The cloud-based messaging software, Telegram, will launch its own app store by the end of July 2024 after recording 950 million users, according to CEO and Founder, Pavel Durov.

 

“To keep the fire going, this month, we will introduce a mini app store and an in-app browser with support for Web3-pages,” Durov posted on his channel on July 22 2024.

“2024 will go down in history as the year when hundreds of millions of people became familiar with blockchain. We’re proud that Telegram is at the epicenter of this societal transformation,” added Durov.

 

While the users are growing and ideas are expanding, the software has faced many scam attempts for a long time. The founder has addressed this and shared how the team is working to prevent this from occurring.

 

“We will also step up our efforts to fight the scammers seeking to defraud new entrants into the crypto realm. Soon, Telegram will begin displaying the month of registration and principal country for public accounts (similar to Instagram).

“We will also allow organizations to use their mini apps to issue labels for channels, creating a decentralized marketplace for third-party verification.”

 

The growth in users comes amid an explosion in blockchain-based games, such as NotCoin, that users tap to play on Telegram.

As reported by BitKE, NotCoin was a significant global project in May 2024, attracting more than 30 million users. These users earned points by interacting with various TON services, including TonKeeper, and other wallets, exchanges, and games. These points could later be converted into tokens tradable on exchanges, giving users tangible value.

MILESTONE | The NotCoin $NOT Token Launches on TON Blockchain, User Base Now Accounts for 0.4% of the Global Population

This large player base enabled Notcoin to attract ‘hundreds’ of Web3 organizations to advertise through the game’s ‘earn’ mechanics, according to the team.… pic.twitter.com/SopuiOEYOc

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) May 17, 2024

Telegram aims to develop decentralized tools, including non-custodial wallets and decentralized exchanges, to securely facilitate cryptocurrency transactions for millions, Durov said back in November 2022.

He emphasized that with advancements like the Open Network (TON), the blockchain industry can fulfill its mission of empowering individuals and eliminating the need for centralized intermediaries.

Officially, The Open Network, abbreviated as TON, was founded by Telegram in 2017 to enable decentralized services such as decentralized storage, anonymous networks, DNS, and fast payments through a proof-of-stake (PoS) method.

The TON blockchain has implemented several features in recent years, leveraging the Telegram app, cryptocurrencies, and other key technologies.

Most recently, Tether, the issuer of the world’s most widely used stablecoin, partnered with the TON Foundation to enable users to send crypto payments via the popular encrypted instant messaging service.

STABLECOINS | #Telegram to Enable $USDT Payments with Global Fiat On/Off-Ramps Directly to Banks and Cards at Launch

“This initiative is set to transform global peer-to-peer payments, allowing Telegram’s users to send transfers freely and instantly between all Telegram users;… pic.twitter.com/3RQY2Ejequ

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) May 1, 2024

 

 

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The demand for stablecoins has picked back up in 2024, with circulating supply approaching $150 billion, according to data from the Visa Onchain Analytics tool by VISA.

When looking at the monthly transaction volume, out of the $2.65 trillion of the transfer volume from the last 30 days, only $265 billion was ‘organic.’ While an improvement on an earlier report, this still depicts a huge misrepresentation of these transactions.

Their report from May 2024 revealed that of about $2.2 trillion in total transactions in April 2024, just $149 billion originated from “organic payments activity.”

REPORT | Bots Account for 90% of Stablecoin Transactions, Says VISA

Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto, #VISA, pointed out that stablecoins transactions may frequently be double-counted depending on the platforms involved in fund transfers.

For instance, converting $100 worth of… pic.twitter.com/rsRGIIiYuo

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) May 10, 2024

According to Head of Crypto at VISA, Cuy Sheffield, stablecoins transactions may frequently be double-counted depending on the platforms involved in fund transfers. For instance, converting $100 worth of Circle Internet Financial Ltd.’s USDC to PayPal’s PYUSD on the decentralized exchange Uniswap would lead to $200 of total stablecoin volume being recorded on-chain.

Moreover, developers can create automated bot programs that perform activities such as stablecoin arbitrage, liquidity provision, and market making, among others. These activities are vital for sustaining the growing decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. However, the on-chain transactions resulting from interactions with these automated programs don’t resemble settlement in the traditional sense.

This situation motivated VISA’s collaboration with Allium Labs to develop an adjusted stablecoin transaction metric. This adjusted metric aims to remove potential distortions that can arise from in-organic activity and other artificial inflationary practices.

Allium Labs, which provides enterprise-grade blockchain data to companies like VISA, Stripe, and Uniswap Foundation, has seen its data services become more prominent. The startup announced a $16.5 million Series A funding round in July 2024, bringing its total funds raised to $21.5 million.

 

“Currently, something as essential as accurately tracking digital currency volumes requires continually normalizing data across 40+ blockchain networks and parsing thousands of smart contracts, equating to petabytes of data,” said Ethan Chan, CEO and Co-Founder of Allium.

“Our goal is that our customers never need to worry about any of this.”

 

Despite the variance between total transfer volume and bot-adjusted transfer volume, the analytics dashboard by Allium and VISA revealed a consistent increase in monthly active stablecoin users. Across all chains, there were 27.5 million monthly active users, indicating a steady growth trajectory.

 

 

 

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South African DeFi startup, NeoNomad, has recently introduced ZARCoin (ZARC), a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the South African Rand (ZAR).

Launched on July 11 2024, this digital currency seeks to bridge the gap between traditional and crypto finance facilitating seamless transactions both domestically and across borders.

According to local reports, the stablecoin is part of a hybrid exchange platform that aims to bring cryptocurrency benefits to the country’s unbanked population.

 

“We’re creating a growing financial ecosystem that overcomes challenges like infrastructure and transport to help people take ownership of their finances and encourage economic participation,” said NeoNomad CEO, Hanres Beukes.

 

The platform utilises Solana Pay, a blockchain-based payment system, enabling instant, low-cost transactions.

Users can make crypto payments for point-of-sale purchases via QR code scanning with fees approaching zero. This technology targets both banked and unbanked South Africans, potentially expanding financial access across the economic spectrum.

By focusing on Decentralised Finance (DeFi), NeoNomad challenges traditional banking models. The startup aims to reduce fees and enable peer-to-peer transactions without intermediaries, a proposition that could resonate in a country where banking costs remain a contentious issue.

 

“This app enables a suite of offerings across a broad network and the Decentralised Finance space. It’s designed to transition users from traditional banking into our secure stablecoin ecosystem and to be part of a transformative African fintech platform that contributes to a growing digital continent,” said Devon Krantz, COO of NeoNomad.

 

The launch of NeoNomad’s stablecoin comes after South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) recently approved 138 crypto asset service provider licences, bolstering South Africa’s place as the African hub for blockchain and crypto innovation.

REGULATION | South Africa Appproves 63 New Crypto License Applications, Now Totalling to 138

“The total number of applications received to date is 383, of which five have been declined. A further 80 applications have been voluntarily withdrawn by applicants following… pic.twitter.com/uIXDCHBUGW

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) July 3, 2024

Also part of NeoNomad plans are the introduction of NomadLearn educational programme and an upcoming launch of DecentraLounge, a Cape Town-based co-working space for crypto enthusiasts, in Q4 2024.

 

 

 

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Remittance flows to Sub-Saharan Africa reached $54 billion in 2023, a slight decrease of -0.3% from the previous year [2022]. Remittance flows to the region are projected to rise by 1.3% in 2024. 

Nigeria remains the leading country for remittances received on the continent and accounted for 38% of the $54 billion remittance inflows into sub-Saharan Africa in 2023.

REMITTANCES | Nigeria Sees 6.28% Drop in Remittances in Q1 2024

Remittances into #Nigeria declined 6.28 percent from $301.57 million in Q1 2023 to $282.6 million in Q1 2024, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria.https://t.co/kgzG6xMMVe pic.twitter.com/3oVxM1orHz

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) May 14, 2024

For the MENA region where North African countries belong, remittance costs dropped by 15% in 2023 mainly propelled by a decline in remittances to Egypt.

Among all African countries, the top ten countries received $72.5 billion.

Below is a list of the top 10 countries in terms of remittance value received in 2023:

) Nigeria: Nigeria was the highest recipient of international remittances in Africa with remittances for the period coming at $19.555 billion

) Egypt: International remittances payed to Egypt in 2023 stood at $19.53 billion, a decline of 31% when compared to the $28.33 billion recorded in 2022

) Morocco: Remittances came to $11.75 billion, increasing from $11.17 billion in 2022

) Ghana: Remittances payment to Ghana in 2023 remained unchanged from the figure in 2022 at $4.63 billion

) Kenya: The East Africa nation received $4.16 billion in remittances in 2023, a slight increase from the $4.06 billion received in 2022

) Zimbabwe: The southern African nation received $3.08 billion in 2023, unchanged from the figure recorded in  2022

) Senegal: Senegal raked in $2.94 billion in 2023, a decline of $71 million from the $3 billion received in the previous year

) Tunisia: Total remittance payment received in 2023 was $2.65 billion. This represents a decline of 5.5% when compared to the figure for 2022 at $2.86 billion

) Algeria:  The North African country recorded 1.86 billion in remittances, $163 million above the figure recorded in 2023

) Democratic Republic of Congo: Total remittance payment to D.R Congo in 2023 stood at approximately $1.4 billion in 2023

 

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most expensive region to send money to, recorded at 7.39% of the total cost of sending $200, says the World Bank.

REPORT | Sub-Saharan Africa Remains the Most Expensive Region for Sending #Remittances, Says Latest World Bank Research

On a regional outlook, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most expensive region to send money to, recorded at 7.39 percent total average cost in Q3 2023.… pic.twitter.com/xA8qJSsyRV

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) May 13, 2024

In comparison, the average cost for sending $200 across the world declined slightly from 6.20% to 6.18% in 2023, the report said.

 

 

 

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According to recent statistics, Morocco leads the world when it comes to cash payments.

Based on data collected in 2022,:

74% of all payments in Morocco are cash-based, with

71% of the population not having their own bank account, and

Only 0.2% owning a credit card

Interestingly, 84% of the Moroccan population have access to the internet, so this preference for cash is likely not due to any internet issues.

Egypt and Kenya follow in second and third after Morocco.

60% of all payments in Egypt are cash-based, and

67% of the population don’t own a bank account

whereas in Kenya:

Only 40% of payments are cash-based, and

Less than half the population are unbanked

Number four also goes to an African country, Nigeria, whose population has low internet access (36%) and credit card use (3%).

When the question is filed to ‘which countries are closest to a completely cashless society,’ the European nation, Norway, leads the world.

Cash accounts for only 2% of all payments in Norway

100% of its population own a bank account, with

71% also owning a credit card

The list, as seen below, is dominated by countries in Europe.

The analysis also looked at the most popular digital wallets in the world.

Digital wallets are contributing to the decrease in cash use allowing users to make cashless payments via a portable device such as a mobile phone or smartwatch.

In 2013, AliPay surpassed PayPal as the world’s most popular mobile payment platform, and still holds the top spot nearly ten years later,with 1.3 billion users.

WeChat Pay and Apple Pay aren’t far behind, with 900 million and 507 million users respectively.

American giant, PayPal, which ranked as the fourth most popular mobile payment platform in 2021, has since dropped to fifth and been replaced by Google Pay.

Google Pay now has 421 million active users, which is over 40 million more than Paypal’s 377 million.

 

 

 

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Egyptian fintech, MNT-Halan, has secured a new funding round of $157.4 million to further fuel its expansion plans.

According to reports, this latest capital injection featured contributions of $40 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), with the remaining funds supplied by:

Development Partners International (DPI)

Lorax Capital Partners,

and funds managed by:

Apis Partners LLP

Lunate, and

GB Corp

The company, which achieved unicorn status in 2023 after attracting $400 million in the largest funding round in Egypt and the Middle East that year, has raised over  $520 million over the last two years, with the company now poised for further expansion.

Egyptian Fintech, MNT Halan, Now Africa’s 9th Unicorn Valued at Over $1 Billion After $400 Million in Fundinghttps://t.co/BDqhWwlXM0#W3A #Web3 #Web3news #web3Africa #Web3community #Africa #Web30Africa #Egyptian #Fintech #MNTHalan #Africa #Funding

— web3africa.eth (@W3ATech) February 8, 2023

“While Egypt remains our primary market, we are committed to revolutionising access to financial services through technology beyond Egypt’s borders. Our M&A strategy capitalises on our technology and industry expertise while leveraging our partners’ local knowledge, management capabilities, and licences,” said Mounir Nakhla, Founder and CEO of MNT-Halan.

“We are happy to have the IFC on board and to see the continued confidence from our current shareholders through their participation in this round.”

 

Since its inception, MNT-Halan has witnessed substantial growth, expanding its customer base over 20-fold to serve more than seven million users. Its digital platform, the Halan app, continues to evolve, now offering a wide array of services including various types of loans, prepaid cards, e-wallets, e-commerce, gold, and money market fund investments, with plans to introduce additional features soon.

Founded in 2018, MNT-Halan has quickly become a pivotal force in transforming financial services through technology in Egypt. With more than 2.2 million quarterly active users, the company has disbursed over $4.4 billion in loans.

 

 

 

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Egyptian fintech, MNT-Halan, has secured a new funding round of $157.4 million to further fuel its expansion plans.

According to reports, this latest capital injection featured contributions of $40 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), with the remaining funds supplied by:

Development Partners International (DPI)

Lorax Capital Partners,

and funds managed by:

Apis Partners LLP

Lunate, and

GB Corp

The company, which achieved unicorn status in 2023 after attracting $400 million in the largest funding round in Egypt and the Middle East that year, has raised over  $520 million over the last two years, with the company now poised for further expansion.

Egyptian Fintech, MNT Halan, Now Africa’s 9th Unicorn Valued at Over $1 Billion After $400 Million in Fundinghttps://t.co/BDqhWwlXM0#W3A #Web3 #Web3news #web3Africa #Web3community #Africa #Web30Africa #Egyptian #Fintech #MNTHalan #Africa #Funding

— web3africa.eth (@W3ATech) February 8, 2023

“While Egypt remains our primary market, we are committed to revolutionising access to financial services through technology beyond Egypt’s borders. Our M&A strategy capitalises on our technology and industry expertise while leveraging our partners’ local knowledge, management capabilities, and licences,” said Mounir Nakhla, Founder and CEO of MNT-Halan.

“We are happy to have the IFC on board and to see the continued confidence from our current shareholders through their participation in this round.”

 

Since its inception, MNT-Halan has witnessed substantial growth, expanding its customer base over 20-fold to serve more than seven million users. Its digital platform, the Halan app, continues to evolve, now offering a wide array of services including various types of loans, prepaid cards, e-wallets, e-commerce, gold, and money market fund investments, with plans to introduce additional features soon.

Founded in 2018, MNT-Halan has quickly become a pivotal force in transforming financial services through technology in Egypt. With more than 2.2 million quarterly active users, the company has disbursed over $4.4 billion in loans.

 

 

 

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The nine United States Ether Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) saw about $1.08 billion in cumulative trading volume on their first day, 23% of what the spot Bitcoin ETFs had on their first day.

The ETFs, listed on July 23 2024, posted net inflows of $106.6 million on the first day despite Grayscale’s freshly-converted Ethereum Trust experiencing $484.1 million in net outflows, the only fund with outflows.

BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) led with $266.5 million of inflows, followed closely by

The Bitwise Ethereum ETF (ETHW) with $204 million in net inflows

The Fidelity Ethereum Fund ETF (FETH) came in third with $71.3 million

Grayscale’s Ethereum Mini Trust, a spinoff product launched by the asset manager with lower fees, generated $15.2 million in new inflows

Franklin Templeton’s Franklin Ethereum ETF (EZET) netted $13.2 million, while

21Shares’ Core Ethereum ETF (CETH) saw $7.4 million in inflows

Bloomberg Intelligence’s James Seyffart said the ETF launch ‘pretty much’ met his expectations.

“[If] we compare it to a standard ETF launch, it was a smashing success,” Seyffart said.

Juan Luan, senior Investment Strategist at Bitwise Invest, said the demand for ETH surpassed expectations on day one.

 

“Total ETH flows ($108M) were 16% of BTC flows ($655M), but 79% if you exclude the outflows from ETHE ($484M)/GBTC ($95M) conversions. ETHE outflows likely larger because it was already trading at NAV on conversion, while GBTC was still at discount,” he said.

 

Comparing the respective debuts of ETH and BTC ETFs

That said, cryptocurrency market data provider, Kaiko, reported that despite spot Ethereum ETFs attracting more than $1 billion in trade volume on their first day, spot ETH trading volume on centralized exchanges barely moved.

The price of $ETH even dropped further on July 24 2024. The second largest cryptocurrency is trading for $3,161 at the time of publication, down 8% in the last 24 hours and 7.4% in the last seven days, according to CoinGecko.

 

 

 

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Solana’s DeFi TVL fell by 9% QoQ to $4.5 billion, ranking it fourth among networks in Q2 2024, according to the State of Solana Q2 2024 report by crypto research firm, Messari.

 

 

That said, DeFi TVL denominated in SOL grew by 26% QoQ, indicating the USD-denominated drop may have been driven more by token price depreciation than capital outflow.

 

 

DEX volume reduced slightly compared to peak activity in March 2024 but maintained elevated levels, the report said:

 

“Average daily spot DEX volume grew by 32% QoQ to $1.6 billion. DEX activity has continued to be driven by memecoin trading with WIF, MEW, POPCAT, and GME among the top 10 tokens by Q2 token pair trading volume.”

 

At the center of the memecoin frenzy was pump.fun, a gamified token launch platform, that became one of the most widely discussed applications across crypto.

HOW TO | How To Quickly Create and Share Your Own MemeCoin Using Solana Marketplace, https://t.co/QCr6l2e8EP

Below is a step-by-step guide to help you launch your own memecoin using https://t.co/QCr6l2e8EP on the Solana network.https://t.co/voUe9o9ZKl @pumpdotfun @solana… pic.twitter.com/q8gV71huc4

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) July 1, 2024

In Q2 2024, pump.fun collected an average of $525,000 in daily fees with $48 million in total Q2 2024 fees. Near the end of May 2024, several celebrities began launching their own tokens on pump.fun, sparking a celebrity memecoin craze, which drew some controversy.

Pump.fun’s popularity spawned forks such as:

Dexscreener’s Moonshot

Whales Market’s whales.meme, and

Meme Royale

According to the report, the decentralized exchange, Raydium, has been a major beneficiary of pump.fun, as all the liquidity from pump.fun bonding curves is transferred to Raydium once the token hits a market cap threshold.  Raydium’s average daily volume increased by 77% QoQ to $867 million, raising its market share from 40% in Q1 2024 to 54% in Q2 2024. Its DeFi TVL also grew by 46% QoQ to $991 million, becoming Solana’s top DeFi protocol by TVL.

 

 

That said, Jupiter remained the primary Solana exchange, accounting for 51% of Q2 2024 spot DEX volumes. However, its market share fell throughout the quarter to 37% by the last week, which was surpassed by Raydium’s market share of 38%.

Facilitating these transactions, we see that Solana’s stablecoin market cap grew by 8% QoQ to $3.1 billion, ranking it 6th among networks. This was boosted by PayPal which expanded its PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin to Solana, joining only Ethereum as a supported network. However, USDC remained the dominant stablecoin on Solana, growing its Solana market cap by 5.5% QoQ to $2.2 billion.

 

You can see the State of Solana Q2 2024 report here.

 

 

 

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Mercury a popular banking partner for the startup world, says it will close the accounts of users in several countries including thirteen African countries by August 22 2024.

 

“Due to recent changes in how we determine account eligibility, we are no longer able to support accounts for businesses with associated addresses located in these countries,” the company said.

 

With the new prohibitions, African startups incorporated in Delaware cannot open Mercury accounts unless the founders live in the U.S.

The affected African countries:

Burundi

Cameroon

Central African Republic (CAR)

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Congo

Liberia

Mali

Mozambique

Nigeria

Somalia

South Sudan

Sudan

Zimbabwe

Founded in 2017, Mercury is a growth-stage US-based fintech that provides banking services to startups worldwide. While not a typical bank, they work with a mix of middlemen (BaaS) and banks directly to offer their services to their customers.

According to reports, the move is a result of Mercury tightening its compliance and regulatory standards, Earlier this year [2024], Mercury was caught up in federal scrutiny through one of its partners, Choice Bank, around the practice of allowing foreign companies to open accounts.

The local banking regulators were ‘concerned’ that Choice ‘had opened Mercury accounts in legally risky countries,’ The Information reported. Officials also reportedly chastised Choice for letting overseas Mercury customers ‘open thousands of accounts using questionable methods to prove they had a presence in the U.S.’

Countries on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Grey list such as Nigeria and Burundi are believed to be easy to target due to their lack of compliance with global standards for combating money laundering and terrorism financing.

REGULATION | Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Urges Countries to Develop Regulatory Frameworks for Rapidly Growing Virtual Assets

“The findings of the 2023 Targeted Update report, mutual evaluation and follow-up report results indicate that prohibiting VASPs effectively is… pic.twitter.com/ybYWoSYFhM

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) July 12, 2024

This is also coming in the backdrop of greater scrutiny in the U.S. banking sector especially after the collapse of another startup banker, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), in early 2023.

Circle Confirms Over 8% ($3.3B) the ~$40 Billion $USDC Reserves are in Collapsed Silicon Valley Bank

Some of the biggest SVB depositors include:

* Circle – $3.3 billion * Roku – $487 million * BlockFi – $227 million

See full list:https://t.co/8caSaNRRkt

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) March 12, 2023

That said, Mercury’s services were crucial for African startups allowing them to operate with U.S. dollar accounts, crucial for attracting and handling foreign investment.

Given that the company was already under criticism in Africa after it restricted the accounts of over a dozen tech startups in 2022, many people in the ecosystem are now looking to move to stable alternatives that provide the same services.

After PayPal, Mercury, a Digital Bank, is Now Blocking African Startups https://t.co/laGKM8J9DQ @BankMercury

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) March 4, 2022

 

 

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Egyptian fintech startup, DoPay, has announced the closing of a strategic $13.5 million Series A extension round.

The startup, which provides a digital payroll and payments platform serving unbanked and underbanked workers in emerging markets, previously raised a $18 million Series A funding round.

With over 60% of Egyptian workers relying primarily on cash, DoPay’s mission aligns with the Egyptian Central Bank’s vision of digitisng payments and promoting financial inclusion.

Dopay, part of Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem, further describes itself as an innovative virtual banking platform that digitises cash payments from employers to workers and other beneficiaries, directly tackling one of the most significant fintech opportunities in emerging markets.

The Series A extension funding, led by Argentem Creek Partners with participation from existing investors, will enable DoPay to accelerate its rapid expansion in its initial market, Egypt.

Additionally, the company plans to launch a range of new financial services and expand its multi-bank, multi-country platform to other markets.

 

“This funding comes at a pivotal moment, with our growth exhibiting a true hockey stick trajectory. The new funds will help us elevate our platform and, in collaboration with our partner banks, leverage deposited funds to create a self-financing lending model,” said Frans van Eersel, Founder and CEO of Dopay.

“This model will allow deposited amounts to fuel a lending portfolio, fostering a sustainable and mutually beneficial financial ecosystem. Our customers can look forward to new financing products that will be seamlessly embedded into our platform, enhancing their overall experience.”

 

According to DoPay, its platform revolutionises payroll by enabling real-time payments, even on weekends and holidays. Each account is equipped with a pre-paid debit card, in partnership with MasterCard, providing 24/7 access to funds via ATM withdrawal.

Enrolled businesses benefit from a secure and cashless payroll system, with user-friendly interfaces and complete transparency. Employees gain instant and secure access to banking facilities, regardless of their earnings. DoPay’s agent banking licence allows for the swift delivery of digital banking services and seamless onboarding of employees and beneficiaries, positioning the company as a leader in Egypt’s digital payroll space.

 

Maarten Terlouw, Co-Chief Investment Officer at Argentem Creek Partners, commented:

 

“We believe a payroll-centric approach is the key to integrating unbanked and underbanked workers in emerging markets into the financial system.

We are impressed by DoPay’s multi-bank, multi-country platform and are excited to support the company in its next growth stage. We look forward to working closely together with DoPay’s talented team.”

 

 

 

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Egyptian fintech startup, DoPay, has announced the closing of a strategic $13.5 million Series A extension round.

The startup, which provides a digital payroll and payments platform serving unbanked and underbanked workers in emerging markets, previously raised a $18 million Series A funding round.

With over 60% of Egyptian workers relying primarily on cash, DoPay’s mission aligns with the Egyptian Central Bank’s vision of digitisng payments and promoting financial inclusion.

Dopay, part of Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem, further describes itself as an innovative virtual banking platform that digitises cash payments from employers to workers and other beneficiaries, directly tackling one of the most significant fintech opportunities in emerging markets.

The Series A extension funding, led by Argentem Creek Partners with participation from existing investors, will enable DoPay to accelerate its rapid expansion in its initial market, Egypt.

Additionally, the company plans to launch a range of new financial services and expand its multi-bank, multi-country platform to other markets.

 

“This funding comes at a pivotal moment, with our growth exhibiting a true hockey stick trajectory. The new funds will help us elevate our platform and, in collaboration with our partner banks, leverage deposited funds to create a self-financing lending model,” said Frans van Eersel, Founder and CEO of Dopay.

“This model will allow deposited amounts to fuel a lending portfolio, fostering a sustainable and mutually beneficial financial ecosystem. Our customers can look forward to new financing products that will be seamlessly embedded into our platform, enhancing their overall experience.”

 

According to DoPay, its platform revolutionises payroll by enabling real-time payments, even on weekends and holidays. Each account is equipped with a pre-paid debit card, in partnership with MasterCard, providing 24/7 access to funds via ATM withdrawal.

Enrolled businesses benefit from a secure and cashless payroll system, with user-friendly interfaces and complete transparency. Employees gain instant and secure access to banking facilities, regardless of their earnings. DoPay’s agent banking licence allows for the swift delivery of digital banking services and seamless onboarding of employees and beneficiaries, positioning the company as a leader in Egypt’s digital payroll space.

 

Maarten Terlouw, Co-Chief Investment Officer at Argentem Creek Partners, commented:

 

“We believe a payroll-centric approach is the key to integrating unbanked and underbanked workers in emerging markets into the financial system.

We are impressed by DoPay’s multi-bank, multi-country platform and are excited to support the company in its next growth stage. We look forward to working closely together with DoPay’s talented team.”

 

 

 

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ETH Exchange Traded Funds are set to launch on July 23 2024 after U.S. regulators gave their final approval for the products.

Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, announced that its Ishares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) will commence trading on Nasdaq on July 23 2024, featuring a one-year fee waiver of 0.12% for the first $2.5 billion in assets under management (AUM).

Besides the Ishares Ethereum Trust, 8 spot Bitcoin ETFs are slated for public trading, including two from Grayscale.

Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust (ETHE) will be converted into a publicly traded fund, while the firm will also introduce Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH). Furthermore, asset managers including Franklin Templeton, Vaneck, Bitwise, 21Shares, BlackRock, Invesco, and Fidelity will be launching spot Ether ETFs on the day.

 

“We’ve now fully entered the ETF era of crypto,” Matt Hougan, chief investment office at Bitwise, said.

“Investors can now access more than 70% of the liquid crypto asset market through low-cost ETPs.”

“Being the first to file for an Ethereum ETF back in 2021, we have long believed investors should have access to Ethereum exposure in a vehicle they find accessible and familiar,” said Kyle DaCruz, Head of Digital Assets at VanEck.

“If Bitcoin is digital gold, then Ethereum is the open-source App Store and the gateway for exposure to the thousands of applications that will utilize blockchain technology.”

 

Just over a month ago, the SEC granted accelerated approval to 3 stock exchanges to list and trade shares of Ether ETFs, paving the way for eight individual applications to be approved.

A spot Ethereum ETF, similar to a Bitcoin ETF, involves a fund manager handling the purchase and storage of ETH digital coins, allowing individuals to buy shares that reflect their value. This provides investors with exposure to the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

 

 

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Zambia’s proposed ban on charging foreign currency in local transactions — punishable with 10-year jail terms — might defeat its own purpose, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In June 2024, the Bank of Zambia (which is the Central Bank of Zambia) unveiled plans to curb increasing dollarization in the economy that it said blunts its tools to fight inflation.

REGULATION | Bank of Zambia Plans to Criminalize Foreign Currency Use Amid Kwacha Rally – https://t.co/XCx2LnjDEV https://t.co/MhCXCDHMVx

— Zambia travels tours (@zambia_travels) July 4, 2024

According to a recent local report, businesses have already pushed back on the proposed regulations calling them ‘punitive’ and warning that they may actually fuel price growth.

Speaking to Bloomberg, the IMF Resident Representative, Eric Lautier, indicated that macro-economic stability, including low and stable inflation and limited external pressures, would generally be required for such measures to be effective.

 

“Forced de-dollarization measures are likely to prove in-effective and could even be counterproductive,” unless accompanied by a strong macro-economic stabilization plan and, depending on country specific conditions and implementation modalities, Lautier said.

“We are in the process of evaluating those.”

 

Zambia’s annual inflation reportedly rose to a 29-month high of 15.2% in June 2024 in the wake of the worst drought in decades. The nation is also emerging from a painful debt restructuring process, and its currency has been volatile.

The draft regulations are among several extensive reforms aimed at achieving macro-economic stability, with the bank continuing consultations to finalize them. While the law designates the Kwacha as Zambia’s only legal tender, businesses such as mall landlords, car dealers, and hotels frequently set prices in dollars.

According to IMF, Zambia which has a $1.7 billion economic program with the IMF and is considering asking it for more help, didn’t consul it on the plans before announcing them.

The IMF has only just started assessing the initiative and has been consulting with the authorities including the Bank of Zambia about the details to evaluate its merits, Lautier said.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva meeting with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema in Lusaka.

Africa is witnessing more efforts by governments to protect their economies from the effects of the Dollar.

WATCH | Eritrea’s President Calls for New Global Financial System Not Controlled by Dollar or Euro

“We are a very small threat, we are not even a threat to them. But they have to contain us, sanctions, sanctions, sanctions, conflict here, conflict there,”

“They are… pic.twitter.com/AXD5eOW69I

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) August 3, 2023

Other than Zambia, recent weeks have seen Uganda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe announce de-dollarization measures.

REGULATION | ‘We Are on a De-Dollarisation Journey,’ Says Zimbabwe Reserve Bank Governor as Gold Reserves Rise By 30% in 100 Days

Increasing reserves will allow the central bank to issue more ZiG currency, moving it closer to its goal of reducing the country’s dependence on… pic.twitter.com/TvIoIyphtU

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) July 17, 2024

 

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TurnStay, a South African travel-focused fintech, has secured $300,000 (over R5.4 million) funding from Silicon Valley and New York-based investors, DFS Lab and Digital Currency Group.

The company plans to use the funding to expand the business into Africa and build on the significant traction already achieved.

Founded by experienced entrepreneurs, Alon Stern, Co-Founder of Slide Financial, and James Hedley, Co-Founder, Quicket, TurnStay radically reduces the cost of getting paid for African merchants and platforms in travel and tourism by harnessing the same ‘tricks’ used by the world’s biggest booking companies.

 

“Securing funding from these U.S. investors is a vote of confidence in our business model, which has already processed more than R50 million in transactions [~$2.7 million],” said TurnStay CEO, Alon Stern.

“TurnStay creates a localised payment experience, charging clients in their home currency using familiar payment methods when booking accommodation. TurnStay’s solution has reduced costs for some clients by 70% and halved the number of unnecessary failed transactions. With a better checkout experience, sales conversion rates soar.”

 

Getting paid can be expensive in the travel industry as payment fees and fees levied by online travel agencies are added.

 

“The average merchant spends 12% of revenue on getting paid – often, this can be the difference between making a profit or a loss and dramatically affects the viability of many businesses in a sector that employs over six million people in Africa,” says James Hedley, TurnStay Co-Founder.

 

By leveraging a worldwide network of compliant companies, TurnStay significantly lowers international payment costs for hotels while maintaining safety and efficiency. It addresses the issue of African hotels facing up to 20 times higher fees compared to online travel agencies like Booking.com.

The benefits for merchants include:

Reduced card fees

An enhanced checkout experience, and

Increased direct bookings

enabling properties to compete more effectively with online travel agencies through improved conversion rates.

TurnStay’s payment solution is seamlessly integrated with leading booking engine providers such as Benson Software.

Stephen Deng, General Partner at DFS Lab explains:

 

“TurnStay is building a much-needed offering for the African travel and tourism industry, one that unlocks substantial cost savings for hospitality businesses across the continent. We believe the founders are the perfect team to tackle this opportunity, combining deep industry experience with a proven history of shipping market-leading products.”

 

 

 

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Popular crypto exchange, OKX, has announced it will be shutting operations in Nigeria in August 2024.

According to an email sent to its Nigerian customers on July 18 2024, this move is due to unfavourable regulatory conditions in Nigeria. Customers are expected to withdraw their funds from OKX on or before August 16 2024.

 

“We are discontinuing OKX services in Nigeria after recent changes in local laws and regulations. This is based on our ongoing assessment of policies in each market we serve. From August 16, 2024, our customers will no longer be able to open any new positions or access any services on the platform, with the exception of withdrawals and closing/redemption of open positions. We request you to please review your account and complete applicable steps by 12:00 am (PST) on August 16, 2024.” 

– OKX email to it users

 

OKX was one of the exchanges that suspended some of its services, including P2P, as the federal government clamped down on crypto firms earlier in 2024.

REGULATION | Crypto Exchanges to Stop StableCoin Sales in Nigeria Amid Apparent Crackdown

“There was a meeting of crypto founders on Tuesday [February 27 2024] morning, and a number of them agreed to suspend the trades on their platform,” a person at that meeting told a local… pic.twitter.com/iiYBuYrpOu

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) February 29, 2024

Exchanges operating in the country have been under scrutiny as authorities believe that crypto platforms facilitate speculation and potential manipulation of exchange rates. Coinbase, Quidax, and Binance were also affected.

The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently issued a notice asking local crypto firms to apply for registration under its Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Program (ARIP) in less than 30 days.

REGULATION | Nigeria SEC Issues a Notice for Onboarding VASPs in 30 Days Due to ‘Current Realities’

Following the 30-day-period, the Commission indicated that it would commence enforcement action against any operating VASP that fails to comply with the directives.… pic.twitter.com/ThvMC4MwFQ

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) June 22, 2024

The registration process under ARIP involves a set of eligibility requirements to be fulfilled by operators:

Be incorporated and have an office in Nigeria and its Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director or its equivalent shall be resident in Nigeria

Be performing investments and securities business

Be seeking registration or have pending virtual asset-related applications with the Commission

Applicants are required to also show satisfactory provisions regarding the protection of investors and public interest, among others. Under ARIP, the SEC wants to register all virtual asset operators while it continues to evaluate the sector and ammend regulations periodically.

Since the introduction of ARIP, one crypto exchange, KuCoin, announced it will start collecting a 7.5% value-added tax on trading fees from its Nigerian users starting from July 8 2024.

 

 

 

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Decentralized Bitcoin (BTC) mining pool, Loka Mining – in partnership with sustainable energy mining provider, Hashlabs, which currently operates in Ethiopia, Finland, and Russia – has announced the launch of a unique protocol with decentralized mining pool that provides miners with immediate liquidity by allowing them to sell their future mining rewards to institutional investors at a discount.

BITCOIN | The Ethiopian Sovereign Wealth Fund to Start Mining Bitcoin Under a $250 Million Deal

On February 15 2024, the #Ethiopian Sovereign Wealth Fund, Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH), inked a memorandum of understanding with the Hong Kong-based West Data Group’s… pic.twitter.com/VzOX7StrVj

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) February 23, 2024

Key takeaways:

Investors gain access to bitcoin at below market rates via forward hashrate contracts directly from miners

Miners have immediate access to liquidity and can hedge against market volatility

Through this partnership, Loka is set to launch a permissionless protocol that offers investors access to Bitcoin below market prices via forward hashrate contracts directly from BTC miners. These contracts will be over-collateralized at 110% and tokenized for immediate liquidity in secondary markets.

 

“We’ve seen tremendous interest from larger investors seeking better ways to access Bitcoin, and thanks to Hashlabs’ supply of hashrate and access to miners, we’re providing that – with no counterparty risk,” said Andy Fajar Handika, Founder of Loka. “This protocol provides non-custodial, trust-minimized access to Bitcoin that rewards miners for the work they do providing a necessary service for the network.”

 

Hashlabs, controlling about 500 petahashes – or 0.08% of the total Bitcoin mining capacity – supports this offering with its sustainable and cost-effective solutions. These operations span:

Finland

Ethiopia, and

Kazakhstan

 

helping reduce Bitcoin mining’s overall environmental footprint.

 

“We’re proud to bring more liquidity into DeFi through a mining pool that gives investors much-needed access to Bitcoin futures,” said Hashlabs Co-Founder Alen Makhmetov. “Just as important, we’re able to provide this service by supporting the most sustainable ways of mining Bitcoin worldwide. By ensuring the financial health of miners, we’re simultaneously improving Bitcoin’s environmental well-being.”

Join Our Twitter Space Event

Date: Fri, July 19 Time: 16:00 CET Hosted by: Jaran Mellerud, CEO of Hashlabs

Dive into the honest realities of #BitcoinMining in Ethiopia. https://t.co/i8ne0WLCSy

— Hashlabs Mining (@HashlabsMining) July 17, 2024

Loka offers near-instant, low-cost payouts to miners and liquidity for investors through its use of ckBTC, which relies on the Internet Computer’s Chain Fusion technology to directly interact with the Bitcoin network. Chain Fusion allows smart contracts to read from and write to the Bitcoin blockchain so that Loka can verify mining contributions and transparently manage all rewards. ckBTC, a 1:1 Bitcoin-backed digital twin, facilitates extremely low-cost transactions (fees of just 10 satoshis) and non-custodial management of mining contracts and rewards. This partnership introduces a lucrative model for the annual $10 billion Bitcoin mining industry, allowing miners to sell their future mining rewards at a discount and providing them with immediate liquidity when needed to expand operations or hedge against price volatility. This helps to reduce the financial risks associated with the fluctuating Bitcoin market and improves Bitcoin’s token liquidity, given that an estimated 10% of the total Bitcoin supply, equating to about $50 billion,  is held in wallets controlled by miners. ___________ About Hashlabs Hashlabs provides renewable energy Bitcoin mining resources based in Finland and Ethiopia to support the profitability and efficiency of Bitcoin mining operations while significantly reducing the network’s ecological impact. For more information:  https://www.hashlabsmining.io/

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Think about it for a sec,

A blockchain is just a large single database that is not owned by anyone but can be written to by anyone and anything written into it, cannot be deleted. You need to have a copy of the database on your computer if you are to write to that database. 

So, you’ve finally realized how much of a good investment becoming an Ethereum validator is and you’ve decided to give it a shot to see how much you can bag. 

Well, congrats first of all. That is a huge undertaking and I, on behalf of Ethereum community, thank you (for whatever reason you have to becoming a validator — earn block rewards, make Ethereum more decentralized etc) for your bold initiative.

In that same spirit of decentralization, we’ll be looking into how to be a solo validator or fancily known as to solo stake on Ethereum

We won’t look into other ways of staking like liquid staking, staking as a service or the likes. I mean come on, you’ve decided to be a validator, why not do it the cypherpunk way, huh.

Let’s get familiar with some words first:-

Ethereum is a Proof of Stake blockchain since “The Merge” happened back in 15th September 2022 transitioning Ethereum from Proof of Work(PoW) to Proof of Stake(PoS)

What this means is that how Ethereum achieves consensus changed completely. 

Remember how we said a blockchain is just a large single database on a bunch of computers, well, the state of that database has to be known by all the computers in the network at all times. Computers(nodes) participating in the network have to agree on what is the current state of the database, i.e achieve consensus!

Ethereum nodes don’t need to solve complex Mathematical problems to achieve consensus as was the case in PoW but rather, they lock up ether upfront essentially saying,

 

“Hey, I am willing to be a validator who will be adding blocks and verifying transactions and if I misbehave in any way while undertaking this task, you can take the ether I deposited upfront(my stake) as punishment for this misbehavior. If I behave properly, you reward me with newly created ether!”

When more than two thirds of the validators agree on the current state of the above said database, the blockchain state is considered finalized!

Why two thirds of all validators?

Imagine if we were to wait for all validators (at the time of writing, Ethereum has 1,031,682 active validators) in the network to agree on the state of the blockchain? The speed of the blockchain finalization would be very slow making Ethereum essentially unusable. The finalization speed of a blockchain is as fast as its slowest node and considering Ethereum is maximally decentralized(meaning it can be run on regular consumer hardware that is generally slower than institutional mega faster computers) we have to account for the slowest node. So two thirds doesn’t seem like a bad number to wait for after this not so compelling argument am I right …

The security model of Ethereum can now be summarised as “Humans are rational creatures who want to make profits and will make rational decisions to realise those profits.They therefore will not misbehave because if they misbehave, the Ether they locked upfront (their stake), will be slashed!”

 

Achieving security via capitalism am I right?

 

First things first,

What the hell is an Ethereum node?

 

An Ethereum node is a computer running Ethereum software called an Ethereum client. That’s it. Trust me, that’s actually it. That’s as simply as it can get, no fancy big words, no nothing. That’s it! Ethereum nodes.

These nodes are what make up the Ethereum blockchain — A bunch of computers running similar software that can communicate to each other.

Anyone can run an Ethereum node but there is no financial benefit to oneself running one. Don’t get me wrong, there definitely are benefits of running a node(not to be confused with being a validator) like:-

Not needing to trust any other nodes in the network because you can verify all transaction data yourself — true cypherpunk nature of “Do not trust, verify!”

You can use dApps more securely and privately because you don’t have to leak your wallet addresses and wallet balances to intermediary sketchy nodes.

You can connect your Ethereum wallet directly to the RPC endpoint of your own Ethereum node. This gives you sole access and priority to get your transactions included instead of having to compete with everyone else via public RPC endpoints.

You enforce the consensus rules so you can’t be tricked into accepting blocks that don’t follow the rules in case of a black swan event where all nodes decide to collude. In such an unlikely black swan event, a social recovery can be performed by nodes by choosing to follow the honest chain

More nodes in the network results in a more diverse and robust network, making it harder for the entire network to fail or censor transactions.

Full nodes provide access to blockchain data for lightweight clients that depend on it (i.e. Light Clients). This helps users access and interact with Ethereum in a secure and decentralized manner without having to sync the full blockchain, unlocking a wider range of use cases.

By generating a specialised ‘magic’ signing key and staking 32 ETH into a smart contract linking to this key, you turn your Ethereum node into a validator.

Validators are ‘activated’ nodes that process the transactions of users and set them in stone (i.e., finalisation).

The validity of each transaction is voted on by all validators (sign attestations) in the Ethereum network and vouched for by their ETH staked. 

Because validators are processing and vouching for transactions of users, they are rewarded for performing their jobs well and penalized when they misbehave. If validators are found to be dishonest, malicious or grossly negligent, they will have their stake slashed for up to the entire amount and expelled from the network.

This incentivises validators to be and remain honest.

So how do you solo stake on Ethereum?

 

You need to stake 32 ETH for you to become a validator on Ethereum, 32 ETH is equivalent to Ksh. 13,998,370.65 at the time of writing where 1 ETH = Ksh. 437,449.08 — how much is 1 ETH when you’re reading this?

How did they even arrive at the 32 ETH requirement? It is ingrained into the code that computers run(client software) to participate on the Ethereum blockchain

You then need to run specific client software to become a validator. Below are examples of the software to run:-

Prysm (https://prysmaticlabs.com/)

Lighthouse (https://lighthouse-book.sigmaprime.io/)

Teku (https://consensys.io/teku)

Nimbus (https://nimbus.team/)

Lodestar (https://lodestar.chainsafe.io/)

The above software to run are collectively called Consensus Layer software because they are the ones which achieve consensus on Ethereum — decide on the state of the blockchain

Now that you know what client software to run and you have 32 ETH, you are ready to earn those sweet sweet block rewards right? Well, yes, but as usual, the devil is in the details. Let’s see how this can easily become a very complex task.

Solo Staking

Solo staking involves fully running your own node and you fully receiving block rewards without sharing them with anyone else.

Minimum hardware requirements for you to solo stake are:-

CPU: Quad core

RAM: 32GB

Storage: 2TB NVME SSD, >500 read IOPS, >1700 write IOPS, non-QLC (consider 4TB NVME SSD, >5000 read IOPS, >1700 write IOPS, non-QLC if you want a no stress setup)

Network requirements (Check with your ISP):

Volume: Uncapped or at least 2TB per month

Speeds: At least 500mb/s shared – Your validator node needs at least 10mb/s of dedicated internet speed

IP address: Static if possible

Power: Uninterruptible power supply(UPS)

The hardware requirements may seem daunting at first but have you seen Solana’s hardware requirements?

Remember our food for thought:

“A blockchain is just a large single database that is not owned by anyone but can be written to by anyone and anything written into it, cannot be deleted. You need to have a copy of the database on your computer if you are to write to that database”

Yeah, let’s stick with that and see how each hardware component affects performance.

Component Impact on performance CPU – Affects block execution speed (4s limit)

– Will miss attestations(votes) and block proposals if this is too slow

RAM – Services will shutdown/restart abruptly if the device runs out of memory, causing you to lose data. This can lead to database corruption, and in the worst case, require you to resync your validator node from scratch missing attestations for 2 to 3 days in the meantime

– As the Ethereum network grows with more activity (e.g, more addresses, smart contracts and transactions), there will be an increasing demand on your node’s memory to maintain the chain state and propagate transactions to other nodes.

Storage – Read and write speeds (IOPS) are the main bottleneck for block execution speeds Network – Affects latency on receiving/sending blocks, which affects overall block execution speed (4s limit)

– Although not compulsory, having a static IP address improves discoverability by other nodes in the network and prevents issues of low peer count

– Some ISPs also prevent port forwarding(for remote access to your node) if you don’t  have a static IP address

Power – Sudden power disruptions, e.g lightning, power trips will cause your node to shutdown uncleanly, causing you to lose data. This can lead to database corruption and in the worst case, require you to resync your validator node from scratch missing attestations for 2 to 3 days in the meantime.

Remember when we said that you need to run a consensus layer client like Lighthouse, well, you also need to run an execution layer client.

What even is an execution layer client? I’m glad you asked…

An execution layer client in Ethereum is the software that executes smart contracts and transactions. This is where your favourite dApps like aave, uniswap and that favourite meme coin of yours that you’re waiting for it to moon are executed. This execution layer is what makes up the Ethereum Virtual Machine(EVM)

Examples of execution layer clients include:-

geth

reth

nethermind

besu

erigon

NB: Improve Ethereum’s resilience by using a minority execution client. What happens if a black swan event happens and geth, which has a market share of around 55% at the time of writing— meaning more than half of Ethereum execution clients run geth — has a critical bug? Does this mean that Ethereum will cripple? 

Block validation goes something like this:-

Execute smart contracts on the EVM. Made possible because the validator is running an execution layer client like reth

That execution changes the state of the blockchain

The changes have to be communicated across the entire chain — remember our one big database — so that a consensus is reached upon and all nodes agree on what the state of the chain is at that moment. This means that the execution layer has to somehow communicate with the consensus layer 

Let’s take an example of setting up reth(execution layer client) with Lighthouse(a consensus layer client).

 

The below steps from here assume that you have a basic grip of working around the Linux environment, yes, including typing commands on the terminal that you copied from StackOverflow without understanding what they exactly do but hey, they work.

 

ls -al | grep | xxd | echo -n

Oh, you didn’t understand a thing I just typed?

If ls -al | grep | xxd | echo -n looks like Mandarin to you, it’s time to dust off those books and brush up on your Linux commands. No need to be a guru like me (yes, I use Arch BTW), but come on, at least learn your cd from your rm -rf /!

We will be working on a machine with Ubuntu installed on it.

We first need to create a JSON Web Token (JWT) that will allow the execution layer software (reth) and the consensus layer software(Lighthouse) to communicate with each other.

 

Run the following commands one line at a time to create a directory called jwtsecret and generate the JWT file jwt.hex inside the directory jwtsecret

> sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/jwtsecret

> openssl rand -hex 32 | sudo tee /var/lib/jwtsecret/jwt.hex > /dev/null

We will be pointing the configuration files of the execution and consensus clients to this JWT file(jwt.hex) later.

 

Download reth and configure the service

Download the latest version of reth here(https://github.com/paradigmxyz/reth/releases) and its digital signature (.asc) file for verifying the checksum to ensure that the downloaded file has not been tampered with.

> curl -LO https://github.com/paradigmxyz/reth/releases/download/v1.0.0/reth-v1.0.0-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz

> curl -LO https://github.com/paradigmxyz/reth/releases/download/v1.0.0/reth-v1.0.0-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz.asc

Run the checksum verification as below

> gpg –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv-keys 50FB7CC55B2E8AFA59FE03B7AA5ED56A7FBF253E

> gpg –verify reth-v0.1.0-alpha.23-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz.asc reth-v0.1.0-alpha.23-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz

Expected output: Verify output of the checksum verification

“`

gpg: Signature made Mon 24 Jun 2024 01:33:15 PM EAT

gpg:   using EDDSA key 50FB7CC55B2E8AFA59FE03B7AA5ED56A7FBF253E

gpg: Good signature from “Georgios Konstantopoulos (Reth signing key for 2024 and on) <georgios@paradigm.xyz>” [unknown]

gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!

gpg:    There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.

Primary key fingerprint: 50FB 7CC5 5B2E 8AFA 59FE  03B7 AA5E D56A 7FBF 253E

“`

Verify the release signing key (–recv-keys) here(https://reth.rs/installation/binaries.html#signature-verification)

 

If the checksum is verified, extract the files and move them into (/usr/local/bin) directory.

Then clean up the working directory.

“`

> tar xvf reth-v1.0.0-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz

> sudo cp reth /usr/local/bin

> rm -r reth reth-v1.0.0-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz.asc reth-v1.0.0-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz

“`

Create an account called `reth` without server access for reth(the execution layer software) to run as a background service. This type of user account will not have root access so it restricts potential attackers to only the reth service in the unlikely event that attackers manage to infiltrate via a compromised client update.

> sudo useradd –no-create-home –shell /bin/false reth

Create a directory for reth(the execution layer software) to store the blockchain data of the execution layer. Then set the owner of this directory to reth(the user account) so that this user can read and write to the directory.

> sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/reth

> sudo chown -R reth:reth /var/lib/reth

Create a systemd configuration file for the reth service to run in the background.

> sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/reth.service

Paste the configuration parameters below into the file:

“`

[Unit]

Description=Reth Execution Client (Holesky)

After=network.target

Wants=network.target

[Service]

User=reth

Group=reth

Type=simple

Restart=always

RestartSec=5

ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/reth node \

  –chain holesky \

  –datadir=/var/lib/reth \

  –log.file.directory=/var/lib/reth/logs \

  –authrpc.jwtsecret=/var/lib/jwtsecret/jwt.hex \

  –full \

  –port 30304 \

  –http \

  –http.api eth,web3,net,txpool,debug,trace \

  –http.addr <Internal_IP_address> \

  –http.port 8547 \

  –ws \

  –ws.addr <Internal_IP_address> \

  –ws.port 8548 \

  –metrics 127.0.0.1:6060

  

[Install]

WantedBy=default.target

“`

Once you’re done, save with ESC → ENTER → :wq → ENTER

Understand and review your configuration summary and amend if needed.

reth configuration summary:

–chain: Run the on the Holesky testnet

–datadir: The directory for reth to store the blockchain data of the execution layer

–log.file.directory: The path to put log files in

–authrpc.jwtsecret: The directory pointing to the JWT secret we generated earlier(jwt.hex)

–full: Run a full node.

–port: Sets the port used for peer-to-peer communication. Remember that nodes have to communicate to each other on the network. Default to port number 30303.

–http: Enables the HTTP-RPC service on http and websocket. This is so that DVT clients such as the Diva service can connect to your execution client 

–http.api: RPC modules to be configured for the HTTP server.

–http.addr: Sets the IP address to connect to the JSON RPC service. Use the internal IP address of your device here (check by running `ip a`)  e.g. 192.168.x.x. Defaults to 127.0.0.1 otherwise

–http.port: Sets the port to connect to the HTTP-RPC service that will be used by the DVT services. You may choose any unused port number but remember to allow incoming connections into your chosen port in your firewall (ufw) rules. Defaults to 8545.

–ws: ws=Websocket. Enable the WS-RPC server. This is so that DVT clients can connect to your execution client.

–ws.addr: Websocket server address to listen on. Used by DVT clients.

–ws.port: Websocket server port to listen on. Used by DVT clients.

–metrics: Enable monitoring metrics on the Reth service.

Start reth

Reload the systemd daemon to register the changes made, start reth and check its status to make sure its running.

> sudo systemctl daemon-reload

> sudo systemctl start reth.service

> sudo systemctl status reth.service

Expected output: The output should say reth is “active (running)”. Press CTRL+C to exit and reth will continue to run. It should take around 6 hours for reth to sync on the Holesky testnet.

Use the following command to check the logs of reth’s syncing process. Watch out for any warnings or errors.

> sudo apt install ccze -y

> sudo journalctl -fu reth -o cat | ccze -A

Expected output

Press CTRL+C to exit.

See here(https://geth.ethereum.org/docs/fundamentals/logs) for more details on how to interpret and understand reth journalctl logs

If the reth service is running smoothly, we can now enable it to fire up automatically when rebooting our node.

> sudo systemctl enable reth.service

Expected output:

> Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/default.target.wants/reth.service → /etc/systemd/system/reth.service.

reth documentation: https://reth.rs/

Set up and configure consensus layer client.

The steps will look oddly familiar and more or like the same as for setting up the execution layer client discussed above

Download the latest version of Lighthouse here(https://github.com/sigp/lighthouse/releases) and run the checksum verification process to ensure that the downloaded file has not been tampered with.

> curl -LO https://github.com/sigp/lighthouse/releases/download/v5.2.1/lighthouse-v5.2.1-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz

> curl -LO https://github.com/sigp/lighthouse/releases/download/v5.2.1/lighthouse-v5.2.1-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz.asc

Run the checksum verification process.

> gpg –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv-keys 15E66D941F697E28F49381F426416DC3F30674B0

> gpg –verify lighthouse-v5.1.3-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz.asc lighthouse-v5.1.3-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz

Verify the release signing key (–recv-keys) in the first command above in the releases page here(https://lighthouse-book.sigmaprime.io/).

Expected output: Verify output of the checksum verification.

“`

gpg: Signature made Mon 24 Jun 2024 01:40:15 PM EAT

gpg:                using RSA key 15E66D941F697E28F49381F426416DC3F30674B0

gpg: Good signature from “Sigma Prime <security@sigmaprime.io>” [unknown]

gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!

gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.

Primary key fingerprint: 15E6 6D94 1F69 7E28 F493  81F4 2641 6DC3 F306 74B0

“`

If the checksum is verified, extract the files and move them into (/usr/local/bin) directory. Then clean up the working directory

> tar xvf lighthouse-v5.1.3-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz

> sudo cp lighthouse /usr/local/bin

> rm -r lighthouse*

NOTE: We will be running the consensus client and validator client of Lighthouse as separate services so that there is more flexibility to configure a failover node for maximum uptime when you decide it is needed.

Create an account (lighthouse) without server access for the Lighthouse Consensus Client and Validator Client to run as a background service. This type of user account will not have root access so it restricts potential attackers to only the Lighthouse Consensus Client and Validator Client services in the unlikely event that they manage to infiltrate via a compromised client update.

> sudo useradd –no-create-home –shell /bin/false lighthousebeacon

Create a directory for Lighthouse to store the blockchain and validator data of the Consensus layer.

Move the `validator_keys` directory into this folder. Then set the owner of this directory to the `lighthouse` so that this user can read and write to the directory.

> sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/lighthouse_beacon

> sudo chown -R lighthousebeacon:lighthousebeacon /var/lib/lighthouse_beacon

> sudo chmod 700 /var/lib/lighthouse_beacon

If there are no errors, create a systemd configuration file for the Lighthouse Consensus Client service to run in the background.

> sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/lighthousebeacon.service

Paste the configuration parameters below into the file:

“`

[Unit]

Description=Lighthouse Beacon Node (Holesky)

Wants=network-online.target

After=network-online.target

[Service]

User=lighthousebeacon

Group=lighthousebeacon

Type=simple

Restart=always

RestartSec=5

ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/lighthouse bn \

 –network holesky \

 –datadir /var/lib/lighthouse_beacon \

 –execution-endpoint http://127.0.0.1:8551 \

 –execution-jwt /var/lib/jwtsecret/jwt.hex \

 –checkpoint-sync-url=https://holesky.beaconstate.ethstaker.cc/ \

 –metrics \

 –metrics-port 8009 \

 –validator-monitor-auto \

 –port 9001 \

 –http \

 –http-port 5051 \

 –http-address <Internal_IP_address> \

 –builder http://127.0.0.1:18550 

[Install]

WantedBy=multi-user.target

“`

Once you’re done, save with ESC → ENTER → :wq → ENTER

Understand and review your configuration summary and amend if needed.

Lighthouse Consensus Client configuration summary:

–network: Run the Consensus Client service on the ETH Holesky testnet

–datadir: Specify the directory for Lighthouse to store data related to the consensus client

–execution-endpoint: URL to connect to the execution layer client

–execution-jwt: File path to locate the JWT secret we generated earlier

–checkpoint-sync-url: Enables nearly instant syncing of the Consensus Client by pointing to one of the checkpoint sync URLs here – https://eth-clients.github.io/checkpoint-sync-endpoints/

–metrics: Enable monitoring of Consensus Client metrics

–metrics-port: Port to connect to the metrics server. Used by Prometheus & Grafana for monitoring.

–validator-monitor-auto: Provides additional logging and metrics for locally controlled validators

–port: Sets the port for peer-to-peer communication. Defaults to 9000.

–http: Allows the validator client to connect to this consensus client. Also allows monitoring endpoints to pull metrics from this service

–http-port: Sets the port to connect to the consensus client

–http-address: Sets the IP address to connect to the REST API of the consensus client that will be used by the DVT clients. Use the internal IP address of your device here (check by running ip a) – e.g. 192.168.x.x. Defaults to 127.0.0.1 otherwise

–builder: URL to connect to external builders (e.g. MEV relays)

Start the Lighthouse consensus client

Reload systemd to register the changes made, start the Lighthouse Consensus Client service and check its status to make sure its running.

> sudo systemctl daemon-reload

> sudo systemctl start lighthousebeacon.service

> sudo systemctl status lighthousebeacon.service

Expected output: The output should say Lighthouse Consensus Client is “active (running)”. Press CTRL+C to exit and Lighthouse Consensus Client will continue to run. It should take just a few minutes for Lighthouse to sync on Holesky.

Use the following command to check the logs of Lighthouse Consensus Client’s syncing process. Watch out for any warnings or errors.

> sudo journalctl -fu lighthousebeacon -o cat | ccze -A

Expected output:

Press CTRL +C to exit monitoring.

If the Lighthouse Consensus Client service is running smoothly, we can now enable it to fire up automatically when rebooting the node.

> sudo systemctl enable lighthousebeacon.service

Verify the initial state roots(checkpoint sync)

Go to https://holesky.beaconcha.in/ on your browser and search for the slot number (slot).

Verify the Block Root and State Root with your journalctl output

journalctl output

Lighthouse documentation is found at (https://lighthouse-book.sigmaprime.io/intro.html)

 

Validator Key Generation

A validator key refers to the cryptographic keys used by validators on Ethereum. These keys are crucial for validators to perform their duties, including proposing and attesting(fancy word for voting) to blocks. There are two primary types of keys associated with validators:

Validator Key (or Signing Key):

This key is used for signing attestations(fancy word for votes) and proposing blocks.

It ensures that a validator can prove its actions and maintain the integrity of the validation process.

It is a hot key, meaning it needs to be online and operational to participate in the consensus process.

Withdrawal Key:

This key is used for managing and withdrawing the validator’s staked funds.

When you want to withdraw your staked ETH and those sweet sweet block rewards that you’ve gotten after you’ve done consensus for a while, you use this key

It is a cold key, meaning it is meant to be kept offline to enhance security and is only used when needed to withdraw or move the staked assets.

So how do you generate these 2 keys? I’m glad you asked because we are going to generate them in a very cyperpunk way. Brace yourself…

It is advised that you generate these 2 keys using an air-gapped machine, i.e a machine that has never touched the public internet before!

Get a cheap Raspberry Pi if you can — it retails for less than $100 USD

If a Raspberry Pi or a new machine isn’t an option for you, download a fresh new OS, I recommend Tail OS here. Boot Tail OS live on a USB stick, generate the validator keys, copy the keys on the USB stick and you’re good to go.

Whichever way you choose to generate the validator keys, make sure that you are in a safe environment (e.g. home or office) with a trusted WiFi network. Make sure to also physically block all camera devices – e.g. laptop cameras, Webcams, people standing behind you during this process. Turn off all internet and wireless connection (e.g. Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth) before proceeding with the key generation step which we’ll see in a few.

That’s some serious privacy precautions am I right…You don’t even protect your wallet seed phrase that way lol . Let alone seed phrase, I don’t think there is anything in your life that you take such precautions when generating. The level of privacy adhered to indicates that if you loose or your keys are compromised in any way, you’re done for!

For security reasons, we are going to showcase how to work with a live OS(Tail OS) on a USB stick

Why Tail OS?

I mean there is a reason why Edward Snowden recommends it! You don’t know who the lad is?

Look it up.

 

Download the latest version of the Ethereum validator deposit key generation binary file from here (https://github.com/ethereum/staking-deposit-cli/releases) and verify the checksum of the downloaded zipped file.

> curl -LO https://github.com/ethereum/staking-deposit-cli/releases/download/v2.7.0/staking_deposit-cli-fdab65d-linux-amd64.tar.gz

> echo “ac3151843d681c92ae75567a88fbe0e040d53c21368cc1ed1a8c3d9fb29f2a3a staking_deposit-cli-fdab65d-linux-amd64.tar.gz | sha256sum –check”

Expected output:

“`

staking_deposit-cli-fdab65d-linux-amd64.tar.gz: OK

“`

After the checksum verification, extract the contents of the downloaded zipped file and change directory into the extracted folder.

> tar xvf staking_deposit-cli-fdab65d-linux-amd64.tar.gz

> cd staking_deposit-cli-fdab65d-linux-amd64

 

Generate your validator signing keys

 

BEFORE PROCEEDING TO THE NEXT STEP

TURN OFF YOUR ETHERNET, WIFI, AND BLUETOOTH ACCESS

PHYSICALLY COVER ALL CAMERA DEVICES, e.g. PHONES, WEBCAMS, LAPTOP CAMERAS, PEOPLE STANDING BEHIND YOU

 

I cannot stress this enough, protect your keys! Hold onto them like you HODL that BTC!

 

Run the following command to generate your validator keys. Replace <number> with the number of validators you want to set up and <YourWithdrawalAddress> with your actual withdrawal address

> ./deposit new-mnemonic –num_validators <number> –chain holesky –eth1_withdrawal_address <YourWithdrawalAaddress>

for <YourWithdrawalAddress> use a secure non-custodial Ethereum wallet address that you own, e.g cold wallet address, SAFE multi-sig address. Not none of that CEX wallet, no! Don’t use that. Use a non-custodial wallet!

You will be prompted to key in the following. Select as fitting to you.

Choose your language (for the session)

Confirm your execution address (your withdrawal address)

Choose the language of your mnemonic word list (seed phrase)

Create a password to encrypt your validator signing keystores

Confirm password created in step 4

Expected Output:

Next, your mnemonic word list will be generated. Write it down on a piece of paper or notebook –Never store this online or on any device that is connected to the internet.

Expected output:

Press any key once you have written your mnemonic down and the tool will prompt you to key in your mnemonic in the same order to verify that you have recorded it correctly.

If you typed in your mnemonic correctly, you will be greeted by an ASCII art of a Rhino!

Expected output:

There will be 2 files generated.

A keystore-m_<timestamp>.json file: This is your validator signing keystore that your validator node will use to sign attestations. Keep this file extremely secure.

A deposit_data-<timestamp>.json: This is the file that links your ETH deposit to your validator. You will only use this once, during the deposit process.

Store both files on a new USB drive by copying the entire staking-deposit-cli folder into it. After that, remove the original copy by running:

> sudo rm -r $HOME/staking-deposit-cli/validator_keys

 

Restart your host device (e.g. working laptop) and remove the OS-on-a-stick. There will not be any persistent memory stored on it.

Add validator key to the Node

Now that we have our validator signing keystore, we will need to place it in our validator node itself so that the node can sign attestations and propose blocks.

Plug in the USB drive with your validator signing keystores into your node device. Once the USB drive is plugged in, we will need to identify it. On the terminal of your node, run:

> lsblk

 

Expected output:

Look for your USB drive in the output list. It will take a name similar to the screenshot above, i.e. sdx.

After you find it, you can proceed to mount your USB drive onto the /media folder.

> sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media

 

Note: Replace sda1 with the actual name of your USB drive.

You will now be able to access your USB drive via the terminal by going into the /media folder.

Go into your USB drive and copy your validator signing keystore into the HOME directory of your node.

> cd /media/staking-deposit-cli

> sudo cp -r validator_keys ~

 

Unmount and eject your USB drive.

> cd

> sudo umount /media

 

Now you need to create a plain text password file for your validator node to decrypt your validator signing keystores.

First let’s print and copy the file name of your validator signing keystore.

> cd ~/validator_keys

> ls

 

With the validator_signing_keystore_file_name copied, create the password file.

> sudo vi <validator_signing_keystore_file_name>.txt

 

Type in the password you used when generating your validator keys in the earlier step. Then save and exit the file with ESC → ENTER → :wq → ENTER

Depositing 32 ETH into your validator

Now listen to me very closely here. This is the step where you send the 32 ETH to become a validator. You send the 32 ETH to a smart contract on Ethereum. The smart contract is called Beacon Deposit Contract at the address `0x00000000219ab540356cBB839Cbe05303d7705Fa` on mainnet.

Now hold your horses there, you just don’t send your 32 ETH to the Beacon Deposit Contract directly like how you would send ETH to another wallet, you MUST, I repeat MUST send the 32 ETH via the official Ethereum Launchpad(http://launchpad.ethereum.org/)

If you send the 32 ETH directly without using the official Ethereum Launchpad, it will result in a failed transaction!

Double even triple check the Beacon Deposit Contract from multiple sources including Ethereum Foundation(https://blog.ethereum.org/2020/11/04/eth2-quick-update-no-19/), EthHub(https://ethhub.io/) and Etherscan(https://etherscan.io/) to make sure that address is actually `0x00000000219ab540356cBB839Cbe05303d7705Fa`

Crypto is a land of many scams so be extra careful here.

Since we’ve been working on a testnet so far, holesky, we’ll continue to be a validator on the testnet

Instead of using the official Ethereum Launchpad(http://launchpad.ethereum.org/), we’ll be using a testnet launchpad(https://holesky.launchpad.ethstaker.cc/)

Where do you get 32 testnet ETH?

First, go to https://holesky-faucet.pk910.de/ and try minting the full 32 testnet ETH.

If successful, skip to the next section

If not, just mint the amount that you can and continue following the steps.

Join the discord server here – https://discord.gg/ethstaker

Join the #cheap-holesky-validator channel

Type “/cheap-holeskysky-deposit <your ETH address> ” in the text box and press enter

Click on the link generated (ie. the Signer.is text shown below)

 

Connect your Metamask wallet and sign the message

Copy the URL and paste it in the Enter Signature box.

Reviewing mandatory disclaimers

Next, go to https://holesky.launchpad.ethstaker.cc/ on your browser and click on “Become a validator”

Click through and read all disclaimers carefully.

It is not the usual “Accept Terms and Conditions” without actually reading them. So read and understand them.

 

Continue clicking through until you reach the “Upload deposit data” section. Don’t worry about the “Choose client” and “Generate keys” sections as you would already have dealt with those if you followed this guide in order.

Making the deposit

Upload your deposit_data-<timestamp>.json file you generated during the earlier section of the guide into the box above and click through until you see the following page.

Here you will need to check all disclaimer boxes before you can proceed. But before that, make sure you are not being phished by clicking on “Learn here how to do it safely” as highlighted above.

You will be brought to a page where you can reveal the address of the Ethereum Beacon Deposit Contract. Check that the address displayed in your wallet is the same before you execute the transaction approval.

The checks you perform above will point you to the deposit contract address for Mainnet. The deposit contract address on Holesky is:

0x4242424242424242424242424242424242424242

Once you are ready, click on “Send Deposit” and follow the instructions on Metamask or your other wallets.

Once your transaction goes through, you will be able to click on the external links highlighted in yellow to track the activation progress and performance of your validator. Bookmark these links so that you can come back to them easily.

Don’t panic if it doesn’t show up initially! Give it some time to update itself

Congratulations! You are now a proud contributor to the decentralisation of the Ethereum network. Pretty cool, eyy!

Exiting your validator

At some point during a normal validator’s lifecycle, you will want to exit and potentially obtain your balance back, your stake(32 ETH) plus the rewards accrued during your time being a validator, assuming you have a withdrawal address associated with your validator – which if you’ve been following through this post, you clearly have, isn’t it? You don’t remember?

Remember the 2 keys on “generating validator keys” step? Yes, those are the ones I am talking about.

If for some other reason you want to voluntary exit from being a validator, which I am not sure why you would. Aren’t the block rewards not enough for you? What, want to be a validator on Solana instead?

Whatever your reason for exiting is, the below are the steps.

Each consensus client has it’s way of exiting and since we’ve been using Lighthouse as our consensus client, below are the steps:-

A validator may chose to voluntarily stop performing duties(proposing blocks and attesting to blocks) by submitting a voluntary exit message to the beacon chain.

A validator can initiate a voluntary exit provided that the validator is currently active, has not been slashed(fancy way of saying has not penalized for misbehaving) and has been active for at least 256 epochs(~27 hours) since it has been activated.

NOTE: After initiating a voluntary exit, the validator will have to keep performing duties until it has successfully exited to avoid penalties.

It takes a minimum of 5 epochs(32 minutes) for a validator to exit after initiating a voluntary exit. This number can be higher depending on how many other validators are queued to exit!

Initiating a Voluntary Exit

In order to initiate an exit, users can use the lighthouse account validator exit command.

The –keystore flag is used to specify the path to the EIP-2335 voting keystore for the validator. The path should point directly to the validator key .json file, not the folder containing the .json file.

The –beacon-node flag is used to specify a beacon chain HTTP endpoint that conforms to the Beacon Node API specifications. That beacon node will be used to validate and propagate the voluntary exit. The default value for this flag is http://localhost:5052.

The –network flag is used to specify the network (default is mainnet).

The –password-file flag is used to specify the path to the file containing the password for the voting keystore. If this flag is not provided, the user will be prompted to enter the password.

After validating the password, the user will be prompted to enter a special exit phrase as a final confirmation after which the voluntary exit will be published to the beacon chain.

The exit phrase is the following:

 

Exit my validator

 

Below is an example for initiating a voluntary exit on the Holesky testnet.

“`

$ lighthouse –network holesky account validator exit –keystore /path/to/keystore –beacon-node http://localhost:5052

Running account manager for Holesky network

validator-dir path: ~/.lighthouse/holesky/validators

Enter the keystore password for validator in 0xabcd

Password is correct

Publishing a voluntary exit for validator 0xabcd

WARNING: WARNING: THIS IS AN IRREVERSIBLE OPERATION

PLEASE VISIT https://lighthouse-book.sigmaprime.io/voluntary-exit.html

TO MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THE IMPLICATIONS OF A VOLUNTARY EXIT.

Enter the exit phrase from the above URL to confirm the voluntary exit:

Exit my validator

 

Successfully published voluntary exit for validator 0xabcd

Voluntary exit has been accepted into the beacon chain, but not yet finalized. Finalization may take several minutes or longer. Before finalization there is a low probability that the exit may be reverted.

Current epoch: 29946, Exit epoch: 29951, Withdrawable epoch: 30207

Please keep your validator running till exit epoch

Exit epoch in approximately 1920 secs

“`

Full withdrawal of staked funds

After the Capella upgrade on 12th April 2023, if a user initiates a voluntary exit, they will receive the full staked funds to the withdrawal address, provided that the validator has withdrawal credentials of type 0x01. For more information on how fund withdrawal works, please visit Ethereum.org website.

Different consensus clients have different but somehow similar exiting procedures which can be found below:-

Prsym – (https://docs.prylabs.network/docs/wallet/exiting-a-validator)

Nimbus – (https://nimbus.guide/voluntary-exit.html)

Lodestar – (https://chainsafe.github.io/lodestar/run/validator-management/validator-cli#validator-voluntary-exit)

Teku – (https://docs.teku.consensys.net/HowTo/Voluntary-Exit)

This post was a mixture of testnet links and contexts and mainnet ones. Why?

Well, I don’t have 32 ETH with me lying around with me. So, adapt this text with reference to the chain(whether testnet or mainnet) you want to be a validator on!

Well, this was a long one!

You’ve read exactly 6,309 words which is exactly 40,289 characters of my rumbling showing you exactly how to solo stake.

I hope that your expectations when you first dived into this post have been met and you can now successfully set up a solo validator.

See you on the other side of the chain where we ponder if EigenLayer is the future of Ethereum settlements or not while we make fun of Solana for always being offline and Cardano’s boasts of academic papers which are….well, that’s a story for another day!

 

 

 

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Hardware wallets are physical devices that help you store sensitive private key information on a device that isn’t routinely connected to the internet.

Hardware wallets (also referred to as cold wallets) differ from hot wallets, which are connected to the internet and usually convenient to use. That said,  hot wallets are vulnerable to online attacks; examples include web-based, mobile, and desktop wallets.

Cold wallets cost more than hot wallets, in part because you’re buying an actual, physical product. When you’re comparing crypto wallets, you may want to consider details such as price and security measures. If you also use a hot wallet, you should check to make sure the hardware you’re considering will work with your software wallet.

 

Below we look at 6 top-of-the-range hardware wallets in the market today.

Ledger

Ledger is one of the best-known names in crypto wallets. Its prices range from around $80 to $200 and Ledger can integrate with many popular software wallets.

With the Ledger Nano Wallets, your private keys are seen by you alone through the OLED screen of the device. It is not accessible through your personal computer neither can it be copied. This leaves your private keys safe right on the device for your eyes alone to see.

Ledger has a highly-rated mobile app, plus a dedicated desktop app, and its developers are in the process of rolling out a browser extension. Ledger also has two-factor authentication available, and a library of educational content for users.

Trezor

Trezor offers some of the highest-end hardware available in crypto storage. While its entry-level model (the Tezor Model One) costs around $60. Other models are the Trezor Safe 3 ($79) and the Trezor Safe 5 which goes for $169, all prices as listed on the website.

Trezor features a minimalistic design, clean UI, and built-in display that shows you all the information you need to confirm a transaction. Moreover, it also has a robust security system that includes a pin code and a recovery seed.

It has integrations with other crypto firms such as Exodus, though it also provides built-in services such as staking and crypto purchases through its software products. It has a desktop offering, as well as a mobile app (Trezor Suite Lite) for Apple and Android.

 

BitKey

BitKey is a safe, easy way to own and manage bitcoin. It’s a mobile app, hardware device, and a set of recovery tools, for simple, secure self-custody.

BitKey customers have even more options to buy bitcoin their way using MoonPay which has integrated with popular payment methods like debit and credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and bank transfers. Bitkey users can see MoonPay appear alongside Cash App and Coinbase to purchase bitcoin.

Bitkey recovery tools help you recover your bitcoin if you lose your phone, hardware, or both, without needing a seed phrase. Use the app to send, receive, and transfer bitcoin safely on the go. For added protection, you can set a daily spending limit on your phone.

 

ColdCard

ColdCard is a Bitcoin-only hardware wallet that is easy to use, ultra-secure and affordable. It comes with verifiable source code that is easy to back up via an encrypted microSD card. Your private key is stored in a dedicated security chip. MicroPython software design allows you to make changes.

Coldcard’s features include a USB-C connector, no restrictions on Bitcoin transaction size, increased security with an extra secure element, NFC integration, a slide cover, a USB virtual disk mode, and an extensive ‘Trick PIN’ optionality.

 

KeepKey

KeepKey is a crypto hardware wallet made and sold by ShapeShift, a crypto exchange based in Switzerland but operated in Denver, United States.

The wallet, which costs $49 with support for more than 40 different crypto assets, also prides itself in not having an operating system, making it malware- and virus-proof.

KeepKey owners can connect their wallet with web3 applications such as Uniswap.

 

SafePal

SafePal can be considered a hybrid wallet, with both offline and online elements. It stores your crypto on a hardware device which starts at a relatively affordable $50.

You can then use that device to interact with SafePal’s software products such as a mobile application and browser extension that facilitate services like buying, selling, and trading.

 

Hardware wallets are considered the most secure types of wallets as they store the private keys for your cryptocurrencies offline. They also allow you to make transactions and easily track your balance. With the ever-growing list of supported cryptocurrencies and the increased focus on security, these wallets are becoming more and more popular.

 

 

 

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After nearly breaching all-time highs in Q1 2024, the total crypto market cap returned some of those gains in Q2 2024, dropping by $408.8 billion (-14.4%), closing at $2.43 trillion in June 2024, says a new report by CoinGecko.

 

“2024 Q2 brought Bitcoin’s long-anticipated fourth halving, which went off without a hitch. Each halving ushers in what crypto natives consider a new era, though the market response to the event was largely muted,” reads the Q2 2024 Crypto Industry Report.

“After the exuberance in Q1 [2024] following the approval of the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, Q2 proved to be pretty choppy for Bitcoin and the crypto market as a whole.”

Market leader Bitcoin ended the quarter with a -11.9% decline after hitting an all-time-high of $73,098 in mid-March 2024. The crypto would oscillate between  $58,000 – $72,000 levels and the 4th halving had no effect on its price, according to the analysis by CoinGecko.

BITCOIN | #Bitcoin Completes its 4th Halving, Miner Rewards Slashed from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC

Despite this reduction, miners still earn transaction fees for each block they mine as usual.https://t.co/l6WX2PYd15 pic.twitter.com/JxhoBkRXYp

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) April 20, 2024

Bitcoin trading volume also declined throughout Q2 2024 to a daily average of $26.6 billion, a -21.6% decline from the previous quarter.

In one of the key trends that were sustained in Q1 2024 were:

Meme Coins

Real World Assets (RWA), and

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

These were the most popular narratives in Q2 2024, capturing 35.7% of market share.

 

“Meme coins dominated the chart, with 4 of the top 15 most popular crypto narratives being meme coin related. Meanwhile, 4 out of 49 blockchain ecosystems, Solana, Ethereum, Base, and TON made it into the top 15 crypto narratives. Solana and Base were the most popular ecosystems, capturing 22.9% share of market attention.”

 

Another interesting trend observed by CoinGecko was that $ETH turned inflationary during Q2 2024, as 107,725 ETH were burned, while 228,543 were emitted in Q2 2024.

 

“There were only 7 days in Q2 in which ETH burns exceeded emissions. In comparison, this figure stood at 66 days in Q1.”

 

Finally, the quarter also observed a decline in activity on centralized exchanges, while trading on decentralized exchanges increased.

The top 10 centralized exchanges (CEX’s) recorded $3.40 trillion in spot trading volume. This represents a drop of -12.2% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), in line with the overall crypto market performance.

Meanwhile, the top 10 decentralized exchanges (DEX’s) recorded $370.7 billion in spot trading volume. This represents an increase of +15.7% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), with DEXes having benefited from a surge in meme coins and the many airdrops throughout Q2 2024.

 

Click here for the full report.

 

 

 

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