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In 2023, Roman Semenov, a co-founder of Tornado Cash, was sued by the U.S. government for allegedly facilitating money laundering. This case illustrates the legal challenges developers face when enhancing blockchain privacy. In response, Vitalik Buterin has proposed “privacy pools,” smart contract-based solutions designed to improve privacy on blockchains while accommodating law enforcement needs.

Contents

Introduction

Blockchain technology has transformed numerous industries with its inherent transparency. However, this transparency often compromises user privacy. In response, cryptocurrency tumblers like Tornado Cash have been developed to enhance transaction privacy. These tumblers use smart contracts to mix identifiable cryptocurrencies from different sources, allowing users to deposit coins from address A and then withdraw them from an unrelated address B, effectively concealing the transaction path and breaking the tracking chain.

Despite their privacy benefits, these tumblers have been exploited for money laundering. As a result, when governments struggled to track illegal cash flows effectively, they targeted these platforms. Tornado Cash, one of the largest tumblers, faced significant scrutiny and legal challenges from regulatory bodies concerned with its potential for illegal activities, resulting in sanctions and legal actions against its developers.

In light of these challenges, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, proposed an innovative solution known as “privacy pools.” These pools use smart contracts to balance privacy with transparency while offering a potential legal and technical framework to address regulatory concerns. This article will explore the concept of privacy pools, examining their purpose, functionality, benefits, and limitations, as well as their significance in the evolving landscape of blockchain privacy solutions.

Vitalik Buterin’s Proposed Solution: Privacy Pools

Vitalik Buterin suggests the implementation of “privacy pools” using smart contracts to strike a balance between privacy and transparency. Privacy pools group users together, ensuring that transactions within a pool remain private. 

How Privacy Pools Work and Balance Privacy with Compliance

Privacy Pools enhance transaction privacy by segregating legitimate funds from those linked to criminal activities, grouping them into distinct sets or categories. This allows users to demonstrate the cleanliness of their funds to regulators. The use of zk-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge) further enables users to verify the legitimacy of their transactions without revealing specific details. These cryptographic methods ensure that users’ identities remain private during withdrawals, effectively balancing privacy with regulatory compliance.

Association Sets in Privacy Pools

Privacy pools utilize “association sets” to enhance transaction anonymity and validate the legitimacy of funds. These sets categorize wallet addresses into groups of “good” depositors, who are not linked to criminal activities and “bad” depositors. Users select an association set for withdrawals to maintain anonymity and validate their funds.

Illustrative Example

Consider five users: Alice, Bob, Carl, David, and Eve, where Eve is known for criminal involvement. To maximize privacy and reduce suspicion, Alice, Bob, Carl, and David exclude Eve from their association set, forming a group of Alice, Bob, Carl, David. Due to her known criminal involvement, Eve ends up in a set that includes all five deposits, as she cannot exclude her own. This arrangement isolates Eve’s risk, maintaining the integrity and privacy of the other users.

Role of Association Set Providers (ASPs)

In practice, users don’t manually choose their deposits for the sets. Instead, they subscribe to Association Set Providers (ASPs), trusted third parties who generate sets with specific characteristics. These ASPs can operate entirely on-chain without human intervention or off-chain, independently creating and publishing association sets. They analyze transactions using blockchain analytics for Anti-Money Laundering purposes and manage:

• Inclusion Proofs: These confirm transactions from “good” depositors.
• Exclusion Proofs: These detect and exclude transactions from “bad” depositors.

This process ensures that users like Alice, Bob, Carl, and David can avoid association with high-risk individuals like Eve, thus safeguarding their transactions within the privacy pool.

Benefits of Privacy Pools

Privacy pools offer several advantages to both users and regulatory institutions. They enable users to maintain their privacy while providing the ability to demonstrate the legitimacy of their funds. Additionally, they assist regulatory bodies in effectively identifying and monitoring money laundering activities.

Limitations and Future Developments

Privacy pools depend on Association Set Providers (ASPs), introducing risks of centralization and potential trust issues. Malicious actions by ASPs could compromise the system’s integrity and security. Ensuring the security of the smart contracts that govern these pools is another challenge, as is achieving the right balance between privacy and regulatory oversight. Future improvements may focus on refining the technology, enhancing scalability, and fostering interoperability among different privacy pool implementations.

Benefits for CoolWallet Pro Users

CoolWallet Pro users, who prioritize their crypto security and privacy, stand to gain from using privacy pools. These pools enhance privacy by obscuring the details of users’ transactions on the blockchain, ensuring compliance with regulatory demands. Additionally, since CoolWallet Pro stores cryptocurrency offline, it reduces the risk of exposure to online threats. This offline storage, when combined with the obfuscation features of privacy pools, further reduces the likelihood of personal transaction data being traced or exposed. Together, these features provide CoolWallet Pro users with a comprehensive solution for secure and private cryptocurrency management.

Conclusion

Privacy pools offer an effective solution to the ongoing challenges of balancing privacy with transparency in blockchain technology. By leveraging zk-SNARKs and association sets, these pools protect user privacy while complying with regulatory requirements. Such innovations mark a significant advancement in overcoming the complexities faced by blockchain in today’s regulatory landscape.

Contents

A revolution often starts with a few small, seemingly insignificant acts. For Bitcoin‘s community, May 22 will forever be enshrined in crypto folklore as Bitcoin Pizza Day. On May 22, 2024, people around the world will celebrate the 14th anniversary of the historic first Bitcoin transaction.

It’s a feel-good story (depending on how you look at it) that reflects the original vision of Bitcoin and should bring welcome respite for those who love pizza and Bitcoin and need a break from 2022 and 2023’s Crypto Winter horrors.

On Bitcoin Pizza Day, crypto factions set aside their differences to break bread (well, pizza) and honor a Bitcoin pioneer who paid 10,000 BTC to buy 2 Papa John’s pizzas in 2010.

Now worth $658 million according to the Bitcoin Pizza Index (May 2024), the Bitcoin pizza transaction played a crucial role to prove the real-world use of crypto and help usher in the era of decentralized digital asset industries such as Web3, DeFi, NFTs and GameFi.

What is Bitcoin Pizza Day?

Bitcoin Pizza Day is the annual celebration of the first known Bitcoin transaction for a physical product. On 22 May 2010, a young US engineer and crypto enthusiast, Laszlo Hanyecz, paid a fellow user a staggering 10,000 BTC for 2 Papa John’s pizzas.

Who is the “Bitcoin Pizza Guy”?

Laszlo Hanyecs is the “Bitcoin Pizza Guy” who paid 10,000 Bitcoin for 2 pizzas (valued at $28) to Jeremy Sturdivant (jercos).

How did the Bitcoin pizza deal happen?

Laszlo Hanyecz, now forever known as “Bitcoin Pizza Guy”, made a legendary post on 18 May 2010 on the crypto website forum BitcoinTalk in which he stated he wanted to exchange 10,000 BTC for 2 pizzas. Funnily enough, it took a while for someone to take him up on his offer.

A lucky fellow crypto enthusiast, Jeremy Sturdivant ( aka jercos), took him up on his offer and they quickly fleshed out a deal.

The original thread is still up on BitcoinTalk. It’s a riveting, even poignant time capsule that reflects the simple early days of cryptocurrency. (read here).

The original Bitcoin Pizza post

On 18 May 2010, Laszlo posted:

“ I’ll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas.. like maybe 2 large ones so I have some left over for the next day.  I like having leftover pizza to nibble on later. You can make the pizza yourself and bring it to my house or order it for me from a delivery place, but what I’m aiming for is getting food delivered in exchange for bitcoins where I don’t have to order or prepare it myself, kind of like ordering a ‘breakfast platter’ at a hotel or something, they just bring you something to eat and you’re happy!

I like things like onions, peppers, sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes, pepperoni, etc.. just standard stuff no weird fish topping or anything like that.  I also like regular cheese pizzas which may be cheaper to prepare or otherwise acquire. If you’re interested please let me know and we can work out a deal.

Thanks, Laszlo”

Then on 22 May 2010, Laszlo left the short post that would change Bitcoin history:

It’s not quite Satoshi whitepaper stuff, but try to put a topping on that!

The post is still online today, but the last post was in 2016. Here are a few choice replies through the years:

2010

2012

2015

2016

Why is Bitcoin Pizza Day important?

The Bitcoin Pizza transaction proved that Bitcoin had a real-world use case and could be used instead of fiat currency (government-issued money like the US dollar) to purchase physical products.

It has since grown more important each year it makes us look back and then forward to understand Bitcoin’s journey. It’s a reminder of the adversity Bitcoin has faced down and the incredible once-in-a-generation investment opportunity it presents when looking at its historical price trajectory since 2010.

As always, this is not financial advice to invest in cryptocurrencies. Do your own research (DYOR) and decide for yourself.

How much were the Bitcoin Pizzas worth in 2010?

Young Laszlo got a raw deal even back in 2010 when Bitcoin was in its infancy. At the time the 2 pizzas he received cost a mere $25, while 10,000 Bitcoins were valued at about $41.

However, back then, one Bitcoin was worth less than a penny. That’s around $0,006! Let that sink in for a bit.

How much are the Bitcoin pizzas worth today?

Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 Bitcoin for the 2 Papa John’s pizzas. That amount of BTC is now worth a staggering $658 million (May 2024)!

As much as Laszlo is admired and considered a folk hero by early adopters and newcomers alike, the industry won’t let him forget just quite the size of his generosity!

What happened to the 10,000 Pizza Bitcoins?

In an interview a few years back, recipient Jeremy “Jercos” Sturdivant said that he sold the 10,000 Bitcoin pretty quickly, at around $400 each. A year after he received the BTC, they shot up in value from $41 to $57,000. Within 3 years, they were worth $10 million, hitting a ridiculous peak value of $730,000,000 when BTC hit its peak value in 2024!

Where were the original Bitcoin Pizza Day Pizzas bought?

While most of the crypto community now believe the Bitcoin pizzas were purchased at Papa John’s, “Jercos” remembers it differently. He claimed in an interview that ” I clearly remember Domino’s pizza”, and now regrets not keeping a chat log.

60 Minutes’ Anderson Cooper Interviews Bitcoin Pizza Guy

Laszlo was previously interviewed by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who did a series on the cryptocurrency industry.

After Cooper asked him how he sleeps knowing that he could have had 800 million dollars (actually it’s $80m, Anderson), the Bitcoin Pizza Guy solemnly replied:

“I think thinking like that is… not really good for me.”

Twitter’s Bitcoin Pizza Tracker

Since 2015, a Twitter account has been posting the daily updated value of the Bitcoin pizza transaction each day.

The @BitcoinPizza account is kind of the crypto equivalent of the Big Mac Index and a fascinating way to see how Bitcoin has expanded its influence and risen in value.

Laszlo seems to take the current value of his transaction in his stride and tries not to dwell on it too much. He is still active in the community and promotes this new asset class where possible.

Does Bitcoin Pizza Guy still use Bitcoin and/or eat pizza?

Absolutely! In 2018, Laszlo once again used Bitcoin to purchase 2 pizzas to show that the cryptocurrency’s new Lightning Network, which significantly speeds up BTC transactions, really works and can work in practice.

This time however, he got a much better deal. The two pizzas cost him a mere 0.00649 BTC to be exact.

Was it a mistake to pay 10,000 BTC for pizza?

It really depends on how you look at it. The Bitcoin pizza transaction might mean in today’s prices that Laszlo paid over $70million for 2 pizzas, but it was a very influential moment in cryptocurrency history that provided a much-needed impetus and direction for the newborn asset class.

Laszlo got to enjoy both the pizzas and now the knowledge that he played a vital part in the resulting rise in value of Bitcoin. He is viewed as a hero by most crypto investors nowadays, and rightly so.

In any case, it could’ve been worse. Just ask British crypto miner, James Howells, who in 2013 accidentally threw away his old hard drive, and with it, 7500 Bitcoin. He petitioned to dig up his local council’s garbage dump to try and find it, but it was turned down.

How has crypto changed since the Bitcoin Pizza transaction?

In 2010, Bitcoin was still only a year old, but early miners were eager to find a practical example that could prove that it had real-world value. That it was indeed a financial asset that could be used as tender between two or more parties in the real world. Bitcoin Pizza Day provided this evidence.

In 2024, Bitcoin and now thousands of other new cryptocurrencies unfortunately still face many of the same fundamental hurdles it did in 2010.

Bitcoin in 2024 vs 2010

Bitcoin’s Big Question is still as relevant today as 14 years ago.

How can digital assets be used effectively, quickly and safely to help the general public gain more control over their financial assets?

There still isn’t a definitive answer. Adding to the question marks now are infighting between new emerging cryptocurrencies and the looming specter of restrictive regulation later this year designed to combat money laundering and terrorism funding.

Much has changed though. Continuous improvements such as Bitcoin’s Lightning Network has drastically increased the transactional speed of the pioneering blockchain and it is now accepted payment at tens of thousands of physical retail stores. Moreover, everyone from countries like El Salvador to the world’s richest and most famous people like Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, Mark Cuban and Michael Saylor now supports it.

At the same time, Bitcoin has made big strides to rehabilitate its image as a criminal safe haven and continues to grow in stature as the most supported “future of digital money” contender.  Most stakeholders believe that any problem that the industry currently faces, will be addressed and dealt with in its time.

So how do we celebrate Bitcoin Pizza Day 2024 and keep the spirit of ’10 alive?

It’s easy. To paraphrase the old “how-do you-eat-an an elephant” joke:

One bite at a time.

This is our behemoth Ethereum guide, first published in 2018, with the last full update done in 2024. Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved several spot Ethereum ETF, marking a significant milestone toward mainstream adoption. Ethereum has undergone significant transformations, making this guide ripe for a thorough update.

In the past few years, Ethereum has seen major changes, including the landmark 2022 Merge, the 2023 Shanghai upgrade that unlocked staked ETH, and the implementation of Account Abstraction (EIP-4337). We are also closely watching the upcoming EIP-4844 Proto-danksharding upgrade scheduled for later this year, which promises to enhance Ethereum’s scalability further. Additionally, our layer-2 articles delve into the next generation of Ethereum scaling networks, paving the way for Ethereum to fulfill its vision as the world’s computer.

In this guide, we’ll revisit the basics, from the creation of ETH to the potential future of prominent blockchain projects. This guide is purely educational. So if you want to learn more about Ethereum and how it’s revolutionizing the crypto space, read on.

Introduction

Ethereum is currently firmly established as the second biggest digital asset after Bitcoin, in terms of market capitalization, with the latter dominating the crypto universe (over $2.54T market cap, May, 2024). As of May 2024, Ethereum is in second place, with a market share of over $456.94 billion, over $300 billion more than its next competitor, Binance Coin (BNB). 

But Ethereum’s worth must be measured in more than US dollars. It is a revolutionary virtual asset network that has changed the way we view cryptocurrencies and what they can do in terms of innovations like “smart contracts”, which has undoubtedly proven that blockchain’s use cases extend far beyond payments. 

For years, technologies like decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were merely idealistic concepts. Today, you can see them in action through Ethereum-based decentralized platforms like the Uniswap exchange, Aave lending network, and OpenSea digital art marketplace, among many others. These technologies have brought a paradigm shift to the way platforms work, where rules are equally decided and enforced by everybody and middlemen or overseers are no longer necessary.

Moreover, the rise of boatloads of Ethereum play-to-earn games like Axie Infinity, My Crypto Heroes, ChainGuardians, etc. have not only entertained, but also empowered people to earn a livable income despite losing their jobs in the pandemic.

One could even argue that Ethereum has brought blockchain technology further than Bitcoin ever could, seeing as most of the innovations of the industry either came from Ethereum’s development or are built using its toolsets. 

Despite the rise of competitor smart contract blockchains Polkadot, Binance Smart Chain, and Solana, Ethereum’s market share is still three times larger than all of them combined. 

However, there is a major traffic bottleneck that makes transactions costly, which is exacerbated by Ethereum’s all-too-familiar upgrade delays, but at least we now have a working global computing network that allows anyone to build unstoppable programs on top of it. Not too many people understand the power that everybody now has access to thanks to this smart contract platform.

Then there’s the London Fork upgrade, which has made Ethereum more scarce due to a new mining scheme that burns transaction fees, which could possibly make Ethereum deflationary in the future.

1. What is Ethereum?

Ethereum is an open-source, public, decentralized computing platform and operating system that exists on a blockchain that supports smart contract functionality, and the deployment of decentralized applications (DApps). Since its inception Ethereum has developed into an ecosystem and birthing place for most of the crypto industry’s most innovative new fields and use cases, which includes decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Its native digital asset Ether (ETH) is the world’s second biggest cryptocurrency by market cap and was created by former Bitcoin Magazine co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, and British programmer, Gavin Wood, in 2013, and ultimately released in July, 2015. It has 8 listed co-founders, including Charles Hoskinson, Cardano’s frontman. 

If the description of Ethereum above does not ring any bells, another popular comparison is to that of a Turing-complete “world computer” that is open source, allowing anyone to run unstoppable applications on top of it. But, you might wonder, why does the world need such a system? Most of us already have our own PCs and mobile computers at home. 

Let’s explore a real-world scenario: 

John is an equal rights activist in the US who wants to exercise his right to free speech online. Unfortunately, he dreads the possibility of losing his Facebook and Twitter accounts due to the nature and sensitivity of the topics he discusses. 

Social media platforms have nearly absolute control over user accounts and can police them as they see fit. John realized that his work is far too important to be at the mercy of these giant tech corporations that could ban his account at any time and erase everything he’s built. 

He then decides to sign up to a new Ethereum-based social media platform, Sapien, and starts creating content there as well. When the day comes that Facebook and Twitter restrict his accounts or ban him completely, he already has a backup platform that’s unstoppable. Problem solved!

Ethereum can not only allow you to circumvent restrictions from corporations but also from authoritarian governments. This makes it an extremely valuable tool not only for building sophisticated applications but for attaining personal freedom as well.

Vitalik Buterin 2019 Taipei Ethereum conference

What are ERC-20 Tokens?

As we’ve been touching on this entire piece, the crux of Ethereum’s power and appeal is in its creation, powering, and diversity of smart contracts on the Ethereum network.

So, what happens when developers want to launch a project and token on the Ethereum network?
You get an Ethereum Request for Comment, also known as an ERC-20 token.

ERC-20 is an Ethereum token technical standard guiding smart contracts and their functionality in the Ethereum ecosystem. The ERC-20 standard exists to ensure predictability in performance and security amongst projects on the Ethereum blockchain. After all, given the vast number of applications built on the blockchain, it’s important for stability purposes to have some sort of uniformity. Simply put, ERC-20 exists so new applications and projects can work coherently with existing projects on the Ethereum platform.

After a terrible 2018, in which over $1.7 billion USD was stolen or scammed from crypto investors, many analysts blamed Ethereum’s easy ERC-20 token start-up capability as a breeding ground for ICO scams that were meant to rob the public blind or act as money laundering and terrorism funding vehicles.

In January, 2018, there were more than 21,000 ERC-20 token contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, including notable projects such as EOS, Qash, OmiseGO, Basic Attention Token, and more.

By the beginning of 2021 , there were 829 ERC-20 token projects and over 350,000 token contracts, according to Etherscan. In September 2021, it stood at over 450,000 token contracts!

Check out this comprehensive list on Etherscan.

CoolWallet Storage Tip: Steer clear of saving any exchange, wallet, or other cryptocurrency passwords online. Instead, write down your pin and recovery seed on a piece of paper, make copies, and store them safely in your home or at a bank.

What are Smart Contracts?

Broken down further, Ethereum’s smart contracts can be thought of as a vending machine, where instead of seeking out a lawyer, notary, or transcriptionist, users spend their cryptocurrency (tokens) in exchange for a drafted contract, escrowed transaction, or other transactional function.

Based on different computer languages, Solidity, Serpent, LLL, Mutan, etc., smart contracts are all-encompassing computer protocols, not only defining the parameters and penalties governing transactions, but automatically enforcing them as well, ultimately, eliminating “downtime, censorship, fraud or third-party interference.”

Ethereum’s smart contracts are developed through programming languages Solidity and Vyper, but the forthcoming Ethereum WebAssembly (eWASM) will allow developers to build Ethereum smart contracts using traditional languages like C++, Rust, and Javascript, etc.

What are Decentralized Applications (DApps)?

Commonly referred to as DApps, decentralized applications are based on the Ethereum platform and its smart contracts, running on a peer-to-peer network and boasting four key characteristics:

• Open-source and autonomously controlled,
• Use of the blockchain to store data,
• Use of a cryptographic token to store value, and
• Generation of such a token through a cryptographic algorithm.

What separates decentralized applications from standard applications is the infrastructure of their back-end servers, omitting the use of programming languages such as Rails or Django in favor of blockchain technology – removing centralized hosting services and putting power and autonomy back in the hands of its users.

As of October 2023, there are tens of thousands of DApps on the Ethereum blockchain, including, but not limited to, DApps for:

• Games,
• Collectibles platforms,
• Digital signatures,
• Smart locks,
• Digital proprietary rights management for copyrighted works,
• Prediction markets,
• Crowdfunding platforms,
• Remittance,
• Online casinos and gambling,
• Electric and clean energy car charging,
• Secure identity systems, such as KYC controls. 

Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) 

Fueling Ethereum’s security and code execution is the Ethereum Virtual Machine (“EVM”) – the protocol handling computation and its internal state. 

The EVM is a key innovation separating Ethereum from its narrowly functioning big brother, Bitcoin, which was constructed with one function in mind – to act as a currency.

The EVM however, was designed to act as a runtime environment for smart contracts based on Ethereum, allowing any user or developer to create applications via the Solidity language, while ultimately,

• Automating transactional processes,
• Performing specific actions,
• Preventing Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, and
• Ensuring uninterrupted communication across the network.

The EVM’s distribution of computing across the network “gives Ethereum extreme levels of fault tolerance, ensures zero downtime, and makes data stored on the blockchain forever unchangeable and censorship-resistant”.

In simple terms, the EVM could be viewed as one giant environment conducive for building bigger, better, and more powerful smart contracts. Instead of the creation of an original blockchain for each new project, the EVM allows applications and users to build in one place on top of previously laid foundations.

Unfortunately, it has some real-world limitations, which is why the Ethereum Foundation is working on its successor, the Ethereum WebAssembly (eWASM), which is set for release sometime in 2022.

Ether (ETH) and Mining

When understanding Ethereum, it’s important to differentiate between the Ethereum blockchain and the fundamental cryptocurrency for its operation – Ether, abbreviated to ‘ETH’.

Ether is not the technology, but the token which pays computational costs – also known as gas – and transactional fees. It’s the fuel that keeps the car running.

Any time a user wants to execute a smart contract or send Ether to another user on the network, there needs to be confirmation and recordation of this – the task is not executed by a centralized server or company per se, but by thousands (and growing) of computers around the world – this consensus model is known as Proof-of-Work (PoW).

As a reward for validating and processing transactions via PoW – also known as mining – users – commonly referred to as miners – are rewarded in Ether (ETH), as their computational resources have not only solved a complex algorithmic problem, but contributed towards maintaining the security, integrity, and validity of the network.

In simple terms, the more complex and sophisticated the computational commands you want to execute, the more gas (Ether) you will be required to pay.

Once again, it’s important to understand that when purchasing Ethereum, you aren’t actually purchasing “Ethereum”, you’re purchasing “Ether” – the token powering transactions across the network.

Unfortunately, ETH mining was never meant to last as long as it has as Vitalik had proposed Ethereum’s transition away from PoW to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) due to PoW’s consumption of exorbitant amounts of energy and resources, as well as its lack of base-layer scaling solutions. 

Ethereum has a similar dynamic mining difficulty scheme to Bitcoin since both blockchains use PoW. But unlike Bitcoin’s difficulty that only adjusts according to the mining power in the network, Ethereum’s mining difficulty is programmed to increase until it ultimately becomes unprofitable, which would force miners to shift to staking, making mining obsolete. 

However, a new implementation dubbed as the “difficulty time bomb delay” was recently rolled out to amend the mining difficulty increase, which would allow mining to go on at least until the merge of Ethereum 1.x and 2.0 in 2022.

Second-Layer Solutions (Layer 2 and Off-Chain Scaling)

Layer 2 (L2) is a concept that describes various solutions aimed at scaling a blockchain’s capacity by handling transactions off the mainnet (layer 1), while still utilizing its decentralized security system. With the rising popularity of Ethereum, its current layer 1 is becoming a bottleneck, causing transaction delays and rising fees. A slew of new layer-2 chains like optimistic and ZK rollups such as Arbitrum, Optimism, Linea and zkSync have helped to alleviate these issues in the interim before Ethereum 2.0 is fully launched, but it’s not the be-all-and-end-all solution for scaling.

There are a couple of second-layer solutions that are already functional, such as Optimism, which recently deployed its bridge to the Ethereum network. Another L2 solution that is thriving is Polygon, an inter-blockchain scaling protocol that has its own native currency called MATIC, which boasts over 400 projects built on top of it, including The Graph, Poly Network, Terra Virtua, and many more.

2. What is Ethereum 2.0?

Ethereum 2.0, also known as Eth2 or Serenity, is a major upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain network. It aims to improve scalability, security, and sustainability, addressing some of the limitations of the current Ethereum network.

The main feature of Ethereum 2.0 is the introduction of a new consensus mechanism called Proof of Stake (PoS), replacing the current Proof of Work (PoW) system. PoS allows participants to become validators by locking up a certain amount of Ether (ETH) as collateral, which they can stake to propose and validate new blocks. This change reduces energy consumption and increases transaction throughput.

Another key aspect of Ethereum 2.0 is the introduction of shard chains. Currently, the Ethereum network operates as a single chain, processing all transactions and smart contracts. With shard chains, the network will be divided into smaller chains, or shards, each capable of processing its own transactions and smart contracts. This enhances scalability by allowing multiple transactions to be processed simultaneously.

Ethereum 2.0 will also introduce other improvements such as eWASM (Ethereum WebAssembly), which will enhance smart contract execution speed and flexibility, and crosslinks to improve communication between shard chains and the main Ethereum chain.

The transition to Ethereum 2.0 is being rolled out in multiple phases. Phase 0, the Beacon Chain, was launched in December 2020, which introduced the PoS consensus mechanism. Phase 1 is expected to introduce shard chains (starting with Q4 2023’s foundation-laying EIP-4844 Proto-danksharding upgrade), while Phase 2 will focus on enabling smart contracts on the shard chains.

Overall, Ethereum 2.0 is expected to significantly enhance the scalability and efficiency of the Ethereum network, enabling it to handle a larger number of transactions and applications while reducing energy consumption.

Beacon Chain (December 2020)

The Beacon Chain introduced proof-of-stake to the Ethereum ecosystem, serving as the foundational layer for a more scalable and sustainable Ethereum. Initially running alongside Ethereum 1.x in a dual PoW-PoS consensus mechanism, it formalized proof-of-stake as Ethereum’s consensus mechanism with The Merge upgrade on September 15, 2022.

The Beacon Chain’s primary functions include managing validators, introducing the consensus logic and block gossip protocol, and overseeing Shard Chains, the upcoming scaling mechanism. By transitioning to proof-of-stake, Ethereum significantly enhanced its security and decentralization compared to the proof-of-work system. Staking, which involves staking ETH to activate validator software, replaces mining and promotes greater participation and security. This shift also reduces energy consumption, making Ethereum more environmentally friendly and scalable.

Sharding can now safely enter the Ethereum ecosystem thanks to the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism introduced by the Beacon Chain. This paves the way for further scaling Ethereum, ensuring it remains secure, decentralized, and efficient.

Ethereum Merge (April 2023): The Move To Proof of Stake

The Ethereum Merge marked a pivotal shift in Ethereum’s blockchain, merging its original Mainnet with its new proof-of-stake consensus layer, the Beacon Chain. This transition moved Ethereum from a mining-based proof-of-work (PoW) model to a more energy-efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) model. This event eliminated the need for energy-intensive mining and enabled the network to be secured using staked ETH. It was a crucial step toward realizing the Ethereum vision of enhanced scalability, security, and sustainability.

From Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake

Previously, Ethereum relied on miners to validate transactions and create new blocks—a process known for its high energy consumption. The Merge replaced this with a PoS model, where validators, chosen based on their held and staked coins, take up the role of transaction validation and block creation, significantly reducing energy usage.

The planning for the Ethereum Merge began as far back as 2017, making it a well-anticipated upgrade aimed at addressing scalability and energy efficiency issues inherent in the PoW model.

Eco-Friendly Outcomes

With the Merge, Ethereum slashed its energy consumption and carbon footprint by an impressive 99.99%, stepping towards a more environmentally friendly operation. This move also sets a sustainable precedent within the blockchain space.

The Ethereum Merge paves the way for further scalability enhancements, making Ethereum faster and more adaptable to growing user demands. This transition not only marks the end of the energy-intensive PoW era but also ushers in a new phase of eco-friendly and efficient blockchain operations, reinforcing Ethereum’s innovative standing in the blockchain community.

Ethereum Staking

Shortly after the launch of the Beacon Chain, Ethereum staking became readily available for the public. With PoS, instead of miners validating transactions via the solving of mathematical problems, transactions are validated by “stakers”, “forgers”, or “validators”, who place their coins and tokens in a specialized wallet to validate transactions, and are determined by their wealth or stake in the network.

Validators are rewarded based on the number of ETH they stake to incentivize the community to participate. Staking is crucial for the operation of the Ethereum network, especially after mining becomes obsolete. Ultimately, PoS serves as a far greener and cheaper consensus mechanism than PoW, making it practical for Ethereum’s mass adoption.

Perhaps you are entertaining the thought of becoming an Ethereum validator yourself. Before you begin your ETH 2.0 staking journey, there are a few factors and risks you need to take into account.

• Staking your ETH is no long-term commitment. Thanks to 2023 April’s Shanghai upgrade, ETH stakers can now unstake whenever they wish.
• Your validator node needs to be consistently online to receive full rewards.
• Cheat and you get slashed. Any attempt to cheat the system or act against the benefit of the network gets punished through slashing, where you get penalized with a fee. Note that the minimum amount for slashing is 1 ETH. You’d be wise to consistently be on your best behavior while staking.
• There might be bugs. Ethereum 2.0 is still an early-stage project, hence, it is bound to have bugs. As an early contributor and benefactor, you pay the price of possibly encountering bugs that could result in slashing, albeit unlikely.

If you’re still interested in staking even after learning all that then by all means do so. There are two ways to stake ETH 2.0, either by:

1. Running a full node yourself (if you have a lot of spare cash)
2. Joining a staking pool. For example, you can stake your ETH via CoolWallet and earn staking rewards. The ETH staking feature is supported by CoolWallet Pro, S, and HOT.

Running an Ethereum Full Node

If you can afford to, running a full Ethereum node is the recommended method of staking as it enables you to privately and trustlessly participate in the network’s operation while increasing its decentralization level. The more independent nodes, the more decentralized Ethereum gets.

Ethereum staking is far less demanding than Bitcoin mining when it comes to equipment costs. However, the 32 ETH minimum requirement of running a full node would cost slightly above $100K in today’s prices, which is beyond what an average person could afford. 

Here are the requirements to run an Ethereum full node and stake:

• At least 32 ETH 
• The mainnet software client
• A modest computing device
• Around 500GB of SSD storage
• A stable 24/7 uncapped internet connection of at least 900MB/hour, and is likely to increase.

If you opt to run a full node, you’ll need to set it up, which could be a hassle, especially for non-technical users. It is important for you to take your time and follow the instructions well to avoid making costly mistakes. Also, be sure that you’re ready for the commitment required, since you won’t be able to retrieve your funds possibly for more than a year.

If you’re one of the lucky few who have the budget for staking ETH via a full node, head over to the Eth2 Launchpad and follow the instructions to be part of the growing Ethereum staking community.

Staking Via Ethereum Pools

If you don’t have 32 ETH, there’s still a way for you to become a staker with what little ETH you have by joining a pool. In fact, if you do stake this way, you’ll be free of the burden of setting up and managing a full node. Most staking companies will do all that for you.

However, nothing is free, so you will likely be charged a fee for the maintenance of the validator node, which could eat up a portion of your earnings.

Note that outsourcing your validator node means you won’t have full control over the validator node let alone have access to the private keys.

Staking pools are valuable in their own way as they enable individuals of average income to participate in the staking community. Unfortunately, having too many stakers in pools over individual node runners could harm the network’s decentralization. But if you have no choice, you can stake your ETH via CoolWallet and earn staking rewards. The ETH staking feature is supported by CoolWallet Pro, S, and HOT.

Shard Chains

Sharding is the holy grail of Ethereum scaling, which would allow the network to go from roughly 15 transactions per second (tps) to over 100,000 tps, far surpassing Visa’s theoretical 50,000 tps. If fulfilled, it would be the answer to all Ethereum users’ prayers as all manner of ETH transactions from sending payments to yield farming, to liquidity mining, to minting NFTs, to taking out loans would become drastically cheaper than they are today.

Sharding is the process of splitting the Ethereum network into partitions known as shards, which would eliminate network congestion and increase transaction capacity and speed. The Ethereum network will be split into 64 partitions that run in parallel and interoperate smoothly.

The implementation of Shard Chains is slated for Summer 2022, however, they won’t be fully functional for a while so don’t expect 100k tps right after launch. But, they should be able to provide phenomenal transaction speed and capacity improvements when combined with second-layer scaling solutions by then.

Ethereum WebAssembly (eWASM)

The Ethereum WebAssembly (eWASM) is a new-and-improved virtual machine that offers several key advantages over the current EVM model.

• It adds support for common programming languages like C++, Go, Rust, etc., which eliminates the need for Solidity to build smart contracts and opens up Ethereum to the 26.9 million non-blockchain developers worldwide.
• It improves Ethereum’s runtime environments, allowing it to run on modern browsers.
• eWASM is an ultra-high performance system thanks to its high-adaptability to any machine-level code design.
• It is compatible with most modern hardware design.
• It executes as fast as most centralized platforms.

The original EVM prioritizes correctness over efficiency, which many developers believe to be unsuitable for real-world conditions. The eWASM upgrade, on the other hand, favors efficiency and speed, and is built for running real-world applications.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we will delve deeper into Ethereum’s history, explore the differences between Ethereum and Bitcoin, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Ethereum.

Contents – Part 2

3. History of Ethereum

In late 2013, a then 19 year-old Vitalik Buterin published the Ethereum whitepaper, addressing Bitcoin’s need for a scripting language for app development.

Vitalik Buterin at TechCrunch’s Disrupt event in London, 2015

Buterin ultimately proposed a revolutionary platform with a “more general scripting language” that allows anyone to build programs such as smart contracts, financial agreements, personal identity registries, and much more.

The idea wasn’t well received at first, but soon gained traction in the following year.

In 2014 came the Ethereum Foundation (Stiftung Ethereum), a nonprofit foundation created to promote and support the Ethereum platform, shortly followed by an initial coin offering (ICO), and development of core technology.

Subsequently, excitement began to build as the technology began to solidify, and developers flocked to the platform – Ethereum was progressing rapidly.

DAO Attack

All was smooth, until one event in 2016 threatened the very existence and future of the Ethereum project – The DAO Attack.

Short for the ‘decentralized autonomous organization’, The DAO was a set of smart contracts developed on the Ethereum platform, raising a historic US $150 million in crowdsale funding.

In order to influence development of the project, investors were required to purchase DAO tokens with ether, also known as ETH (the fundamental cryptocurrency fueling Ethereum’s operation).

Not long after close of the crowdsale, The DAO was exploited – resulting in over USD $50 million in ether being drained from DAO funds, and leaving the Ethereum community wondering whether to perform a divisive “hard fork” in order to reappropriate the lost funds.

Hard Fork- Ethereum splits into ETH and Classic (ETH)

Ultimately, the network hard-forked, and split into two, giving us what we now know as Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC) – and thus, bringing us into the present day.

To read up further on The DAO Attack, and Ethereum’s successive hard fork, check out this comprehensive timeline and article here.

This post addresses the former (ETH), and will only briefly touch on Ethereum Classic and its core differences to Ethereum.

CoolWallet Storage Tip: If you’re holding more than one month’s salary in cryptocurrency on an exchange, we strongly encourage you to move it to cold storage. A small investment in security now, will pay dividends in the future. To read up more on cold storage, check out ‘Section 7: How Do I Store Ethereum?’

2019 Hard Fork -Constantinople and Petersburg

In January 2019, Ethereum was set to be undergo another hard fork to delay the “difficulty bomb” and pave the way towards an eventual Proof-of-Stake transition. With only hours to go, an external security team discovered a major vulnerability that one of the Ethereum Improvement Protocols (EIP), EIP1283  would bring to Ethereum. The hard fork was postponed till February and bundled with another hard fork to undo EIP1283. The late discovery of the security threat and subsequent public resignation of senior Ethereum team members caused signficant strife within the Ethereum community. 

In late February 2019, both hard forks, or network upgrades, finally got implemented. The first upgrade, Constantinople, deployed all 5 Ethereum Implementation Protocols (EIP), including EIP1283, in order to smooth Ethereum’s journey to Proof-of-Stake and delay the difficulty bomb.

Petersburg was then activated immediately after and replaced Constantinople. It removed EIP1283 and thereby fixed the re-entry vulnerability that caused the hard’s fork delay in January.

You can read our guide to Ethereum’s 2019 hard forks here.

Ethereum Price History- Bull run’s All-Time High and the “Flippening”

In late 2017, Ethereum’s price surged in tandem with Bitcoin. The price of ETH reached an incredible $1431 price in January 2018, during a speculative frenzy in anticipation of the so-called “Flippening”, which is the  future moment that Bitcoin’s market cap will be eclipsed by another cryptocurrency. 

The flippening never happened, and as Bitcoin’s price fell in 2018, so did Ether’s, even faster, dropping at one stage to around $80. ETH made a comeback in 2019 with Bitcoin’s bull run, but many longtime HODL’ers were severely disappointed by the lack of a price pump that never materialised.  Still, some Ethereum holders are still confident. You can track the “Flippening” here!

In early to mid 2020, Ethereum’s price surged in tandem with Bitcoin, making them the two largest cryptocurrencies leading the crypto market bull run. Being the blockchain platform of choice for Dapp developers, the price of ETH reached a whopping $4,196 in May 2021, surging even faster than Bitcoin during the speculative frenzy of DeFi and NFTs.

Ethereum ETH all time price history (CoinMarketCap)

The growing popularity of Ethereum, as well as alternative platforms like Binance Smart Chain, Solana, and Polkadot, has vastly contributed to the proliferation of thousands of DeFi, NFT, and crypto gaming applications.

Following the Elon and China FUD, the space suffered a 3-month slump, with ETH dropping to less than half of its all-time high value. However, in August 2021, the market started to recover, and by November 2021, Ethereum’s price reached a new all-time high of $4,644.

The bear market of 2022 and 2023 saw Ethereum’s price decline further, at times dipping below $1,000 due to macroeconomic factors. Despite this downturn, the ecosystem continued to grow, setting the stage for a rebound. By March 2024, ETH soared again, surpassing $3,000, driven by advancements in blockchain technology and broader acceptance of cryptocurrencies.

The future value of Ethereum remains a key concern for investors. For those interested in Ethereum price predictions, there are several sources to consult for insights and forecasts.

London Hard Fork

The London Hard Fork, which was successfully launched on August 5, 2021, introduced two major improvements to the Ethereum protocol. The EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal) 1559 is an upgrade aimed to partially alleviate Ethereum’s exorbitant gas fees and network congestion.

Instead of the previous auction-style transaction scheme where the highest bidders get their transactions settled first, the implementation introduces a fixed-price for the fees according to the congestion level of the network. Furthermore, the base fees paid by spenders will be burned instead of being used as additional rewards, making ETH more scarce, and in turn, deflationary. In fact, the coin’s value continues to rise in a series of short surges following the implementation.

The London Hard Fork also included a mining difficulty delay, which amended Ethereum’s increasing difficulty to allow miners to continue their work until the forthcoming merge in 2022.

4. Ethereum vs. Bitcoin: What’s the Difference?

Although striving to repair and fill different gaps and issues in present day society (and the economy), Ethereum and Bitcoin oftentimes can’t help but be mentioned in the same sentence by cryptocurrency enthusiasts and investors due to their decentralized nature and similarities of their respective currencies (Ethereum and Bitcoin).

To jog your memory, Bitcoin is considered the world’s first cryptocurrency, launched in 2009 to decentralize the financial sector and act as a universal payment system without the need of a central bank or administrator.

It should be no surprise by now to hear that Ethereum offers much more than just a decentralized, P2P, payment system, but an application of the blockchain for smart contracts and decentralized applications – or, to put it more simply, the automatic execution of tasks.

Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood even acknowledged the major difference between the two, stating, Bitcoin is first and foremost a currency; this is one particular application of a blockchain. However, it is far from the only application. For example, e-mail is one particular use of the internet, and that function definitely helped popularize it, but there are many other ways people use the internet. Ethereum takes a more comprehensive approach towards tackling societal, economical, and political deficiencies through one giant computational network, while the Bitcoin network tackles just a particular application of blockchain technology – payment.

Let’s take a look at several other core differences in their operation, purpose, and functionality.

Founders

One of the most notable differences between the two is in terms of leadership. While Bitcoin was founded by the ever-mysterious and yet to be uncovered ‘Satoshi Nakamoto,’ Ethereum has a face to the name, in fact…several faces: Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood (now Polkadot founder), Mihai Alise, Anthony Di lorio, and Charles Hoskinson (Cardano head).

As transparency issues are ripe within the crypto-sphere, anonymity may be seen as a downside of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, while having (several) faces to the Ethereum project’s name gives investors and users some assurance of accountability – for example, users can rest easy knowing Vitalik isn’t overtly manipulating the market and Ethereum prices.

Ether vs Bitcoin

Terminology-wise, it’s important to nail down the difference between Ethereum and Ether, and Bitcoin and bitcoin. Ethereum refers to the Ethereum blockchain on which smart contracts and decentralized applications are deployed, while Ether refers to the token powering the transactional and computational costs of the blockchain.

Similarly, Bitcoin refers to the protocol and payment network, and more comprehensively – the ecosystem, while bitcoin refers to the actual currency. For example, “I just purchased three bitcoins the other day.”

While both Ether and bitcoin are cryptocurrencies and can be traded, exchanged, and transacted between users, Ether is largely used to pay for services and transaction fees on the network – enabling the development and distribution of applications – while bitcoin is used more closely to an actual currency and alternative therein.

Supply

Bitcoin’s supply is diminishing, and quickly. Capped at 21 million coins, it’s already estimated that the majority of bitcoins out there have already been mined (89% as of September, 2021), with the block subsidy set to deplete at block 6,930,000, or around the year 2140.

Ethereum on the other hand has no maximum supply, and is capped at an annual rate of 18 million Ether – meaning that the purchasing power of a deflationary currency (bitcoin) is expected to rise over time, whereas the value of an inflationary currency (Ether) will drop. That is, until the EIP-1559 was proposed to make ETH somewhat deflationary.

Currently, the Ether supply sits at just over 117 million and, as such, boasts a much lower cost of entry for newcomers.

Transaction fees

A slight difference that is noticeable is both protocols’ transaction fees. As the network began to bloat, and bitcoin’s price began to rise, so did transaction fees, topping out at a nearly $55 average transaction fee at its peak in early 2021.

Ethereum used to enjoy much lower fees averaging at $4, but this has changed drastically after the proliferation of DeFi, which has clogged the network due to overwhelming demand. Today, the average ETH transaction fee is $20, which is a bit cheaper than BTC but would still hurt your wallet.

Mining

While Ethereum is currently sitting in limbo as a hybrid between PoW and PoS, Bitcoin adheres to PoW as their consensus mechanism, where service requesters are required to perform work (computational resources and verification) in exchange for reward.

As mentioned above, PoW requires large amounts of resources and energy, and pits miners against each other – with each competing to complete transactions the fastest in order to receive a reward (Bitcoin). Ethereum’s network requires a lot of energy, and their push towards PoS is a solution towards curbing wasteful and expensive energy costs.

Additionally, PoS requires users validating the network to have some actual stake in the network – after all, they are “staking” their own coins – while PoW miners theoretically don’t even need to own the targeted currency they are mining.

Block Times

Both networks have suffered their fair share of bloat and congestion, leading to slow transaction and confirmation times on the network. Remember, in order to process and validate transactions, users mine blocks to uphold the security and integrity of the network.

Bitcoin’s expected block time averages at about 10 minutes, while Ethereum’s ranges between 10 to 20 seconds – allowing for faster transaction confirmation times.

5. Advantages and Disadvantages of Ethereum

Ethereum offers users, investors, developers, content creators, institutions, and businesses an unfathomable opportunity for growth, innovation, and mass adoption, however, it does currently suffer from several issues holding it back. Below is a comparison chart of five core advantages and disadvantages of the Ethereum network.

Ethereum offers users, investors, developers, content creators, institutions, and businesses an unfathomable opportunity for growth, innovation, and mass adoption, however, it does currently suffer from several issues holding it back. Below is a comparison chart of five core advantages and disadvantages of the Ethereum network.

Advantages

• Provably fair and transparent: Smart contracts are public, addressing core transparency issues in many industries. This allows users to verify actual functionality, eliminating unscrupulous practices, cheating, and theft, especially in online casinos and poker websites.
• Decentralized: Elimination of central party control over processing and single points of failure. Decentralized infrastructure provides:
  1. High levels of fault tolerance
  2. Attack resistance
  3. Collusion resistance
• Fast block times: Quicker block times (averaging 10 to 20 seconds) enable faster transaction and confirmation times, ensuring a smoothly running network.
• Turing-complete: Allows any system or programming language to compute anything computable (given sufficient resources), facilitating the deployment of smart contracts and decentralized applications. Example: a car breathalyzer detecting intoxication can automatically disable the car keys and adjust insurance costs.
• Robust ecosystem: Ethereum provides a platform for launching countless projects and tokens, offering a foundation for innovation and improvement.

Disadvantages

• Slow to fix: Although smart contracts are public and visible, bugs and security holes cannot be quickly fixed. Example: the 2016 attack and hack of The DAO.
• Higher learning curve: Writing solid and comprehensive smart contracts can be challenging due to the novelty of blockchain technology and current programming knowledge, primarily feasible for simple contracts.
• Scalability: The network has historically been clogged with transactions, resulting in slower transaction and confirmation times. To achieve mainstream adoption, Ethereum needs to handle over 4,000 transactions per second (tps). Currently, it handles about 10-15 tps but is expected to scale to 100,000 tps in the coming years.
• Centralization of ICOs: Despite many ICOs launching on a decentralized network, there is still a risk of centralization due to single development teams with high funding or companies controlling large amounts of money.

Contents

Written by Werner Vermaak for CoolWallet

Introduction

The recently released Immunefi Q2 2024 Crypto Losses Report paints a depressing picture of the current crypto threat landscape, highlighting why secure cold storage solutions like a CoolWallet hardware wallet are more crucial than ever. Sadly, after suffering $200 million losses in Q1 2024, the second quarter saw nearly $600 million stolen, according to Immunifi and Hacken’s Q2 2024 Web3 Security Report report. This shows that as crypto markets once again rise, so do the influx of criminals targeting our industry, with great success.

As a leading hardware wallet provider celebrating its 10th year in 2024, CoolWallet is committed to keeping our users informed about the latest security trends and threats in the crypto space. With everyone getting strapped in for the 2024/2025 crypto bull run expected to resume later this year, now is not the time to lose your moonbags in a stupid hack or scam. 

Let’s dive into the damage caused by bad actors in the second quarter of the year. 

$572 million crypto stolen in Q2 2024

In Q2 2024, the crypto ecosystem witnessed a shocking $572.7 million in losses due to hacks and frauds. This represents a 112% increase compared to the same period in 2023. The majority of these losses – a whopping $564.2 million – were due to crypto hacks across 53 incidents, while $8.45 million was attributed to frauds. In comparison, Q2 2023 hacks only totalled $220 million, while crypto frauds netted $45 million. 

Japanese exchange DMM Bitcoin hacked for $300m

Japanese crypto exchanges have a less-than-stellar record when it comes to hacks, with CoinCheck (2018, $600 million) and Mt.Gox (2014, $300 million) topping the list of the biggest exchange hacks of all time. 

Add DMM Bitcoin now to its wall of shame, after a staggering $305 million were looted in a hack this quarter. This accounts for over 50% of total losses in the last 3 months. 

CeFi Losses Due to Hacks Up 1000% Year on Year

Once again, Centralized Finance (CeFi) platforms bore the brunt of attacks this quarter, losing $320 million, thus accounting for 70% of all funds lost and increasing its hacks tally by 984%.

 If you still don’t know it, hear it from our CEO and founder Michael Ou one more time:  Not Your Keys, Not Your Crypto.

Hacken Report

ImmuneFi report

Two major incidents stand out:

1. DMM Bitcoin: This Japanese crypto exchange lost $305 million in a single hack, in what Elliptic reports as an “unauthorized leak”. It’s the biggest since the $400m FTX “hack” in 2022. 

2. BtcTurk: Turkey’s largest crypto exchange suffered a $55 million loss.

These two incidents alone accounted for 62.8% of all Q2 losses, highlighting the potential vulnerabilities in centralized systems.

Here’s a list of the top 10 breaches:

1. DMM Bitcoin: $305,000,000
2. BtcTurk: $55,000,000
3. Hedgey: $44,600,000
4. Lykke: $23,600,000
5. Gala Games: $21,000,000*
6. SonneFinance: $20,000,000
7. UwU Lend: $19,300,000
8. Rain: $14,800,000
9. Holograph: $14,400,000
10. Velocore: $6,800,000

DeFi Hacks Decrease YoY, Despite Surge in TVL

DeFi platforms saw a 25% decrease in losses compared to Q2 2023, however they still suffered $171.3 million in damages across 62 incidents. This serves as a reminder that even decentralized platforms are not immune to security threats. 

This is where hardware wallets with a secure element and real-time threat protection like CoolWallet Pro really shine. Its Secure Element (EAL6+) allows the user to thwart possible attack vectors by protecting the private key and requiring a physical button push to authorize any transaction. 

Couple this with SmartScan, CoolWallet App’s Web3 transaction scanner which flags malicious contracts and Dapp actions, and users can feel safe knowing they’re fully protected. 

Most Targeted Chains

Ethereum and BNB Chain remained the primary targets for attackers:

– Ethereum: 34 incidents

– BNB Chain: 18 incidents

– Arbitrum: 4 incidents

Projects on these chains should be particularly vigilant, but users across all networks need to prioritize security.

Silver Linings

Fund Recovery

Despite the grim statistics, there’s a glimmer of hope. About 5% of the stolen funds ($26.7 million) were recovered in Q2 2024, showing a slight improvement in recovery efforts compared to previous quarters.

For example, $21 million in stolen funds were later recovered from the Gala Games hack. The Gala Games hacker was able to trade 600 million GALA tokens for 5,913 Ethereum, amounting to about $21 million USD, and the effective burn of 4.4 billion GALA tokens. The hacker later returned the 5,913 Ethereum to Gala’s wallet.

Ethereum DeFi Grows 4x in TVL, with lower losses

In Q2 2024 Ethereum grew by nearly 400% year on year in total value locked (TVL), rising to $90 billion, thanks to its blossoming universe of layer-2 chains like Arbitrum, Optimism, Starknet, Polygon, Base, Linea and ZkSynk (all supported by CoolWallet) helping it to scale exponentially.

Meanwhile, the overall DeFi TVL went 3x from $50B to $150 billion in the last 12 months. 

Despite this surge in on-chain value, hackers only stole $8 million this quarter. That shows DeFi’s defenses are getting stronger and resilient. 

Protect Yourself: The CoolWallet Edge

In light of these concerning trends, it’s clear that users need to take proactive steps to secure their crypto assets. Here’s how a hardware wallet like CoolWallet can help:

1. Offline Storage: By keeping your private keys offline, hardware wallets significantly reduce the risk of remote hacks. 

2. Protection from Exchange Hacks: As the DMM Bitcoin and BtcTurk incidents show, even major exchanges can be compromised. Storing your long-term holdings in a hardware wallet keeps them safe from such events.

3. Phishing Resistance: Hardware wallets like CoolWallet require physical confirmation for transactions, protecting you from many common phishing attacks.

4. Multi-Chain Support: With attacks happening across various chains, CoolWallet’s multi-chain support allows you to secure assets on different networks with a single device. We support the world’s leading major layer-1 and layer-2 networks and in most cases, their ecosystems.

5. Regular Firmware Updates: We continuously update our CoolWallet firmware (card) and software (app) to address new security threats, ensuring your defenses stay current.

Additional Steps for User Security

Beyond using a hardware wallet, here are some extra precautions you can take:

1. Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) like biometric verification wherever possible.

2. Use unique, strong passwords for each of your crypto accounts.

3. Be wary of unsolicited offers or messages, especially those promising high returns.

4. Regularly audit the smart contracts and protocols you interact with.

5. Keep your software and operating systems up-to-date.

6. Educate yourself about common scams and phishing techniques in the crypto space.

7. Never ever capture or store your recovery seed phrase online or even print it. Write in in pen and keep it somewhere very safe. For extra protection, use CoolKey, our apocalypse-proof  steel Wallet. 

Conclusion

The Q2 2024 report serves as a scary reminder of the ongoing security challenges in the crypto world. One wrong click and poof! there goes your crypto moonbag and retirement fund. 

While no solution is 100% foolproof, using a hardware wallet like CoolWallet significantly reduces your risk exposure. By combining robust hardware security with vigilant personal practices, you can navigate the crypto landscape with greater confidence and peace of mind.

Stay safe, stay informed, and keep your crypto cool with CoolWallet!

Lower minimum trade size means more flexible trading

OTC clients can now trade from just $50K minimum, expanding access to deep liquidity without compromising on execution quality. Whether you’re looking to optimize capital deployment or execute trades with greater precision, this update gives you more flexibility to trade at your preferred size.

OTC trading is available over chat for premium, personalized service or through our self-service request-for-quote (RFQ) for instant, automated trading. 

Chat trading enables clients to connect securely with our trade desk to confirm assets, lot sizes and pricing while benefitting from white-glove service from start to execution.

With RFQ you can receive executable quotes in seconds with no obligation to trade; only accept the quotes you want to execute. Enjoy unlimited quotes and settle instantly — or opt for flexible settlement to trade now and settle later.

RFQ is available in Kraken Pro, the Kraken Pro app and Kraken Custody.

Enhanced trade visibility for better reporting

We’ve made it easier to track, reconcile and report your OTC transactions. New trade history updates include:

• Clearer trade valuations: New USD value column in OTC trade exports for easy crypto-to-crypto trade tracking.
• Unified trade history: OTC and Pro trade histories are now consolidated for improved visibility. Export OTC trades from either the Documents area in Pro Settings or from Trade History in the OTC Portal.
• Enhanced fund tracking: New “Fund source” and “Destination” views show how funds originated and where proceeds were sent, and will display as internal transfer, on-chain or wire.

With Kraken OTC, you get access to deep liquidity for tighter spreads on trades over $50k, all with maximum flexibility and transparency. Not a Kraken OTC client yet? Private clients can inquire here and retail traders can inquire here.

Contents – Part 3

6. Ethereum Use Cases

The Rise of DeFi

DeFi (Decentralized Finance) refers to financial services that operate on public blockchains, primarily Ethereum. It enables users to perform banking activities such as earning interest, borrowing, lending, buying insurance, trading derivatives, and assets—all without the need for paperwork or intermediaries.

The concept of DeFi has been discussed by Ethereum developers since 2018, but it wasn’t until 2020 that applications like Uniswap, Yearn Finance, and Aave gained significant traction. The DeFi bull run began in early 2020, driven by the yield farming craze initiated by Yearn Finance. Yield farming, which involves earning rewards by staking cryptocurrencies in DeFi protocols, was quickly adopted by other projects like YFII, bringing even more users into this burgeoning crypto sub-market.

DeFi leverages the decentralized nature of blockchain technology to emulate traditional financial services, offering a new way to participate in the economy without centralized control. Early infrastructure projects like Uniswap, Maker, and Chainlink laid the foundation for the DeFi ecosystem. These projects enabled decentralized exchanges, stablecoin issuance, and reliable data feeds, respectively, which are crucial for DeFi operations. At the peak of the DeFi bull run, stakersthey were earning over 100% annualized yields.

In recent years, DeFi has attracted attention from institutions and mainstream media. Notable figures who were once skeptical, such as Kevin O’Leary, have become proponents of DeFi. The ecosystem has expanded beyond Ethereum, with many projects exploring alternative blockchains due to Ethereum’s scalability issues. Platforms like Binance Smart Chain, Solana, and Polygon have seen a surge in DeFi projects, offering faster and cheaper transactions.

As of 2024, several trends are shaping the future of DeFi:

• Interoperability: Cross-chain solutions are becoming more prevalent, allowing DeFi protocols to operate seamlessly across different blockchains.
• Regulatory Developments: Governments and regulatory bodies are increasingly focusing on DeFi, aiming to establish frameworks that balance innovation with consumer protection.
• Security Enhancements: With the rise in DeFi exploits and hacks, there is a greater emphasis on security audits and the implementation of robust security measures.
• DeFi 2.0: The next generation of DeFi projects aims to address the limitations of current protocols, focusing on sustainability, improved user experience, and new financial primitives.

Despite its rapid growth, DeFi faces several challenges:

• Scalability: While Ethereum 2.0 promises improvements, current scalability issues drive projects to alternative blockchains.
• Regulatory Uncertainty: The evolving regulatory landscape can impact the development and adoption of DeFi.
• Security Risks: The open and permissionless nature of DeFi makes it vulnerable to hacks and exploits.

However, these challenges also present opportunities for innovation and improvement within the DeFi space. As technology and regulatory clarity evolve, DeFi is poised to become a cornerstone of the global financial system.

The Rise of NFTs and the Coming Metaverse

The first-generation NFTs, such as CryptoPunks and Crypto Kittie, were launched on Ethereum in 2017. Ethereum remains the primary platform for launching non-fungible tokens (NFTs), but it wasn’t until early 2021 that the market truly caught up with the hype. Individual NFT pieces, including artworks, songs and albums, digital characters and pets, video clips, and many others, have fetched enormous sums, ranging from a few hundred dollars to tens of millions since the beginning of the NFT boom.

Beeple raised the bar for digital artwork when his piece “EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS” sold for a staggering $69.3 million on Christie’s auction platform. The NFT craze has since expanded beyond digital art to include video games like Axie Infinity and Gods Unchained, which offer play-to-earn (P2E) features. These games have enabled individuals, particularly from developing countries like the Philippines, to earn income that exceeds the average wage.

While NFTs initially appeared to primarily enrich artists and collectors, this is just the beginning. The concept of the metaverse—a virtual space created through the convergence of multiple virtual worlds, augmented reality, and cyberspaces—promises to revolutionize the digital economy. In this new virtual economy, in-world assets will be stored on blockchains like Ethereum, enabling secure and transparent ownership.

At its core, centralized applications rely on a single cluster of servers that contain all the knowledge and logic for executing necessary actions. In contrast, decentralized applications (DApps) have a radically different architecture where knowledge and logic are distributed across a network of nodes, or computers, without a single point of failure.

Below are just a few reasons why decentralized applications are becoming more favorable over centralized ones:

• No Single Point of Failure
  Decentralized architecture enhances security and reliability by processing data and transactions across various nodes on the network. Unlike centralized systems, there is no central cluster of servers to hack. For instance, the 2014 iCloud leak of private photos highlighted the vulnerabilities of centralized systems. Decentralized systems offer increased security and reliability at a lower cost.
• Monetization
  Decentralized applications provide individuals and businesses with new ways to process and monetize transactions, bypassing traditional financial mechanisms. This competitive economic pressure challenges manipulative and market-dominant players, offering users a cheaper and more effective alternative. Additionally, avoiding heavy startup costs and recurring fees fosters market penetration, longevity, and increased traffic and user base.
• Innovation and Opportunity
  Centralized applications have reached their limits due to the extent of centralized processing power and computational resources. By decentralizing these elements, processes and ideas previously deemed impossible are now being automated and brought to life.
• Elimination of Censorship
  Decentralized and immutable blockchains ensure that processes and institutions remain uncorrupted and online. In a world where government censorship is prevalent, decentralized applications provide a platform for dissenting opinions and ideas to flourish without fear of being taken down.

7. Who are Ethereum’s Competitors?

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, faces competition from several blockchain platforms that offer unique features and improvements over Ethereum’s existing infrastructure. Below is a non-exhaustive list of notable Ethereum competitors making significant strides in the blockchain space as of 2024.

Binance Smart Chain (BNB)

Launched in 2020 by Binance, one of the largest crypto exchanges, Binance Smart Chain (BSC) is a hard fork of Ethereum with significant modifications. BSC uses a hybrid consensus mechanism combining Proof of Stake (PoS) and Proof of Authority (PoA), enabling better scalability compared to Ethereum. Many DeFi and NFT projects have migrated to BSC or adopted a multi-chain approach to leverage its 3-second block time and low transaction fees. BSC has occasionally surpassed Ethereum in daily transaction volume, highlighting its growing popularity.

Solana (SOL)

Solana emerged as a major player in 2021, offering a highly scalable network that supports a wide range of applications, especially in DeFi. Utilizing a unique consensus mechanism called Proof of History (PoH) combined with Delegated Proof of Stake (dPoS), Solana can handle up to 65,000 transactions per second (tps), vastly outpacing Ethereum. Key projects on Solana include Raydium, and Serum. Solana’s market cap has placed it among the top cryptocurrencies, reflecting its strong position in the market.

Polkadot (DOT)

Founded by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, Polkadot aims to solve the blockchain trilemma of speed, security, and decentralization. Polkadot’s architecture consists of a main relay chain and multiple parachains, which are individual blockchains connected to the relay chain. This multi-chain framework allows for greater scalability and interoperability. Polkadot also features parachain bridges, enabling interaction with different blockchain networks. Its vision for Web 3.0 and decentralized internet has garnered substantial attention and investment.

Cardano (ADA)

Created by Charles Hoskinson, another Ethereum co-founder, Cardano is an open-source blockchain platform with a strong focus on peer-reviewed academic research and a rigorous development process. Cardano aims to offer advanced features and higher security through its Ouroboros Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Cardano launched its smart contract functionality in 2021, allowing it to compete directly with Ethereum in the DApp market. Cardano’s emphasis on scalability, interoperability, and sustainability has made it one of the top cryptocurrencies by market cap.

Avalanche (AVAX)

Avalanche has gained significant traction due to its high scalability and fast confirmation times. The platform uses a consensus protocol called Avalanche, which promises near-instant finality and the capability to handle thousands of transactions per second. Avalanche’s subnet architecture allows for the creation of custom blockchains, each tailored to specific use cases. As of 2024, Avalanche continues to grow in adoption, with numerous DeFi and enterprise applications leveraging its technology.

Algorand (ALGO)

Algorand is designed to be a scalable and secure blockchain that supports smart contracts and decentralized applications. Using a pure proof-of-stake (PPoS) consensus mechanism, Algorand aims to solve the blockchain trilemma by providing decentralization, scalability, and security. Algorand’s focus on speed and efficiency has attracted a variety of DeFi projects, and its robust infrastructure supports a wide range of applications.

Cosmos (ATOM)

Cosmos aims to create an internet of blockchains, enabling multiple blockchains to interoperate and share data and tokens without relying on a central party. Its Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol allows different blockchains to transfer value and data seamlessly. Cosmos’ focus on interoperability and its ability to connect various blockchains make it a strong competitor in the blockchain space.

March 12, 2025
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Asset Listings

Contents

 

Introduction

Imagine getting real-world rewards just by playing your favorite games! The Open Network (TON) is leading the charge in this GameFi explosion, giving players incredible opportunities to earn tokens and changing how we think about blockchain. With millions of users already on board, TON is quickly becoming the top choice for decentralized gaming and finance. As of July 2024, Toncoin is a top 10 cryptocurrency with a market cap of $18 billion. In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at what makes TON stand out, dive into its key features, and spotlight the hottest GameFi apps that are making waves.

The Open Network (TON)

The Open Network (TON) is a blockchain platform designed to handle a bunch of decentralized applications (dApps). It’s particularly good for apps that need to be really fast and handle a lot of transactions at once. What’s special about TON is that it can process millions of transactions per second, making it perfect for things like finance and gaming, where speed and efficiency are crucial.

Background

In 2018, Pavel and Nikolai Durov, founders of Telegram Messenger, started exploring a blockchain solution for Telegram, aiming to design a Layer 1 blockchain initially called Telegram Open Network. Despite raising $1.7 billion through private funding, regulatory pressures from the SEC led Telegram to halt the project in 2020. However, the open-source nature of TON allowed the community to continue its development, leading to the formation of the TON Foundation and further advancements in the network.

Ongoing Evolution and New Developments

TON keeps growing, with new tokens being created every year. If you have a powerful server and enough Toncoin, you can become a validator and earn rewards by helping secure the network. Recently, the Open Platform, a major investor in the TON ecosystem, announced plans to build a new Layer-2 network called the TON Applications Chain (TAC) using Polygon technology. This will make it easier for developers to move their applications from Ethereum to the new TAC Layer-2 network within TON.

 

How TON Generates Hype

Integration with Telegram

One of the main reasons for TON’s buzz is its seamless integration with Telegram, which already has a massive user base. Since TON is designed to work easily with Telegram, onboarding new users is a breeze. People can use TON-based dApps directly through Telegram without needing complex setups or extra software. This easy access has been a major factor in attracting a large and active user community.

The GameFi Boom on TON

The GameFi sector, combining gaming and decentralized finance, has exploded on the TON platform. This surge began with the viral hit Notcoin, a simple but addictive “tap-to-earn” game. Notcoin’s success quickly put TON on the map as a leader in the GameFi space. Since then, many other innovative GameFi apps have sprung up, all taking advantage of TON’s high performance and easy-to-use ecosystem.

 

Top GameFi on The Open Network to Watch

Notcoin (NOT)

Notcoin is a “tap-to-earn” game where players earn tokens by tapping a virtual coin within the Telegram app. With over 35 million users, its simple and addictive gameplay has made it a hit. Players can earn Notcoins by tapping the coin, completing quests, joining leaderboards, and using boosts to increase their earnings.

The game plans to add staking and more rewards by connecting with other projects in the TON ecosystem, making it even more engaging. Notcoin also benefits from TON’s active community, which supports its growth and adoption. Besides earning Notcoins in-game, players can also buy them on various crypto exchanges.

Hamster Kombat

Hamster Kombat is the hottest tap-to-earn game on Telegram, gaining over 250 million users in just three months by July 2024. Players level up by tapping on a digital hamster to mine coins, performing tasks, and solving challenges.

An airdrop campaign is expected later in July, where players can use daily guides and codes to mine more coins. This increases their chances of earning more crypto ahead of the upcoming airdrop.

Catizen

Catizen is a fun and engaging GameFi adventure on the TON blockchain that offers a Play-to-Earn experience. Since its launch in March 2024, Catizen has attracted over 1 million players and 80k+ on-chain users. Players earn rewards through activities like cat synthesis and fishing in the Catizen Mini-App.

Exciting airdrops await on-chain players, with 40% of tokens set to be airdropped to the ecosystem, according to the whitepaper. Players can grow their cat universe by breeding and fishing, earning future token airdrops as they play.

Blum

Blum is a decentralized exchange (DEX) that makes it easy to trade tokens from both centralized and decentralized platforms, and also offers simplified derivatives trading. Available as a mobile and mini app within Telegram, Blum supports futures trading and token purchases from various networks.

Blum has already gained 10 million users through its fun games, where users earn points by catching falling coins or automatically mining over time. These points can be collected now and will be exchangeable for tokens in the future.

 

Secure Your TON Assets with CoolWallet Pro

If you’re getting into The Open Network (TON), CoolWallet Pro is a great choice to keep your TON, NOT, USDT and custom tokens safe, so you can relax knowing your assets are secure.

CoolWallet has been a trusted name for over 10 years with zero hacks. Moving your assets from hot wallets like Tonkeeper to CoolWallet is a smart move to protect your investments. Plus, as TON grows, staying involved can bring you exciting opportunities in the world of blockchain and decentralized finance.

Get My CoolWallet Pro

 

Conclusion

Although TON is currently benefiting greatly from the surge in mini-games, its future looks incredibly promising with continuous development and a growing ecosystem of dApps. With its ability to handle high transaction volumes and its seamless integration with Telegram, TON is positioned as a leading platform in the blockchain and GameFi industries.

For those interested in exploring TON’s potential, consider using CoolWallet Pro to securely store your TON and custom tokens. As TON continues to grow, staying updated and participating in its ecosystem could provide significant opportunities in the evolving world of blockchain and decentralized finance.

Content

 

Introduction

Cryptocurrencies have opened up exciting new ways to grow your wealth, and one of the coolest options out there is stablecoin staking. Think of it as a way to earn passive income without the wild ups and downs of regular cryptocurrencies. In this blog, we’ll break down what stablecoin staking is, how it works, its perks, potential risks, and how you can dive in and start boosting your financial future. 

Still using CoolWallet just to save your crypto? Earn more with CoolWallet App today!

 

How Does Stablecoin Staking Work?

Stablecoin staking is a way to put your stablecoins to work by locking them up in a blockchain network. Essentially, you lend out your stablecoins (like USDT, USDC, DAI, etc.) to lending platforms. By doing this, you provide liquidity to the platform and earn interest paid by borrowers. In return, you receive rewards, usually in the form of more stablecoins.

This process not only lets you earn passive income but also helps support the DeFi ecosystem. Since stablecoins are designed to maintain a steady value, staking them is generally a safer option compared to staking more volatile crypto.

Why Stake Stablecoins on CoolWallet?

• Earn Compounded Passive Income Safely: Benefit from compound growth on your passive income with CoolWallet’s advanced safety features.
• Full Control of Your Assets: Manage your assets in a non-custodial wallet and stake through decentralized platforms, without the intervention of centralized institutions.
• Support for Multiple Stablecoins Across Different Chains: CoolWallet supports USDT, USDC, and DAI on Ethereum, BSC, and Polygon, giving you plenty of flexibility and choice.
• User-Friendly: CoolWallet’s intuitive interface makes it easy for both beginners and experienced users to stake, manage, and retrieve stablecoins, ensuring a hassle-free experience.
• Lower Volatility: Stablecoins are less prone to the wild price swings seen in other cryptocurrencies, making them a more stable investment.

Risks and Considerations

• Smart Contract Risks: Staking involves using smart contracts, which can sometimes have bugs or be vulnerable to exploits. It’s important to stake through reputable platforms with audited smart contracts.
• Regulatory Risks: Cryptocurrency and stablecoin regulations can change, potentially impacting your staking activities and returns.
• Market Risks and Stablecoin De-pegging: While stablecoins are designed to maintain a stable value, there’s always a risk of de-pegging, where their value deviates from the intended peg due to market conditions or other factors.

Get Started with Stablecoin Staking via CoolWallet

Click here to read the guide.

Conclusion

Stablecoin staking offers an exciting way to grow your wealth in the crypto world without the crazy ups and downs of regular cryptocurrencies. By staking stablecoins like USDT, USDC, and DAI, you can earn passive income while enjoying a more stable investment. CoolWallet makes it easy and secure with its user-friendly interface and support for multiple stablecoins on different blockchain networks. Ready to Start? Start boosting your financial future today!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What are Stablecoins?

Stablecoins are a type of crypto that keeps its value steady by being tied to a reserve asset, like a traditional currency or another commodity. This stability makes them a great choice for investors who want to avoid the wild price swings of crypto like Bitcoin or Ethereum.

• Fiat-collateralized Stablecoins: These stablecoins are backed by a reserve of fiat currency, such as USD, held in a bank. Examples include USDT (Tether) and USDC (USD Coin).
• Crypto-collateralized Stablecoins: Backed by other cryptocurrencies, these stablecoins use mechanisms to maintain their peg. DAI is a prominent example, backed by a mix of cryptocurrencies.
• Algorithmic Stablecoins: These stablecoins rely on algorithms and smart contracts to control the supply and demand, ensuring price stability without direct backing by a reserve asset.

Q2. Which Stablecoins Can I Stake on CoolWallet?

You can stake USDC, DAI, and USDT on the Ethereum, Polygon, and BSC networks.

Q3. How Do I Calculate Earnings?

Rewards start accumulating as soon as you begin staking and are automatically added to your total staked amount, allowing for compound growth. The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) fluctuates based on supply and demand in the stablecoin lending market on the decentralized finance platform.Rewards start accumulating as soon as you begin staking and are automatically added to your total staked amount, allowing for compound growth. The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) fluctuates based on supply and demand in the stablecoin lending market on the decentralized finance platform.

Q4. Can I Unstake My Stablecoins Anytime on CoolWallet?

Yes, you can unstake your stablecoins anytime by initiating the unstaking process through CoolWallet’s interface.

Q5. What Are the Risks of Stablecoin Staking?

The main risks include smart contract vulnerabilities and potential interruptions in DeFi platform services. CoolWallet integrates with AAVE, a DeFi platform whose smart contracts have undergone multiple audits and tests to ensure safe operation. Learn more. Learn more