Daily Digest - 25th May 2023

Headlines

▌Coinbase: Base mainnet will be launched soon, but the time is undecided

Coinbase said Layer 2 Base is still building toward its "genesis window," with a mainnet launch imminent. Coinbase did not share an official timeline for the mainnet launch, but the company said it will share more important updates at a later date.

Currently, Base is awaiting Optimism's upgrade to Bedrock, which it says will significantly reduce the complexity and length of its codebase. A Coinbase representative said the team behind Base also plans to complete an infrastructure review with the OP Labs team and pass internal and external audits with no serious issues. Additionally, Base has no plans to issue tokens.

Policies

▌Financial Action Task Force: Did not ask Pakistan to ban cryptocurrencies to get rid of its "grey list"

Pakistan's Minister of State for Finance and Taxation said cryptocurrencies cannot be legalised in the country due to conditions set by a global money laundering watchdog, which demanded that they be excluded from a list of countries with heightened surveillance. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said it "does not require countries to indiscriminately ban virtual assets and virtual asset service providers".

The FATF said it requires countries to understand the money laundering and terrorism financing risks faced by the crypto industry, and to issue licences or register exchanges to regulate the industry in the same way as other financial institutions. FATF requires virtual asset service providers to implement the same precautions as financial institutions, including customer due diligence, record keeping and suspicious transaction reporting, and to comply with its Travel Rule — which requires crypto service providers to collect and share transactional information above a certain threshold. It was previously reported that Pakistan has no plans to legalise cryptocurrency trading.

▌ECB executive committee: the digital euro will allow free payments in the euro area

Fabio Panetta, a member of the ECB's executive board, said that in order to maintain financial stability, we need to put central bank money at the heart of the financial system. A digital euro would allow Europeans to pay for free anywhere in the eurozone. A digital euro would provide a platform for European financial intermediaries to offer innovative payment services across the euro area, which would foster competition and innovation. The ECB will not have access to personal data, and for financial intermediaries distributing the digital euro, lawmakers will strike a balance between ensuring data confidentiality and fighting money laundering and terrorism financing. As Europeans, we need to act together if we want to continue to make a difference on the world stage. A European fiscal policy that complements our monetary policy will help us avoid many tensions and imbalances.

Blockchain application

▌Celer Network: The vulnerability disclosed by the Jump Crypto department has been patched

Cross-chain interoperability protocol Celer Network said Wednesday it patched a vulnerability first disclosed by the Jump Crypto unit. In a blog post published by Celer and Jump Crypto, they detail a vulnerability in Celer's State Guardian Network (SGN), the proof-of-stake blockchain that Celer uses to securely authorise transactions between different networks. If executed, the vulnerability could allow malicious validator nodes to submit enough fraudulent votes on the state of the network to effect changes. Celer emphasised that no funds were lost due to the vulnerability. The vulnerability was not publicly accessible and no funds were directly at risk when it was discovered.

Cryptocurrency

▌Tether cooperates with Georgia University of Business and Technology to promote encryption education

Tether Limited and Georgia Business and Technical University (BTU) have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote education in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space in the country. The program aims to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills in the emerging digital economy. It is reported that Tether will participate in BTU's educational programs on blockchain, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and other technologies that promote financial freedom.