Cybersecurity Firm Warns about Phishing Malware that Tricks Users of Turkish Crypto Exchange

Andres Chavez
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Cybersecurity Firm Warns about Phishing Malware that Tricks Users of Turkish Crypto Exchange

One of the elements that has represented an obstacle for full-blown crypto adoption worldwide is the fear of scams and hacking activity. Sadly, malware developers are continually lurking around the digital universe, and holders of crypto assets have been suffering the effects and consequences of security breaches and cybercriminals’ activities for several years now.

The most recent development on that front is that ESET, which is a cybersecurity firm known for developing the antivirus software NOD32, reported in the past few hours that a new, dangerous malware related to Android has the ability to avoid Google’s SMS permissions restrictions in order to intercept two-factor authentication (2FA) codes that people get via SMS.

Avoiding Google-Implemented Restrictions

According to the report, several malicious applications are able to access one-time passphrases sent to people in the way of SMS by dodging Google-implemented restrictions that were recently established. Cybercriminals, purportedly, are also implementing the approach to access email-based codes, a development that does not bode well for users’ overall security.

The apps mentioned in the report impersonate BtcTurk, a well known crypto exchange from Turkey, implementing phishing techniques to obtain people’s login details and take advantage of them.

The malware in question “instead of intercepting SMS messages to bypass 2FA protection on users’ accounts and transactions, these malicious apps take the OTP from notifications appearing on the compromised device’s display.”

Dismissing 2FA Notifications

Sadly, the dangers of the situation do not end there. Allegedly, the app can also implement detecting measures to avoid people from noticing the attack as it is performed. “Besides reading the 2FA notifications, the apps can also dismiss them to prevent victims from noticing fraudulent transactions happening.”

The first application that showed the mentioned capabilities has nearly two weeks on the Google Play Store, as it was uploaded there on June 7th, named BTCTurk Pro Beta, with the developer being BTCTurk Pro Beta. More than 50 users downloaded and installed it before ESET reported the issue to Google. After this happened, two other versions of the malicious app appeared on the Google Play Store, only to be removed later.

Unfortunately, hackers and identity thieves are a common occurrence in the cyber space, let alone crypto exchanges. Besides the situation with BTCTurk, other platforms have reported similar developments this year, which has, subsequently, increased concern among investors and the community in general.

Other Known and Recent Cases

For example, peer to peer (P2P) crypto exchange BitMEX also made the news earlier in June, as it reported an increasing influx of attacks on people’s account and log in credentials. In fact, BitMEX issued a statement telling users the huge importance of implementing proper security mechanisms.

Researchers in the cyber security industry found, in recent days, a website that was spreading the dreaded Trojan. The modus operandi involved hackers disguising users and making them think they were accessing Cryptohopper, a page for programming tools for automated crypto trading.

By Andres Chavez

Facebook Finnaly Reveals its Libra Cryptocurrency: the Whitepaper is Public now

Andres Chavez
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Facebook Finnaly Reveals its Libra Cryptocurrency: the Whitepaper is Public now

At last, and after months of speculation about every little detail, Facebook has unveiled the Libra cryptocurrency for the world to see. The project’s whitepaper was revealed on Tuesday, June 18,  with one notable takeaway: the user does not need to have a Facebook account to be a Libra token holder.

The Libra Association is the combination of the ideas and expertise of 28 founding members that include powerhouses like Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Uber, Lyft, Coinbase and many more. Facebook’s global stablecoin, named “libra,” will have its own scalable blockchain and will, according to the whitepaper, be backed by a reserve of assets “designed to give it intrinsic value” and beat volatility fluctuations.

The Reserve: A “Basket of Bank Deposits and Government Securities”

The reserve will be formed from a basket of bank deposits and short-term government securities, which will be held in the Libra Reserve for every issued Libra. The goal is for Libra to develop a “stable currency built on a secure and stable open-source blockchain and governed by an independent association.”

The Libra Association is governed by the Libra Association Council. The council’s members are the founding members, each of which runs a validator node on the network and had to make a minimum investment of $10 million to seal the position as such. For each $10 million invested, an entity secures one vote on the council, according to Facebook.

The company hopes to have “approximately 100 members of the Libra Association by the target launch in the first half of 2020.”

According to Libra, the world “truly needs a reliable digital currency and infrastructure that together can deliver on the promise of “the internet of money.” The company identifies that moving money should be easy and cost-effective, not to mention safe, and states that “now is the time to create a new kind of digital currency built on the foundation of blockchain technology. The mission for Libra is a simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people.”

The Libra Blockchain

The Libra blockchain is the ecosystem in which the libra currency will function, an open-source software that millions of people can use to satisfy their financial needs, according to the document.

“With the proliferation of smartphones and wireless data, increasingly more people will be online and able to access Libra through these new services. To enable the Libra ecosystem to achieve this vision over time, the blockchain has been built from the ground up to prioritize scalability, security, efficiency in storage and throughput, and future adaptability,” per the paper.

Whilst the hope is to launch the Libra blockchain with all of its features next year, Facebook has not lost time in announcing it in the middle of 2019. Similarly, it included in the project is Calibra, a subsidiary of the social media giant.

“While final decision-making authority rests with the association, Facebook is expected to maintain a leadership role through 2019. Facebook created Calibra, a regulated subsidiary, to ensure separation between social and financial data and to build and operate services on its behalf on top of the Libra network.”

Calibra will be tasked with the development of financial products and related services around the Libra network, starting with a digital wallet for the Libra coin, which in turn will allow holders to transfer funds to each other and also store them.

Once the system is ready to go, users will be able to access their wallet functionality through an Android and iOS app, as well as via Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

The Libra Currency

The Libra currency is the center of the system; it is the unit itself. According to the published text, “Libra will need to be accepted in many places and easy to access for those who want to use it. In other words, people need to have confidence that they can use Libra and that its value will remain relatively stable over time. Unlike the majority of cryptocurrencies, Libra is fully backed by a reserve of real assets.”

Regarding the Libra Reserve, it “will be administered with the objective of preserving the value of Libra over time.”

Also announced to the world was the creation of the Libra Investment Token, a different one from its global, user-oriented cryptocurrency libra.

All in all, the project seems ambitious and plausible, and given Facebook’s size and position as one of the world’s prominent companies, all eyes will be on it when the time of the launch comes. The coin has the potential to facilitate payments across Facebook’s platforms including WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, providing a potential exposure to a combined 2.7 billion users on a monthly basis.

By Andres Chavez

South Korean Startup Planetarium Creates a Blockchain Platform for Video Games

Maria Rodríguez
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South Korean Startup Planetarium Creates a Blockchain Platform for Video Games

The blockchain platform will allow users to modify or create their own new games

Some companies have focused their technological projects on the development of blockchain tools in order to improve financial processes. In this case, in South Korea, a prestigious startup dedicated to the video game industry has recently created its own blockchain platform.

The Planetarium Company will soon launch a trial version of a video game that will be supported by a blockchain platform that has been developed by the same South Korean company.

About the project is known that Planetarium seeks to launch a video game called Nine Chronicles, which will have a completely decentralized base, which will store information in the blockchain created by the company.

It is expected that the blockchain platform will be launched at the end of this year. Although they do not have an official date yet, they are working on the last stages of development. It was known that the intention is to create an open source platform; hence, developers can use it as a base to develop games and support their databases in the blockchain.

Regarding the emergence of this innovative initiative, the CEO of Planetarium, Kijun Seo, recently commented that currently, video games that have a data support in a blockchain, are possible from platforms known as Ethereum or EOS.

It is for this reason that the company has set its goals to create a blockchain platform that is developed only for video games and that forms the ideal and independent ecosystem that is needed in the industry. “Decisions about the game should be determined by the needs of the games, not by the platform. First, we should define the game, not the chain of blocks under it”.

In this sense, in addition, more versatility could be offered when creating new games and reducing the technical limitations of creation, which users could share and enjoy.

“When the gaming companies discovered that any secondary creation made by users’ modding went against their interests, they blocked the private servers the players installed or sued the users for copyright issues. I think decentralized games based on our open source platform will be able to open a new era for secondary creations”.

The developers and executives of the company hope that this new blockchain platform in open source, allows users to modify or create games using this tool. It is compared with other games already known for these characteristics as League of Legend.

Planetarium has protected part of its capital in investment accounts, and has shown interest in adopting a double license system in order to encourage users to use their new open source platform. However, the aforementioned allows them to receive funds which help them to continue developing games in the future.

The use of blockchain technology is still one of the most versatile of new technologies, allowing hundreds of possible uses that help boost business and improve creation and development processes.

By María Rodríguez

Bakkt Announces a Date to Start Testing its BTC Futures Contracts

Maria Rodríguez
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Bakkt Announces a Date to Start Testing its BTC Futures Contracts

The regulation of the contracts offered by Bakkt could successfully attract institutional investors who trying to avoid the volatility risks of some cryptoactives

This July 22nd is the date that the institutional platform of cryptocurrencies Bakkt scheduled to start testing its new service Bitcoin futures (BTC). These assets will be given physically, according to what the company announced in its blog recently.

Futures trading is a practice that is turning into a more common one in the world of cryptoactives. It consists of buying or selling a product or financial instrument on a specific date and at a specific price. This exchange can be made in parts, but it should not exceed the established date.

Once the contract has been started, both parties buy and sell at the agreed price, without depending on the real market price at the moment of the execution date. The idea is to establish the prices of a certain cryptoactive so that, when the contract expires, the agreed amount is paid to the merchant or seller, but in cash, instead of in cryptocurrencies.

Futures contracts “allow us to take futures positions, along with their risks and opportunities, without having to assume the delivery of the underlying asset”, said the digital currency operations broker, TradeStation. In addition, this negotiation controls the risks a little bit when it comes to a volatile asset, as it is the case of some cryptocurrencies.

The contracts are conducted thanks to a futures market, which acts as an intermediary. This is the role that Bakkt wants to play, but with the intention of liquidating its contracts in physical Bitcoin, instead of using fiat currencies. These futures will be included in the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Future U.S. and they will be liquidated by ICE Clear U.S., according to the CEO of Bakkt, Kelly Loeffler.

Overcoming Obstacles Like a “Trip to the Moon”

“On July 22nd, two days after the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, Bakkt will begin testing user acceptance for their futures Bitcoin listed and traded on ICE Futures US, and authorized by ICE Clear US”, the Chief Operating Officer of Bakkt, Adam White wrote on the blog.

Bakkt has suffered multiple delays to conduct this project, since it announced its plan in August 2018. These problems seem to be solved, although until now no further details about the offers of future contracts are known. It is known that companies should be identified, irregular activities will be notified to US authorities and Bakkt would cover risks between buyers and sellers, according to a press release.

“This is not a small step. This launch will stablish a new standard for accessing the crypto markets. The institutional participation in crypto exchanges is still limited, due to problems such as infrastructure of the market and regulatory security”, White added in the blog.

White compared this initiative with the passage to the first moon landing, which would have occurred in 1969. His intention was to refer to the obstacles that the company had to overcome to offer interested investors regulated cryptocurrency products.

The announcement of Bakkt takes place the same week in which it was shown that the Bitcoin futures of CME Group reached a record volume during last May. All of this even when CBOE, BTC’s first futures contracts provider, announced that after current contracts expire, it will stop offering new contracts for the moment.

The regulated custody of future contracts could be an element that attracts the attention of institutional investors. Representatives of Bakkt consider that they could be very successful and contribute to more companies to acquire cryptocurrencies or participate in operations to exchange them without fear of market volatility, a crucial aspect for a faster adoption or not of the new digital assets that come to stay.

By María Rodríguez

Financial Tensions between the US and China Boost Bitcoin as Potential Alternative

Maria Rodríguez
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0
Financial Tensions between the US and China Boost Bitcoin as Potential Alternative

The digital asset could respond to liquidity risk. Crypto companies decide to “move” to the North American nation

Macroeconomic changes in traditional fiat money markets have opened spaces for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC). In less than a month, this digital currency recovered from its fall of USD 7,000 and, on June 16th, it quoted at USD 9,200. Different experts and analysts indicate that the price escalation of this cryptoactive is related to the “trade war” between the United States and China.

The commercial differences between these two regions are because these powerful countries have imposed tariffs to their goods; this makes everyday products more expensive for consumers.

In addition, the Chinese government’s regulations for cryptoactives make large companies in the mining industry, such as the Canadian company Squire Mining (which is publicly traded and one of the most hashpower) to move to the United States in order to minimize the impact of the Chinese Government regulations.

According to a survey by China Central Television’s (CCTV) financial channel, 70% of the total cryptocurrency mining is located in China and mostly in a single province of that country, which concentrates the levels of hashpower only in that region and would make the network vulnerable to censorship, manipulation and even to local government controls that restrict some operations with cryptoactives.

The crypto-companies are “moving”. Squire Mining, for example, signed a letter of intent to house more than 41,000 Bitcoin mining equipment (SHA-256) in the United States. This movement could mean a significant change in the mechanisms of Proof of Work (PoW), due to the cautious position that the Chinese Government maintains towards cryptography and move away some crypto companies.

Increase in Prices

About the financial tensions between these two countries, the CEO and founder of Digital Currency Group, Barry Silbert, suggested that the BTC price increase coincided with the breakdown of talks between Beijing and Washington DC.

According to the cryptocurrency defender, Bitcoin is becoming a “refuge” for investors at dramatic times in global economy. The businessman gave examples in which the value of BTC increased whilst the traditional stock markets collapsed. “If you look at the last five years, when the Brexit happened, Bitcoin went up. When Grexit happened, Bitcoin went up”, he said.

On the other hand, some analysts of JP Morgan think that the Bitcoin price could only be a repeat of the scenario that took place at the end of 2017.

But it is not just about price escalation. Because of the “trade war” between the United States and China, Bitcoin could act as a hedge against risk liquidity; this is, having the ability to respond efficiently to meet financial commitments. However, to achieve this purpose definitively, the digital currency would have to overcome the volatility that initially characterized and affected it.

Contribution to Decentralization

On the other hand, the expansion of the mining infrastructure to other countries would make more feasible the decentralization that blockchain users seek, by making the network, mostly constituted in China, migrate and be more resistant to governmental interference.

Equipment for mining is being produced mostly in China, but the facilities built in the United States would enjoy more stable regulatory environments, because this country seeks the implementation of protocols to manage mining.

The scenario could change. China, which has shown more openness towards blockchain technology than towards the adoption of cryptoactives, could establish more permissive regulations with cryptoactives in the future according to what it considers pertinent. This would maintain a greater concentration of mining.

The price of Bitcoin -which in February reached USD 4,000, went through the 7,000 and is quoted now at 9,000- could recover not only in response to commercial tensions, but with the growth of the mining community, in properly regulated environments, and the use of renewable energies that do not hinder this activity.

By María Rodríguez

Brazilian Banks Launch a Blockchain-Based ID Platform to Prevent Scams

Maria Rodríguez
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5
Brazilian Banks Launch a Blockchain-Based ID Platform to Prevent Scams

These financial institutions would have a unique blockchain platform to verify identities. Governmental agencies are investigating how to take advantage of blockchain

With the aim of authenticating and verifying digital signatures using mobile devices, avoiding crimes and unauthorized uses of the financial system, CIP, a facilitator of Brazilian banking and financial infrastructure, officially launched its identification (ID) blockchain platform.

The tool will use Hyperledger Fabric, thanks to a partnership with IBM, according to local media.

The name of the identity solution is “Device ID”, and it will have the participation of nine banks to also integrate them into Brazil’s national compensation system, the Brazilian Payment System (SPB).

“Brazilian banks have been studying how to use blockchain technology for a long time, but they were not doing it all together. So we decided to create a group and unify all these actions, which is very important to achieve the standardization of all banks”, said Joaquim Kiyoshi Kavakama, Director of Febraban, the national banking association of Brazil.

The official added that, in this way, banking institutions would be “at the forefront” when it comes to taking advantage of blockchain technology.

A few days ago, Mauricio Minas, the Vice President of Brazil’s biggest bank, Bradesco, announced that the main local banks would present a unique blockchain platform to work with it soon.

A few days ago, it was revealed that the platform was under development, and Bradesco representatives confirmed that an official launch would be made this week at the CIAB Febraban conference, which is about disruptive technologies.

This development takes place along with other advances. Ripple, a major industry firm, decided to open an office in that country. This company gives priority to Brazil before getting expanded in Latin America.

Blockchain at the Governmental Level

At the same time, the Brazilian authorities remain vigilant to bad practices and it is watching to those who seek to commit fraud in the digital space. In this sense, a fraud scheme involving 55,000 investors was eliminated last month.

Regarding the use of blockchain technology in other fields, the Brazilian government is considering a bill that would make all local units of the public administration promote new technologies such as blockchain.

Last June 11th, a group of ten federal officials from different political parties and states presented the new bill, number PL 3443/2019, to the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house) of the National Congress of Brazil.

If the bill is approved, the divisions of the federal and state governments would apply emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain with the aim to improve public services, according to the report.

Brazil has given numerous stepstowards the adoption of blockchain technology and cryptoactives. In fact, the Federal Collection of Brazil is interested in conducting the new fiscal registry of natural persons through a system based on blockchain technology.

Also, the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, Rodrigo Maia,ordered the creation of a commission to consider the regulation of the cryptocurrency in the country.

The commission will be responsible for regulating local activities around Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets. This commission would be made up of 34 members, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber.

For the time being, it is expected that in the coming weeks, the decisions made by said country, that seeks to be friendly with digital assets as a current form of payment and a possible means of investment, will be announced soon.

By María Rodríguez

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