Blog - Slava Gomzin

Author of books Crypto Basics, Bitcoin for Nonmathematicians, Hacking Point of Sale

Blockchain cannot function without crypto

7/7/2022

Blockchain cannot function without crypto, unless it is based on a permissioned, trusted, centralized network which must be controlled by government or corporate entities. Without crypto, there is no incentive for blockchain operators, who don’t trust each other, to keep it intact. Therefore, web3 + blockchain isn’t a feasible combination without crypto.

#blockchain #network #crypto #cryptocurrency #web3 #decentralized #permissionless #permissioned #bitcoin

Ken Westin has written a foreword for my upcoming book about crypto

6/24/2022

Exciting news - Ken Westin, renowned security researcher, has written a fascinating foreword for my upcoming book about crypto.

Ken has won awards and honors from MIT, Oregon Tech Awards, CTIA, SXSW and was named in Entrepreneur Magazine's "100 Brilliant Companies" and the Business Journal's "Forty Under 40". His work has been featured in Wired, Forbes, New York Times, The Economist, Good Morning America and Dateline NBC and many others. He is regularly reached out to as a subject matter expert in security, privacy, and surveillance technologies.

Thank you, Ken, I really appreciate it!

Security vulnerability in MetaMask and Phantom crypto wallets

6/24/2022

MetaMask and Phantom, two of the largest crypto wallet providers, disclosed in blog posts Wednesday they recently patched a security vulnerability. Now comes the fun part. MetaMask was informed of the bug in July 2021 and issued a patch in March of this year. Phantom learned of the bug in September 2021 and issued patches to address the issue between January and April 2022.

Edward Snowden: use crypto, don’t invest in it.

6/24/2022

www.coindesk.com/business/2022/06/11/edward-snowden-says-use-crypto-dont-invest-in-it/

Japan Passes Stablecoin Bill That Enshrines Investor Protection

6/4/2022

Japan’s parliament passed a bill on Friday that clarified the legal status of stablecoins, defining them essentially as digital money. Stablecoins must be linked to the yen or another legal tender and guarantee holders the right to redeem them at face value, according to the new law.

My new Crypto Basics book is available at Amazon for pre-order now

5/29/2022

https://www.amazon.com/Crypto-Basics-Non-Technical-Introduction-Investors/dp/1484283201

Most DeFi protocols aren’t truly decentralized.

5/29/2022

“Most of them are saying they are, but they are not”- European Parliament VP.

Here we go, Crypto Basics book is official!

5/24/2022

Publisher: Apress Berkeley, CA (an imprint of Springer)

North Korea has launched at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms that extracted nearly $400m worth of digital assets last year

5/24/2022

A United Nations panel of experts that monitors sanctions on North Korea has accused Pyongyang of using funds stolen during attacks on cryptocurrency platforms to support its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Here is the article.
By the way, “Pyongyang blockchain and cryptocurrency conference” sounds very attractive.

How 18-year-old student has stolen $16 million from DeFi crypto index fund

5/23/2022

This is very interesting, detailed article that describes the investigation if the crypto cyber theft from DeFi platform called Indexed, with a lot of specifics on how the the attack was conducted as well as how the decentralized crypto index funds work. Great research which shows the main vulnerability of DeFi: it fully relies on the code, there are no human safeguards, which is great for freedom, independance, and privacy, but if the code fails (which happens often as all software developers know!), there is nothing else to stop hackers.

#crypto #cybersecurity #defi #index #hacking