Category Archives: Cryptocurrency
FBI warns of phony cryptocurrency apps aiming to steal money from investors – TechRepublic
Cybercriminals are creating fake cryptocurrency investment apps designed to defraud US investors and exploit investment firms, cautions the FBI.
The FBI is urging cryptocurrency investors and investment firms to beware of fraudulent cryptocurrency apps that try to steal money from unsuspecting victims. Released on Monday, the FBIs notice says that cybercriminals have been convincing investors in the U.S. to download the phony apps with the intent of defrauding them of their cryptocurrency. The criminals have already stolen around $42.7 million from 244 different victims.
The apps in question impersonate legitimate programs by copying their names, logos and other details to then direct people to malicious websites in an attempt to access their cryptocurrency funds. By exploiting the interest in mobile banking and cryptocurrency investing, the criminals are not only targeting investors but seeking to damage the reputations of U.S. investment firms.
SEE: Password breach: Why pop culture and passwords dont mix (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
In one series of incidents between December 2021 and May 2022, cybercriminals scammed at least 28 investors out of around $3.7 million. Using a phony app spoofing the program of a legitimate financial institution, the criminals convinced victims to deposit cryptocurrency into their alleged wallets. When some of the people tried to withdraw funds using the app, an email notice told them that they first had to pay taxes on their investments. But even after paying the purported taxes, the victims were unable to withdraw any funds.
In another series of scams that occurred between October 2021 and May 2022, cybercriminals used the company name YiBit1 to steal around $5.5 million from at least four people. The victims were instructed to download a YiBit app and deposit cryptocurrency into wallets associated with their accounts. Several of the investors received an email telling them that they had to pay taxes on their investments before they could withdraw any funds. The four victims who did so were unable to withdraw funds using the app.
In a third incident that occurred in November of 2021, cybercriminals using the company name of Supayos or Supay2, scammed two victims by instructing them to download the Supay app and deposit cryptocurrency into their associated wallets. One victim learned that he was enrolled without his approval in a program that required a minimum balance of $900,000. Upon attempting to cancel the subscription, the person was told to deposit the required funds or else all his assets would be frozen.
Although the recent cryptocurrency crash has no doubt soured some investors from participating in the space, the reality is that for many people cryptocurrencies still carry the mystique of being the next big thing in investing, and this has fueled some inexperienced investors into making rash decisions for fear of missing out on the next wave that promises life changing financial returns, said Chris Clements, VP of solutions architecture for Cerberus Sentinel. Unfortunately, the same lack of regulation and centralized control that attracts some cryptocurrency proponents can be abused by malicious actors to conduct fraud on a massive scale.
Since investors and legitimate investment firms are both impacted by these scams, the FBI has words of advice for both groups.
For investors:
For investment firms:
The FBIs recommendations for investors to stay safe from similar fraudulent schemes is good advice, particularly to have skepticism towards unsolicited requests to participate in new investment platforms or apps, said Clements. But guidance to verify the legitimacy of a new or unknown organization can be a difficult task, as it can be just as easy for fraudsters to falsify a fake company website or address. For now, the best advice may be for investors to stick with larger and more established players in the cryptocurrency market, but even some of those have had significant issues recently due to the crash and so called crypto winter.
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Cryptocurrency Wrapped Bitcoin Up More Than 6% In 24 hours – Benzinga – Benzinga
Over the past 24 hours, Wrapped Bitcoin's WBTC/USD price has risen 6.43% to $23,381.00. This continues its positive trend over the past week where it has experienced a 17.0% gain, moving from $19,861.82 to its current price. As it stands right now, the coin's all-time high is $70,643.00.
The chart below compares the price movement and volatility for Wrapped Bitcoin 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 risen 115.0% over the past week diverging from the circulating supply of the coin, which has decreased 4.71%. This brings the circulating supply to 237.73 thousand, which makes up an estimated 100.0% of its max supply of 237.73 thousand. According to our data, the current market cap ranking for WBTC is #18 at $5.54 billion.
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Why cryptocurrency ether’s price has rallied 50% in 7 days, outperforming Bitcoin | Mint – Mint
Cryptocurrency ether has rallied more than 50% in the last seven days and currently hovering at $1,558 level, as per CoinGecko, outperforming the world's top and most popular token Bitcoin that is up about 20% in a week.
Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency and the coin lined to the ethereum blockchain, is extending a rally that began last week after developers of the Ethereum blockchain gave a target for the long-anticipated software update that is projected to lower the networks energy usage.
Ethereum has soared more than 45% over the past week, outperforming the market. There might be many reasons for the surge, but one of the prominent reasons could be the Merge. The market's overall momentum appears to be bullish as investors' sentiment continues to rise," said Edul Patel, CEO and co-founder of global crypto investing platform Mudrex.
Last week, Ethereum Foundation member Tim Beiko suggested September 19 as the provisional launch date for the Merge. The Merge represents the joining of the existing execution layer of Ethereum (the Mainnet we use today) with its new proof-of-stake consensus layer, the Beacon Chain. It eliminates the need for energy-intensive mining and instead secures the network using staked ETH.
Soon, the current Ethereum Mainnet will merge with the Beacon Chain proof-of-stake system. This will mark the end of proof-of-work for Ethereum, and the full transition to proof-of-stake. This sets the stage for future scaling upgrades including sharding. The Merge will reduce Ethereum's energy consumption by around 99.95%, it claims in its website.
Ethereum is a blockchain-based software platform that can be used for sending and receiving value globally with its native cryptocurrency, ether. First proposed in 2013 by Russian-Canadian computer programmer Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum was designed to expand the utility of cryptocurrencies by allowing developers to create Ethereum-based applications, called decentralized applications, or dapps.
Ether, which is the second largest cryptocurrency, has declined over 58% in 2022 (YTD) so far, and is trading far away from its all-time record high of $4,878 it had hit in November last year.
The rally in cryptocurrency prices continued today, which took Bitcoin out of a one-month-old trading range and ignited big jumps in smaller tokens commonly referred to as altcoins.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Why cryptocurrency ether's price has rallied 50% in 7 days, outperforming Bitcoin | Mint - Mint
Cryptocurrency LEO Token’s Price Increased More Than 3% Within 24 hours – Benzinga – Benzinga
LEO Token's LEO/USD price has increased 3.44% over the past 24 hours to $5.38, which is in the opposite direction of its trend over the past week, where it has experienced a 1.0% loss, moving from $5.42 to its current price. As it stands right now, the coin's all-time high is $8.14.
The chart below compares the price movement and volatility for LEO Token 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 climbed 7.0% over the past week, moving opposite, directionally, with the overall circulating supply of the coin, which has decreased 0.22%. This brings the circulating supply to 934.80 million. According to our data, the current market cap ranking for LEO is #19 at $5.02 billion.
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Cryptocurrency LEO Token's Price Increased More Than 3% Within 24 hours - Benzinga - Benzinga
Cryptocurrency and geopolitics EJINSIGHT – ejinsight.com – EJ Insight
Over the past few months, Ive had the pleasure of giving a few talks and addresses on the intersection of cryptocurrency and geopolitics at Oxford, in Hong Kong (over zoom), and other platforms. As someone working on a start-up that straddles Web 3.0, geopolitics, and civic engagement, I am in equal parts fascinated by, as well as wary of the over-hype surrounding crypto. So heres a piece that, hopefully, will clarify and set out some of the core issues undergirding the sphere today. Cryptocurrency is an intriguing and potent tool that can transform social spaces and lived realities yet it must be harnessed with care, even where regulation is not, in fact, possible.
The most obvious intersection pertains to cryptocurrency as a purported alternative to conventional currencies as units of exchange and stores of value. This has been brought to a particular light and salience given the sanctions and counter-sanctions surrounding Russias invasion of Ukraine. Many a commentator has touted the prospects for crypto to be the substitute for Russia and a means for the country to evade sanctions I am more skeptical. The (in)stability of crypto, paired with the difficulty of setting up clear state, centralised institutions that could engage in the level of intensive farming and transactions that private crypto entrepreneurs and miners can, as well as the innate drive towards anonymisation and evasion of regulation embedded within crypto, are all reasons why we should not anticipate Putin turning anytime soon to Ethereum or Bitcoin as a primary means of circumventing sanctions. Given the availability of CIPS amongst other alternative clearing systems Russia has better options to turn to, even whilst it presses on with its acts of atrocities and bellicose attacks in Ukraine. More broadly speaking, cryptocurrency can potentially serve as a reserve currency for trading but doing so, and rendering it such (under IMF rules, for instance) would likely negate the anonymity feature of it, thereby eliminating the crypto from the cryptocurrency. Note, digital currency issued by central banks of countries cannot be equated with cryptocurrency the former is registered, tracked, and monitored by a unitary central authority; the latter, by definition and stipulation (see Satoshis words on it), is not.
So perhaps an alternative means in which crypto comes in handy, is as a source of revenue. El Salvador went all-in on crypto as a way of boosting its coffers. Unfortunately, the gambit has since gone awry, with the recent rout and crash in the market. In my opinion, the cratering of the market is likely transitory, and has importantly compelled many previously involved in trading the currency to rethink their positioning and stance on the matter. Yet, such cratering has also wrought devastating havoc upon the national economy. On this front, Chinas no-nonsense, no-frills, zero-tolerance approach may well prove to be a stabilising force grounded in empirical foresight. Crypto could make individuals rich, but as with all semi-risky investments at large investors would be better-off not placing all of their eggs in one singular basket. The consequences of doing so would be dire, and dire outcomes should be avoided (it goes without saying youd think but then again, many tend to fall for the Gamblers Fallacy, so its imperative that I say it here again!).
Finally, crypto poses innate security risks as it becomes the preferred unit of trading between criminal elements. Now, I am by no means suggesting that crypto trade is inherently pegged to criminality that would be anachronistic balderdash. What I am suggesting here, however, is the high level of compartmentalisation and segmentation in most cryptos, paired with the innate resistance of exchanges to regulatory pressures, have rendered such currency a helpful conduit for those seeking to engage in stealthy and potentially illegal activities. Regulating crypto without destroying it altogether is a fine and delicate act that behooves careful rethinking on part of prospective regulators. More on this later.
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Introducing The Cryptoverse: The First All in One Cryptocurrency Solutions Company in the UAE – StreetInsider.com
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Dubai, United Arab Emirates--(Newsfile Corp. - July 20, 2022) - The Cryptoverse aims to accelerate cryptocurrency adoption by providing all kinds of cryptocurrency services to individuals, communities, and businesses in the UAE.
With the mission to help accelerate cryptocurrency adoption,The Cryptoverseis the first All-in-One cryptocurrency solutions company in the UAE. The core vision of the company is to offer services to assist individuals, communities, and organisations to accept & adopt crypto in Dubai and the UAE.
Crypto-verse
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With an extensive background in the industry and an eye on the future, The Cryptoverse is specialised in many services such as OTC services, Real Estate via Crypto, Marketing, NFTs and more. Prospective clients can choose to get consultations from a range of services allowing them to pick the service that suits their needs. The company consists of a diverse team of cryptocurrency experts that aim to make advancements and support the inevitable adoption of cryptocurrency.
Being one of the companies that buy and sell USDT in Dubai, they have since partnered with trusted cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance to provide P2P exchange services to customers. Interested clients can also visit The Cryptoverse in their office in Dubai for a further personalised service.
Cryptocurrencies have been a topic of significant interest in the business world. The Cryptoverse, through their service, helps businesses accept cryptocurrency as a payment method, as well as train and educate staff on how to operate a fully verified corporate wallet on the blockchain. The dedicated team also helps businesses exchange all cryptocurrency received to fiat.
Besides, the company also provides crypto marketing services in Dubai to new, innovative and authentic cryptocurrency projects. The main advantage of Cryptoverse when it comes to marketing is a collection of the right audience in one place. Serving the Cryptocurrency space for years in the UAE, the company has a large network of clients, investors, and business owners that are always looking forward to new projects, products and services that would improve businesses and the cryptocurrency space.
"Customers looking to buy real estate with cryptocurrency can begin a free consultation with experts in Dubai's Real Estate," said Zaid Al Nasseri, the COO of the company. "The Cryptoverse team will then present properties that suit the customer's requirement. Once the customer has chosen the property of their liking, The Cryptoverse will help take care of all the paperwork and legal documentation. The payment will then be completed through cryptocurrency."
Customers looking to learn more about what The Cryptoverse team can offer can get in touch with them through their website.
Watch the insights of The Cryptoverse here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5wnVUuer0o
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About The Cryptoverse
The Cryptoverse is on a mission to help accelerate cryptocurrency adoption. The company consists of a diverse team of curious and ambitious individuals that undoubtedly believe that crypto is the future. With years of experience in the crypto space, they pride themselves in being the first All in One cryptocurrency solutions company in the UAE, providing the best services with knowledge and competence.
Social links:
Instagram | LinkedIn | Youtube | TikTok | Twitter
Contact Info:
Name: The CryptoverseEmail: [emailprotected]Organization: The CryptoverseAddress: 208 Al Ameri Tower, Barsha Heights, Dubai, UAEPhone: +971529766077Website: https://www.thecryptoverse.ae/
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Cryptocurrency BNB’s Price Increased More Than 5% Within 24 hours – Benzinga – Benzinga
Over the past 24 hours, BNB's BNB/USD price has risen 5.82% to $273.07. This continues its positive trend over the past week where it has experienced a 18.0% gain, moving from $227.31 to its current price. As it stands right now, the coin's all-time high is $686.31.
The chart below compares the price movement and volatility for BNB 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.
BNB's trading volume has climbed 65.0% over the past week, moving in tandem, directionally, with the overall circulating supply of the coin, which has increased 0.06%. This brings the circulating supply to 163.28 million, which makes up an estimated 98.89% of its max supply of 165.12 million. According to our data, the current market cap ranking for BNB is #5 at $44.10 billion.
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Cryptocurrency BNB's Price Increased More Than 5% Within 24 hours - Benzinga - Benzinga
Cryptocurrency Bitcoin Cash Up More Than 5% In 24 hours – Benzinga – Benzinga
Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin Cash's BCH/USD price rose 5.28% to $123.87. This continues its positive trend over the past week where it has experienced a 24.0% gain, moving from $100.28 to its current price. As it stands right now, the coin's all-time high is $3,785.82.
The chart below compares the price movement and volatility for Bitcoin Cash 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 risen 37.0% over the past week diverging from the circulating supply of the coin, which has decreased 0.0%. This brings the circulating supply to 19.12 million, which makes up an estimated 91.06% of its max supply of 21.00 million. According to our data, the current market cap ranking for BCH is #32 at $2.36 billion.
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Cryptocurrency Bitcoin Cash Up More Than 5% In 24 hours - Benzinga - Benzinga
Bitcoin tops $22,000 as crypto market hopes contagion and shakeout is over; ether jumps 9% – CNBC
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices have been under pressure in 2022 with traders feeling the fallout from a number of major collapses in the industry.
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Bitcoin bounced above $22,000 on Monday, hitting its highest level in more than a month as the cryptocurrency market held out hope that the contagion and shakeout over the past few weeks is nearing its end.
The world's largest cryptocurrency ended Monday at $21,610.59, up 2.76%, according to CoinMetrics. Bitcoin hit a high of $22,757.36, the highest level since June 16.
Other cryptocurrencies also bounced, with ether up 8.94% at $1,466 by the end of the day Monday.
The bullish sentiment was helped by a rally in stock markets in Europe and Asia. U.S. stock futures were also higher. Cryptocurrencies, in particularly bitcoin, has been closely correlated with equity market trade. Often, a rise in stocks will also lift sentiment in the crypto market.
But investors are also watching whether the carnage over the last few weeks, which has seen bitcoin near 70% off its all-time high that was hit in November and billions of dollars wiped off the market, might be over.
The price crash has brought the downfall of several high-profile companies in the space, most notably hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and crypto lender Celsius, both of which have filed for bankruptcy.
These collapses have caused contagion across the industry and seen other associated companies come under pressure.
Much of this has been caused by the huge amounts of leverage and borrowing that has taken place in this latest crypto cycle. Three Arrows Capital for example took out loans it was unable to pay back once the crypto collapse took place. Celsius, which offered customers yields over 18% for depositing their digital coins, took on high risk trading activities to earn the interest to try to give back to its users.
Crypto companies have been selling off whatever assets they have to try to meet their liabilities which has put pressure on the broader market.
Analysts say there are signs this contagion could be slowing.
"The worst of market contagion has likely run its course, with the majority of forced selling behind us," David Moreno, research analyst at CryptoCompare, wrote in a research note.
Despite the rally, the crypto market is still suffering. Both bitcoin and ether are down more than 50% this year. Bitcoin had its worst quarter in more than a decade in the second quarter.
Analysts are still not convinced of any significant move higher in the near term.
"Given the severely negative performance in Q2, it is unsurprising that a 'relief' bounce has occurred. We believe the market will continue range-bound over the coming months," Moreno said.
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Bitcoin tops $22,000 as crypto market hopes contagion and shakeout is over; ether jumps 9% - CNBC
Op-ed: The toughest challenges for cryptocurrency lie ahead, not in the rear-view mirror – CNBC
More than a third of millennials and half of Generation Z would be happy to receive 50% of their salary in cryptocurrencies, revealed a study.
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With more than $1 trillion in cryptocurrency value wiped out since the 2021 high-water mark, many investors may be tempted to enter the cryptocurrency orbit at a potentially attractive, lower price point.
After all, previous dramatic drawdowns in cryptocurrency valuations have been followed by explosive growth and all this volatility could be justified as the expectedly bumpy price discovery process of an important brand-new asset class.
However, the most profound risks to cryptocurrency investing may lie ahead, rather than in the rear-view mirror. Investors contemplating a long-term allocation to cryptocurrencies should remain wary for five primary reasons.
After a dazzling first decade, bitcoin has become a somewhat troubled teenager. In its heady early days, bitcoin had near-zero correlation with broad equities and commodities, providing the potential for true portfolio diversification.
However, as cryptocurrency investing has become more mainstream, and especially since 2020, bitcoin's correlation with U.S. equities and bonds has spiked sharply and remained consistently positive.
That might be fine if bitcoin offered spectacular risk-adjusted returns as compensation. Unfortunately, recent empirical evidence shows otherwise: Since 2018, bitcoin's risk-adjusted return has been quite unremarkable compared to equities and bonds.
Despite all the hype as digital gold, cryptocurrencies have failed to demonstrate either "safe haven" or inflation-fighting properties when faced with actual market volatility or the first real bout of serious inflation in developed markets.
Between 2010 and 2022, bitcoin recorded 27 episodes of drawdowns of 25% or more. By comparison, equities and commodities recorded just one each. Even in the pandemic-related market selloff of March 2020, bitcoin suffered significantly deeper drawdowns than conventional asset classes like equities or bonds.
More from Personal Finance:This former financial advisor pivoted to teach advisors about crypto80% of socially responsible ESG investors also own cryptocurrencySome experts say a recession is coming. Heres how to prepare your portfolio
Similarly, while the fixed supply of bitcoin hardcoded into its blockchain might imply a resistance to monetary debasement, in the recent episodes of elevated global inflation, bitcoin has provided limited inflation protection with prices tumbling even as inflation spikes in the U.S., U.K. and Europe.
Cryptocurrencies remain deeply problematic from an environmental, social and governance, or ESG, perspective. That's true even if the transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake that blockchain-based software platform ethereum is spearheading reduces the massive energy consumption underpinning crypto mining and validation.
Environmentally, bitcoin which represents more than 40% of current cryptocurrency market cap will continue to use a validation process where a single transaction requires enough energy to power the average American home for two months.
Socially, cryptocurrencies' promise of financial inclusiveness also appears overblown, with crypto wealth as unequally distributed as conventional wealth, and with simple phone-based payment services such as M-Pesa in Kenya or Grameen Bank's international remittance pilots in Bangladesh already providing a digital platform for underbanked households without the need for a new currency or payment infrastructure.
Most troublingly for investors with ESG goals, however, are the governance issues with cryptocurrencies whose decentralized frameworks and anonymity make them especially attractive for illicit activity, money laundering and sanction evasion.
The increased trading between ruble and cryptocurrencies following sanctions on Russia after the Ukraine war suggest that the evasion of financial sanctions is not just a theoretical concern. Market manipulation is another area of governance concern, especially with celebrity crypto influencers who can send market prices soaring or tumbling with impunity.
Even putting aside the recent implosion of the Terra stablecoin, the surviving universe of stablecoins face a potentially existential risk: They could well be made redundant once central bank digital currencies, also called CBDCs, become commonplace. This is because a digital dollar, euro or sterling would provide all the functionality of stablecoins but with almost no liquidity or credit risk.
In other words, even if stablecoins transformed from their current status as unregulated money market funds (with limited transparency into or auditing of reserves) into regulated digital tokens, they would afford no benefit over CBDCs. Importantly, these central bank digital currencies may not a distant prospect. China has already launched an electronic currency known as the digital yuan, or e-CNY.
The Fed released a long-awaited study on a digital dollar at the start of 2022, and the ECB will share its findings on the viability of a digital euro in 2023.
Finally, a lack of clear and uniform cryptocurrency regulation both within and across countries creates tremendous uncertainty for long-term investors. It is still unclear in the U.S., for example, when a cryptocurrency falls under the regulatory framework of a security subject to Securities and Exchange Commission regulations and when it is deemed to be an asset or commodity like bitcoin and ether have claimed.
Indeed, in some countries, cryptocurrencies are facing outright prohibition. China's abrupt banning of all cryptocurrency trading and mining in 2021 is a prominent example, but by no means the only one. Regulators have also been concerned with the notable and repeated breakdowns in the infrastructure supporting cryptocurrency mining and trading another area where there remains significant regulatory uncertainty.
Of course, momentum, retail speculation, and the "fear of missing out" may continue to drive up the short-term price of bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies. But there are enough dark clouds on the cryptocurrency horizon that long-term investors may want to observe carefully from the sidelines to better understand fact vs. fiction and true value versus social media hype before deciding how, where and if to invest in the crypto ecosystem.
By Taimur Hyat, chief operating officer of PGIM.
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Op-ed: The toughest challenges for cryptocurrency lie ahead, not in the rear-view mirror - CNBC