TLDR Crypto 2022-02-11

Zynga, the creator of the popular FarmVille game on Facebook, will launch its first blockchain-based NFT game in 2022. The company is entering into the NFT and crypto space in an attempt to future-proof its business and enhance its capabilities. Asset ownership is an important part of crypto and will be one of the biggest focuses for Zynga. Several more announcements from Zynga regarding partnerships and plans are expected soon.

YouTube will be introducing new tools to help creators make more money from their content, including tools that will let YouTubers sell content as NFTs. The NFT tools will allow fans to own verified and unique videos, photos, art, and experiences. Several creators on YouTube have already sold their original videos as NFTs. YouTube also plans to introduce monetization features for YouTube Shorts and an e-commerce function for YouTube videos.

Samsung unveiled Samsung Wallet along with its new Galaxy devices at its Unpacked 2022 event. The event was held at the virtual Samsung 837X space in the Decentraland Metaverse. Samsung Wallet will work with Samsung Pay and feature support for digital currencies. There is little information on which tokens will be supported. Samsung has also entered the NFT market with a feature that allows customers to purchase NFTs through a platform on its smart TVs.

Optimism is a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum. A security researcher recently reported a critical security issue on the blockchain that allowed attackers to replicate money on any chain using their OVM 2.0 fork of go-ethereum. This article provides the background on how the bug was found and gives details about how the bug worked. The researcher was rewarded Optimism's maximum bounty of $2,000,042 for reporting the bug.

Each Ethereum node is controlled by the software it runs. There are several Ethereum clients, each developed and maintained by different teams but with the same functionality and equivalent user experience. As Ethereum moves from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, client diversity becomes more important for the security of the network. This article explores the risks associated with single-client dominance and why it could be a problem when proof-of-stake is implemented.

Vampire attacks are a method for taking users from an existing platform by offering some kind of incentive, typically tokens. A notorious example of this is when Sushiswap first launched and offered Uniswap liquidity providers $SUSHI tokens for migrating their coins to the new platform. This article looks at the launch of LooksRare, an NFT marketplace that tripled OpenSea's volume in January. LooksRare followed the typical vampire attack playbook by identifying an industry leader, building a differentiated competing platform, and offering a superior incentive for users who migrate over.

DeSci, the decentralized science movement, connects the efforts within the scientific community to change how research is funded and knowledge is shared and the crypto-focused movement to shift ownership and value away from industry intermediaries. The movement aims to enhance scientific funding, unlock knowledge, eliminate reliance on intermediaries such as publishers, and increase collaboration across the field. This article talks about the DeSci movement, the problems with how current science is funded and published, and how DeSci can fix these issues.

Gnosis Safe is a popular multi-signature digital asset management platform used by many leading crypto protocols. It holds more than $107 billion worth of Ether and ERC-20 tokens. The Gnosis team is holding a vote that will determine if Safe will re-establish itself as a decentralized autonomous organization. If successful, Safe will become a Swiss-based foundation called SafeDAO to protect its assets and investments. More details about SafeDAO's plans are available in the article.

Binance is investing $200 million into Forbes. The move will make Binance among the top two largest shareholders of Forbes. Binance will receive two seats on Forbes' board of directors. The cryptocurrency exchange approached Forbes after identifying three potential media platforms for investment.