Welcome to the NiceHash crypto news digest. Let's see what happened these last few days.

Ledger releases a controversial new update to its hard wallet firmware

This week Ledger, the well known hardware wallet provider, issued Ledger Recover, an ID-based key recovery service that backs up users’ seed phrases. To use the service, users must provide a passport or national identity card to confirm their identity. Three encrypted fragments will be trusted with custodians: Ledger, Coincover, and a third provider, meaning that customers now rely on the security of these other companies.

Ledger suffered a data leak back in 2020 which exposed the phone numbers and physical addresses of nearly 300,000 customers as well as over 1 million email addresses, and many users expressed concerns on social media about the ethics of such an update, especially as hard wallets are designed and used mainly by privacy advocates. 

Thirty-seven cryptocurrencies now considered as securities by the SEC

The SEC has asserted again that many digital tokens constitute securities, applying standards established under the Securities Act of 1933 and further interpreted by several landmark court decisions. The pivotal case, SEC v. W. J. Howey Co., set forth the “Howey Test” criteria to determine whether a transaction qualifies as an investment contract, a type of security.

This test checks if a transaction involves an investment in a common enterprise, expecting profits primarily from others’ efforts. Applying these criteria to the cryptocurrency market, the SEC has underscored the likelihood that several tokens meet this definition, therefore requiring adherence to established securities laws.

In a significant move, the SEC has recently pinpointed several cryptocurrencies as securities. This crypto securities list encompasses: 

XRP (XRP), Telegram Gram Token (TON), LBRY Credits (LBC), Decentraland (MANA), DASH (DASH), Power Ledger (POWR), OmiseGo (OMG), Algorand (ALGO), Naga (NGC), TokenCard (TKN), IHT Real Estate (IHT), Kik (KIN), Salt Lending (SALT), Beaxy Token (BXY), DragonChain (DRGN), Tron (TRX), BitTorrent (BTT), Terra USD (UST), Luna (LUNA), Mirror Protocol mAssets (Multiple Symbols), Mirror Protocol (MIR), Mango (MNGO), Ducat (DUCAT), Locke (LOCKE), EthereumMax (EMAX), Hydro (HYDRO), BitConnect (BCC), Meta 1 Coin (META1), Rally (RLY), DerivaDAO (DDX), XYO Network (XYO), Rari (RGT), Liechtenstein Cryptoasset Exchange (LCX), DFX Finance (DFX), Kromatica (KROM), FlexaCoin (AMP), Filecoin (FIL)

Bitcoiners from around the globe head to Miami for Bitcoin 2023 conference

This week, from May 18 to May 20, the biggest Bitcoin conference will take place in Miami Beach, Florida, bringing together Bitcoiners from all over the world. Along with presentations and panels from experts, professionals and leaders in the industry incuding our Mining Manager, Marko Tarman, this three-day educational event will provide a space for Bitcoiners to gather outside of cyberspace and get to know one another.

NiceHash team is also in Miami to showcase our products and services, and people at the convention can try mining their own Bitcoin blocks with NiceHash EasyMining.

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