Ep. 118 On Penis Flutes and Chastity Belts
On this (very R-rated) episode of the Unhashed Podcast, guest-host CryptoMags joins us to talk proposed FinCEN KYC regulation & SkyBridge Capital's BTC position, debate Lighting Network nodes, and predict peak Wrapped BTC. As usual, we end on a raunchy note about hacked chastity belts and stuff found in our parents' bedrooms.
In late December, the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released a proposed cryptocurrency regulation, as had been rumored previously. The document indicated that, if adopted, virtual asset service providers would need to verify the name and address of non-custodial wallet users for any transaction exceeding $3,000. Jack Dorsey-led Square announced on Monday that it opposes the implementation of the rule. This rule creates ""unnecessary friction and perverse incentives for cryptocurrency customers to avoid regulated entities for cryptocurrency transactions,"" Square wrote. By driving consumers toward unregulated platforms, FinCEN will ""actually have less visibility into the universe of cryptocurrency transactions than it has today."" Further, if FinCEN were to impose this rule on U.S. platforms, a double standard would be created. Where financial institutions are only required to take and keep records for cash transactions over $10,000, this rule lowers that standard threshold to $3,000 for cryptocurrency transactions. Square wrote on this double standard: ""The incongruity between the treatment of cash and cryptocurrency under FinCEN’s Proposal will inhibit adoption of cryptocurrency and invade the privacy of individuals… This low threshold and its extension of KYC obligations beyond customer relationships is arbitrary and unjustified.""
As institutional capital continues entering Bitcoin, SkyBridge Capital announced on Monday that it has an ""approximately $310 million"" position in the asset. SkyBridge, which is led by Anthony Scaramucci, is an alternative investment fund operated in the U.S. In the press release announcing the position, SkyBridge claimed to have made this investment during November and December, though it did not disclose the average acquisition price, nor how many bitcoin it owns. The release also confirmed the launch of the SkyBridge Bitcoin Fund LP which allows investors to obtain exposure to the cryptocurrency.
United Kingdom-based Bitcoin exchange CoinCorner has become the latest major trading platform to support the Lightning Network. Traders can now use Lightning via CoinCorner’s website, with a mobile implementation in the works.
BitGo saw a record 11,613 wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) swapped for real bitcoin in December, with only 2,731 BTC exchanged for the bitcoin-backed ERC-20 tokens last month. December marked the first time in the young project’s history that “burns,” the reversion of WBTC back to BTC, have outnumbered “mints.”
Following a change to WhatsApp’s terms and conditions that will result in it sharing your data with Facebook, users have been switching over to alternatives. This was likely further spurred on by Elon Musk’s tweet encouraging users to try out Signal. In a resounding display of evidence for EMH, Shares of Signal Advance have soared as much as 11,708% since Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted ""Use Signal"" to his 42 million followers on Thursday. To be clear, Signal Advance is a firm entirely unrelated to the Signal messaging app.
On Jan 6th, Strike announced its bringing the Lightning Network to over 200 countries. Jack Mallers describes Strike as “Bitcoin neo-bank”, and leverages the Bitcoin network layer 2 to move fiat fast from point A to point B. Through a partnership with Bittrex, Strike will onboard Bitrex’ 1 million customers. And Strike plans on providing banking services in up to 200 countries via the international exchange. Strike will first add support for the euro, british pound, swiss franc, tether and USDC, with more currency pairs to follow. References: Bitcoin Lightning Startup Zap Goes Global, Adds Stablecoins, Strike Is Bringing The Lightning Network To More Than 200 Countries
“Your cock is mine” A hacker took control of people's internet-connected chastity cages and demanded a ransom to be paid in Bitcoin to unlock it. ""Your cock is mine now,"" the hacker told one of the victims, according to a screenshot of the conversation obtained by a security researcher that goes by the name Smelly and is the founder of vx-underground, a website that collects malware samples. In October of last year, security researchers found that the manufacturer of an Internet of Things chastity cage—a sex toy that users put around their penis to prevent erections that is used in the BDSM community and can be unlocked remotely—had left an API exposed, giving malicious hackers a chance to take control of the devices. That's exactly what happened, according to a security researcher who obtained screenshots of conversations between the hacker and several victims, and according to victims interviewed by Motherboard. A victim who asked to be identified only as Robert said that he received a message from a hacker demanding a payment of 0.02 Bitcoin (around $750 today) to unlock the device. He realized his cage was definitely ""locked,"" and he ""could not gain access to it."" These hacks show once again that just because you can connect something to the internet, it doesn't mean you have to—especially if you then don't take care of securing the device or its connection. It's incidents like these that make some people think the Internet of Things is just a marketing term for the Internet of Hackable Things, as we call it, or even the Internet of Shit, as others call it