What are we working on?
We dedicate a couple of work hours per week to outreach and link-building. This is part of our efforts towards increasing our site's authority. The link-building strategy we currently use is HARO - Help A Reporter Out. It is a platform that connects journalists and sources to help journalists find the information and experts they need for their stories.
It works like this - journalists post queries on the HARO platform, seeking information on a particular topic. If you're an expert on that topic or have relevant information to share, you can respond to the query and offer to be quoted in the journalist's story. You'll get a high-quality backlink if the journalist uses your quote and includes a link to your website.
The process can be time-consuming, but if you're patient and persistent, it can be a valuable tool for building high-quality backlinks and increasing your website's visibility and credibility. We already got a couple of high-quality backlinks, and we hope for some more to come.
Cryptos
The SEC recently went after a popular US-based exchange, Kraken, for their staking-as-a-service program. Staking is a way for people to earn rewards in exchange for holding onto their crypto assets. Kraken was offering this service to US customers. Still, the SEC argued that the yields earned were derived from pooling customer crypto assets, making it an active form of investment. As a result, Kraken had to shut down its staking service for US customers and pay a $30 million fine.
This decision has sparked much debate and disagreement among the crypto community. Some people, like SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, feel that the SEC is not handling this situation fairly and is shutting down a program that is serving people well. Meanwhile, companies like Coinbase are confident that this decision won't affect their staking program and are even willing to fight the SEC on this issue. Meanwhile, European fintech giant Revolut is preparing to offer crypto staking to its customers. And as a result of all this news, liquid staking services and staking infrastructure tokens are doing well. On the other hand, Lido, a decentralized staking protocol, has announced a big upgrade with its new staking router, making it easier for anyone to become a node operator.
Travel Update
We stopped in Taipei for a week before heading to Cebu in the Philippines. It’s our first time here, and we will have a short time to get a first impression of this city. We flew directly from Kota Kinabalu with AirAsia; the flight is about 3h20mins. The Taoyuan International Airport is about 45km from the city, so it takes quite a bit to get there. They have a great metro system; however, since we landed around midnight, we took Uber to reach our apartment. There is no Grab in Taiwan.
We spend the whole Sunday walking around, exploring the neighborhoods close to our Airbnb, and trying the cuisine. We are staying in Zhongzheng District, an excellent point to reach parks, good street food stalls, and attractions.
Fun Fact: The day was conveniently planned with a help of ChatGPT:
After not even two days of being here, we already know that Taipei is high on our list of places where we could stay longer. The great benefit is that you can stay up to 90 days under the visa-exempt program with an EU or US passport. This makes it attractive for Visa run from countries where you are limited to shorter stays.
I am currently listening.
Lex Fridman Podcast: #358 - Aella: Sex Work, OnlyFans, Porn, Escorting, Dating, and Human Sexuality
I am currently watching.
Vitalik on Starting New Countries and Improving Yourself | The Network State Podcast with Balaji #1
Tool of the week
The tool of this week is Apex Pro - a decentralized Crypto exchange with a great mobile application available for BNB, Ethereum, Polygon, and Arbitrum One. It was developed by Starkware, an Israeli-based blockchain and Ethereum scaling solution development company, and launched in early 2022. Apex Pro is non-custodial, permissionless, and decentralized. It operates on the Arbitrum Layer 2 network for Ethereum.
For me, it’s one of the best decentralized exchanges. 📈
Something to think about
James Clear
"It doesn't make sense to continue wanting something if you're not willing to do what it takes to get it.
If you don't want to live the lifestyle, then release yourself from the desire. To crave the result but not the process, is to guarantee disappointment."
"There seemed to be endless obstacles preventing me from living with my eyes open, but as I gradually followed up clue after clue it seemed that the root cause of them all was fear.” Marion Milner
A question to ask yourself
James Clear
If you could spend 30 minutes today creating whatever you want, what would you create?
Our Content of the week
How to Update the Firmware on Your Ledger Hardware Wallet?
