In the last two and a half years, the return of digital assets has increased 374 times. Commodities have grown 59 times in earnings, and bonds have fallen ten times.

According to Bloomberg Intelligence, in the first decade of 2020, bitcoin and digital assets will continue to surpass commodities, Nasdaq-listed stocks, and even US Treasury bills.

In a tweet revealed on Monday, Bloomberg presents that the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index (BGCI), a weighted index that includes bitcoin and five other digital assets, has returned seven times higher than the traditional assets that got for two years.

The index includes energy (30.43%), grains (22.44%), industrial metals (17.53%), and precious metals (15.62%), among others. The Bloomberg Nasdaq Composite Index, on the other hand, observed a visible improvement in the weighting of the Nasdaq 100 stocks, in which technology stocks played a vital role, registered at 51%, consumer services at 16%, health at 7.7%, and the financial area covering at least 7.4%.

All the highlighted variables got positioned at the same starting point, at the beginning of 2020, so their relative increase rate can be subject to technical comparisons. The superiority that digital assets presented has been pretty particular in the last 29 months, except for little moments between March and May 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic got revealed.

In April and November 2021, the highest performance peaks of digital currencies took effect, in which the BGCI showed increases of up to 1,300 times compared to January 1, 2020.

Commodities increased 59 times in the period highlighted by the reports, while the 100 companies gathered in the Nasdaq index show a joint evolution of 42 times. In contrast, the Bloomberg index of US treasury bonds is the only one presenting losses of at least ten times its value in early 2020.

Although the current bearish season started in November 2021, that year ended up with bitcoin returns registered at 60%, which increased by two of the performance of traditional currencies.

According to Bloomberg, the evolution of bitcoin returns can display comparisons against a vast list of sectors such as energy, bonds, and the S&P 500; bitcoin even outperforms a vast majority of conventional currencies.

Since the beginning of last year, the price of bitcoin has shown a growing correlation with traditional assets, as reported in this medium. Recently, the correlation of the bitcoin price with the Nasdaq index has increased. While the S&P 500 bitcoin index shows a correlation of 0.52, with Nasdaq, that coupling goes up to 0.82. This situation implies a greater sensitivity of bitcoin to variations in the latter.

Within the downward trend of its price, bitcoin has reached stability after a rebound in purchases. When writing this article, the BTC price was USD 29,738.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Cardiologist Moisés Luis Zagala González, a resident of Ciudad Bolívar, got accused of selling malware used by hackers to carry out ransomware attacks.

A Franco-Venezuelan doctor got labeled by US authorities as the mastermind behind malicious software employed by hackers to extract computer information and extort funds from its owners.

This week, New York prosecutors issued criminal charges against Moisés Luis Zagala González, a 55-year-old cardiologist living in Venezuela. The doctor got accused of allegedly designing ransomware and selling it to cybercriminal organizations. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) reported the allegations in a statement on Monday.

DOJ agents in the report accused Zagala of carrying out malicious cyber activities, which gave organizations in the Middle East the tools to execute massive hacking attacks. All while still being a doctor and attending to his patients. Authorities said that Zagala’s item even served to an Iranian state-sponsored opposing team.

Cybercrime Business Included Bitcoin

Zagala built Thanos, a ransomware tool that lets users generate other ransomware variants. The agents explained that the Venezuelan got accused of selling the malicious items in fiduciary currency and digital assets, including Monero and Bitcoin.

Ransomware is a type of computer attack focused on malicious software that blocks access to data and computer networks until a ransom gets paid. Hackers often extort money from their victims and request payments in digital assets because these can be more difficult to follow than other payment methods.

The doctor also received accusations for being the creator of a malware named “Jigsaw v. 2 “, which followed and subsequently registered the number of times the victims intended to eradicate the malware from their system.

According to the report, the effectiveness of Zagala’s products earned his business a good reputation among cybercriminals. Based on various reviews on online forums, US agents claimed that Zagala’s products could infect a network of approximately 3,000 computers. They also quoted a user who wrote in Russian that he had made “good profits” after a month of using the ransomware tools.

The DOJ highlighted that it relied on confidential informants within the cybercriminal space to start tying knots in the case. They also told that the FBI could detect Zagala after interviewing a relative whose PayPal account served as a conduit to receive illegal funds.

An Unusual Profile

The case against Zagala is curious and unusual due to certain features such as his profession and age because they don’t describe the typical cybercriminal suspect. It also goes against the stereotype of malicious actors based in Eastern Europe and Russia. Zagala reportedly lives in Ciudad Bolívar, located in southeastern Venezuela.

The authorities, who confirmed that Zagala taught himself to program computers, also extended the accusations, highlighting that the doctor had trained other hackers to use his items.

By: Jenson Nuñez

“Ethereum’s overwhelming mindshare helps explain why its users have been willing to pay over $15 million on average a day just to use the Blockchain,” a16z stated.

Cryptocurrency hedge fund giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has highlighted that Ethereum’s development and demand are “unmatched” despite the network’s high transaction fees.

The firm warns, however, that its “popularity is also a double-edged sword” as Ethereum prioritizes decentralization over scaling, causing competing Blockchains to steal market share with “promises of better performance and lower rates.”

The comments came via a blog post featuring a16z’s 2022 “State of Crypto” report, in which the firm’s data scientist Daren Matsuoka, chief protocol engineer and designer Eddy Lazzarin, the General Partner Chris Dixon and Chief Content Officer Robert Hackett work together to provide five key takeaways from the study.

Aside from Ethereum, the report focuses on topics such as Web3 development, cryptocurrency adoption rates, decentralized finance (DeFi), and stablecoins.

Quoted from a Twitter post by @a16z: “Introducing a16z’s 2022 State of Crypto Report. A lot has changed since we started investing in crypto nearly a decade ago. Here are 5 key takeaways from the a16z crypto web3 industry survey and data analysis by @darenmatsuoka, @eddylazzarin, @cdixon & @rhhackett.”

Ethereum’s Current Status

According to the data in the report, Ethereum rules out the competition in terms of builder interest, as the network has around 4,000 monthly active developers compared to second-place Solana with 1,000. Bitcoin and Cardano are next, at roughly 500 and 400 each, respectively.

Analysts noted that, “Ethereum’s leadership has a lot to do with its early start, and the health of its community,” but highlighted the importance of continued development of the network despite high transaction costs:

“Ethereum’s overwhelming mindshare helps explain why its users have been willing to pay more than $15 million on average per day just to use the Blockchain, which is remarkable for such a young project.”

The demand for Ethereum can also be seen in the report’s estimated transaction fees paid on a Blockchain over an average of seven days, calculated as of May 12. The data show that Ethereum accounts for $15.24 million. In contrast, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Fantom, Polygon, and Solana account for about $2.5 million of combined fees.

The report notes that layer 2 scaling solutions are struggling to reduce Ethereum fees and increase transaction speeds while noting that long-awaited updates are coming to Ethereum to make the network more efficient and profitable.

However, the “long-awaited” updates cannot happen soon enough, and a16z also highlighted in the report that in an average of 30 days as of May 12, active addresses and transactions on competing Blockchains, including Solana, BNB Chain, and Polygon, are already way ahead of Ethereum.

Some Preliminary Conclusions

The data show that Ethereum has 5.5 million active addresses, representing 1.1 million daily transactions, while Solana has 15.4 million active addresses and 15.3 million daily transactions. BNB Chain is in third place, with 9.4 million and 5 million, respectively, while Polygon adds around 2.6 million and 3.4 million, respectively.

Analysts conclude that it will not be a winner-takes-all situation:

“Blockchains are the flagship of a new computing wave, like personal computers and broadband were in the 1990s and 2000s, and as mobile phones were in the last decade. There is a lot of room for innovation, and we believe there will be multiple winners.”

Other key highlights of the report are the total value of the DeFi sector, which at $113 billion would make it the 31st largest bank in the United States; estimates that Web3 adoption could reach 1 billion users by 2031; and that NFTs have so far generated $3.9 billion in revenue for creators.

By Audy Castaneda