This week in the crypto world Ledger admit its failures over Ledger Recover, proof that work on FTX 2.0 progressing, and a huge year-on-year reduction in crypto hacks.
Down down, deeper and down.
FTX 2.0 in the Works
We learnt this week that everyone’s favorite exchange, FTX, is getting a reboot, and it’s coming sooner than we think. In a monthly report to the FTX bankruptcy court, CEO Joh Ray III included various allusions to “FTX 2.0”, such as the preparation of material surrounding the “reboot” and reviewing the bidder list for the exchange.
This suggests that a new version of FTX could be coming in 2023, potentially within a year of its collapse, which would represent a remarkable turnaround.
Ledger Recover Put on Ice
Hardware wallet maker Ledger this week acknowledged the botched announcement of its Ledger Recover service by delaying the product’s launch as it works to build bridges with the community it has, again, antagonized. The company said it will delay the launch of the service, which allows users to store their Ledger seed phrase with secured third parties, while it works to make its software more transparent to show that it isn’t hiding any secrets with regards to what it can do with user seeds.
CEO Pascal Gauthier also acknowledged this week that Ledger made a “communication mistake” with how it launched Ledger Recover, and promised that the company had learned from its mistakes. Again.
Crypto Thefts Down as Hackers Eschew Exchanges
We also learned this week that crypto hacks are down massively on last year, with more hackers opting to return funds in exchange for a smaller bounty. According to blockchain intel firm TRM Labs, hackers stole around $400 million from crypto projects in 40 attacks in the first three months of 2023, a 70% decline from the same period last year, with more opting for a ‘white hack’ bounty rather than walking off with the funds themselves.
TRM puts this down to increased oversight on exchanges and offramps and the abilities of blockchain forensics firms to trace stolen funds, a trend that will hopefully increase over time as the crypto world falls more in line with the world of traditional finance.
