Exchanges are on alert in case of receiving funds from this wallet. It is one of the wallets that has had the largest amount of Bitcoin in history.

In the past weeks, a transfer reached a total of 69,369 BTC, equivalent to USD 1 billion. The wallet from which the transaction came relates to the Silk Road case. This is a market for illicit products on the dark web and one of the most emblematic court cases in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Alert on large cryptocurrency transactions occurs thanks to the Whale Alert account. It notified about the movement of funds that had remained immobile for at least five years.

According to the BitInfoCharts website, the address that received the funds is currently the fourth address with the highest amount of Bitcoin. It is probably one of the largest whales in the ecosystem.

Tom Robinson, CSO, and co-founder of blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said on his LinkedIn account that the funds came from Silk Road. It is important to remember that this is the now-defunct market for illicit substances that the FBI closed in 2013.

Furthermore, Robinson further suggested that a Silk Road vendor or Ross Ulbricht himself may have transferred the funds. However, the analyst acknowledges that this would be rather unlikely as Ulbricht is under arrest, serving two life sentences plus 40 years in prison.

The address, possibly created in 2012, has had very few moves. In 2015, they transferred 101 BTC to the BTC-e website, an exchange that the authorities intervened under the allegation of facilitating money laundering. The mastermind of the case has been on trial in France since last October.

Robinson states that there was another deposit of part of the funds (501.5 BTC) in Bitcoin Fog also in 2012. It is the main service to mix Bitcoin and obfuscate identities on this network.

Did the Hackers Succeed in Gaining Access to the Wallet?

There have been suggestions that the private keys of the wallet controlling the address that sent the Bitcoin are in an encrypted file on the Internet. Hackers have spent years struggling to crack the key before anyone else does, in a kind of contest for a hoard of Bitcoin.

However, there has not been confirmed whether the hackers have decrypted the file or any of them has made the latest move. In any case, Elliptic has contacted exchanges and other services to prevent them from receiving Bitcoin deposits related to that address. Their objective is to stop the owner from being able to trade them for cash or other cryptocurrencies.

Silk Road accumulated a total of 614,000 BTC by charging fees to its users, who were trading illicit products and allegedly criminal services. In 2013, the FBI arrested Ross Ulbricht, managing to seize 174,000 BTC. Currently, they presume that the rest, more than 400,000 BTC of the total amount, has completely disappeared.

Bitcoin has maintained its stable price during the US presidential elections. However, there has been speculation that this has been an opportunity to discreetly transfer the aforementioned amount of Bitcoin. This has not been the case as the entire community is aware of the transaction.

By Alexander Salazar

Pyramid scheme Indeal had reportedly raised a total of USD 200 million. The company misled investors by promising false gains in Bitcoin.

In recent days, the US Department of Justice seized USD 24 million worth of Bitcoin on behalf of the Brazilian government. This is part of the money that thousands of people invested in a pyramid scheme that operated in Brazil for almost two years.

On November 4^th, the US agency published a note indicating that they obtained the seizure following an official request from the Brazilian government. They did it based on the existing treaty between the United States and the Federative Republic of Brazil on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.

They apply the cooperation agreement within the framework of an investigation called Operation Egypt. The Federal Police and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are advancing it in the South American country. The company Indeal managed to raise more than USD 200 million from its investors. The Brazilian authorities classified it as a fraudulent pyramid scheme.

The Department of Justice thus proceeds to seize the Bitcoin that Brazilian citizen Marcos Antonio Fagundes, Indeal’s main operator, keeps in the United States. They do this based on the seizure order that the Brazilian court issued, and Judge Trevor N. McFadden accepted in the District of Columbia, USA.

According to the note, the US cryptocurrency firm, in which Fagundes opened his accounts, cooperated with law enforcement authorities to make the seizure. No one knows yet the name of the platform that serves to store the Bitcoin.

To advance the seizure process, the FBI Legal Attaché in Brasilia, the FBI in Boston, the FBI Working Group on Evolving Threats with Virtual Currencies, and the US Marshals Service work jointly with the Brazilian authorities.

When Brazil receives the money, they will use it to compensate the victims of the pyramid scheme. These USD 24 million would add to about USD 170,000 recovered through the auction of some other assets belonging to those involved in the fraud.

More Than 50,000 Investors Expected to Make a Profit in Bitcoin

The launch of Operation Egypt occurred in May 2019 to discover how Indeal is working. Fagundes and four partners operated the financial institution without authorization from the Central Bank of Brazil, raising funds from third parties without legal permission.

At that time, local media explained that there were preventive arrest warrants against the owners and employees. Besides, the authorities searched for and seized the money and property in the hands of those involved. Fagundes was among those who went to prison, but they released him months later on habeas corpus. He now has to face multiple lawsuits.

The headquarters of the company was in Novo Hamburgo, in the southeast of the country. Besides, it operated between August 2017 and May 2019. According to Brazilian authorities, it attracted around 55,000 customers interested in making a profit in Bitcoin from all over the country.

The public received promises of innovative investment opportunities from the scheme through the Internet. The operators attracted the public’s money by telling them that they would invest it in cryptocurrencies, claiming that they would have returns of more than 15%. However, Brazilian authorities determined that they only invested a very small amount of the funds in Bitcoin and returned very little money to investors.

According to the investigations, the partners used most of the money to purchase real estate, luxury cars, precious stones, and other types of property. For this reason, those involved received charges of handling fraud, financial misappropriation, money laundering, and organization to commit a crime.

By Alexander Salazar

Australia’s central bank announced its intentions to create an Ethereum-based CBDC. Through its partnership with the Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Perpetual, and ConsenSys Software, they will explore the implications of launching a CBDC.

This year, there has been a “boom” for cryptocurrencies. Among the many important concepts that members of the crypto ecosystem handle daily, one is trending: Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). These are digital currencies issued that the central banks of countries issue. They have the same value as fiat money, which makes them stablecoins.

As a result of the increasing adoption of digital currencies, a growing number of states are interested in taking advantage of the benefits of cryptocurrencies. For that reason, they have decided to launch their own CBDC to compete in the new financial system. Powers such as China, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and France are studying the possibility of an early launch of their CBDCs. Australia has joined the recent wave of announcements by these countries in this respect.

Australia Announces Its CBDC Project

Australia has a population of 25 million people and is one of the strongest gross domestic products (GDPs) in the world. The Reserve Bank of Australia announced an important partnership to study the possibility of issuing a blockchain-based CBDC. Those partners include the National Australia Bank Commonwealth Bank, blockchain technology company ConsenSys Software and financial services company Perpetual.

They will analyze the pros and cons of this type of asset and, but the authorities have not set very specific times, they speculate that the project will be complete by the end of 2020. They will conclude the first half of 2021 when they will conduct tests not specified yet.

Blockchain-Based Currency

ConsenSys, “the software engineering leader in the blockchain space,” is a valuable piece of the scheme that Australia considered. The company reported that this challenge “will involve developing a proof of concept (PoC) for the issuance of a tokenized form of CBDC.” They said that “wholesale market participants can use it for the financing, settlement and repayment of a tokenized syndicated loan.”

The local government explained that the digital Australian dollar will be based on the Ethereum network. It is also likely to be similar to Quorum, a blockchain protocol focusing on businesses and governments, which belonged JP Morgan. It has a good transactional performance, although it is not so decentralized, a key characteristic of this technology.

Ethereum Is the Base for Developing New Projects

Australia’s announcement is novel, but the support for Ethereum is even more so. After conducting research based on the analysis of Ethereum’s top 10,000 wallets, Adam Cochran reported that some of the world’s largest companies are investing in ETH. Cochran is a partner at Metacartel Ventures and an adjunct professor at Conestoga College in Canada.

His team found “wallets associated with major players like Amazon, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Reddit, and Walmart.” This year, the investment of large companies in the Ethereum blockchain and DeFI projects have driven the blockchain’s price above USD 400 USD. Its value is currently around USD 381.

Growth of Crypto Market

Specialists expect and believe that the support of significant players will contribute to the performance of Ethereum. They consider that the same will happen to BTC after the birth and expansion of CBDCs in different parts of the world.

According to Raoul Pal, CEO of Real Vision and former manager of various hedge funds, CBDCs will proliferate. However, he thinks that Bitcoin will continue to position itself as a pristine reserve asset. Banks will compete at the payment level, while BTC will be the store of value that people need.

By Alexander Salazar

The prices of Bitcoin Cash and Binance Coin have fallen by more than 4% in just 24 hours. In a 7-day range, only Bitcoin has been in the green among major cryptocurrencies.

The outcome of the presidential elections in the United States, scheduled for last December 3^rd, aroused growing expectations. At the same time, the cryptocurrency market dawned red, but Bitcoin remained green in that period.

Between November 2^nd and 3^rd, most of the top 30 cryptocurrencies according to their market capitalization showed losses. The clear exception was Bitcoin, with an increase of almost 3% in just 24 hours. At the time of writing this article, the price of Bitcoin remains above USD 13,600.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Binance Coin (BNB), and Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision (BSV) fell by more than 5, 4 and, 3 percentage points, respectively.

Of the top 30, the most affected was CRO, from crypto.com, which fell by more than 10%. The Huobi exchange token, NEO, and EOS were also prominent for their negative behavior.

The market showed some recovery since even Bitcoin showed a fall of more than 1%. Also, Ethereum’s cryptocurrency, Ether (ETH), fell by more than 5%.

Looking at the one-week range, it is possible to see that the full market has been bearish. In that period, only Bitcoin has remained green, gaining more than 2%. Some of the top 10 cryptocurrencies have dropped dramatically. Polkadot (DOT), Chainlink (LINK), and BNB have been the most prominent on that list.

Market of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies, in General, Has an Eye on US Elections

The shakeup of the cryptocurrency market over the past week coincided with the uncertainty that the US presidential elections created. Given that the US dollar is the main global reserve currency, the markets are always expectant about what happens in the country.

There have currently been two different positions on Bitcoin. On the one hand, the current president and candidate for re-election by the Republican party, Donald Trump, has been against Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. On the contrary, Democrat Joe Biden has had a more neutral attitude towards the issue.

Trump has disqualified Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, even going as far as to say that “they are not money.” Besides, he has criticized the volatility of the market of these assets, stating that their value “is based on air” and that they facilitate illicit activities.

Even though Biden has denied having BTC, he has never questioned its value or criticized the existence of cryptocurrencies. Instead, he had a fundraising project with donations in BTC in a first bid for the US presidency for the 2016 elections.

Independently on the elections, Bitcoin remained on the rise while the other cryptocurrencies dropped, confirming the dominance of the main cryptocurrency. According to a study by the analytics firm Glassnode, Bitcoin has shown this superiority even in bullish scenarios.

According to this research, despite the appreciation of the main altcoins against the US dollar, the rate of growth of Bitcoin was higher. In other words, cryptocurrencies gained value against the US fiat currency but lost it against BTC.

By Alexander Salazar

The decline in the Bitcoin hash rate led to the adjustment in mining difficulty. The price of Bitcoin remains on the rise and opens opportunities for less efficient miners.

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty recently fell by about 18%, being the second largest in the history of the pioneering cryptocurrency in the era of ASIC miners. It had previously dropped by 18% in October 2012, according to estimates from various sources.

CoinMetrics shows that the period between the last two Bitcoin mining difficulty adjustments lasted a little more than usual. They note that the block confirmation time remained above the 13-minute wait in October. It caused it to last 24,024 seconds (about 16 days + 18 hours) “in the most recent difficulty adjustment period.” This represents 19.2% more than the average block confirmation time, inserted in Bitcoin’s design based on of 10 minutes.

According to the mempool.space website, the average transaction fee exceeds 280 sat/vB (equivalent to USD 5). Likewise, the website indicates that the total size of the mempool weighs of 107 MB, with 69,700 pending transactions. This moderate level of congestion still keeps transaction fee prices high, compared to lighter periods.

The mining difficulty is an estimate of the effort that it takes to mine Bitcoin. It undergoes regulation about every 2 weeks, depending on the hash rate available. The current mining difficulty is at 16.5 T, according to data from Coinwarz.

Hash Rate and Mining Difficulty Drop, but Bitcoin’s Price Increases

A sharp decrease in the Bitcoin hash rate has preceded the variation in Bitcoin’s mining difficulty for 15 days. Besides, there has been congestion on the network and a general increase in transaction fees.

The current migration of miners in China to more affordable energy sources could have caused the decline in the Bitcoin hash rate. At the end of the rainy season in Sichuan, cheaper hydroelectric power is no longer available. For that reason, miners choose to use other sources, such as coal and other types of fuel.

However, this decline in mining difficulty and hash rate seems not to have affected Bitcoin’s remarkable rise in price. Less efficient miners could obtain attractive profit margins, as long as mining hash rate and difficulty do not increase.

During the last difficulty adjustment on October 17^th, Bitcoin maintained an average price of USD 11,500. At the time of writing this article, Bitcoin is trading at USD 13,500, according to data from CoinMarketCap. This represents an estimated 18% appreciation in global markets over the prior period.

The current profitability of Bitcoin mining remains well above the average of the previous months. This has been the most profitable moment to mine Bitcoin this year, after the reduction by half of the reward per block, which occurred in May.

Considering that this adjustment has its origin in the migration of miners in China, this window could not remain open for long. It would be a matter of days before they install the equipment and start working with it again. Without a doubt, this would bring at least a new adjustment in mining difficulty, as well as an increase in the hash rate.

By Alexander Salazar

Those in charge of launching the attacks receive from 70% to 80% of the profits. The malware developers set the ransom amount and collect it.

A spokesperson of REvil, the ransomware gang – also known as Sodinokibi- has reportedly made profits in the order of USD 100 million so far this year.

On the technology blog Russian OSINT, one of REvil’s operators, identified in hacker forums as “UNKN” and “Unknown,” provided details on his business model.

According to the spokesperson, the developers of the ransomware typically receive between 20% and 30% of the profits that they make from the victims’ payments to recover their data. They distribute the rest of the money among the affiliates, who are in charge of launching the attacks, stealing data, and detonating malware on corporate networks.

UNKN says that the affiliates do most of the work, thus receiving a large percentage of the profits. However, the developers set the ransom amount, conduct the negotiations, and collect the money that they divide with the affiliates.

Also known as “ransomware as a service” (RaaS), most ransomware gangs use this REvil scheme of work. “Distributors do most of the work, and the ransomware is just a tool, so it is a fair division,” said the REvil representative.

In 2020, REvil hackers have claimed to have launched attacks on several companies. The list of victims includes foreign exchange company Travelex, software provider SeaChange International, real estate investment firm CyrusOne, IT firm Artech Information Systems, New York Airport, Albany International Airport, and car manufacturer GEDIA Automotive Group.

Data Leakage and New Tactics to Force Victims to Pay

The declarant of the well-known ransomware does not indicate which or how many of the attacked companies have paid for the recovery of their data. However, he notes that one in three victims is willing to pay to avoid data leakage. He refers to the new strategy that hackers have been implementing since the end of 2019.

Something new about ransomware attacks is that hackers publish confidential information on dark web sites (darknet). That happens when they do not receive any money for the recovery of the data. They aim to force the hacked companies to pay.

In a report, the firm Coverware estimates that payments for ransomware attacks during the first two quarters of 2020 almost reached USD 300,000. That figure far exceeds the USD 100,000 that they charged in 2019. The study ranks REvil, Maze, and Phobos among the top hackers of this year.

The data leakage method appears to be profitable as it plays on companies’ fear of regulatory penalties, damage to reputation, and legal action for the disclosure of third-party information. Data leakage can also affect corporate stock prices through the loss of intellectual property.

UNKN considers that REvil now makes more money for not publishing stolen data than for cracking a hijack. He adds that they also plan to implement distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to force victims to (re)start their computer systems or negotiate a payment.

The gang recently deposited USD 1 million worth of Bitcoin on a Russian forum to attract new partners for the distribution of malware. Despite their wealth, REvil operators cannot leave the borders of the countries of the former Soviet Union. They are the target of investigations by law enforcement agencies worldwide.

By Alexander Salazar