Sup, nerds!

Here’s what you’re getting in today’s edition:

• 💅 This is cool: Another step toward crypto iPhones

• 🔎 This seems important: Another win for Ethereum!

• 🤝 Partner: Your AI-powered investment compass​

• 🔪 Let's dissect this: When ya try to do a nice thing…

• 💡 Bellwethers in Web3: Mo Shaikh, Aptos Labs

Terms used in this edition (click for an explanation, or ask Web(GPT)3!):
dApp.

💅 This is cool:

Another Step Toward Crypto iPhones

In one sentence: The APhone is the latest ‘crypto smartphone’ to be announced — each one that comes to market puts just a liiittle more pressure on Apple and Android to adapt.

Remember waaay back in the day when Uber only offered a black car service?

No? Well, before 2012AD, UberX didn’t exist.

The company held out on launching cheaper options for a hot minute — until the model was well and truly proven by Lyft, which forced Uber to adapt and compete.

We see the march towards crypto-integrated phones following a similar (slower) path…

There’s a new product launching, called the APhone, which follows the Solana Saga phone’s formula:

Put a dApp store on a smartphone → sell it to crypto nerds.

The model has only been proven to work at smaller scales so far, but with every new company that enters the market, it puts just a liiittle more pressure on Apple (iOS) and Google (Android) to adapt with the market.

(À la: UberX/Lyft).

We’re not about to go out and buy an APhone — and we expect there’s still a looong ways to go before we see any native crypto functionality added to iOS or Android.

But it’s a step in the right direction.

(And steps can eventually progress into leaps).

🥇 Want the news before anyone else?

🔎 This seems important:

Another Win for Ethereum!

In one sentence: The SEC dropped its ETH investigation, along with any potential charges, leading to a 3% bump in ETH’s price.

• Talking back to your mom → getting grounded

• Walking past a bag of soil at Home Depot → slapping the top of it

• Using “holy guacamole” in conversation → not getting a second date

These are all natural progressions.

Same goes for the SEC’s approval of an ETH ETF → it was expected that they’d then drop their ETH investigation, along with any potential charges.

And that’s exactly what just happened.

Which gave Ethereum a neat little 3% bump in price.

That ain’t much! But given we’re in a short-term market downtrend, it carries a little extra weight.

Big picture:

This is another positive step forward for crypto in the US.

We love to see it!

🤝 Partner:

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🔪 Let's dissect this:

When Ya Try To Do a Nice Thing…

In one sentence: An ‘ethical hacker’ found a bug in Kraken’s code, and before reporting it, stole $3M - now they’re asking for even more.

There’s nothing worse than trying to do the right thing, and then getting taken advantage of.

Take Erik from Season 16 of Survivor for example who gave up his immunity necklace, only to be voted out of the game minutes later.

(We’re huge Survivor fans! Don’t @ us).

Wondering how this all relates to crypto?

The crypto exchange, Kraken, just suffered from a similar fate to Erik.

As most exchanges do, Kraken offers a bounty program.

(I.e. a way for ‘ethical hackers’ to find bugs and be paid to tell the exchange about them, before the exchange gets exploited).

But, an anonymous self-proclaimed ‘security researcher’ recently found a critical security bug and alerted the cryptocurrency exchange…after exploiting the bug for $3M.

Where a typical bounty program may pay tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for finding a bug, $3M is not even within the ballpark for Kraken.

In Nicholas Percoco, Chief Security Officer of Kraken’s words: “This is extortion!”

The good news is that the security team at Kraken have now fixed the bug; and apparently no users’ funds were accessed or stolen (the $3M was from Kraken’s treasury fund).

All we can say is, to the ‘security researcher’ out there: c’mon - do the right thing and return those funds! The tribe has spoken.

(Too far? Yeah k).

💡 Bellwethers in Web3

"Bellwether's in Web3," is a daily profile series recorded live with Nolcha Shows and Movement Labs in collaboration with Bellwether Culture. Check out the latest video below.

Interview: Mo Shaikh, CEO & Co-Founder of Aptos Labs

Mo is the CEO and Co-Founder of Aptos Labs. He is a 3x founder with over a decade of experience in global financial markets and blockchain.

In the past, he led blockchain strategic partnerships at Meta; advised the World Economic Forum on its global blockchain strategy; and served as a consultant for Sovereign Wealth Funds, plus energy and telecom companies, as part of BCG’s Private Equity practice.

Mo grew up in Brooklyn with a taxi driver dad and a stay-at-home mom on welfare. As a first-generation American, building a more accessible world is not just a professional goal but a personal mission — and blockchain is the ultimate catalyst for this change.

Follow: @moshaikhs (Twitter), Mo Shaikh (LinkedIn)