🐻 Watch the live manhunt for SBF - only on Twitter 🍿

GM friends. Welcome back to another issue of Web3 Seems Legit, the weekly crypto newsletter that gives you all the FUD for free. 

In this issue: 

• The manhunt for SBF. With the lack of investigation from the media and law enforcements, crypto Twitter is taking things into their own hands by heading to the Bahamas and demanding answers from SBF himself. And it's all playing out on Twitter.

• Is decentralization a myth? The recently updated privacy policies at Uniswap and Consensys raises concerns about data privacy and whether decentralization is even real.

• Is Solana dead? Within the FTX fallout, Solana also took a big hit because of its association to SBF. Is this the end for Solana? How close are the ties between $SOL and SBF?

The manhunt for SBF 

Who needs Netflix when you have Twitter for prime-time entertainment? While the media prances around the FTX story with puff pieces, a band of crypto Twitter influencers are taking matters into their own hands. 

After SBF filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and stepped down from his CEO position at FTX, he has been seemingly enjoying his time as a free man in (one of) his Bahamas apartments with his parents. 

Where are the law enforcements? Why aren't media journalists hunting down the story? How is he still walking free for his crimes?

The answer is collusion. Over the past few weeks, details of SBF's connection to mainstream media, politicians and regulators have alluded to a story much bigger than just a financial crime orchestrated by a group of 30-year-olds. 

So, in a strange twist of events, Bitboy of all people is leading a manhunt in the Bahamas and demanding for answers from SBF himself.

As Bitboy waits for SBF outside his Bahamas apartment, the whole saga is playing out on Twitter for our entertainment. At this point, it wouldn't be surprising if a group of Bahamians are also in on the conspiracy and protecting SBF.

But before you peg Bitboy as an unsung hero, it's important to note that this crypto influencer has his own fair share of controversies. He's been called a scammer and plagiarizer on many occasions. 

So generally speaking, he's not someone who is taken very seriously in the crypto space. But in the face of a much larger villain, I guess almost anyone can have a redemption arch. 

Regardless of his past, we can't deny that Bitboy is doing what no other journalist or law enforcement is doing right now - pushing for accountability. 

Now we wait and see. Who will get arrested first? Bitboy or SBF?

Is decentralization a myth? 

If one good thing came out of the FTX scandal, it would be recognizing the need for true DeFi. The challenge, however, is battling the ongoing trend toward centralization in crypto. 

Just last week, Uniswap, the biggest decentralized exchange published a blog post admitting to collecting certain on-chain and off-chain data "to make data-driven decisions that improve user experience"

Though they may not be selling your data for marketing purposes, they do state that such data could be helpful to regulators to "comply with applicable laws and regulations". Wait, what?

Here's the kicker: rumor has it that similarly to FTX, Uniswap could be engaging with regulators to take down their competitors. 

Now, we don't know how substantial these claims are, but it's certainly interesting to see who is on the Uniswap team. 

Uniswap isn't the only one getting heat about their data collection. Consensys, developer of popular crypto wallet, Metamask, just informed users of their updated privacy policy that includes collecting additional data through the Infura tool.

Infura is also owned by Consensys and is an API-tool to connect apps to the Ethereum network. According to their new privacy policy, if you use Infura as your default RPC (remote procedure call) in Metamask, it will collect your IP and Ethereum wallet address when you send a transaction.

But apparently, they don't just collect your data at time of transaction. As soon as you open your Metamask wallet, it records all your addresses. 

 To be clear, Metamask is not the one collecting the data. Infura, the RPC provider, is. So if you just switch to another RPC provider, problem solved right? Not quite...for the average user, switching the RPC is far from simple and user-friendly.

Even if you stop using Infura, chances are, you'll still run into the same issue with another RPC provider. Let's break this down even further:

• An RPC node lets users read data on the blockchain and send transactions to different networks.

• You could run your own node (true decentralization), but let's be real, most people won't run their own server. So RPC providers like Infrura are used.

• The real issue is that most decentralized apps (dapps) use your wallet to connect, exposing your data even more.

This comes back to one solution: run your own node. But like we said, an average user won't know or even want to manage their own server. So, what is decentralization in web3 then? Is it just a myth? 

Is Solana dead? 

At the beginning of 2021, Solana was still just a relatively new blockchain project. By the end of the year, the price of SOL had reached an all-time high of $260. One person to thank for this was Sam Bankman-fried (SBF). 

When Coindesk leaked Alameda's balance sheet, it not only revealed a large bag of $FTT tokens, but also a substantial holding position of $SOL. Almost immediately, the price of $SOL plummeted straight down 70% for its association to SBF.

Since then, FUD has been taking over Solana with many believing that it will go to $0. 

The conspiracy is that Solana and FTX/Alameda have much closer ties than we realize.

Others think differently. 

As of now, $SOL is down 95% from its peak. The FUD could very well pass over with time, or perhaps more may be revealed about Solana and SBF's close ties. 

What's not helping with the FUD is Binance announcing the delisting of several Serum ($SRM) trading pairs. Serum is Solana's governance token that was also backed by FTX/Alameda. 

While things remain rocky in the industry, don't forget to protect your coins, always verify, and stay SAFU 🙏.

In other news

• Blockfi files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

• Binance releases their proof of reserves

• Bahamas Attorney General confirms that there is an active criminal investigation on FTX

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