If January is anything to go by, this year will be as action-packed as the last one! More things continue to happen in the space then we can recount - from surprise mergers to surprise regulation.

A big one we were excited to share with everyone was the initial release of Blockscan Chat, a simple platform for users to message each other wallet-to-wallet or, as others have called it, this generation's version of AIM. On top of the chat, we also did a facelift for the User Dashboard on Etherscan.

This month, the newsletter includes our first-ever guest post by the insightful Takens Theorem and a quiz that tests you on the topic of Data Availability. Take the quiz and stand to win $10 in ETH.

Souls of Immortal NFTs

Following the recent criticsms of NFTs by the founder of Signal, our first-ever guest post explores the various on-chain NFTs that run counter to the criticism and different classification schemes for NFTs. Highlights include:

• The Michelin Guide scheme
• The Practical Implications scheme
• How to tell for yourself

FEATURE

Blockscan Chat

An initial version of Blockscan Chat, allowing you to easily message any wallet address.

FEATURE

New Look User Dashboard

A new look for the User Dashboard gives it a more modern feel. Sign in to see it!

MyCrypto Joins Metamask

Two of the OG wallets in Ethereum merged together as MyCrypto joined Metamask. Dharma also joined OpenSea in another wallet acquisition.

twitter.com/mycrypto

NFT Profile Pictures on Twitter

The long-awaited NFT PFP feature is for Twitter Blue subscribers. Reddit may also join the party, although Twitter has room to improve on its feature.

twitter.com/twitterblue

Urgent Considerations of the SEC's Proposed ATS Amendment

The US SEC made a huge amendment proposal, potentially including block explorers as securities exchanges. It's only provided 30 days for comments.

lexnode.substack.com

0xSifu Revealed as the Founder of QuadrigaCX

The CFO of Wonderland with access to a $1B treasury was revealed as co-founder of the collapsed QuadrigaCX exchange. He's since been voted out.

reddit.com/r/defi

The Year in Ethereum 2021

The annual recap of important developments in Ethereum focused on Layer 2, the creator economy, protocol upgrades and DAOs this time around.

stark.mirror.xyz

ZKP Private Airdrop

The code repository allows any project to distribute tokens to users for off-chain activities while protecting the anonymity of users' public keys

twitter.com/samrags_

ethereum-cryptography 1.0

An update of the ethereum-cryptography library resulting in a 15x decrease in size, faster hashing and a 7.6x decrease in dependencies.

twitter.com/paulmillr

Zero-Knowledge Proofs in 5 Levels of Difficulty

Wired's excellent video is a good introduction to the concept of zero-knowledge proofs powering multiple advancements in the blockchain space.

youtube.com

Foundations of Blockchains by Tim Roughgarden

The acclaimed Columbia professor known in Ethereum circles for his EIP-1559 analysis has begun a free lecture series on blockchains. Must watch!

twitter.com/algo_class

Transaction: $500k Lost in Wrapped Ether Contract

A user made one extremely expensive error by assuming that transferring WETH to its smart contract would result in auto-converting of ETH for him.

Address: Wormhole Network Exploiter

An exploiter of the Worhmhole bridge linking Ethereum with Solana made off with $300M, the second-largest DeFi exploit ever. More details here.

Questions received last month:

Is Blockscan Chat decentralized or encrypted?
Blockscan Chat is an off-chain messaging service. For decentralized messages, use our IDM feature. The chat currently doesn't have end-to-end encryption, which is one of many features we hope to add going forward!

How can I show on Etherscan that I was the creator of an NFT?
Contract creators are shown on the top right in each contract address page. For NFTs created using factory contracts, try going to the NFT's Contract > Read Contract tab, open the OwnerOf function and enter the Token ID.

Confused with some terms in this newsletter?
Remember to check the Etherscan glossary!

Looking for a job in crypto? Check out these roles below:

Senior Smart Contract Engineer at prePO | Remote

Solidity Expert (Part Time, Contract) at BloomTech | Remote

Web3 Frontend Engineer at Tally | Americas time zone

Marketing Lead at Tally | Americas time zone

Developer Advocate at Tally | Americas time zone

POLL

Data Availability

Into the rabbit hole of Data Availability we go! Take the quiz and stand to win $10 in ETH.