Sup, nerds!

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

• 💅 This is cool: ChatGPT (but it writes Web3 apps for you)

• 🔎 This seems important: The SEC wants $2B from Ripple (next up is Ethereum)

• 🤝 Partner: Have a Web3 company? You might want to read this…​

• 🔪 Let's dissect this: Portugal bans Worldcoin (and Spain isn’t far behind)

Terms used in this edition (click for an explanation, or ask Web(GPT)3!):
 Blockchain, Web3, Zk-Proofs.

💅 This is cool:

ChatGPT (But It Writes Web3 Apps for You)

In one sentence: ‘Syntax’ is a platform that resembles ChatGPT, but writes blockchain apps based on the prompts you give it (instead of beat poetry in the tone of Ben Franklin).

You know that feeling you get when you find something new to obsess over?

The one that’s followed by the thought: “Uh-oh, I’m definitely going to lose some hours, days, months of my life to this…”

We first experienced it on September 3rd, 1998 (the day Pokemon Yellow was released in Australia).

And uh…we just had that feeling again.

Yesterday, Spectral Labs (a crypto development firm) released ‘Syntax’…

Which is an AI bot designed to help coders write/build blockchain apps more efficiently, AND — get this:

Make it easier for non-programmers to build blockchain apps.

Now, we haven’t been able to try it out just yet (we have a newsletter to write), so we can’t quite vouch for its capabilities…

But you better believe that our loved ones will be getting blankly ignored this weekend, while we stare longingly (and a little bow-eyed) at our computer screens.

Here’s why this is worth getting so excited over (even if you’re not going to use it)…

“I don’t have the time” and “I don’t have the money” — these are two common excuses everyone makes in their everyday lives (often, rightly so).

In the context of building a Web3 app, those excuses might go something like this:

• From developers: “I’m not going to invest all this time if there isn’t an obvious pay-off at the end.”

• From users: “I don’t have the time or money to learn how to turn my ideas into reality.”

Tools like Syntax have the potential to increase Web3’s total developer pool (creating a greater diversity of app offerings in the process) by lowering the knowledge and time requirements to take a project from start to finish.

It’s a beautiful evolution of technology, no? 🥲

🥇 Want the news before anyone else?

🔎 This seems important:

The SEC Still Wants $2B From Ripple (And Next up Is Ethereum)

In one sentence: Ripple only scored a partial win in its case against the SEC, and now the Commission wants $2B in fines, before it goes after the Ethereum Foundation.

In the words of your parents that time your dad got a new job out of state, and you had to move away from all of your friends:

“You’re going start hearing rumors, so we might as well tell you now…”

While, yes — Ripple scored a partial win in its case against the SEC, who claimed the company was selling unregistered securities (aka: ‘illegal investment products’)…

It wasn’t a case-closing win.

The judge ruled that the ‘programatic sale’ of XRP, didn’t constitute the sale of unregistered securities.

(I.e. Selling the XRP token on crypto exchanges, like Coinbase, wasn’t illegal).

Buuuut, the private sale of XRP tokens to institutional investors, did tick the ‘unregistered security’ box.

…and now the SEC wants its pound of flesh.

The Commission went as far as upping its initial 2019 request, which asked for $1.7B in damages, and pushed that figure up to a nice round $2B.

Good news:

From what we can tell, this shouldn’t negatively affect the broader crypto industry — the public sale of crypto tokens is still protected by law in the US.

Bad news is:

If a crypto project has ever made private sales of its token (which many have) — the SEC will use its new-found legal precedent to start collecting fines.

(Like it’s rumored they just did with the Ethereum Foundation).

🤝 Partner:

Have a Web3 Company? You Might Want To Read This…

What do these three quotes have in common?

1. “Their team has the most proficient and knowledgeable security experts I know in the [Web3] space.”
   

2. “[They] came back with workable exploits and improvement suggestions in record time.”
   

3. “I can’t recommend this team highly enough for crypto specific security audits.”

They’re all real quotes from past clients of Coinspect. 

It’s hard to stress the importance of security audits in the Web3 space enough – one vulnerability can literally break your company!

And the scary thing is, you won’t even know they exist…until it’s too late.

(It’s enough to lose sleep over!)

Good news is: an audit from Coinspect can help identify and patch those vulnerabilities.

If you have a Web3 company and you’re yet to have an external team do a tailored security audit on your systems, reach out to the Coinspect team today.

They’ll create a customized audit that works specifically for your needs.

Ready to start sleeping better? Hit the big red button 👇

🔪 Let's dissect this:

Portugal Bans Worldcoin (And Spain Isn’t Far Behind)

In one sentence: Worldcoin and its iris-scanning orbs are about to be booted out of Spain and Portugal, for fears they go against citizens' data protection rights.

Remember Worldcoin? 

They’re about to be booted out of Spain and Portugal!

Not sure what we’re on about? Allow us to explain…

Worldcoin is a crypto project founded by OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, designed to prove a person’s humanity online, in a world of AI is everywhere.

The company requires a one-time iris scan by an orb-like bot that:

1. Verifies you’re human (or at least, in possession of a human eye-ball)

2. Then rewards you for being human, by giving you $WLD

All while using zk-proofs to protect your bio-data.

…but protected or not — it all sounds a bit dystopian, no? 

From every discussion we’ve ever had, when anyone hears Worldcoin’s pitch, it translates in their head something like this:

“Give us a scan of your eyeballs (we’ll keep it private, promise!) — and in return, we’ll give you some magic internet money…”

…and in reaction to such a pitch, it’s only natural to think:

“The perceived risk (giving some opaque private tech company my bio-data), does not outweigh the potential benefits (earning some little-known cryptocurrency).”

Well, turns out its not just our circle of friends, family, and colleagues that feel that way, but Spanish and Portuguese law-makers as well.

(They’ve just ordered Worldcoin to halt all data collection in their countries).

Portugal's government specifically is under the assumption that Worldcoin is going against its citizens data protection rights (but they’re also fearful of this pooled information somehow being used maliciously in the future).

And we can’t blame them!

We write about zk-proofs all the time, and believe them to be robust in protecting personal information.

And still: there’s isn’t a chance in hell we’d take a Worldcoin iris scan.

The Easiest Way to Convert Cash Into Crypto [partner]

MoonPay offers a fast and simple way to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, allowing you to buy crypto with your credit card, bank transfer or even Apple Pay!

If you want a seamless, hands off fiat-to-crypto conversion & payment experience: Click this link to buy crypto right away; or look for the MoonPay logo within your chosen crypto app!

Facts About Worldcoin