quicklycybermoon-blog

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SIM-swappers Get Caught On Both Sides of The Atlantic

Michael Terpin made the news for all the wrong reasons a couple of months ago. Terpin lost over $24 million worth of cryptocurrency due to a SIM-swapping hack, which wiped out his crypto fortune. In an unexpected turn of events, Terpin was awarded compensation that tops his original loss three times. The Los Angeles Superior Court has ordered the bandit behind the scam, Nicholas Truglia, to pay $74.8 million to Terpin. In early 2018, Truglia along with a group of 25 bad actors executed a SIM-swapping fraud, that ultimately gave them access to Terpin's crypto belongings. Once Truglia and his friends took control over his account, they transacted over 3 million tokens, which asset they belonged to was not disclosed, however. Back in January, Terpin filed a lawsuit against Truglia and is still hunting his gang members. Additionally, he sues his mobile phone operator AT&T for gross negligence. Terpin seeks $224 million in compensation from the operator. According to the victim, AT&T should be held responsible for allowing the gang to take control over his phone number. In related news, the 20-year-old Irish man Conor Freeman is facing over 100 years in prison for conducting similar crimes. Freeman was found to be part of “The Community” hacking group, which stole over $2 million worth of crypto through SIM-swapping. Freeman is about to be extradited to the US if found guilty. The Community consisted of six individuals, according to US court files. Notably, this is not the first time, the sextet has been caught committing crimes. They have been convicted of ID theft, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Additionally, the police suspect three mobile operator employees of taking part in the attacks. Court reports state that The Community paid bribes to Fendley Johnson, Robert Jack, and Jarrat White, who assisted the culprits. The documents read: “The phone number was leveraged as a gateway to gain control of online accounts such as a victims’ email, cloud storage, and cryptocurrency exchange accounts.” This tactic effectively bypassed all security layers including 2fa deployed by the victims. One of the victims was a professional gamer who lost over $200,000 worth of digital assets. Read the full article

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Prince Charles Just Endorsed Blockchain

One crypto enthusiast made so that blockchain came out of the mouth of Prince Charles. The Twitter user published a video on the social media, asking the heir what does he think of bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and blockchain. It seems that at first, the Prince doesn't get the question but then replies “Oh yes, it's a very interesting development.” The footage was taken in Berlin, where the royal family is currently on a diplomatic visit. The Tweeter asks several times but to no avail. Then all of a sudden, the Prince of Wales stops and finally gives an answer that some might say sounds like an endorsement. Interestingly, Prince Charles did not respond to either “bitcoin” nor “cryptocurrency”. However, when he heard “blockchain” he had a ready-made answer. Many people commenting on the original post mock the heir for his response claiming he endorsed the technology just to avoid looking like a fool. Anyways, this is what I call a royal approval. As of writing, the tweet has already been retweeted 602. Apart from that, it has generated 2371 likes and 155 comments. I mean, I expect a bull market. Just to get an idea of how viral the video went, someone did enough to have it recorded on the blockchain forever. You can see it for yourself at this address: https://eternal.dragonchain.com/transaction/17fb5c65-bb21-4c0d-b7ef-59704242bef0 According to the Telegraph, the visit of Prince Charles and Camilla could be seen as an effort to keep warm relations following the upcoming Brexit. Indeed, this is not the first time we mention blockchain and Brexit in one article. During the past three years, many speculated that blockchain technology could provide a solution for the border problem that is soon to emerge once Great Britain leaves the EU, whereas the Republic of Ireland will remain within the Union. Nevertheless, we remain quite skeptical here. The main problem is that putting a physical border with checkpoints would be a major step back for both countries. On the other side, the EU regulations require member states, which have common borders with non-member states to place checkpoints for strict border control. How exactly blockchain can change that, nobody really knows. Even blockchain supporters seem to have run out of fruitful ideas. Read the full article

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Bitmain's Mining Power Drops by 88%

Recent data is showing that the internal bitcoin mining operations at Bitmain are down 88% as compared to the previous month. This could indicate that the bitcoin mining giant has reduced capacity. Data from the hashing power disclosure statement that Bitmain makes public every month, shows the hash rate of the company, which runs on the proprietary SHA265 algorithm to mine bitcoin cash and bitcoin was down to 237.29 quadrillion hashes per second (PH/s). It is quite a significant drop given that it was at 2.072 PH/s just a month ago. The Beijing-based company is a leading manufacturer of mining equipment for sale though it also uses the equipment in its own mining operations. Since July 2018, the company has been disclosing the hash rates of machines it uses for its mining operations. According to archives pages, the hash rate was 1,692 PH/s in July and was up to 2,339 PH/s in October. The figure went down to 1700 PH/s in March, which corresponded with the overall fall of the computing power in the bitcoin network. The decline was in line with the steep drop of bitcoin to less than $4,000 during the period in question. It would then go on to climb in the early days of April before its latest collapse. Given the drop in the hash rate, Bitmain has also lost much of its share in the total computing power in the bitcoin network. It now has only 0.4 percent of the total computing power, down from a high of four percent. If we assume that Bitmain’s hashing power is derived from their most popular miner, the AntMiner S9, we can estimate that Bitmain has removed up to 130,000 machines, based on the fact that each of the miners has a 14 Tera hash every second (TH/s). The cutback is quite significant given that the rainy season is coming up and many Chinese miners were setting up to take advantage of the cheap hydroelectric power. Bitmain had been reported to be putting in place plans to deploy up to $80 million worth of miners as recently as March.

Bigger Pie, Smaller Slice

NOTE: The data does not mean that Bitmain has taken all of its mining equipment out of the mining networks. While there has been a drop in Bitmain's share of computing power on the Bitcoin network, its denominator is up: According to blockchain.info, Bitcoin’s total hash power is up and just topped out at 58,000 PH/s on May 2. In the meantime, data has been showing that the hash rate of the bitcoin cash network is up and has been hovering between 2,000 and 2,500 since the start of 2019. Bitmain spokesman did not have a specific reason for the decline in the company’s hash rate. The spokesperson asserted that the nature of the mining business meant that the hash rate that belongs to one person at one time may be in the possession of another in an instant. Meanwhile, Bitmain has a contract cloud mining service that it has been pushing to its retail customers. The service called BitDeer uses its proprietary AntMiner S11, S17, and S15 equipment. As it stands, a huge chunk of the service plans has been marked as sold out on the Bitmain website. Read the full article

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Coffee and Shrimp Production Goes Blockchain

Blockchain initiatives have gone well beyond cryptocurrencies. In fact, they get more recognition in the shipping and logistics industry these days. The latest example comes from Ecuador. The local Sustainable Shrimp Partnership (SSP) has partnered with IBM. The partnership will result in SSP taking part in IBM's Food Trust Ecosystem, which aims to make food shipping more transparent and fair. In this case, we are talking SSP shrimp quality. Once SSP's products are put on the blockchain, retailers and consumers can track them and check details about their production. In a press release from May 6, Pamela Nath, director of SSP said: “Our aim is to have SSP premium quality shrimp in supermarkets and on menus where the consumer can scan the QR code and find out which farm it is from, how it was farmed, and key indicators on its food safety and sustainability profile.” SeafoodSource reports that the SSP is comprised of 11 Ecuadorian shrimp farms. Just in March this year, the SSP has sold 1000 metric tons of shrimp in the United States alone. “We expect to see increasing demand of SSP shrimp in the coming months. We are already in dialogue with multiple partners in the marketplace who are looking for premium products which meet the growing consumer demand, for clean, safe, and sustainable seafood,” Nath said. The Food Trust Ecosystem was finally launched after 18 months of testing in October 2018. A strategic move from IBM since research firm Gartner suggested that by 2025 as much as 20% of the largest grocers in the world will hop on the blockchain train. Senior Analyst Joanne Joliet even claimed that blockchain development will be primarily driven by grocers. In related news, Starbucks is set to track coffee production but using Microsoft's Azure Blockchain Service instead of IBM's Food Trust Ecosystem. The US-based coffee chain started its blockchain tracking system back in 2018 when it partnered with farmers from Rwanda, Costa Rica, and Colombia. “Many years ago, our controls and transactions were all done by paper, and today we are even talking about blockchain technology. This shows us that, more than being at the front of every technological advancement, having the information and being flexible and adaptable are important,” elaborated Ronald Peters, executive director of the Costa Rican Coffee Institute (ICAFE). Microsoft's Azure Blockchain Service operates as a blockchain-as-a-service, supporting Quorum and JPMorgan Chase's Ethereum-based platform. Read the full article

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Blockchain Live 2019, London, September 25

Blockchain technologies have been around for 10 years now but they still lack the popularity they deserve. This is exactly what the Blockchain Live Conference aims to change. The team behind this tech festival is aware of the fact that the industry is still in its nascent stage as seen in its fragmented ecosystem. This year the event has the goal to initiate collaboration and discussion between businesses, regulators, consumers and the general public. Unlike other events, where you will meet only enthusiasts pumping the hype, Blockchain Live will welcome critics as well. Some of the speakers include David Fauchier (Cambrial Capital), Greg Medcraft (OECD), Hilary Carter (Blockchain Research Institute), and Don Tapscott (The Tapscott Group). For more information visit the official website of the event: https://blockchainlive.com/\ Read the full article

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ICT Spring Europe 2019, Luxembourg, May 21-22

This May (21-22) Luxembourg will be the main stage for the global tech conference ICT Spring Europe 2019. More than 100 speakers will deliver top-notch speeches in the fields of fintech and space technologies. In the heart of Europe, decision makers, startups, innovators, developers, and venture capitalists will gather together to shape the digital future. Attendees will get the chance to interact with experts and entrepreneurs such as Xavier Bettel (Prime Minister of Luxemburg), Luc Julia (Samsung), Duena Blomstrom (Emotional BankingTM, PeopleNotTech), Benoit Legrand (ING), and Pascal Bouvier (Fintech Venture Capital Investor). Official website: https://www.ictspring.com/ Read the full article

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Finland Regulates Crypto Businesses

Finland has finally issued a regulatory framework specifically designed for cryptocurrency businesses. The new ACT OF VIRTUAL CURRENCY PROVIDERS comes into force tomorrow (May 1). For every business, dealing with any form of digital money this means new policies to adhere to. From May 1 on, companies will be obliged to keep client money safe mainly by separating them in special wallets. Mixing own money with customer funds is strongly forbidden. Know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money-laundering (AML) policies are also obligatory. Finland is by no means the first country to set strict regulations in an effort to protect its citizens from being ripped off by fraudulent exchanges. We have seen that mixing exchange money with customer funds is a bad practice several times so far. Many CEOs and staff members have been caught abusing their positions by illicitly acquiring and allocating customer funds. Finland's move goes hand in hand with EU's 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5th AMLD). The Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) issued a statement an excerpt of which reads: “Going forward, only virtual currency providers meeting statutory requirements are able to carry on their activities in Finland. Virtual currency providers which do not comply with statutory requirements will be prohibited from continuing their business activities, enforced by a conditional fine.“ So far, so good. Despite the upcoming regulations, FIN-FSA took time to warn potential investors that the risks that come with cryptocurrency trades are still present: “In spite of the upcoming supervision and registration, the characteristics of virtual currencies and the risks related to virtual currency investments remain unchanged. The risks include sudden major fluctuations in value, data security threats pertaining to exchange services and custodian wallet providers, and the nature of several virtual currencies as speculative investments not involving any inherent source of return.“ In general, every country around the world is already putting cryptocurrency regulatory frameworks in the works. In fact, it is just a matter of time before digital assets are fully regulated worldwide. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority is already reviewing its policies on the fear that businesses might be still putting customers at risk. Alternatively, in Sweden, the Federal Assembly is asking the Federal Council to regulate the sector. Read the full article

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Ransomware Attacks Rose by 90% in Q1 2019

Unless you have been living under a rock, you should have realized by now that the internet is by no means a safe place. Ransomware attacks might be old as gold but they are still going viral. Believe it or not (irony here), ransomware attacks and cryptocurrencies have formed an outstanding pair in recent years. Ransomware analytics firm Coveware, recently discovered that in Q1 2019 alone, the number of cryptocurrency payments made to attackers rose by the staggering 90 %, compared to Q4 2018. On average, the bad guys received $12,762 in crypto per day. In contrast, in the previous quarter, the daily payments were almost twice down - $6,733. According to Coverware, fancy and intelligent viruses are to blame. Unsurprisingly, it is Bitcoin that dominates the trend. As much as 98% of all payments were made in BTC, as almost none of the attacks asks ransom in another form of digital money. Since Coveware receives hundreds of ransomware complaints, it has gathered just enough data to conduct its analysis. It turns out that one single attack is responsible for the 90% increase – Ruyk. Unlike other ransomware that cost less than $10,000 per attack, Ruyk demands $288,000. “The ransom increase reflects increased infections of more expensive types of ransomware such as Ryuk, Bitpaymer, and Iencrypt. These types of ransomware are predominantly used in bespoke targeted attacks on larger enterprise targets.“ However, Ruyk is not the most popular ransomware as GrandCrab and Dharma lead the race. “The 3 most common types (Dharma, Ryuk, and GandCrab) are unique in their distribution methods, targets, and costs. Dharma continued to be operated by an increasing number of technically unsophisticated groups, which depressed data recovery rates despite rising ransom amounts. Ryuk continued to target larger enterprises and shock victims with egregious ransom demands. GandCrab continued to innovate distribution channels, with the developers bundling it with new and popular exploit kits,” the report reads. What they have in common is their modus operandi. The malicious software locks out crucial data on the victims' computers, thus making it inaccessible. Supposedly, once the ransom is paid, the data becomes accessible again. Read the full article

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Ransomware Attacks Rose by 90% in Q1 2019

Unless you have been living under a rock, you should have realized by now that the internet is by no means a safe place. Ransomware attacks might be old as gold but they are still going viral. Believe it or not (irony here), ransomware attacks and cryptocurrencies have formed an outstanding pair in recent years. Ransomware analytics firm Coveware, recently discovered that in Q1 2019 alone, the number of cryptocurrency payments made to attackers rose by the staggering 90 %, compared to Q4 2018. On average, the bad guys received $12,762 in crypto per day. In contrast, in the previous quarter, the daily payments were almost twice down - $6,733. According to Coverware, fancy and intelligent viruses are to blame. Unsurprisingly, it is Bitcoin that dominates the trend. As much as 98% of all payments were made in BTC, as almost none of the attacks asks ransom in another form of digital money. Since Coveware receives hundreds of ransomware complaints, it has gathered just enough data to conduct its analysis. It turns out that one single attack is responsible for the 90% increase – Ruyk. Unlike other ransomware that cost less than $10,000 per attack, Ruyk demands $288,000. “The ransom increase reflects increased infections of more expensive types of ransomware such as Ryuk, Bitpaymer, and Iencrypt. These types of ransomware are predominantly used in bespoke targeted attacks on larger enterprise targets.“ However, Ruyk is not the most popular ransomware as GrandCrab and Dharma lead the race. “The 3 most common types (Dharma, Ryuk, and GandCrab) are unique in their distribution methods, targets, and costs. Dharma continued to be operated by an increasing number of technically unsophisticated groups, which depressed data recovery rates despite rising ransom amounts. Ryuk continued to target larger enterprises and shock victims with egregious ransom demands. GandCrab continued to innovate distribution channels, with the developers bundling it with new and popular exploit kits,” the report reads. What they have in common is their modus operandi. The malicious software locks out crucial data on the victims' computers, thus making it inaccessible. Supposedly, once the ransom is paid, the data becomes accessible again. Read the full article

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Coinbase Partners With Visa

For quite a while, the fundamental obstruction to the standard selection of cryptographic forms of money has been the reluctance of retailers to roll out the improvements important to utilize them. Given the dangers that huge vacillations in these business sectors present to retail organizations, it's reasonable that they'd be hesitant to acknowledge Bitcoin or other staple coins. Another organization set up among VISA and Coinbase tries to sidestep the reception prerequisite for retailers completely, enabling their clients to make buys in digital money that would be in a split second changed over to fiat through a backend fueled by the last mentioned. The Coinbase card, Computer World reports, will be connected to the holder's digital money wallet at the trade, permitting buys in Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Litecoin. As per VISA, this would permit cardholders to "spend crypto as easily as the cash in their bank." The card would likewise take into consideration ATM withdrawals, bypassing the confused crypto-to-fiat withdrawal process offered by trades that multiple occasions assumes control more than 24 hours to finish. Around a similar time a year ago, Revolut ropelled an offer where it would compensate buys through its Platinum card program with 1% money back in cryptographic forms of money. The organization right now enables individuals to buy digital currency, yet they should change over it back to fiat before utilizing it to make buys with their cards. The Coinbase-VISA association will permit Coinbase clients the capacity to do this without making the change themselves. Since twenty to thirty-year-olds—a central target statistic for cryptographic money organizations—see computerized coins as funds instruments, such a card may be utilized for making blustery day buys rapidly and proficiently. Binance, a trade always extending its impact, has finished the seventh quarterly coin consume since its initiation. The coin consume is an instrument to restrain the supply of Binance Coin (BNB) and an approach to disseminate the income of the trade to holders of the advantage. The coin consumes touches base toward the finish of a fairly unstable quarter, which may have seen the advanced resource markets ricochet off the ongoing base and begin another period of recuperation. The latest coin consumes mirrors the expanded dollar-designated cost of the advantage, denoting a fourth of critical recuperation on the business sectors. Binance played out the littlest coin consume up until now, removing from flow 829,888 tokens. The dollar estimation of the consumer is $15.6 million, be that as it may, a huge increment in the course of the last quarter of 2018. The greatest coin consumes for Binance occurred in the quarter finished December 2017, when crest advertises costs and exchanging action prompted record results. The CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, additionally indicated a quarterly recuperation, in which the trade has a focal job. "Timing-wise, the BitTorrent (BTT) Launchpad deal was a defining moment for BTC. The overly fruitful closeout of BTT reestablished a dimension of trust in the market and reactivated enthusiasm for token undertakings," clarified Zhao in the ongoing blog entry remarking on the quarterly outcomes. For the trade, the following quarter will proceed with diligent work on extension ventures, including the dispatch of decentralized trade. Binance Launchpad will keep on offering screened token deals while cautioning speculators that the deals are not an assurance for quick returns. Read the full article

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IBM Partners With The University of Louisville

The unsettling craze surrounding blockchain technologies has finally started to calm down. No, the interest in distributed ledgers hasn't dropped by a bit. On the contrary, companies and businesses are thrilled to take part in the new digital revolution. The difference between April 2019 and April 2017 is that speculation has stepped off the scene, making space for innovation. That's why it is not a surprise that businesses and universities want to breed developers, not investors. Here is what I am talking about – the University of Louisville, which among the 200 top US universities has recently formed a partnership with tech giant IBM. As a result, students will get the opportunity to attend some high-end blockchain trainings. The newly established institution goes by the name “IBM Skills Academy”. In fact, the IBM Skills Academy will cover seven different technologies apart from blockchain – cloud computing, cybersecurity, Internet-of-Things, and artificial intelligence being some of them. Are there any other perks? Yes, there are. Apart from receiving credits much needed for graduation, students will receive certificates from IBM itself. What makes the IBM Skills Academy different from similar initiatives is the fact that it will actually educate university staff members and professors in the current technology trends. See? Students and professors will study together. How cool is that? Though IBM is currently negotiating with four other universities, this is its first academy formed together with a higher education institute. We should note however that IBM and the University of Louisville are by no means the first entities to offer a blockchain curriculum. Indeed the group of universities providing blockchain education is rapidly growing. Last year Coinbase reported that 80% of the world's top 10 universities offer blockchain education in one way or another. Moreover, most of them are located in the USA. This is not surprising at all and the findings are corresponding with Janco Associates' report, which indicates that tech companies are struggling to find competent blockchain specialists. "With 20,600 new IT jobs created in the first 3 months of 2019, the market is tight. There is a skills shortage, some projects are missing key early benchmark dates due to lack of staffing. Many Blockchain and ERP positions remain unfilled and some organizations are seeing an increase in attrition rates for those positions as other continue to pirate away their best employees,” the report reads. Read the full article

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Diging Into North Korea's Hacking Tactics

North Korea is regarded as having a notorious leader in the testing of a globally prohibited nuclear weapon. North Korea is also one of the heavily sanctioned countries in the current world. In an attempt to skirt the sanctions imposed, North Korea has turned to the South Asia cryptocurrency industry. The country is deemed to sponsor hackers to exploit more and more in the industry. Royal United Services Institute, the British defense unit has claimed that North Korea is indeed targeting the South Asian cryptocurrency industry. Over time, the country has used unscrupulous bank transactions and front companies to elude sanctions. With its ramified foreign network, the country can easily cash out its cryptocurrency profits at exchange points. This is thus a matter that needs international intervention. The claims come amid the blame of the country on funding hackers in the Wannacry ransomware which broke out in 2017. The virus spread and inflected over 230,000 devices. It demanded a ransom paid in terms of bitcoins. Failure to comply meant deleting of everything on the device by the malware. The US later identified a suspect whom they found guilty and imposed sanctions upon. He was supposedly linked with working with a state-financed crew dubbed Lazarus. The duo was blamed for the loss of over £690m of cryptocurrency and fiat money. This took place at digital money exchange points. RUSI deems the WannaCry ransomware as a great sign if North Korea in the concerned industry. The claims can be true especially owing to the North Korean adamant system. The country is and is likely going to continue with nuclear testing. Thus, the situation is a real threat that may have far stretching effects. A bitcoin is worth a lot of money. This could be a government initiated program to raise funds for the nuclear program as well as alleviate sanctions effects. The international community must, therefore, move fast to heal the South Asian cryptocurrency industry. Countries that are likely to feel the heat of the North Korean hackers are Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand. North Korea has however disagreed with any links to hacking of cryptocurrency. The country denied claims of a hand in Wannacry ransomware. It also refuted claims linking it to the 2014 Sony hacking scandal. It is difficult to believe in the claims of the astray country. The safe thing will be to stop the cybercrime before it becomes just like the unshakable nuclear program. Read the full article

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Binance Just Delisted Bitcoin SV

Binance has announced its intentions to delist BitcoinSV (Bitcoin Satoshi Vision) – a controversial cryptocurrency. A blog post appearing on the website of Binance confirmed this information. Part of the content of the blog post sought to clarify that Binance conducts a periodic review of every digital asset they list. The need to ensure that each of these digital assets satisfies the highest level of expected standards occasions this exercise. When a coin or token fails to meet these standards or does not respond to the industry changes accordingly, Binance performs a more thorough review which potentially leads to a delisting. According to Binance, doing so helps to keep all its users protected. Before mentioning BitcoinSV as the only project they were delisting, Binance explained that the decision was reached upon based on their most recent reviews. The institution explained that it was delisting, and consequently ceasing trading on all trading pairs for Bitcoin Satoshi Vision by 22nd April 2019 at 10 am UTC. Binance further explained some of the factors they had considered to reach this decision. They include: • Quality of development activity • Public communication • Proof of unethical and fraudulent behavior • Its participation in ensuring a healthy and sustainable cryptocurrency ecosystem Other highlights of the announcement included: • The automatic removal of all trade orders after trading stops in all the respective trading pairs. • To view assets after trading ceases, users were cautioned against selecting “Hide small assets” in their Funds Page. • Binance would continue to support the withdrawals of these coins and tokens until 22nd April 2019 at 10. 00 am UTC. A fresh uproar has been witnessed amongst the Bitcoin community when hodlonaut, a faux twitter user, received threats for legal action to be taken against him. Hodlanaut had initially disputed the legitimacy of Craig Wright, the chief scientists of nChain. Craig Wright is one of the best brains behind BitcoinSV. The tweet from the chief executive officer of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, @CZ Binance read: “Craig Wright is not Satoshi. Any more of this shit, we delist!” In response, @Bitcoin Magazine said: “An attack against one is an attack against all. #WeAreAllHodlonaut. The threat saw Bitcoiners band together and drum support for the legal defense of hodlonaut. The unflinching CEO reminded the proponents of BitcoinSV that he had the tools of power to remove the cryptocurrency from Binance if he wanted. It is now clear that Zhao made good his threats, and the markets are already responding. BitcoinSV’s price immediately went down by seven percent from $70 to $65. Read the full article

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Two Romanians Jailed for Spreading Cryptojacking Malware

The internet is by no means a safe place and two Romanian residents have been that kind to remind us malware is here to corrupt computers. Bogdan Nicolescu (36) and Radu Miclaus (37) have been found guilty of running a malware campaign that effectively infected more than 400,000 computers. The campaign did not only aim to install cryptojacking software on these computers but to steal private data. After a 12-day trial, the US jury convicted Nicolescu and Miclaus of an attempt to conduct a wire fraud, identity theft, and money laundering. The case attracted a lot of public attention since the better part of those 400,000 computers infected belong to US citizens. Nevertheless, the cybercriminals pulled the strings of their conspiracy from the Romanian capital of Bucharest. Notably, it all started back in 2007 when Nicolescu and Miclaus developed their malicious software. The two spread the malware via email campaigns, impersonating legitimate businesses such as Western Union, Norton AntiVirus, and the IRS. Needless to say, the attached file contained the virus that got automatically installed when clicked upon. The malware utilized simple yet effective principle – it contacted the mail list of the victim, thus spreading itself even faster. It recorded the activity logs of the recipients and when they aimed to reach websites such as Facebook and PayPal it immediately redirected them to fraudulent copycats. Obviously, the goal was to harvest as more credentials as possible. The stolen credit card information was then used to fund the campaign – renting server space, purchasing domains, etc. Of course, the baddies had to pay for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to further cover their tracks. And as if that wasn't enough Nicolescu and Miclaus compromised legitimate websites as well. They did so by inserting fake pages filled with instructions that only appeared to be “real”. The culprits published fake listings on auction sites such as eBay and many similar ones. When they placed their for sale items, they infected the images with links redirecting to fraudulent webpages. Reportedly, the two made as much as $4 million from the scheme. However, it all stopped in 2016, when they were extradited to the US. The sentencing will take place on August 14. Read the full article

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Facebook Working On A Stablecoin

Rumor has it Facebook has long been flirting with the idea of launching its own cryptocurrency. Now New York Times technology reporter Nathaniel Popper claims that the social media behemoth has contacted venture capitals in search of additional funding. The company is looking for $1 billion to fund its stablecoin project. It's not that Facebook itself doesn't have the money but a stablecoin project development would require as much as $1 billion. The tech giant has been so far reluctant to jump into the crypto ocean. Not only that but it also banned advertisements promoting cryptocurrency projects from running on its platform. Nevertheless, last fall Facebook hinted that it is on its way to build a digital asset stripped from any volatility. In other words, while Facebook might not be into cryptocurrencies, it seems to keep an eye on the stablecoin market. Perhaps, Facebook's reluctance to buy the crypto hype has something to do with the great amount of fake accounts promoting various (a lot of them fake) cryptocurrency projects. Twitter particularly is plagued with bots and scammers, who often tend to impersonate celebrities in an effort to endorse their scammy tokens. On the other hand, DogeCoin and ReddCoin have been very popular among social media users. These two, along with Ripple's XRP have been mostly used to tip content creators and social media contributors. Other projects such as Verge have also gotten traction in recent months. Despite that, traditional businesses are not really into digital assets. One particular reason for that is the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies. This is where stablecoins step in. They offer all of the benefits that come with digital assets but act predictably because they are pegged to a fiat currency, usually the US dollar. For instance, Tether is the most popular stablecoin tied to the US dollar. While there are many others, it remains the most traded one. It has its own fair share of troubles, however. There are speculations that Tether lacks the equivalent sum in cash to back its 2 billion tokens in circulation. Facebook has not revealed any details regarding its cryptocurrency doings so far. Read the full article

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Binance Launches Mainnet By the End of April

Binance has declared the mainnet dispatch for the new form of Binance Coin (BNB), just as the decentralized trade (DEX) is not out of the ordinary before the month's over. The hotly anticipated declaration added to the general positive thinking as the business sectors are in the green once more. The Binance DEX has been censured for not being an absolutely decentralized substance. The system will depend on appointed square generation, where at first Binance would verify the square maker servers. Also, the trade will have incorporated request coordinating. The DEX dispatch will see Binance Coin (BNB) still exist as an Ethereum-based token. BNB has developed insignificance, as exchanging volumes got. Moreover, the benefit is getting to be vital to the ordinary token contributions on Binance Launchpad. Following the updates on the up and coming DEX dispatch, BNB kept its increases, remaining at $19.84. BNB has withdrawn somewhat in BTC costs, yet in the previous months figured out how to develop close to its pinnacle, beginning from lows under $4. Also, Binance has propelled the Binance Jersey trade, which is getting in volumes. The fiat-to-crypto trade is one of the new activities of Binance, to offer direct buy of advanced resources. In the coming months, the Binance brand will dispatch more fiat-working trades. Binance Jersey as of now has a measurements page on CoinMarketCap. Volumes for the market are still moderately thin, however demonstrating a development pattern. The trade as of now conveys volumes above $130,000 in 24 hours, while the fundamental Binance showcase is seeing outrageous action, with volumes above $2.8 billion in the previous 24 hours. Binance exchanging had dwindled to several million every day prior to the March recovery of the business sectors and the arouses toward the beginning of April. Binance is viewed as one of the trades where exchanging volumes coordinate client visits all the more intently, staying away from allegations of faked volumes on an expansive scale. Binance is incorporated as one of the trades appearing practical insights of exchanging conduct. Moreover, the trade has a positive security track record, with no expansive scale hacks revealed. HODL Season Over Active Bitcoin Wallets Proves Early Warning meant for the Rally When BTC costs walked ahead over $4,000 level with as high as about $5,000, wallet action demonstrated BTC proprietors were set up to act. About multi-day in front of the rally which took Bitcoin to a high level of about $5,307, the number of dynamic wallets shower an articulated development. All in all, wallet movement has been grabbing for Bitcoin in the previous months, following the droop last December. In any case, the movement got toward the finish of March, with more than 200,000 BTC wallets seeing exchanges. There are no hard-cut criteria on when BTC would rally. In any case, late Bloomberg examination demonstrates that this time, the rally may propose a re-arousing of a large number of holders who endure the crypto winter, calmly anticipating a rally. Read the full article

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Coinbase Reveals $255M Hot Wallet Insurance Policy

The Coinbase hot wallets holding computerized resources have been secured in a customized protection arrangement, the organization declared through its blog. The merchant's hot wallets have gotten inclusion up to $255 million, a huge reserve if there should be an occurrence of hacks. Therefore, Coinbase has held a type of protection for its hot wallet since 2013. Presently, the inclusion has come to $255 million, Martin clarified. He contrasted the Coinbase protection with increasingly customary strategies if there should arise an occurrence of bank bankruptcy. Coinbase additionally holds a strategy to ensure its fiat resources and wanted to offer a comparable type of security for electronic resources. The protection of crypto resources was accomplished under the direction of protection accomplice Aon, which helped construct an arrangement of organizations. Since crypto coins and tokens are viewed as another and hazardous resource class, the structure of the Coinbase protection does not depend on a solitary financier, however rather on a gathering of insurance agencies. Coinbase has achieved an accord to tailor popular protection items and apply them against the loss of private keys. Private keys might be physically put away, and this kind of protection is like inclusion for workmanship or assets against misfortune or cataclysmic event. Be that as it may, Coinbase is as yet not shielded from blockchain-related misfortunes, including broken shrewd contracts or the immediate danger of hacking. Consequently, an extra wrongdoing strategy was included as support against hacking. Coinbase is as yet not promising protection assurance against occasions like 51% assaults. Coinbase referred to different issues with protecting computerized resources. One of the issues is deciding the accurate cost to protect crypto coins. Because of the random idea of market costs, trades might be hampered from continually developing the measure of the protection amid a positively trending business sector. Also, insurance agencies still need to grow their aptitude of advanced resources, Coinbase accepts. The arrangements are. Likewise custom fitted to the market administrator and not the merchants. Also, fiat-designated protection is viewed as fragmented, recommending that guarantors may need to hold excellent resources. Bullish help hailing to a great extent from Asia has all the earmarks of being the principle main thrust behind Bitcoin Cash's quick climb, with Huobi Global right now representing 8.67% of all BCH exchanges. Eminent Bitcoin Cash advocate, Roger Ver, as of late reported on Twitter that BCH trader selection in Japan has now outperformed the quantity of stores that acknowledge BTC - featuring Japan's developing inclination for the forked Bitcoin venture. Most trade hacks occur because of human mistakes or coordinated hacking endeavors. Just a single instance of supposed private principal misfortune has been known, that of QuadrigaCX, where questions were raised when specialists neglected to find genuine assets. Read the full article