Kalam Crypto #85: Visa/MasterCard & Binance Split, Privacy Tool Dev Arrested

"Privacy is the right to a free mind. Saying you don't care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is like saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." Edward Snowden

Ahlan wa sahlan, and welcome to the 85th edition of CoinMENA's weekly newsletter, Kalam Crypto. This week, Binance is in more trouble as partners distance themselves, developers of the privacy tool Tornado Cash are charged with money laundering, Oman’s bitcoin play reveals a deep understanding of bitcoin, and is Robinhood now the third largest bitcoin holder? All that and more, so let's dive into this week's letter, and talk crypto:

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Global News 🌍

Visa & Mastercard Break Ties With Binance: Binance’s year continues to get worse. They are facing multiple charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including allegations that the exchange has been operating an unregistered business and misled investors about the company’s risks. This is in addition to charges brought against the exchange by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in May for what it calls a “willful evasion" of U.S. law. And now, several high-profile partners are backing away.

Tornado Cash Developers Arrested, Setting a Dangerous Precedent: The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged Tornado Cash's co-founders with money laundering. Tornado Cash enables anonymous crypto transactions. The lawsuit claims the developers were aware of its illicit use. However, just 7% of Tornado Cash's volume is suspected as illicit. The issue is that the developers just wrote the code, and then deployed it as a smart contract on chain. They technically have no way of controlling who uses the tool. Like all tools, it can be used for good or bad. At the heart of the matter is whether we as a society believe Privacy is a fundamental human right. If yes, then prosecuting software developers who create privacy tools is a dangerous step toward an Orwellian future.

Local News 📍

Oman’s News Reveals Deep Understanding of Bitcoin: The news of Oman’s $1.1 billion Bitcoin mining facility was widely applauded as a progressive move by the Sultanate. More impressive were their statements that show a deep understanding of Bitcoin's unique characteristics. First, the understanding that Bitcoin mining can help stabilize the electricity grid and act as a load balancer for power networks. Secondly is recognizing that Bitcoin’s anti-usury properties are aligned with Islamic Sharia Law.

Keep an eye on 👀

Is Robinhood the third-largest holder of Bitcoin? A mystery wallet has accumulated 118 thousand bitcoin ($3 Billion) in the past three months to become the third largest bitcoin wallet in the world! There’s a strong rumor that the wallet belongs to the trading firm Robinhood. However, the company has neither confirmed nor denied the claim.

Class of the Week 🎓

We launched our free learning platform, CoinMENA University because crypto education is a key pillar for us at CoinMENA. Each week we will include one article for you to explore, or deepen your understanding of the topic. We hope you find this useful! This week’s article is about security: How to protect yourselves from Phishing scams.

Tweet Of The Week 🐥

CoinMENA News 🗞

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Quiz Corner ✅ 

Last week’s question:  Who wrote Ethereum's Yellow Paper, which serves as the formal definition of the Ethereum protocol?  Answer: Dr. Gavin Wood.

This week’s question: Which term describes the process of converting plaintext into unreadable ciphertext to secure communication?

A) Decryption

B) Encoding

C) Hashing

D) Encryption

See the answer in next week’s newsletter. Or check out our new learning platform https://university.coinmena.com/