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Achieving Equilibrium Between Blockchain Security and Decentralization (Op-Ed)

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By Trevor Traina, Founder and CEO of Kresus

You are reading these words because our planet is orbiting the sun at just the right distance to neither fry nor freeze us. Our planet is perfectly balanced for life to thrive. And within that world, numerous other forces exist in a state of optimal balance: light and dark, tropical and polar, terrestrial and aquatic.

So it is when it comes to designing blockchain systems. Their most powerful forces must be balanced in such a way that one cannot usurp another. Security should be as high as possible, but this must be balanced with the need to maintain sufficient decentralization. Network fees should be low but not so low as to induce spam attacks.

Finding that Goldilocks zone, the place where conditions are just right, is as much an ideological challenge as it is a technological one. After all, blockchain systems are ultimately designed and used by people who are only as strong as their weakest link. Web3 systems must walk the line between being optimized for security and for decentralization. It’s a delicate balancing act that goes to the very heart of what makes blockchain valuable.

Too Much Decentralization Can Kill You

There’s such a thing as too much freedom, which is why societies have laws and moral codes to regulate the worst excesses of human behavior. When it comes to Web3, it’s similarly possible to have too much freedom (i.e., decentralization) in the form of systems that have no recourse for worst-case scenarios:

  • A team member loses their multisig key
  • A user loses access to their wallet
  • Tokens are sent to the wrong address
  • A coding error leaves funds locked into a smart contract
  • Assets are stolen using an exploit

All of these are “bad things” by Web3 standards, yet they occur every single day. As new users enter the space, the number of victims of phishing attacks, front-end injection, wallet poisoning, and other exploits will continue to rise. Attackers are getting more sophisticated, while each wave of Web3 users remains as vulnerable as the last.

Only recently, scammers used wallet drainers on Google and X ads to steal digital assets worth close to $60 million. Back in July, meanwhile, it was reported that four separate wallet drainers had stolen close to $65M since the start of 2023.

Give a society too much freedom, and a few of its members will rob, assault, and injure, driving at high speeds and engaging in other risky behaviors. Give Web3 users too much decentralization, and a portion will hack, be hacked, lose access to their wallets, and generally screw up.

Real-world freedom is dampened through security: police forces and CCTV. And blockchain freedom (decentralization) is also mitigated through security, which must be set at the right level to protect users from the most common mistakes while retaining the features that make blockchain so powerful:

  • Strong transaction finality
  • Lack of centralized control
  • Support for financial self-sovereignty

Some crypto users want full control over their assets while also maintaining an undo button if they screw up. Others shudder at the thought of non-custodial wallets being “weakened” through provisions such as social login, seedless design, and key shares held by the developer.

Too Much Centralization Can Kill You

Do you know that saying about pleasing some people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time? That. When it comes to securing decentralized systems, it’s hard to create a single product that satisfies every user type. Put in too many safeguards, and hardcore users will abandon you; force new users to record a lose-it-at-your-peril seed phrase, and sooner or later, they’ll come unstuck.

Add too many centralized levers into a supposedly decentralized protocol, and you risk weakening the very foundations that gave it strength. Consider an ERC20 token contract that is upgradable by its creator. On the one hand, this allows the token’s parameters to be updated to reflect a shift in direction. On the other hand, it allows unscrupulous token creators to rug their operators.

As a result of this dichotomy, DeFi developers must strike a delicate balance between providing users with autonomy over their digital assets and making sure they aren’t taken advantage of by scammers seeking their next mark. Crypto wallets need to be more secure, but developers fear overstepping the boundaries of the decentralized wallet they’ve created.

Go for the Low Hanging Fruit

So what’s the solution? Well, for one thing, developers need to implement security features that can solve real threats – not theoretical ones. Less “military-grade encryption,” in other words, and more practical measures to warn users when they’re connecting to a spoofing site or about to send funds to a known phisher.

A lot of this comes down to better UX and more common sense on behalf of developers. For instance, it would be easy to filter all address poisoning attacks in which a user receives a dust transaction from a “lookalike” wallet they’ve recently interacted with. So why’s no one doing it?

Let’s focus on thwarting the most common hacks and scams before we move on to tackling threats from quantum computing and theoretical MiTM attacks. Hackers don’t go for the toughest possible exploit conceivable; they go for the low-hanging fruit, chalking up easy wins where possible. DeFi developers need to follow suit, focusing on fixing the most common ways in which users get rekt.

Security and autonomy don’t have to operate in conflict with one another: with a little thought, it’s possible to have the best of both worlds, combining the power of non-custodial ownership with a web2-level UI that demystifies everything from transaction signing to wallet backup.

Our planet may be perfectly balanced for life to thrive, but the on-chain environment still has some way to go. Still, it took the earth millions of years to create a climate that was hospitable for intelligent life. At just 15 years of age, blockchain has time on its side.

Author bio

Trevor Traina is the Founder and CEO of Kresus, the go-to Web3 SuperApp that combines a crypto wallet and an NFT platform. He is an investor and seasoned entrepreneur who co-founded five companies that were acquired by the likes of Microsoft, MasterCard, and Intuit and served on multiple non-profit boards such as the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and the Venetian Heritage, among others. Trevor served as the U.S. Ambassador to Austria from 2018 to 2021.

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Cryptocurrency

Ethereum Price Analysis: Is ETH Staging a Push Toward $2.8K or Facing a Crash to $2K?

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After breaking below the ascending flag pattern, Ethereum has retraced to retest the broken trendline. Should the selling at this level pressure intensify, a deeper decline toward the $2K support zone may follow.

By Shayan

The Daily Chart

ETH recently broke down from its ascending flag pattern, triggering a corrective phase. After finding strong support around the $2.1K level, the cryptocurrency bounced and retraced toward the broken trendline at $2.4K, where it now appears to be encountering resistance.

Despite the rebound, the lack of significant volatility and waning momentum around this key level suggests that buyers are exhausted. If the selling pressure intensifies here, ETH is likely to complete its pullback and extend its correction.

In this case, the $2K mark is emerging as the next key defensive zone where the bulls may attempt to regain control.

eth_price_chart_2706251
Source: TradingView

The 4-Hour Chart

Zooming into the 4-hour timeframe, ETH initially found strong support within the 0.5–0.618 Fibonacci retracement zone, a historically reliable level during corrections.

The sharp reaction from this range led to a quick move upward. However, the rally has now stalled precisely at the previous flag’s lower boundary, which currently acts as resistance near $2.4K.

This rejection increases the probability of another downward leg, unless the buyers are able to swiftly reclaim control. The $2.1K zone, which overlaps with the Fib support, remains a key battleground.

As long as this area holds, the market structure retains a bullish bias. If breached, however, it may pave the way for a deeper decline toward $2,000.

eth_price_chart_2706252
Source: TradingView

By Shayan

The funding rate metric serves as a crucial gauge of trader sentiment within the futures market. Typically, in a healthy and sustainable uptrend, funding rates increase steadily, reflecting growing interest from long position traders across both the perpetual futures and spot markets.

However, recent trends reveal a decline in Ethereum’s funding rates, signalling waning bullish momentum and potential buyer fatigue. This shift raises the probability of a short-term rejection and deeper corrective movement.

That said, as funding rates approach the neutral zone near zero, it may suggest a reset in leveraged positions, indicating that the market is cooling off. This environment often precedes renewed demand and could pave the way for a strong bullish continuation once the current consolidation phase concludes.

eth_funding_rates_chart_2706251
Source: CryptoQuant
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Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.

Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.

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Cryptocurrency

XRP Surpasses BTC, ETH in This Surprising Metric Despite SEC Lawsuit Roadblock

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TL:DR

  • Ripple’s lawsuit resolution against the US SEC will have to wait even longer as Judge Torres denied the two parties’ joint motion for an indicative ruling.
  • However, this seemingly negative development has turned the community bullish on XRP, according to data from Santiment.

As the analytics company informed, the bullish vs. bearish posts on social media in regards to the fourth-largest cryptocurrency have skyrocketed to a 17-day high.

Consequently, XRP has surpassed the two biggest digital assets by market cap, bitcoin and ether, both of which are performing a lot better in terms of price actions in the past week or so.

BTC managed to reclaim the $100,000 line after its brief hiatus below it and now sits at around $107,000 as the geopolitical environment in the Middle East improved. ETH also recovered from its substantial slump and is back to $2,400.

In contrast, XRP’s price has been trading downward for weeks and is currently below $2.1 after another 3-4% daily drop. The latest setback took place yesterday following Judge Torres’s decision to deny the joint motion filed by Ripple and the SEC for a quicker resolution in their lawsuit.

Nevertheless, it’s not all doom and gloom as the XRP token saw a major adoption announcement earlier this week, as you can check here.

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Cryptocurrency

Is Ethereum (ETH) Seriously Undervalued Right Now? Many Whales Bet On It

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Ethereum (ETH) began climbing again this week, along with the rest of the market. However, it remains trapped under the $2,879 level for now.

Even as it struggles to spearhead the much-anticipated “altseason,” its network activity is telling a louder story.

Historic Activity on Ethereum

On June 25, Ethereum recorded 1,750,940 confirmed transactions. This was the third-highest daily count in its history and breaking a months-long downward trend in on-chain activity.

The “Ethereum: Transaction Count (Total)” metric captures all confirmed network transactions, including ETH transfers, DeFi operations, smart contract executions, and DApp interactions, and gives a clear insight into real usage. Such high activity levels have not been seen since January 14, 2024, when the cryptocurrency set its all-time high record with 1,961,144 transactions before usage gradually declined.

The latest spike comes even as ETH’s price has shown volatility, ranging between and $2,111-$2,879 over the past month, as traders, DeFi protocols, and arbitrage bots actively adjust positions in real time. This divergence between price weakness and strong on-chain activity suggests a potential early signal of accumulation and renewed DeFi interest, even if it is not yet reflected in ETH’s market valuation.

Meanwhile, institutional and retail interest seems to be steady, with stable ETH holdings on exchanges and rising transaction volumes on Layer 2 networks like Arbitrum and Optimism, which continue to handle a significant share of Ethereum’s daily settlement activity.

CryptoQuant said that these developments point to deeper structural resilience in the network’s usage patterns.

“These developments reinforce Ethereum’s pivotal role in the broader crypto ecosystem and suggest that the network’s recent on-chain spike is not an isolated event, but part of a deeper structural recovery.”

Amid these signals of underlying strength, whale activity has emerged as another key indicator reflecting deep-pocketed confidence in Ethereum.

Whale Purchases Accelerate

Whales continue aggressive ETH accumulation, rapidly draining exchange supplies. Investor Ted Pillows highlighted one whale’s $8.91 million ETH purchase via Galaxy Digital yesterday, adding to $422 million in Ethereum amassed within a month.

These large-scale buys suggest mounting confidence among whales, even as overall market sentiment remains cautious.

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