🐹 Hiya, fellow degens, and just crypto enthusiasts! This is the buidlbee crypto community team here with new insights and perks for a productive end of the work week. What you will find curious in today's letter:

• Ledger vs. Trezor: what really happened and what to do now?

• XRP — a new pump soon?

• Will Bitcoin fall below $25,000 (technical analysis)?

• NFT drop from Argent X.

Traditionally, here's the most interesting news of the day, and let's move on:

• DeFi protocol WDZD Swap lost $1.1 million in wrapped ETH. The scammer created a contract that withdrew the tokens.

• Joe Biden: "There will be no default.”

• Coinlist launches a token sale for the Archway project. It is a Layer 1 blockchain developed on the basis of Cosmos, with a unique economic model focused on developers. The sale will begin on June 15 at 17:00 UTC.

• The startup Unciphered managed to hack the Trezor T hardware wallet by learning the device's passphrase and PIN.

• Stably, a leading provider of Stablecoin-as-a-Service (SCaaS) and fiat on/off-ramp infrastructure for Web3 projects, announced the launch of a stablecoin on the Bitcoin Network backed by the United States dollar (USD).

😨 The scandal around leading hardware wallets Ledger and Trezor: trust no one

Since the collapse of FTX, it's become standard to recommend storing your crypto in hardware wallets as the most reliable option. But this week, two leading projects, Ledger and Trezor, found themselves in the midst of a scandal, shaking faith in the reliability of this type of crypto storage. Here's a look at what really happened and how dangerous it is.

🤦‍♂️ The Trezor Problem

The other day, an independent company called Unciphered hacked Trezor once again. We write “once again” because this vulnerability of the STM32 chip was widely discussed three years ago. This problem is well known, and Trezor (all models are vulnerable, as are its clones, such as Keepkey) previously officially recommended using the Passphrase feature (second password) as an additional protection, which makes physical hacking senseless.

To summarize, although the STM32 chip problem is real, Trezor has presented a reliable way to counter this type of attack: using a passphrase of 15 characters or longer.

🤦‍♀️ The Ledger case

Things are worse with Ledger; you can't just set a second password here and forget about the potential danger. Many people did not understand the meaning of the scandal surrounding the new Recover service, which allowed remote "seed" recovery. Ledger confirmed that government agencies would also be able to restore access to your wallets, which caused an even bigger scandal. So far, Ledger has suspended the launch of the service amid mass discontent.

Nevertheless, it became clear that on this platform, it is technically possible to remotely restore any private client key. Suddenly, it turned out that Ledger had never been a standalone hardware wallet; in other words, Ledger is a custodial wallet.

In public discussions about the Ledger Recover service, it turned out that the vendor had always been able to access its customers' private keys remotely. The Ledger Recover service is simply a public legalization of this technical capability.

😣 What's the conclusion?

So, the critical difference is that Trezor, with all its problems, is still a cold, non-custodial wallet. Trezor cannot be controlled remotely; you have to physically grab it to try to hack it. Ledger, on the other hand, turned out to be a custodial storage service for your keys.

Yesterday, Trezor reported a 900% increase in sales in a week after Ledger announced its dubious private key recovery service. However, as it turned out later, Trezor has its own security problems, which, however, have an antidote: Passphrase, which is described by the BIP39 standard (this is a close analogue of 2-factor authentication for Bitcoin).

💲 Ideas

[1] 🔔 Is XRP preparing for a bullish rally?

To begin our analysis, here is a breaking news story: In a recent report, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta calls #XRP an "international payment instrument". That's a pretty strong statement for a regulator, but what is behind it?

If you look at the earlier news, the situation seems to be clearer:

• Earlier, Ripple launched a universal central bank digital currency platform (CBDC) that allows central banks, governments, and financial institutions to issue their own digital currency (based on Ripple's solution).

• At the same time, Ripple's CEO said that the company is about to use a $1 billion cash reserve for its expansion soon.

Putting it all together, it looks like Ripple is expecting a positive decision on its litigation with the SEC in June, right after which it will launch a mega CBDC expansion. And judging by the mention of Ripple by the Atlanta branch of the Fed, there have already been some decisions on the matter.

If you like our version of what is going on, all you have to do is remember to buy #XRP before the summer Ripple bull run.

[2] 🔔 Bullish BTC sentiment

According to Arman Shaban Trading's technical analysis from May 12, bitcoin began to form a downward context after breaking through the $26,900 and $26,540 areas. If $BTC stabilizes below $26,500, it may start moving even lower: from $23,950 to $25,300, and the next target is $20,000. However, the $20K area could be a possible reversal zone.

In this scenario, the best range to add to the bags is from $23,950 to $25,330.

BTC is now near the first bearish target of $25K.

[3] 🔔 Week 4 of Argent Xplorer (NFT drop)

Argent X is an open-source wallet on the StarkNet network with over 300,000 users.

The fourth week of the Argent Xplorer quest has started. Deadline: May 31. Transactions from April 1 are eligible for a snapshot. NFT for the third week is already available at this link.

How to get the 4th NFT:

• Trade or mint any NFT on the Mintsquare on the Starknet mainnet using your Argent X wallet. A listing does not count.

• How to obtain an NFT on Mintsquare. Browse here for an NFT you like and hit the “Add to Cart” button. Complete the deal in Argent X.

• How to mint an NFT on Mintsquare. Go here and upload your media. Give it a name. Hit the “Mint” button. Complete the mint in Argent X (don’t forget about gas).

• How to vend an NFT on Mintsquare: list your NFT and wait for a buyer. Complete the deal before May 30th, 23:59 UTC, to be eligible.

🔥 Attention!

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