gm, readers.
At Automata we work on protecting privacy and fairness. And in this newsletter, we find more reason to talk about it. Explore headlines and catch up on the biggest crypto news in Web3 privacy.
This Week:
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Worldcoin’s user authentication system, Proof-of-Personhood, raises privacy, security, and accessibility concerns, says Vitalik
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Brave releases additional feature to block cookie consent notices on top of blocking third-party cookies
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Rarimo works with Polygon ID, leveraging their privacy-preserving ID infrastructure to make Web3 credentials multi-chain
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Privacy Layer-1 chain Aleo launches $500K Bug Bounty Program on Bugcrowd and HackerOne
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Uniswap founder Hayden Adam’s Twitter account gets hacked, sharing a malicious link
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Oasis Network organizes a Privacy4Web3 Hackathon for developers to build with its privacy-first sidechain, the Oasis Privacy Layer (OPL)
We dive into the details, so you don’t have to:
Sam Altman, known for his work on OpenAI, has launched Worldcoin, a decentralized human identity verification project. The announcement has polarized the crypto community, with Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin publishing a helpful essay on the project’s worthy attempt at solving a very difficult problem - that of a reliable proof-of-personhood system - and the privacy, accessibility, centralization, and security risks in the race to do so.
https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1451990496537088000
It might be hard to get past the dystopian sci-fi caricatures with millions of people using orb-shaped devices to scan their irises and generate a unique digital identity. But Worldcoin’s willingness to take privacy seriously deserves credit, using zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to prevent abuse, as is its commitment to decentralization.
Elsewhere, interoperability protocol Rarimo is working with Polygon ID to further the features of the ZKP-based digital identity system. Identity providers will be able to use their Web3 credentials across more than one chain, including Polygon and Ethereum, with planned support for BNB Chain and Avalanche.
Uniswap founder Hayden Adam’s Twitter account was hacked on July 20, sending out several tweets with phishing links. The scam tweet, first of many, was quickly taken down and Adams was able to regain control of his account soon after the next day. Aptly, Binance CEO CZ also warned about a rise in Web3 scams compromising social media accounts of prominent figures in crypto, often through phishing attacks.
A timely reminder to Web3 users to be alert and aware of the links that we interact with online. 1RPC’s anti-phishing transaction sanitizers protect users as they interact with the blockchain, preventing potentially fraudulent or malicious transactions.
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This newsletter is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional financial advice or interpreted as investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are volatile assets and you should always do your own research before making any informed decisions when investing or trading.