Vitalik Buterin backs new privacy proposal for NFT transactions

Ethereum researcher Anton Wahrstätter, better known as "Nerolation," came up with an idea that adds an extra layer of security to NFT transactions.

The new proposal involves an ERC-721 extension that would implement "stealth" addresses utilizing a privacy-focused piece of cryptography known as zk-SNARKs.

Yeah, that's too many complex things to mention in one sentence. Let's break it down:

Stealth addresses are one-time wallet address that acts as a proxy for your wallet address. Why? To make the transaction untraceable. Users could transfer NFTs with only the new owners knowing who owned the NFTs.

zk-SNARKs are a form of "zero-knowledge" cryptography, which makes blockchain transactions completely encrypted (No one can read them), and ERC-721 is the current Ethereum token standard for NFTs.

Ethereum's co-founder Vitalik Buterin is pretty impressed by the proposal.

Idea: stealth addresses for ERC721s.

A low-tech approach to add a significant amount of privacy to the NFT ecosystem.

So you would be able to eg. send an NFT to vitalik.eth without anyone except me (the new owner) being able to see who the new owner is.https://t.co/UdqK6NAYjn

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 8, 2022

Wahrstätter's approach is not to leave much of the transaction details seen on the public blockchain by inserting part of a stealth address into a Merkle tree—a data structure used for data verification and synchronization.

Buterin, on the other hand, does not want to complicate things by imposing "5-50 times" the regular costs for NFT transactions.

He suggested utilizing "lighter-weight technology." He proposed that smart contract wallets incorporate codes that enable the sender to hide their address from external parties.

"the reason why you don't need Merkle trees or ZK-SNARK-level privacy is that each ERC-721 is unique, so there's no possibility of creating an 'anonymity set' for an ERC-721."

If it all works out, the ETH ecosystem could become incredibly safe and private, but it remains to be seen if the governments would intervene, or if too much privacy is going to be the issue now.

Netflix builds The Gray Man experience in Decentraland.

To promote its newest blockbuster action film starring Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling, Netflix recreated The Gray Man experience in Decentraland. In order to create a virtual adventure based on the movie's narrative, Netflix collaborated with the Electric Factory and the Decentraland Foundation. Users of Decentraland and movie buffs are welcome to take part in "The Gray Man Metaverse Mission."

Big brands can enter the metaverse through the month-long trial by renting out virtual land for a limited time instead of buying it. Companies engaged in this today "will have a significant edge tomorrow if they understand how this works and how individuals can interact...There is so much opportunity that Web3 offers the world of entertainment." said the senior business developer at The Electric Factory, Diego Alvarez.

Major corporations like Coca-Cola, Nike, and Samsung have headquarters in Decentraland. The platform most recently organized the Metaverse Fashion Week, where high-end designers like Dolce & Gabbana presented catwalks to display their most recent gear.

Reddit Expands Community Points Offering With FTX Pay Integration

Online community Reddit, which abandoned accepting Bitcoin (BTC) payments years ago, now appears to be edging closer to getting cryptocurrency payments through a new partnership with the FTX exchange.

On Tuesday, Off-chain Labs made Arbitrum Nova accessible to everyone, and Reddit is leveraging the new platform to scale its blockchain-based Community Points programme. Redditors will be able to buy ETH with FTX to utilize for their on-chain Community Points transactions.

Community Points are ERC-20 tokens that Reddit users can get for valuable comments or other contributions and can be used to buy things like special badges, personalized emojis, and GIFs.

Alexis Ohanian, a co-founder of Reddit, has a long history in the cryptocurrency industry and last year he established a $100 million Web3 investment fund. Later, Ohanian unveiled a second $200 million Web3 and social media. For many years, Reddit has been involved in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries.