News – Page 38

Ripple Seems Primed for a Drop to $0.5, But Will the Bulls Retaliate? (XRP Price Analysis)

Ripple’s price has been consolidating against USDT while consistently dropping lower against BTC. Things might get even worse in the short term if nothing changes from a technical analysis aspect. The 200-day moving average has rejected the price to the downside, and the market is likely to pull back toward the $0.50 level. The RSI breaking below the 50% level is also another signal that such correction is probable. The 800 SAT support level can be a feasible target in this scenario.

Source: CryptoVizArt, 2024-02-27; https://cryptopotato.com/ripple-seems-primed-for-a-drop-to-0-5-but-will-the-bulls-retaliate-xrp-price-analysis/

macOS Users Beware: North Korean Hackers On the Prowl

Elastic Security Labs has uncovered a sophisticated cyber intrusion by North Korean hackers believed to be associated with the Lazarus group. This incident, tracked as REF7001, involved the use of a new macOS malware named Kandykorn, which has been specifically designed to target blockchain engineers involved in cryptocurrency exchange platforms. What sets this attack apart is its distribution method: the attackers distributed the malware through a private message on a public Discord server, which is atypical of macOS intrusion tactics. “The victim believed they were installing an arbitrage bot, a software tool capable of profiting from cryptocurrency rate differences,” said Elastic Security Labs.

Source: Wayne Jones, 2023-11-05; https://cryptopotato.com/macos-users-beware-north-korean-hackers-on-the-prowl/

Speculators And Traders Are Rushing Back Into Bitcoin, On-Chain Data Shows

Blockchain intelligence firm Glassnode highlighted how risk appetite is increasing across various cohorts of the Bitcoin market. Since the start of the year, Bitcoin has enjoyed massive capital flows, with the asset’s realized cap rising by $30 billion to $460 billion – just 3% away from its all-time high. When measured against Bitcoin’s market cap using the MVRV ratio, one can estimate the profitability of the average Bitcoin investor. The ratio currently sits at 2.14 – a relatively high value, but not high enough to suggest Bitcoin is approaching its cyclical top.

Source: Andrew Throuvalas, 2024-02-28; https://cryptopotato.com/speculators-and-traders-are-rushing-back-into-bitcoin-on-chain-data-shows/

Kyrgyzstan Court Shuts Down OCCRP Member Center Kloop

Kyrgyzstan’s leading investigative journalism outlet Kloop to be liquidated. Kloop began publishing investigations in 2010 when a group of its teenage journalists uncovered how the son of the Kyrgyz president gained illegal financial control over the country’s largest telecommunications operator. Experts invited by the court to testify say that these and other stories have contributed to a bad mood and even nervous breakdowns among the population. According to a psychiatrist whom prosecutors invited to testify during a previous hearing on February 5, people wi

Source: Written by Metin Kazama, OCCRP, 2024-02-11; https://www.occrp.org/en/daily//en/daily/18462-kyrgyzstan-court-shuts-down-occrp-member-center-kloop

SEC Reveals Multi-Factor Authentication Disabled Before False ETF Approval Post

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosed that multi-factor authentication (MFA) on its X account was disabled leading up to a false post. The incident occurred on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, when the SEC’s @SECGov account was compromised. Unauthorized posts regarding the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds emerged. It was revealed that the unauthorized party gained control of the agency cell phone number associated with the account through a “SIM swap” attack.

Source: Wayne Jones, 2024-01-24; https://cryptopotato.com/sec-reveals-multi-factor-authentication-disabled-before-false-etf-approval-post/

Crypto Market Cap Surges to $2 Trillion, Bitcoin Taps $52K as ETH Trades at $2.8K: This Week’s Recap

The past seven days in the cryptocurrency market have been absolutely blasting. The total capitalization soared above $2 trillion for the first time in a long while. Bitcoin seems to be ahead of the pack for the most part, charting an increase of more than 10% in the last week. It appears that the investment product is attracting massive interest, with over $4 billion already being poured across a number of these products. BlackRock’s BTC ETF, somewhat expected, is leading the race. Many people speculate that investors are turning to BTC instead.

Source: George Georgiev, 2024-02-17; https://cryptopotato.com/crypto-market-cap-surges-to-2-trillion-bitcoin-taps-52k-as-eth-trades-at-2-8k-this-weeks-recap/

NYAG Triples Fraud Estimate in DCG Lawsuit to $3 Billion

New York Attorney General Letitia James has massively expanded her lawsuit against Digital Currency Group (DCG) for allegedly defrauding hundreds of thousands of investors. The AG accused both firms – alongside DCG CEO Barry Silbert and ex-Genesis CEO Soichiro Moro – of “defrauding additional individuals and institutions of an additional $2 billion” Back in October, the AG charged Gemini, DCG, and Genesis for misleading investors about the risks associated with the Gemini Earn platform, which promised to produce a ‘low-risk’ yield.

Source: Andrew Throuvalas, 2024-02-11; https://cryptopotato.com/nyag-triples-fraud-estimate-in-dcg-lawsuit-to-3-billion/

US Charges 70 NY Housing Authority Employees with Bribery

The defendants allegedly extorted contractors in exchange for contracts exceeding US$13 million, relating to over 60 development projects across New York. The suspects demonstrated a high level of skill in securing lucrative under-the-table deals by bribing contractors, as stated in a statement. These individuals are believed to have been demanding approximately 10% to 20% of the contract value (ranging from $500 to $2,000, depending on the contract size) The defendants obtained more than $2 million in corrupt payments, according to the statement.

Source: Written by Lieth Carrillo, 2024-02-10; https://www.occrp.org/en/daily//en/daily/18461-us-charges-70-ny-housing-authority-employees-with-bribery

Major Binance Announcement Concerning Ripple (XRP) In Light of Recent Exploit

Binance has frozen $4.2 million worth of XRP following the largest hack of 2024. The hack saw $112 million stolen from Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s personal wallet on January 31. Binance CEO Richard Teng announced the news on social media platform X. He also expressed gratitude towards on-chain investigator ZachXBT and the Ripple team for the hack’s discovery and flagging it to exchanges. The exchange successfully froze the address of the exploiter involved in the hack, preventing further movement of the stolen funds.

Source: Wayne Jones, 2024-02-03; https://cryptopotato.com/major-binance-announcement-concerning-ripple-xrp-in-light-of-recent-exploit/

Why This Year’s Bitcoin Halving Is “Actually Different”: Grayscale

The upcoming Bitcoin (BTC) halving is likely a bullish development, but a slew of outside factors mean it likely won’t play out the same as in previous years. Last month, the company successfully converted its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into the world’s largest Bitcoin ETF. The introduction of such ETFs may impact Bitcoin’S price as if it were a second halving within a single year. Since launching last month, Bitcoin ETFs have absorbed a cumulative $2.6 billion of inflows.

Source: Andrew Throuvalas, 2024-02-13; https://cryptopotato.com/why-this-years-bitcoin-halving-is-actually-different-grayscale/

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