A Decent Publication™

Presented by CryptoLink.Tech

Volume 1 | Edition 20 | November 02, 2023

Opening Thoughts

Happy Thursday everybody!

This morning marks the 20th edition of Chain Reaction sent out, which means we are 5 months into this bad boy. It’s amazing to see the accumulation of regular readers over time and I can’t thank each of you enough for hanging out here on your Thursday mornings.

We are always trying to make this publication better. With that comes some sort of subscriber/referral program!

Now is the best time to start referring your friends and family to Chain Reaction!

Whether it’s mugs, raffle giveaways, or something else I plan to build out some sort of structure to support you for supporting us. Plus, It’s free!

We are building Decent Media for more than just the web3 audience so don’t be afraid to refer your non-crypto friends! Over time will be a little bit of something for everyone here.

While we are on the topic of crypto, it has been refreshing to see a little bit of green during trying times. Bitcoin is up another 4.38% over the last five days and trading above $35,000 again!

In the altcoin world we saw Solana’s native coin SOL jump over 31% in the last seven days, rising from ~$32 to ~$42 in that period.

During the same period ETH saw a 3.3% increase in price, riding a similar wave.

We keep hearing about the foothills of a bull market, but I urge everyone to continue participating in the market with caution if participation is your thing. Everyone loves green charts, but this space can bite you in the backside just as fast as it pumped.

What do you think, anon?

Are we headed towards a new bull market or is this just a bunch of hopeium?

Let’s get into some of the headlines from the past week!

World Of Web3

Navigating the immense amount of nonsense in this space, bringing you only the good stuff.

Taking Out the Trash: SafeMoon Team Arrested, Charges Unsealed

Sometimes the government gets it right. Heavy emphasis on ‘sometimes’, but the web3 space will take a win when we can get it.

SafeMoon creator Kyle Nagy, CTO Thomas Smith, and CEO John Karony were all charged with unregistered sale of securities and fraud yesterday, November 1st. According to Cointelegraph, Smith and Karony have been arrested while Nagy remains at large.

These guys were the epitome of scumbags.

They told all the SafeMoon buyers/investors that the entire LP was locked, even to the team. That was a lie.

In reality, the three individuals in question took over $200m from the SafeMoon liquidity pool and spent it on Porsches and luxurious lifestyles.

These are the things that must happen for people to take blockchain seriously. This is one of the rare times I will give the SEC their props, because this time they went after actual bad guys.

Score one for all the good guys left in the space.

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Inviting Enterprise: YugaLabs Wins Copycat Lawsuit

Another big legal win for the space in this story.

This week a group of NFT artists were ordered to pay $1.6m plus legal fees to YugaLabs in a copycat lawsuit. The artists have illegally infringed upon YugaLab’s trademarks and released copycat collections of some of the company’s most popular NFTs.

Most people know of YugaLabs at this point but even if you don’t know of the company you probably know of their NFTs.

YugaLabs is the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), CryptoPunks, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), among others.

While you may not care about YugaLabs or their NFTs, the lawsuit sets a good precedent for the entirety of the blockchain space. One of the largest problems in web3, and the catalyst for our friends over at Gauss, is copywrite/trademark infringement and the lack of legal defense against it.

This case helps set a new precedent that could accelerate the adoption of web3 technology by larger enterprises, which I believe will be the beginning of what people call “mass adoption”.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of small businesses and creators that couldn’t afford to front the legal cost for a lawsuit of this size. That’s where curated entities like Gauss could come in and solve this problem before it gets to the point of a lawsuit.

Regardless, this sends the right message to businesses with large consumer bases and creators with large followings. Your image and brand can be protected within the world of blockchain.

Real World Application: Popular German Brands Building in Web3

Speaking of enterprise adoption of blockchain technology, I have a cool list to share with you.

The following German companies are currently building or have already launched a digital product or community on the blockchain:

• Mercedez-Benz (Car Manufacturer)

• Lufthansa (Airline)

• Deutsche Post (Postal Service)

• Adidas (Sportswear Brand)

• Hugo Boss (Clothing Brand)

• Ritter Sport (Candy)

• Katjes (Candy)

• Haribo (Candy)

I’m not going to go into too much detail on each one because Cointelegraph already published a great article about this. I simply think it’s always worth talking about enterprise adoption when it happens.

Each of the brands I listed above have their own established and curated audiences that are lifelong customers. By launching collectibles, rewards programs, and other things on the blockchain these companies are onboarding more people into the web3 ecosystem than your favorite influencers could in their entire lifetimes.

Shout out to the Germans, they get it!

If you are inclined to read the full Cointelegraph article, click here!

Tech Trends

For that cousin at family holiday dinners.

An Inevitability: Visa Completes Hong Kong CBDC Test

Partnering with local banking titans HSBC and Hang Seng Bank, Visa dove into the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot program developed by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

The venture, called the e-HKD program, took a leap into the tokenization sphere where bank deposits were minted on a blockchain ledger backed by the bank's balance sheet.

The essence? Speeding up the interbank transfer time to a near real-time experience. In the traditional system, after-hour transactions were a no-go, but here, Visa's platform kept the transfers rolling 24/7. 

The pilot didn't just stop at the basic tokenization. It dipped into programmable finance territory, exploring tokenized asset markets.

One feature was the 'Property Payments' use case where a buyer could automate the transfer of remaining balance tokens to a property developer, trimming down the lag time significantly.

As Visa and the local banks wrap up the pilot, marching into Phase 2 with successful results under their belt, the narrative around CBDCs being an inevitable part of our financial future gets a little louder.

The digital Hong Kong dollar is not just a local phenomenon; it's a snippet of the global shift towards CBDCs.

Like it or not, anon, CBDCs are coming.

CryptoLink Connect

No news in the CryptoLink world this week!

We are currently working on some collaborations with other tech that we can hopefully speak about soon!

Until then, keep an eye out for the Ethereum launch!

Interchain Intel

Blockchain Time Machine: Solana Launching Layer 2 Solution

It seems like it was just yesterday we were in the layer 2 ‘scaling’ solution phase of the blockchain rollercoaster.

If you missed it, have no fear, Solana is bringing it back.

Solana recently announced at its “Breakpoint” conference that its scaling solution called Firedancer has launched on testnet.

Firedancer is supposed to be a solution to Solana’s infamous outages, which don’t seem to be as large of an issue as they were last year.

In 2022 Solana had fourteen outages compared to only one major outage in 2023.

Here’s what the CEO of Solana had to say about the outages in September of 2022:

The layer 2 solution is slated to launch in early 2024, according to Cointelegraph.

Firedancer must have gotten the Solana community going because SOL has seen an 80% increase in price since the beginning of October!

Does CryptoLink need to get over to Solana?

Tag me on X and let me know.

Decoded

Preventing blockchain verbiage from giving you headaches, one term at a time.

What’s a Validator?

In the Ethereum network, particularly under its upgraded version Ethereum 2.0, validators are fundamental players ensuring the network's security and accuracy. Here's a simplified breakdown:

1. Who are Validators?

   - Validators are individuals or entities that take on the responsibility of verifying transactions and creating new blocks on the Ethereum network.

2. Becoming a Validator:

   - To become a validator, one needs to "stake" a certain amount of Ethereum tokens (ETH) as a form of commitment to the network. This staking process is like placing a deposit which can be forfeited if malicious activity is detected.

3. Roles of Validators:

   - Validators check and confirm that transactions are legitimate and adhere to the network’s rules.

   - They are involved in the process of creating new blocks, which are bundles of verified transactions, and adding them to the blockchain.

4. Importance of Validators:

   - They help maintain the integrity and security of the network by ensuring only valid transactions are recorded.

   - By checking each transaction, they help in preventing fraudulent activity, thus maintaining the network's trustworthiness.

5. Incentives for Validators:

   - Validators are rewarded for their services through transaction fees and new tokens generated with each new block, known as block rewards.

6. Accountability:

   - Validators are held accountable for their actions. If they attempt to approve invalid transactions, they can be penalized by losing a portion of their staked ETH.

Validators are the backbone of Ethereum’s operational and security protocols, ensuring that transactions are legitimate, and the network remains robust and trustworthy.

Final Byte: Wally’s Wisdom

Week twenty is in the books and it feels like we started yesterday.

I’m genuinely enjoying this journey and it’s become just a part of the weekly routine at this point. I hope it has for you as well!

Remember to stay up to date on the Decent Media account on X, we are building that thing out rapidly! We will have more written publications as we continue to expand the scope of Decent so keep your eye out for a Medium page soon!

I appreciate each one of you.

Make sure you pass Chain Reaction along to one friend this week. Subscribing to a free newsletter never hurt anyone! 😉

Until next week…

Best,

Wally
Marketing/Branding - CryptoLink.Tech
Co-Founder - Decent Media

👇 Subscribe to Chain Reaction! 👇

If you are catching today’s edition on the web and you are not already subscribed, do us a favor and click the button below! Subscribing is free and it is the #1 way to support the Chain Reaction newsletter. In the future, we will be exploring the possibility of subscriber and referral rewards.