This week in web3—Yuga Labs launches APECOIN, Vitalik makes TIME, On-chain scams are getting off hand and more

GM!

How would you like to start your Sunday? Hopefully, with some crypto saving tips and the hottest news updates of web3 this week. Let's look at what happened This Week In Web3!

In today’s issue, we cover:

• Web3 Weekly Wrap

• Learn with Kable Recap

• How to keep your crypto investments safe?

This week in crypto 📈

Weekly web3 wrap 🗞

Yuga Labs launches APECOIN ($APE) & a DAO that will own and operate it

The Bored Ape Yacht Club had everything it needed to succeed—a tremendously strong community, distinctive style and all the hype, and so it became successful, immensely. Now, Yuga Labs, the powerhouse behind BAYC, is launching its own coin called ApeCoin ($APE).

The firm has started ApeCoin DAO—a decentralised organisation to regulate and manage the tokens . The token airdrop flagged off on 18 March, and the claim period will last 90 days.

a16z & Paradigm led round raises $150 million for Optimism

Optimism has raised $150 million in a Series B funding round co-led by top crypto investors Paradigm and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) at a $1.65 billion valuation. The company says the funding will largely go toward hiring.

What is Optimism?

Optimism is a layer 2 scaling solution built on Ethereum. It uses optimistic rollups (a transaction execution method) to improve throughput and lower transaction fees while still maintaining the security properties of the underlying blockchain.

• Total Value Locked: $363 million on the platform.

• A16z also led Optimism’s $25 million Series A round last year, with Chris Dixon and Arianna Simpson praising Optimism.

• Paradigm launched the largest fund in crypto at $2.5 billion in November.

Time Magazine dubs Vitalik Buterin "Prince of crypto"

Time will release the first-ever fully decentralised magazine issue as an NFT on the blockchain on March 23.

The NFT issue features TIME’s cover story—“The Prince of Crypto Has Concerns” on Vitalik Buterin’s fight for the future of Ethereum by Andrew Chow, editor of TIME’s Into the Metaverse newsletter. Read the full cover story here.

London’s Token2049 addresses regulatory uncertainty in crypto

This Thursday, the underlying theme of London’s Token2049 conference would be “uncertainty.” Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler questioned the scope of the regulator’s purview where crypto is concerned.

CBDCs loom: The biggest decision is how stablecoins are approached, warning against options designed to give central bankers better dashboards.

DeFi focus: The view from those in DeFi was that education should be around how aligned smart contracts and regulations are, according to Stani Kulechov, CEO of lending platform Aave.

Learn with Kable 👩‍🏫

This Tools Tuesday, we explored Thirdweb.com, an amazing tool for you to create & mint NFTs without writing a piece of code and add some cool web3 features to your project!

Read about all the cool things you can do on the platform here 👇

Everyone eyeing an interesting NFT Project needs to read our thread on 7 factors to consider before going all-in because rug-pulls and scams are getting out of hand!

The crypto community is home to opportunity, community and hope. But on one hand, where the platform comes with a chance of growth, it may also pose a threat. If you are not careful, the crypto industry is also an adverse place.

While platforms boast of their decentralisation and transparency, the risk of having your valuable cryptocurrencies stolen remains.

The blockchain system requires complex data like hash, root and proof of work for authentication of the transaction, and we may assume it’s almost “unhackable.” But only last year, crypto scammers stole a whopping $14 billion from people, which stands as eye-opening proof of the weight on the word ALMOST.

This also raises questions on the safety of the money in your wallets. Well, the good news is technology keeps on evolving, and it’s as safe as it gets right now. But, sorry, there’s bad news too—technology keeps on evolving, and hackers have the best as it gets right now. Can you do something about it? Hell yes! That’s where this is heading.

Here are some best security practices you can follow:

1. Always use unique passwords. See which websites have leaked your passwords previously using https://haveibeenpwned.com

2. Remember your unique passwords with password managers like @1Password

3. 2-factor authenticate every service that offers it with apps like Google Authenticator or use hardware-based 2FA.

4. Use a crypto hardware wallet like @Trezor or @Ledger

5. Unless you trust the extension developer 110%, uninstall the Google extensions.

6. Use an exchange to send crypto funds to someone else; otherwise, you doxx yourself.

Here is a simple thread you must read for more tips on securing yourself from crypto scams.

That’s a wrap for This Week In Web3!

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wagmi 🚀