For years, if you asked anyone in crypto to name their biggest villain, 90% would’ve said the same name: Gary Gensler.

Someone who’s new to crypto reading this:

Before we had today’s SEC (open to innovation, trying to work with crypto companies, yada yada), we had Gary Gensler running the show.

And boy, did he run it differently.

During Gensler’s 4-year tenure, the SEC launched a staggering 125 crypto-related enforcement actions.

Now, this could’ve been good if the SEC was going after actual fraud, like rug pulls and Ponzi schemes.

But no – most of these lawsuits were against legit businesses (exchanges, token creators, and lending platforms), accused of selling unregistered securities under the Howey test.

FYI: that test was created in the 1940s to deal with orange groves

It’s like using your grandpa’s flip phone manual to fix your iPhone.

So, basically, instead of creating clear rules for crypto companies to follow, Gensler’s SEC used “regulation by enforcement” – they’d sue companies and then use those court cases to set the rules.

This means businesses had no way to know if their token was a security until they got sued.

And the targets weren’t some funky startups, either – we’re talkin’ big dawgs like Binance, Coinbase, and Ripple.

The result? A climate of fear, projects moving overseas, slower trading activity, and institutional investors staying away.

“Uhh… ok? Things changed? Why are we talking about this? ” – you, maybe.

Well, there are updates to this drama – and they’re spicy

In January 2024, the SEC’s tech team discovered something… interesting: nearly a year’s worth of Gary Gensler’s text messages had been deleted.

We’re talkin’ messages from October 2022 to September 2023 – right when his enforcement campaign was at its most intense.

And we can’t help but speculate whether those missing texts could’ve answered some big questions, like:

Was the SEC’s enforcement fair? Were decisions being made based on politics rather than law? What was really happening behind closed doors?

… I guess we’ll never know.

Now, the spicy part: the reason for this massive data loss is… just wtf.

Apparently, in July 2023, the SEC’s tech office somehow flagged Gensler’s phone as “inactive.” The phone stopped talking to their device management system, but nobody noticed.

Then, in August 2023, they implemented a new policy: any device flagged as inactive gets wiped after 45 days.

In September 2023, this policy kicked in and automatically erased Gensler’s phone.

The cherry on top? The device hadn’t been backed up since October 18, 2022.

This means nearly a year of communications → gone.

Now, the aftermath:

The SEC’s inspector general, Kevin Muhlendorf, released a report on the situaysh and said the mess was “avoidable.”

He pointed to missed alerts, sloppy emergency procedures, lack of proper backups, and poor coordination with vendors.

Basically, a whole lotta incompetence.

The SEC has since made some changes: they’ve disabled texting on most government phones, told the National Archives about the lost records, and agreed to five reforms recommended by the inspector general.

These include better oversight of device wipes, improved record-keeping, verified backups for senior officials, and requiring management approval before any factory resets.

So there you have it. The texts are gone, the questions remain, and the crypto industry moves forward with a new sheriff in town – hopefully one with better IT support.

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An equestrian coach reportedly lost thousands after falling victim to a spoofing scam that offered to protect her bank account from fraud.

NBC 7 in San Diego reports that in June, Alixe Garcia received a text asking her if she authorized a large purchase at Best Buy.

Garcia received a call after texting back “no”.  She says she trusted the call the moment she answered the phone because the caller ID showed it was from a Wells Fargo customer service number.

Garcia says that during the 41-minute call, it sounded as if she was talking with someone who was able to view her accounts. She ended up transferring $5,700 to Apple Cash, believing that the money would be deposited into her new Wells Fargo account that the caller supposedly helped her create.

Thirty minutes later, when she logged in, the money was not there.

“I waited another 30 minutes. I’m, like, ‘Maybe it’s a little slow.’ No money. Then I was just, like, sick thinking about it.” 

She called the bank the next morning, but the agent told her that the person she was talking to was not from the bank.

Her money is also gone. Wells Fargo says that its security controls were functioning as intended, and Garcia ultimately authorized the transfers.

The bank warns consumers that if they get a similar call asking them to send a payment, transfer funds or send their physical cards to stop fraud in their account, they should immediately hang up and call their bank directly.

“Safeguarding our customers’ assets is our top priority, and we are actively working to raise awareness of common scams through various resources and ongoing education. We have robust security measures in place and conduct thorough investigations of fraud and scam reports before making claim decisions.”

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Brazhyk

The following is a guest post and opinion of Rostyslav Bortman, Founder of Ethereum Ukraine.

Even in wartime Kyiv, innovation doesn’t pause. At ETHKyiv 2025, more than 100 hackers proved it—shipping privacy-first dApps, competing for grants, and showing what’s possible when the world’s toughest challenges meet Web3 grit.

But the real shockwaves came from the founders themselves: Vitalik Buterin and Tomasz K. Stańczak, Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation, who both appeared as the event’s online speakers, dropped two bombshells—400 TPS on Ethereum L1 this year, and a near future where anyone can run a full node on their smartphone.

So what’s next for the protocol? When does 400 TPS arrive, and what does “Ethereum on your phone” actually mean for developers and users? Here’s what we learned at ETHKyiv 2025.

Next-Gen UX: Nodes on a Phone

Vitalik Buterin’s keynote at ETHKyiv 2025 cut straight to Ethereum’s core roadmap. The biggest reveal:

“Pretty soon you’ll be able to spin up a node on your smartphones and even smartwatches.”

According to Buterin, instead of relying on servers with terabytes of storage, soon users will be able to run a full Ethereum node “without heavy-duty resources.” This first-of-its-kind case will be possible thanks to zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines (zkEVMs) that the Ethereum Foundation is currently implementing.

zkEVMs are making nodes drastically lighter, cutting storage through verifying transactions without revealing and importing any information about them.

On Ethereum’s L2s, zkEVMs already cut transaction costs by up to 90% and settle in their finality under three seconds. Buterin said the next step is bringing these improvements to the Ethereum mainnet, making blockchain interactions on it as fast and affordable as traditional web applications.

400 TPS with 3-Slot Finality by 2026

At ETHKyiv 2025, Tomasz K. Stańczak, Co-Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, spelled out exactly what’s next for Ethereum’s backbone: real performance gains on the mainnet itself.

He revealed that by the end of 2026, Ethereum will move to 3-Slot Finality (3SF), slashing average transaction confirmation time from 15 minutes down to only 36 seconds. For users, this will bring the experience of instant traditional digital payments while keeping all the benefits of decentralization.

Stańczak laid out the near-term milestones:

Ethereum L1 will hit 400 transactions per second (TPS) by the end of 2025.

Block gas limits will reach 100 million this year, with a jump to 60 million per block in a month or two (as of publication date—ed.).

For context: scaling Ethereum L1 is essential because it anchors the entire ecosystem, providing the security, settlement, and censorship resistance Layer 2s depend on. With faster mainnet throughput, users get greater assurance their transactions are finalized on a decentralized, global network—not bottlenecked by L2 operators.

As Vitalik Buterin summed up:

“The goal is to make Ethereum more private, more censorship-resistant, and at the same time, so easy that even people far from tech feel safe using it every day.”

What’s Really Fueling Ethereum’s Value and Mass Adoption?

For me and all the Ethereum followers, some big questions have always remained: what actually underpins Ethereum’s value, and what could trigger mass adoption?

When I pressed both Vitalik Buterin and Tomasz Stańczak for answers at ETHKyiv 2025, they each zeroed in on different but connected drivers.

Tomasz pointed to three non-negotiables: privacy, data protection, and transparency. According to him, these are precisely what enterprise clients and regular users now expect from any blockchain platform.

“Ethereum is a global network, and increased adoption directly boosts the value of the whole ecosystem,” he explained.

The more Ethereum is used for real-world utility—by businesses and by individuals—the more demand, and ultimately, value accrues.

Vitalik, meanwhile, framed the adoption question around financial utility. His thesis: mass adoption comes when Ethereum becomes the rails for real-world assets, particularly tokenized stocks and bonds.

“They’re the gateway to mass adoption and the bridge between traditional finance and Web3,” he said.

With heavyweights like BlackRock, Deutsche Bank, and Coinbase actively leveraging Ethereum for asset tokenization, we’re already seeing the lines blur between traditional finance’s $117 trillion market and Web3 infrastructure.

In short: Ethereum’s real value isn’t just speculative, but it’s being built right now at the intersection of security, privacy, and practical financial applications. That’s where mass adoption starts to look inevitable.

Why ETHKyiv 2025 Matters for Ukraine and Beyond

ETHKyiv 2025 indeed stood out for its access to global thought leaders. Despite all the war-related risks, developers here heard first-hand insights from Ethereum’s most influential builders.

As Stańczak himself described it:

“Enterprise, DeFi, explorations, AI, research, day-to-day problems, working with people—we have to understand the direction and give feedback. A lot of it.”

His daily routine—hours spent answering questions from developers—underscores how Ethereum’s power lies in its people, not just its protocol.

Crucially, ETHKyiv 2025 was never just another tech event on the calendar. Held against the backdrop of an ongoing war, it became living proof of something bigger: even in the darkest times, Ukraine’s tech community chooses to build, learn, and connect with the global ecosystem.

Throughout the hackathon, the wartime context was impossible to ignore, yet it wasn’t a shadow but a driving force. Performances by Moisei Bondarenko, the violinist-soldier whose music echoes through liberated Ukrainian cities, reminded everyone that innovation and humanity must go hand in hand. So did the tactical medicine session led by combat medic Artem Rudy, bringing practical skills and a sense of shared resilience to the room.

This is what set ETHKyiv 2025 apart: it was a gathering of minds and hearts, a testament to the persistence of community, curiosity, and shared values—even in wartime. The world watched not just for the tech, but for the spirit of resilience and solidarity that Ukraine’s builders brought to the stage.

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You know that moment when you play a song for your friends, and they’re like “ehh… it’s okay, I guess?” – but a week later they’re humming it under their breath, and next thing you know it’s on their gym playlist?

Yeah. This I knew you’d come around feeling is undefeated.

And it’s kind of how it feels watching US states slowly start understanding Bitcoin.

The newest state to officially hit play: Texas.

Governor Greg Abbott signed off on a bill to add Bitcoin to the state’s strategic reserves.

So now Texas joins Arizona and New Hampshire in the SBR club.

And who else is tapping their foot to the Bitcoin beat?

Well, a bunch of state Bitcoin reserve proposals have flopped.

But there are still a few holding on in the queue:

• Massachusetts;

• Michigan;

• Ohio;

• Rhode Island;

• And North Carolina.

No guarantees – but keep your headphones charged just in case.

Bad cat

Pop quiz time: there’s this thing called SparkKitty. Purely based on vibes, what do you think it is?

A) A cursed version of the Nyan Cat

B) The latest toy every iPad kid wants

C) A furry Twitch streamer

Got your guess?

… Too bad. It was a trick question. It’s D) None of the above.

SparkKitty is actually a malware recently discovered by the cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.

And no, it’s not cute.

It hides inside fake or modified apps (like TikTok mods, casino games, or crypto apps), and it’s been found on both Android and iOS.

On iPhones:

It hides inside fake versions of legit developer tools like AFNetworking or Alamofire – normally used to help apps connect to the internet. Attackers modify them to launch malware as soon as the app opens.

And to get around Apple’s App Store checks, they use something called an Enterprise profile – a system meant for companies to test apps on employee phones. It lets apps be installed directly, without Apple’s usual security reviews.

On Android, the malware shows up in two main ways:

Some versions are fake or modified apps with malicious code written in Java or Kotlin;

Others use a tool called Xposed, which lets the malware hide inside real apps and mess with what they do – without changing how they look.

Once installed, the malware:

• Pretends to be a support chat or similar feature, then asks for access to your photo gallery;

• Scans your photos for sensitive text like crypto seed phrases;

• Sends those photos (and device info) straight to the attackers’ command server.

Basically, if you’ve ever taken a screenshot of your crypto wallet recovery phrase… you’d be cooked.

And yeah, we’ve talked about stuff like this many times before. But until people stop getting scammed, we’re not shutting up.

So, here’s how to protect yourself:

1/ Only download from official app stores

Stick to Google Play and the Apple App Store.

And even then, don’t let your guard down – always check reviews and verify the developer.

2/ Don’t keep sensitive info in your photo gallery

No screenshots of seed phrases. No private keys. No “temporary” backups.

3/ Deny gallery access unless it makes sense

If an app that has nothing to do with photos asks for gallery access – say no.

But above all:

If your phone is where you manage your crypto, then it’s your wallet.

And just like you wouldn’t let a random stranger near your actual wallet, you shouldn’t let some sketchy app do that either.

Andy Walker / Android Authority

Andy Walker / Android Authority

A periscope camera that’s as good as ever

It may be half a decade older than the Samsung and Google phones I replaced it with, but the P30 Pro still out-zooms both.

Ryan-Thomas Shaw / Android Authority