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FluffyPony on Encryption, Clearview and How Coronavirus Could Impact Privacy

The former lead maintainer of Monero and co-founder of Tari speaks about the state of global privacy

Updated Sep 14, 2021, 8:17 a.m. Published Mar 6, 2020, 8:00 p.m.
Breakdown3.6-3

The former lead maintainer of Monero and co-founder of Tari speaks about the state of global privacy

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As the coronavirus took hold in China, officials in Hubei province tracked potential patients by examining purchase records for cough and flu medicine for the previous month.

Welcome to the new frontiers of privacy. In this wide-ranging episode, @NLW chats with former lead maintainer of Monero and Tari co-founder Riccardo Spagni - aka @FluffyPony on Twitter - about privacy in the context of:

  • The recent arrest of DropBit CEO Larry Harmon involving bitcoin mixer technology allegedly being used for illicit purposes
  • The US government's battle against end-to-end encryption
  • Central bank digital currencies
  • At-home devices such as Alexa and Google Home
  • Clearview AI and facial recognition
  • China’s response to coronavirus
  • Why individual apathy is the greatest threat to privacy in the world

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Pudgy Penguins: A New Blueprint for Tokenized Culture

Pudgy Title Image

Pudgy Penguins is building a multi-vertical consumer IP platform — combining phygital products, games, NFTs and PENGU to monetize culture at scale.

What to know:

Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token.

The ecosystem now spans phygital products (> $13M retail sales and >1M units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party surpassed 500k downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to 6M+ wallets). While the market is currently pricing Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across retail expansion, gaming adoption and deeper token utility.

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Crypto stocks sink as spot volume plunges and bitcoin tumbles below $84,000

Stock market price charts (Anne Nygård/Unsplash)

Bellwether crypto exchange Coinbase was lower for an 8th straight session on Thursday to its weakest level since May.

What to know:

  • Already under severe pressure in January, most crypto-related stocks fell even further Thursday as bitcoin fell back below $84,000.
  • Spot crypto trading volumes halved from $1.7 trillion last year to $900 billion, reflecting cooling market enthusiasm and cautious investor sentiment amid macroeconomic uncertainties.
  • Those bitcoin miners who have pivoted business plans to AI infrastructure and high-performance computing continued to outperform.