” 👮 

This includes high-end computer processors and other hardware that could potentially compromise the security of the military base.

The US government has long expressed concerns about Chinese companies operating in sensitive areas and the potential for espionage 🕵️ 

But is it an act of protecting national security or a way to fight crypto? Some Bitcoin maxis argue for the latter, but we might never know for sure.

"Genesis is coming" - Hoskinson is teasing Cardano upgrade

Cardano has been severely criticized for underperforming during this cycle.

Soon that might change though, seeing how founder Charles Hoskinson is hinting at a massive upgrade coming soon.

In his recent post, Hoskinson sparked excitement with two simple words - "Genesis is coming" 🙄 

This statement was accompanied by an extensive blog entry from Nicholas Frisby, a software engineer at IOHK, delving into the details of the upcoming Ouroboros Genesis protocol.

This significant update aims to enhance the foundational consensus mechanism of the Cardano blockchain 🛠️ 

• The Ouroboros Genesis protocol is a leap forward in the evolution of Cardano's consensus mechanism 🤝 

• It builds on earlier versions like Ouroboros Classic, BFT, and Praos, introducing key improvements to tackle the challenges that new or returning nodes face.

• It's all about keeping these nodes safe when they're most vulnerable - like when they first join the network.

The update also introduces several innovative features to address the old challenges faced by new or returning nodes. These include Ledger Peers, Lightweight Checkpointing, Limit on Eagerness (LoE), Genesis Density Disconnections (GDD), and Limit on Patience (LoP).

So what does that mean for the chain?

There might still be a bullish outcome on the way, seeing how these new features are expected to significantly elevate Cardano's security 🔒️ 

The release date is still set for Q3 of 2024 as Genesis is currently undergoing its final development and testing phases.

The endgame is to ensure the seamless integration of new features with existing systems and their efficient performance under various operational conditions.

All in all, it seems like the tide might be changing for Cardano. Hoskinson's teasing has sparked a sense of anticipation and excitement among his community, definitely something to keep an eye on in the coming days.

Or it might be a nothingburger again and Cardano is just cursed 🤷 

Other worthy reads

An interesting marketing update from Luke:

Pump.fun hacked for $2M, but it’s not that simple…

MEMES

That's all for now, frens.

We'll meet in a week! And remember, the market conditions are temporary, but our commitment to building a better Web3 is here to stay. Thanks for joining us, and we look forward to seeing you back next week. Cheers!

Yours, The 🔥 Team

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