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www.coindesk.com
Worldcoin, the blockchain identity project, has integrated with Okta to launch an identity protocol called World iD. Using a custom-designed hardware called Orb, users in Germany can get fully verified through biometric data and store their digital key on their device.

blog.ethereum.org
The Ethereum Foundation has announced the recipients of its academic grant program, awarding $2 million in funding to projects across multiple categories. The recipients, from countries including Austria, Canada, China, France, and the United States, will contribute to the progress and positive impact of the Ethereum ecosystem.

dev.mirror.xyz
Writing NFTs on Mirror have received updates, including the ability to customize cover images, make them open editions, read collected posts within the NFT or on marketplaces, and continue collecting through secondary markets. Since their launch, Writing NFTs have gained popularity, with millions collected and substantial earnings for creators. These NFTs are accessible and cost-effective, allowing writers to create gas-free and collectors to pay minimal fees.

cointelegraph.com
Google Cloud has entered into a partnership with Voltage, an infrastructure provider specializing in the Bitcoin Lightning Network, to roll out Bitcoin-based services worldwide. This partnership highlights Google's growing understanding and acceptance of Bitcoin Lightning, contrasting with Apple's recent delisting of Lightning-friendly decentralized social media protocol apps.
π Stories, Tutorials & Articles

thedefiant.io
An unknown project called VMPX caused a surge in gas prices on Ethereum as users rushed to use its smart contract for token minting, surpassing well-known contracts like Uniswap and USDT in terms of burned ETH. VMPX is part of the XEN ecosystem, aiming to bridge the gap between Bitcoin and Ethereum, allowing holders to stake VMPX and earn fees for asset transfers between the two blockchains. XEN, known for its multichain approach, has previously spiked gas usage and burned around $90 million worth of ETH, making it an outlier in the crypto space.

blog.everstrike.io
BaseFEX, a crypto exchange marketed as a "Bitmex alternative," bankrupted itself through wash trading, a cautionary tale for other exchanges. Using rudimentary methods to fake volume, BaseFEX attracted attention but was eventually exploited by a Russian user who earned a 1,000% return with a simple trading bot. BaseFEX's trading volume plummeted, and the exchange faded into obscurity, leaving the user unable to withdraw funds but with the satisfaction of single-handedly bringing down a $100M volume/day platform.

conduition.io
Schnorr Signatures improve Bitcoin's privacy for multisignature transactions by utilizing elliptic curve cryptography and offering benefits such as simplicity, faster computation, non-malleability, strong security proofs, and the ability to aggregate multiple signatures. When combined with Taproot, Schnorr Signatures enable complex spending conditions while maintaining the appearance of a normal public key, enhancing efficiency, security, and privacy in Bitcoin transactions.

blog.theredguild.org
Diffyscan is a CLI tool developed by Lido that allows security researchers to compare the source code of verified smart contracts in Etherscan against a GitHub repository. It retrieves the files from Etherscan, locates them in the repository, and performs a diff to identify any differences. It can be useful for verifying code consistency and quickly identifying potential discrepancies between deployed contracts and their GitHub counterparts.

www.rareskills.io
Tornado Cash is a cryptocurrency smart contract mixer that allows users to deposit and withdraw crypto without creating a traceable link between the two addresses. It uses zero-knowledge proofs and Merkle Trees to provide anonymity and prevent theft by proof forgery.

mirror.xyz
Uniswap has announced a new upgrade that introduces a hook feature, allowing for more flexibility and customization in liquidity pools. This upgrade brings programmability to the liquidity pools, enabling complex computations to be performed outside of the native contract.

collective.flashbots.net
A proposed approach to construct and distribute a block builder network is to use a secure knapsack solver. The use of a greedy algorithm as an alternative to the solver is also discussed, along with the potential for building a decentralized builder network using multiparty computation (MPC).