This article explores how to use ChatGPT the AI-powered language model to enhance your understanding of cryptocurrency.

Introduction

Cryptocurrency can be a confusing and intimidating field to navigate. ChatGPT, launched by OpenAI on November 30, 2022, is a language model that can provide human-like responses to your queries about digital currencies. Whether youre a beginner or an experienced investor, ChatGPT can be your go-to resource for exploring and learning about cryptocurrency. In this article, well explore various ways that ChatGPT can assist you, along with several example prompts for each use case.

Demystifying Cryptocurrency Concepts

ChatGPT can help you make sense of the often-confusing terminology used in the world of cryptocurrency:

Understanding the Cryptocurrency Market

ChatGPT can provide insights into the cryptocurrency market:

Comparing Cryptocurrencies

With thousands of cryptocurrencies in existence, it can be difficult to differentiate between them. ChatGPT can help you compare and contrast different digital assets:

Investment Strategies and Risk Management

Cryptocurrency investments carry significant risks, and its important to understand the best strategies for minimizing risk and maximizing returns. ChatGPT can provide insights into investment strategies:

Dissecting Cryptocurrency Projects

ChatGPT can help you uncover the potential impact and intricacies of various projects in the market:

Cryptocurrency Wallets and Security

Ensure the safety of your digital assets with ChatGPTs guidance on crypto wallets and security best practices.

Conclusion

ChatGPT is a powerful tool for anyone looking to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamic world of cryptocurrencies. From decoding jargon to exploring investment strategies and ensuring the security of your digital assets, ChatGPT is a reliable and knowledgeable guide. However, please note that ChatGPT is not a financial advisor, and any information provided should not be considered financial advice. As always, you should consult a professional financial advisor before making investment decisions.

Excerpt from:
ChatGPT: Your AI-Powered Cryptocurrency Resource - CryptoGlobe

What is crypto dust?

Crypto dust is small amounts of cryptocurrency sent to a large number of wallet addresses with benevolent or malicious purposes.

Generally, dust is considered the amount of cryptocurrency equal to or lower than a transaction fee. Bitcoin, for example, has a dust limit imposed by Bitcoin Core, the Bitcoin blockchain software, of around 546 satoshis (0.00000546 BTC), the smaller denomination of Bitcoin (BTC). The wallets nodes that apply such a limit may reject transactions equal to or smaller than 546 satoshis.

Dust could also be the small amount of cryptocurrency that remains after a trade as a result of rounding errors or transaction fees and can accumulate over time. That small amount is not tradeable but can be converted into the exchanges native token.

Crypto dust should not pose a significant threat, as it has mainly been used for legitimate rather than malicious purposes. For example, reaching out to wallet holders via dusting can be an alternative advertising method to more traditional mailshots. The dust transactions can contain promotional messages, so dusting is used instead of mailshots.

Despite not being a major concern, crypto users should still know what a dust attack is and take measures to protect themselves should it occur.

A dusting attack occurs when small amounts of crypto assets, called dust, are sent by malicious actors to multiple wallet addresses just like dust scattered across blockchain networks.

Blockchain technology is pseudonymous, meaning that owners of a cryptocurrency address are not defined by their names or any other personal data. However, the blockchain ledger is transparent and traceable; thus, all transactions are visible to everyone, and a users activity can be tracked down following the history of that specific address.

When attackers transfer dust to cryptocurrency wallets, they want to invade the privacy of their owners by tracking down their funds when they move them from one address to another. The attackers goal is not to steal cryptocurrency as simple dusting wont allow it but rather associate the targets address with other addresses that may lead to identifying the victim through off-blockchain hacking activity.

A crypto dusting attack can occur in most public blockchains, including Bitcoin, Litecoin and Dogecoin. A dusting attack aims to link the attacked addresses and wallets to the personal data of their related companies or individuals and use this knowledge against their targets, either through elaborate phishing scams, cyberextortion threats, blackmail or identity theft to make a profit.

Not all the crypto dust transferred to a crypto wallets address is a scam. Dusting can be used for reasons besides hacking activities.

A dusting technique may be used by governments to link a specific cryptocurrency address to an individual or an organization and identify a series of criminal activities, including money laundering, tax evasion, terrorist threats, etc., or to ensure regulatory compliance and safety.

Developers may also use dusting to conduct their softwares stress tests, a software testing activity extended beyond limits to determine the robustness of the software and other functionalities like transaction processing speed, network scalability and security protocols. This can help identify potential issues and vulnerabilities in the software, allowing developers to improve its performance and security.

Crypto traders tend to receive dust as a result of trades, and its not considered an attack. Many exchanges offer customers the chance to swap these small amounts of cryptocurrency for their native tokens to use in future trades or another cryptocurrency with a low transaction fee.

Malicious actors rely on the fact that cryptocurrency users dont even realize they received tiny amounts of cryptocurrencies in their wallet addresses.

Of the way blockchains work, with their transparency and traceability, it is possible to track down transaction movements that may lead to the identification of wallet owners. For a dust attack to be effective, the owner of the wallet must combine the crypto dust with other funds in the same wallet and use it for other transactions.

By including a small amount of cryptocurrency in other transactions, the target of the attack may inadvertently and unknowingly send the dust to an off-blockchain centralized organization. As the centralized platform must comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations, it will store the personal data of the victim, who may become vulnerable to phishing, cyberextortion threats, blackmailing and other targeted hacks off the blockchain aimed at stealing sensitive information.

The cryptocurrency addresses that are more vulnerable to dusting attacks are the UTXO-based addresses used in various blockchains, mainly Bitcoin, Litecoin and Dash, because they all generate a new address for each change remaining from transactions. UTXO prevents double-spending and is an unspent transaction output that remains after a transaction is executed and can be used as input on another transaction.

Its like the change we receive from a merchant when we spend $9.59, for example, after giving a $10 bill. Just like that tiny change can be used in other money transactions later, the crypto dust from multiple addresses can be spent in other transactions. By detecting the origins of funds from the dust attack transaction, the attackers can use advanced technological tools to trace a thread to determine the victims identity.

A traditional dusting attack cannot be used to access users money and steal their crypto assets. However, hackers increasingly sophisticated tools can trick wallet holders into phishing sites and drain their funds.

A traditional dusting attack is used to identify the individuals or groups behind the wallets, deanonymize them, and break their privacy and identity. Such activities cannot steal cryptocurrency directly but are aimed at detecting victims social activities tracked down through the combination of different addresses to then blackmail them, for example.

Over time and with the technologys new use cases, such as nonfungible tokens (NFT) and decentralized finance (DeFi), attackers have become more sophisticated and have learned to disguise scam tokens as airdrops of free cryptocurrency. The wallet holders can access these appealing free tokens by claiming them from popular NFT projects on phishing sites created by hackers that seem legitimate. Such sites are so similar to the authentic ones that its difficult for the average cryptocurrency enthusiast to differentiate one from another.

The phishing sites wont steal usernames and passwords but will convince the victim to connect their wallet to the malicious sites. By granting these phishing sites permission to access their wallets, the unknowing victim enables the hacker to move their funds and NFT assets to their wallets, stealing crypto using harmful lines of code in smart contracts.

Increasingly, dusting attacks occur on browser-based wallets like MetaMask and the Trust wallet, which are primarily used as a getaway to decentralized applications (DApps) and Web3 services. Browser-based wallets are particularly vulnerable to dusting attacks because they are more accessible to the public and can be more easily targeted by hackers or scammers.

A clear indicator of a dusting attack in a wallet is the sudden appearance of small amounts of extra cryptocurrency unsuitable for spending or withdrawing.

The dusting attack transaction will appear in a wallets transaction history, so verifying if any malicious dusting deposits occurred should be easy. Concerning how cryptocurrency exchanges operate and comply with KYC and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations, they will store their customers data, making them a possible target of cryptocurrency scams.

In October 2020, Binance suffered a dusting attack with small amounts of BNB (BNB) sent to multiple wallets. Once the victim sent the dust in combination with other funds, they received a transaction confirmation with a malware link with an offer that would trick the victim into clicking on it and becoming unknowingly hacked.

Following a dusting attack, a cryptocurrency provider, like an exchange or a wallet, is usually encouraged to take strict measures to prevent future episodes.

In late 2018, the Samourai Wallet developers warned some of their users that they were experiencing a dusting attack and asked them to mark UTXO as Do Not Spend to tackle the issue. A real-time dust-tracking alert and an easy-to-use feature to mark suspicious funds with a Do Not Spend note were soon implemented by the wallets developers team to help users better protect their transactions against future attacks.

While its unlikely for cryptocurrency users to become victims of dusting episodes, they should still take a few steps to protect themselves against such crypto attacks.

Due to increasingly high transaction fees, especially on the Bitcoin blockchain, its become more expensive for a hacker to launch a crypto dusting attack compared to a few years ago. Still, cryptocurrency users should take a few steps to secure their funds.

Since dusting attacks rely on combining analysis of multiple addresses, if a dust fund is not moved, the attackers cannot track a transaction that doesnt occur to make the connections they need to deanonymize the wallets.

Simple measures, including due diligence and education, can go a long way toward tackling these attacks. However, more elaborate methods can also be used to protect a wallets funds, and here are some of the most effective practices available:

Taking these steps should help users protect their funds. Nevertheless, cryptocurrency users should be aware of other cyber threats besides dusting and deanonymizing attacks. For instance, ransomware is malware designed to deny a user or organization access to their digital files until a sum of money is paid.

Cryptojacking is a type of cybercrime where a criminal secretly uses a victims computing power to mine cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency can be useful and efficient technology but can also be at the mercy of malevolent actors who work primarily to steal data and value. This is why users should always use caution and be aware of its risks when dealing with cryptocurrency.

Read more:
What is a crypto dusting attack, and how do you avoid it? - Cointelegraph

Over the past 24 hours, Arbitrum's ARB/USD price has risen 5.59% to $1.24. This continues its positive trend over the past week where it has experienced a 5.0% gain, moving from $1.17 to its current price. As it stands right now, the coin's all-time high is $8.67.

The chart below compares the price movement and volatility for Arbitrum over the past 24 hours (left) to its price movement over the past week (right). The gray bands are Bollinger Bands, measuring the volatility for both the daily and weekly price movements. The wider the bands are, or the larger the gray area is at any given moment, the larger the volatility.

The trading volume for the coin has decreased 61.0% over the past week, while the overall circulating supply of the coin has increased 0.04% to over 1.27 billion. This puts its current circulating supply at an estimated 12.75% of its max supply, which is 10.00 billion. The current market cap ranking for ARB is #40 at $1.57 billion.

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2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Cryptocurrency Arbitrum's Price Increased More Than 5% Within 24 ... - Benzinga

Cryptocurrency is often associated with criminal activity, but this is mostly a myth, especially today. Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies dont provide complete anonymity due to the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) policies implemented by most crypto exchanges. Even without KYC scanning, law enforcement agencies can easily track crypto transactions to identify criminal activity, as the blockchain is transparent and immutable.

In 2019, United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchinsaid that Bitcoin was a national security issue, since it had been used for illicit activities. To him, cryptocurrencies were dominated by illegal activities and speculation. But the facts say otherwise.

Though illicit crypto volumes reached an all-time high at $20.6 billion in 2022 (primarily due to sanctioned entities), the share of all crypto activity linked with illegal activity was only 0.24%.

Source: Chainalysis

This pales in comparison to the$800 billion$2 trillion laundered through traditional financial systems in fiat about 2% to 5% of the global GDP.

One of blockchains defining features is its inherent transparency. All transactions are logged on a publicly accessible ledger, allowing anyone to view the entire codebase at any time. Utilizing cryptocurrencies for illicit activities leaves a clear trail of evidence that prosecutors can use to secure convictions. Europol and the Basel Institute on Governance have emphasized the importance of cryptocurrencies in combating organized crime. It is virtually impossible to transfer significant amounts of crypto without getting noticed.

Contrary to popular belief, crypto exchanges continue to be one of the primary allies in the fight against criminal activity. For example, Binance, the worlds largest exchange by trading volume, has been very active in helping authorities in line with its mission to further security of the larger crypto ecosystem.

In 2022, the Binance Investigations team respondedto over 47,000 law enforcement requests, with an average response time of three days, which is significantly faster than any traditional financial institution.

Binance has assisted many critical operations that brought down criminal groups operating with dozens to hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars. In 2021, the Binance Investigations team played a vital role in an international investigation with law enforcement agencies from Ukraine, SouthKorea, the U.S., Spain and Switzerland that dismantled a cybercriminal ring responsible for over $500 million in illict activity. The group, known as Fancycat, had been running multiple criminal activities, such as distributing cyberattacks, operating a high-risk exchanger, and laundering money from dark web operations and high-profile cyberattacks likeCl0p andPetya ransomware.

In most cases, crypto exchanges are not used in order to harbor criminals, but act as intermediaries for laundering stolen or otherwise ill-gotten profits.

Source: Binance

Besides sharing resources and being involved in cybercrime investigations, Binance is actively helping law enforcement staff with understanding how blockchain and cryptocurrencies operate and may be used in illicit activities. In September 2022, the crypto exchange formallylaunched its Global Law Enforcement Training Program, which includes individual and group training, workshops and other activities. The training program is led by a team of skilled professionals, including security experts and former law enforcement officers who participated in the crackdown on Silkroad and Hydra.

Binance is proactively building a more secure crypto ecocystem and working with law enforcement around the world to help detect financial and cybercrimes and assisting the prosecution of bad actors.

Law enforcement agencies remain the spearhead of the collective fight against crime. Acquiring the required resources, skills and tools to reduce illicit crypto activity is imperative, and crypto exchanges like Binance play a crucial role, thanks to their position.

Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you with all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor can this article be considered as investment advice.

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Debunking the myth: Cryptocurrency is used for criminal activity - Cointelegraph