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2021-08-23 12:48:11 ​​Google bans 8 ‘deceptive’ crypto apps from Play Store

A Trend Micro report claims that over 120 fake crypto-focused apps are still operational in the Play Store, some exceeding over 100,000 downloads.

Google has delisted eight allegedly fraudulent mobile apps from its Play Store that were duping crypto enthusiasts by charging fees for an illegitimate cloud mining service.

Fraudulent mobile applications have now become a popular method to mislead unwary users with high success rates. Trend Micro’s latest research discovered eight Android applications that were exploiting crypto users by charging a monthly fee under the false pretext of running a legitimate cloud mining service.

Further analysis into the matter uncovered that the malicious apps hosted by Google — posing as crypto mining applications — were deceiving users into watching paid ads and paying for a cloud mining service that does not exist.

According to the report, users were not only being charged a monthly fee of approximately $15 but were also subject to more payments for enabling “increased mining capabilities.” In addition, some of the apps required an upfront payment from the user.

The reportedly fraudulent crypto apps included mining services, such as BitFunds, Bitcoin Miner, Daily Bitcoin Rewards, Crypto Holic, MineBit Pro, Bitcoin 2021, and Ethereum — Pool Mining Cloud. The list also includes a crypto wallet service named Bitcoin — Pool Mining Cloud Wallet.

While the above findings were reported to Google Play and have been reportedly removed from the Play Store, Trend Micro claims to have spotted numerous other fraudulent apps that have been downloaded over 100,000 times. The company’s data suggests that over 120 fake apps still exist in the Play Store:

“These apps, which do not have cryptocurrency mining capabilities and deceive users into watching in-app ads, have affected more than 4,500 users globally from July 2020 to July 2021.” Open / Comment

2021-08-19 11:34:44 ​​Japan’s Liquid Exchange Hacked, $74M in Crypto Siphoned Off

While the total amount stolen is yet to be determined, the value taken in bitcoin, ether, XRP, and tron could be upwards of $74 million.

According to a tweet on Thursday, the exchange said its warm wallets were compromised and that it was consequently moving digital assets offline.
While the total amount stolen is yet to be determined, The Block reported Thursday the value of bitcoin, ether, XRP, and tron could be upwards of $74 million.
"We are currently investigating and will provide regular updates," the exchange said in the tweet. "In the meantime, deposits and withdrawals will be suspended."
In a later tweet, Liquid Global said it's working with other exchanges to freeze the funds.
Crypto exchange KuCoin's CEO, Johnny Lyu, said his platform was aware of the incident and had blacklisted the hacker's wallet addresses. Other exchanges are likely to follow suit.
So far, it has revealed nine wallet addresses where the hacker is depositing heisted funds.
One of the addresses Liquid Global revealed was still receiving bitcoin at 7:20 UTC
According to the Ethereum block explorer, millions of ERC20 altcoins have also been taken including uniswap, rfox, and enjincoin, among others. Open / Comment

2021-08-18 13:14:06 Vitalik thinks token-based decentralized governance is holding DeFi back

Buterin asserts that things need to move beyond coin voting as it exists in its present form, suggesting “proof-of-humanity” or “proof-of-participation” alternatives.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has taken a deep dive into token-based decentralized governance, suggesting that existing voting mechanisms are flawed and may be holding the DeFi sector back from realizing its full potential.

In a lengthy blog post published Aug. 16, Buterin stated the crypto community needs to "move beyond coin voting as it exists in its present form.”

Currently, the majority of decentralized finance (DeFi) projects manage their protocol upgrades, reward issuance, and other facets of governance elections where votes are distributed among token holders according to the size of their holdings.

However, many projects have come under fire for allowing their voting process to be dominated by whales holding vast swathes of the governance tokens, allowing them to vote in support of their personal interests.

Buterin highlighted two issues relating to token-based governance, emphasizing the risk of incentives misaligning among community members, and its vulnerability to “vote-buying” and “outright attacks” influencing the outcome of governance votes. He added:

“The most important thing that can be done today is moving away from the idea that coin voting is the only legitimate form of governance decentralization.”

Buterin noted the prevalence of "unbundling," whereby “vote-buying” can be achieved and governance systems can be manipulated by borrowing on crypto collateral and using the tokenized assets to vote.

In the context of unbundling, “the borrower has governance power without economic interest, and the lender has economic interest without governance power,” he added.

Looking beyond token-based governance, Buterin advocated the exploration of “Proof-of-Humanity”-based governance systems where one vote is allocated per each of a protocol’s users.

Buterin also offered “Proof-of-Participation” as a possible solution, where voting is limited to the users of a protocol that have contributed work to the benefit of a project or its community, suggesting voting rights could be exclusively distributed to addresses that complete a specific task.

Ethereum’s co-founder also suggested quadratic voting — where the power of a single voter is proportional to the square root of the economic resources that they commit to a decision — could offer unique solutions to decentralized governance. Open / Comment

2021-08-16 12:26:47 ​​Walmart seeks crypto product lead to drive digital currency strategy

Walmart’s future digital currency and crypto product lead would be based in the company’s home office in Bentonville, Arkansas.

North American retail giant Walmart is looking for an experienced crypto expert who can develop and drive an ambitious digital currency strategy and product roadmap.

In the listing for the role, Walmart indicates it is looking for someone who has a track record in leading and scaling businesses, with at least 10 years of experience in product/program management and technology-based product commercialization. The ideal candidate would have expertise in cryptocurrencies and blockchain-related technologies and in-depth knowledge of the crypto ecosystem and its core actors.

Walmart has hinted at the focus of its future digital currency strategy by noting that it already enables a “broad set of payment options for its customers” — although not yet in cryptocurrency. Back in 2019, Walmart had already filed a patent for a blockchain-based U.S. dollar-backed digital currency that was, at the time, similar to Facebook’s early proposals for what was then known as Libra.

This year, Walmart created a fintech venture called “Hazel,” which could reportedly be poised to offer a wide range of financial services integrated into a “mobile-first ‘super-app.‘”

Walmart’s future Digital Currency and Crypto Product Lead would be based in the company’s home office in Bentonville, Arkansas. In addition to developing and driving an overall crypto strategy, their key tasks would involve identifying customer needs and translating them into product requirements; forging partnerships with product, technology and design leaders; committing to a crypto product roadmap and driving the project’s execution; and identifying crypto-related investment opportunities and partnerships.

Among North American megafirms, Walmart is not alone in seeking to integrate digital currency into its e-commerce and wider business strategy. This February, Amazon posted a job listing for a leader to oversee a new digital currency service in Mexico that would allow users to spend digital currency while shopping. Open / Comment

2021-08-12 19:29:47 DAO Maker crowdfunding platform loses $7M in latest DeFi exploit

CipherBlade is conducting an investigation into the hack and has identified a Binance account associated with the attacker.

Hackers have stolen funds out of more than 5,000 user accounts with crowdfunding platform DAO Maker, a site aimed at raising money for crypto projects.

According to a report from DAO Maker CEO Christoph Zaknun, hackers were able to remove roughly $7 million in USD Coin (USDC) from 5,251 user accounts at approximately 1:00 am UTC today. The platform said the attacker used a smart contract exploit to initially steal 10,000 USDC, then made 15 more transactions to acquire additional funds.

"One of the reasons why this did happen is probably that the amount of deposits within the Strong Holder Offering contract really exceeded our expectations," said Zaknun in an AMA on Twitch. "Initially, we never expected more than $2.5 million to be deposited in there, but over time, the SHOs became very popular."

DAO Maker claimed users with up to $900 in their accounts “have remained completely unaffected,” with the platform moving the funds into different wallets. However, the project said it would be suspending all deposits pending a full Root Cause Analysis.

Blockchain intelligence firm CipherBlade is conducting an investigation into the hack and has identified a Binance account associated with the attacker. The platform also said it would be exploring compensation for all affected users.

Despite the name, DAO Maker has no apparent connection to MakerDAO, the decentralized finance, or DeFi, protocol behind the stablecoin Dai (DAI). Open / Comment

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2021-08-11 11:53:13 ​​Mark Cuban likens shutting off crypto growth to stopping e-commerce in 1995

Bitcoin proponent Mark Cuban is certainly not happy with the tighter rules for crypto businesses introduced in the new infrastructure bill.

Leaders in the crypto industry continue to speak up as the bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill, known for implementing tighter rules on crypto businesses and expanding reporting requirements for brokers, passed the United States Senate. Billionaire investor and Bitcoin (BTC) proponent Mark Cuban is one of them.

Speaking to The Washington Post over the weekend, before the bill officially passed the senate, Cuban drew a parallel between the growth of crypto to the rise of e-commerce and the internet in general:

“Shutting off this growth engine would be the equivalent of stopping e-commerce in 1995 because people were afraid of credit card fraud. Or regulating the creation of websites because some people initially thought they were complicated and didn’t understand what they would ever amount to.”

Mark Cuban is a vocal advocate for crypto and decentralized finance. The Dallas Mavericks owner is known for enabling the Mavs to accept Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) and Dogecoin (DOGE) payments for tickets and merchandise items.

He also argued in May that crypto asset prices are increasingly reflective of real utility and demand and that the day will eventually come when crypto is “mature to the point we wondered how we ever lived without.”

On Tuesday morning, the U.S. Senate passed the controversial bill in a 69–30 vote. The bill's main focus is roughly $1 trillion in funding for roads, bridges and major infrastructure projects.

However, the bill caused serious concerns among the crypto ecosystem as it would implement tighter rules on crypto businesses, expand reporting requirements for brokers and mandate that digital asset transactions worth more than $10,000 are reported to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Senator Pat Toomey, who was among the lawmakers that have written an amendment to the infrastructure bill to exclude certain crypto companies from the reporting requirements for brokers, said the new legislation imposes “a badly flawed, and in some cases unworkable, cryptocurrency tax reporting mandate that threatens future technological innovation.” Open / Comment

2021-08-10 12:48:20 The proportion of ether (ETH, +3.6%) held on centralized exchanges (CEX) dropped to 9.4% of the total supply today, the lowest in three years, according to data from crypto intelligence platform OKLink.

Out of the 117 million ether in circulation, only 11 million were held on addresses related to CEX, OKLink data show. Ether is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
That level is the least since February 2018, when about 9 million of 97 million ether were held in CEX addresses, according to OKLink data.
The main factor for the outflow is decentralized finance (DeFi), Eddie Wang, senior researcher at OKLink told CoinDesk.
Wang pointed to Wrapped Ether (WETH) being the top address in the Ether Rich List, as well as deposits and liquidity pools of popular DeFi protocols to explain the outflow of ether from CEX.
Wrapping Ether is the process of converting it to ERC-20 tokens, which renders the digital asset easy to swap and transfer. Because of these features, WETH is a key driving force for DeFi.
WETH represents 5.7% of total Ether in circulation, according to intelligence platform TokenView.
Ethereum 2.0 might be another factor, Wang said. More than 6.5 million Ether is locked into 2.0 deposit contract addressing, according to Dune Analytics.
OKLink has built its own database of addresses, which are classified into categories like centralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges, miners and pools based on their behavior, Wang said. Open / Comment

2021-08-09 13:09:34 ​​KYC tools can minimize hassle for US crypto market, FTX CEO says

FTX will now use phone numbers to confirm users’ jurisdiction and names in addition to testing new KYC tools.

Ongoing regulatory scrutiny has forced many crypto businesses across the globe to close up shop.

Amid this crackdown, Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of prominent crypto exchange FTX, has been vocal about his continued efforts to adapt to the changing regulations around running crypto businesses, announcing FTX’s efforts toward finding systems for streamlining its Know Your Customer (KYC) operations.

“As we mature as a company, we’ve been building out our checks, finding and incorporating more signals,” Bankman-Fried stated. He also highlighted the addition of a new feature on FTX that confirms a user’s jurisdiction based on their registered phone number. Bankman-Fried said:

“We check users’ phone numbers against their submitted names in KYC1, in order to further verify them. When this doesn’t work or there isn’t data, we’ll require KYC2 to access some features of the site, including futures.”

Sharing insights within FTX’s United States operations, the entrepreneur stressed the company’s continued efforts in “searching for more tools to confirm identity, hopefully while minimizing the hassle for users.” Bankman-Fried hopes this effort will help the company experience “smoother” operations within U.S. jurisdictions.

Currently, FTX aims to outperform rival crypto exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase. As reported by Cointelegraph, the CEO has previously said that acquiring Goldman Sachs and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange “is not out of the question at all” if it can surpass all crypto businesses to become the biggest exchange.

Complementing the announcement concerning the KYC-related update, Bankman-Fried cited investors’ funds and safety as a priority. He also assured investors there would be no restrictions on withdrawals unless the exchange can link the user’s activities to money laundering and theft-related activities. In doing so, the crypto exchange will continue to implement two-factor authentication and similar methods to help prevent theft.

Bankman-Fried recently discussed the immediate need for clarity in crypto regulation, supporting FTX’s drive to apply for licenses across numerous jurisdictions. In doing so, the FTX CEO claimed to spend “five hours a day” on regulation- and licensing-related activities.

The CEO said that he expects governments to have a clearer stance on crypto regulations in the next three to five years and intends to comply with KYC and Anti-Money Laundering requirements unique to each jurisdiction they serve. Open / Comment

2021-08-05 11:41:00 ​​Status Network Token (SNT)

SNT is a token, Web 3.0 mobile interface, and open-source messaging platform that interacts with Ethereum applications.

The Status Network allows users to…
Control their identity and personal data
Access decentralized marketplaces
Create and share content
Create companies without limits or borders
Purchase insurance policies

And to access some of these features, users need SNT, which fuels the network. This increases demand for the token.

And Status has been improving its features as well. The Status Keycard allows users to store their private keys offline in a more secure, cold storage hardware wallet. And two recent updates, Reset Keycard and Backup Keycard, brought support for multiple accounts and more convenience.

This has boosted the number of users on the network. In Q1, Status saw over 900,000 installations and nearly 750,000 new users – that’s an average 8,333 users per day. So it’s seeing good results from these new upgrades.

Since SNT is a crucial part of the Status Network ecosystem and its development, token holders will be benefactors of all this growth. Already, holders of SNT have seen an 876% return since the beginning of 2021. With the dramatic increase in new users, we see no slowing down in token price or usage for the Status Network. Open / Comment