Tomorrow comes the deadline for accepting applications from affected clients of the Mt. Gox. If this deadline is not rescheduled again, then the stage of returning about 140 thousand BTC (~ $ 2.7 billion) will begin. This will be a serious blow to the market, but as in the situation with Tether, it can drag on indefinitely.
🚀Bitcoin has renewed its all-time high today, reaching a value of $ 20,865. Now technically nothing is holding us back
Top 5 scams in the Bitcoin world
With the spread of blockchain and Bitcoin, also scams have begun to emerge, as criminals exploit this asset to orchestrate various deceptions and induce victims to hand over their private keys, for example.
There are many different types of scams in the Bitcoin world. In order to be careful and make users more and more aware, here is a list to recognize them.
The 5 most common scams related to the Bitcoin world
Email extortion
The first category relates to extortion by e-mail: criminals send e-mails to victims, sharing confidential information about them, usually an e-mail and password.
The criminal then pretends to be in possession of personal information or images, asking for a ransom in Bitcoin so as not to spread the material.
A popular variant of this email is called sextorsion, in which the criminal reveals to the victim that he has sexually compromising images and videos and asks for a ransom in Bitcoin.
What to do in the case of sextortion?
Once you have received a message like this, simply trash it before opening the content because there could also be harmful links inside it that could lead to some bad site or virus.
These threats are only fake and criminals are not really in possession of compromising images. Basically it’s just a bluff to obtain bitcoin.
The fake exchange scams
Another category of scams concerns fake exchanges which appear to have the same functions as the original ones. The victim has not the slightest doubt about the reliability of the same, since everything works normally and without suspicion.
Usually, the victim is lured into this exchange through social messages such as Discord, Instagram and similar, and is then invited to register. The procedure is very simple, requesting only email and password.
Unfortunately, once the funds are sent to these exchanges, the victim discovers that they cannot withdraw them in any way. Often these portals give reasons for account verification and prompt the user to submit and pass the KYC (Know Your Customer). We have discovered over 140 of these sites.
How to defend against fake exchanges?
The first thing to do is to delete the message of these fake exchanges and never enter your credentials into these types of platforms, otherwise criminals will have a database of emails linked to real people.
With the spread of blockchain and Bitcoin, also scams have begun to emerge, as criminals exploit this asset to orchestrate various deceptions and induce victims to hand over their private keys, for example.
There are many different types of scams in the Bitcoin world. In order to be careful and make users more and more aware, here is a list to recognize them.
The 5 most common scams related to the Bitcoin world
Email extortion
The first category relates to extortion by e-mail: criminals send e-mails to victims, sharing confidential information about them, usually an e-mail and password.
The criminal then pretends to be in possession of personal information or images, asking for a ransom in Bitcoin so as not to spread the material.
A popular variant of this email is called sextorsion, in which the criminal reveals to the victim that he has sexually compromising images and videos and asks for a ransom in Bitcoin.
What to do in the case of sextortion?
Once you have received a message like this, simply trash it before opening the content because there could also be harmful links inside it that could lead to some bad site or virus.
These threats are only fake and criminals are not really in possession of compromising images. Basically it’s just a bluff to obtain bitcoin.
The fake exchange scams
Another category of scams concerns fake exchanges which appear to have the same functions as the original ones. The victim has not the slightest doubt about the reliability of the same, since everything works normally and without suspicion.
Usually, the victim is lured into this exchange through social messages such as Discord, Instagram and similar, and is then invited to register. The procedure is very simple, requesting only email and password.
Unfortunately, once the funds are sent to these exchanges, the victim discovers that they cannot withdraw them in any way. Often these portals give reasons for account verification and prompt the user to submit and pass the KYC (Know Your Customer). We have discovered over 140 of these sites.
How to defend against fake exchanges?
The first thing to do is to delete the message of these fake exchanges and never enter your credentials into these types of platforms, otherwise criminals will have a database of emails linked to real people.
Bitcoin giveaway scams
Even gifts, such as giveaways, do not escape scams as criminals exploit names of famous people or news related to important projects, claiming to be giving cryptocurrencies to all those who will participate.
The scam is very simple: an article is written with some information about the person or a recent event that actually happened and then a website is built where the whole page is completely false and structured in such a way as to invite the user to send their crypto.
The modus operandi of these scams is to succeed in convincing the victim to send their crypto by means of a proven claim, i.e. to double their funds by simply sending a specific crypto to a specific address.
But of course this will not happen and you will lose your crypto.
Considering that we are talking about crypto and blockchain it is quite easy to unmask fake transactions, so in these cases simply take the criminal’s address and analyze it in a block explorer to check all the transactions and whether they match the web page.
Phishing
One of the scams that unfortunately spreads and is very successful is phishing, a technique that aims to make the victim believe that they are interacting with the official platform of a service so that they can enter their credentials.
In this case, the criminals use fake platforms to recover victims’ e-mails and passwords, as happened in the recent case involving Ledger.
The victim receives an email inviting them to enter or update their device. Usually, this email contains a link that leads to a copy of the website, in which without the victim’s knowledge the victim enters the credentials and hands them over to the criminals.
How to defend oneself against phishing?
First of all, it is necessary to check and compare the sender of the email with the original ones and in case of discrepancies, it is better to delete the received email. It is important to never click on any link within the email itself because not only can it lead to a misleading page, but it can even contain a virus that will hide in our pc.
Ransomware
Finally, a frequent occurrence this year has been the phenomenon of ransomware, i.e. being forced to pay a ransom, usually in Bitcoin, to restore the systems of a company or, worse, a public administration.
The phenomenon is certainly on the rise, as the data report, and this pandemic has done nothing but increase this possibility since everyone is at home and does not have adequate knowledge of the measures to be taken to protect themselves from their homes.
The problem increasingly involves large companies, as in the case of the Argentinean telephone company. All it takes is opening an infected file within the company network to infect all the PCs in the entire company without being able to do anything.
In this case, the ransomware starts to encrypt all the files on the PCs, preventing access to them.
The only way to get them back is to have the file encryption key to unlock them.
And this is where the criminals offer the solution, inviting the victims to pay the ransom.
How to defend oneself against ransomware?
The first defence is to use preventive and always up-to-date tools such as antivirus, especially those specialized in identifying these threats.
Another recommendation is not to open suspicious attachments and as a last protection is to have an up-to-date backup system.
Even gifts, such as giveaways, do not escape scams as criminals exploit names of famous people or news related to important projects, claiming to be giving cryptocurrencies to all those who will participate.
The scam is very simple: an article is written with some information about the person or a recent event that actually happened and then a website is built where the whole page is completely false and structured in such a way as to invite the user to send their crypto.
The modus operandi of these scams is to succeed in convincing the victim to send their crypto by means of a proven claim, i.e. to double their funds by simply sending a specific crypto to a specific address.
But of course this will not happen and you will lose your crypto.
Considering that we are talking about crypto and blockchain it is quite easy to unmask fake transactions, so in these cases simply take the criminal’s address and analyze it in a block explorer to check all the transactions and whether they match the web page.
Phishing
One of the scams that unfortunately spreads and is very successful is phishing, a technique that aims to make the victim believe that they are interacting with the official platform of a service so that they can enter their credentials.
In this case, the criminals use fake platforms to recover victims’ e-mails and passwords, as happened in the recent case involving Ledger.
The victim receives an email inviting them to enter or update their device. Usually, this email contains a link that leads to a copy of the website, in which without the victim’s knowledge the victim enters the credentials and hands them over to the criminals.
How to defend oneself against phishing?
First of all, it is necessary to check and compare the sender of the email with the original ones and in case of discrepancies, it is better to delete the received email. It is important to never click on any link within the email itself because not only can it lead to a misleading page, but it can even contain a virus that will hide in our pc.
Ransomware
Finally, a frequent occurrence this year has been the phenomenon of ransomware, i.e. being forced to pay a ransom, usually in Bitcoin, to restore the systems of a company or, worse, a public administration.
The phenomenon is certainly on the rise, as the data report, and this pandemic has done nothing but increase this possibility since everyone is at home and does not have adequate knowledge of the measures to be taken to protect themselves from their homes.
The problem increasingly involves large companies, as in the case of the Argentinean telephone company. All it takes is opening an infected file within the company network to infect all the PCs in the entire company without being able to do anything.
In this case, the ransomware starts to encrypt all the files on the PCs, preventing access to them.
The only way to get them back is to have the file encryption key to unlock them.
And this is where the criminals offer the solution, inviting the victims to pay the ransom.
How to defend oneself against ransomware?
The first defence is to use preventive and always up-to-date tools such as antivirus, especially those specialized in identifying these threats.
Another recommendation is not to open suspicious attachments and as a last protection is to have an up-to-date backup system.
Riot Blockchain signs a contract to buy 15,000 miners from Bitmain
The American mining company Riot Blockchain has signed another contract with Bitmain to buy 15,000 miners. According to a December 21 press release, Riot Blockchain expects the new purchase to increase bitcoin's overall hashrate by 65%.
The purchase cost Riot $ 35 million. The company acquired 3,000 S19 Pro Antminer miners and 12,000 S19j Pro Antminer miners. Riot expects to receive new miners from May 2021 to October 2021.
With the launch of new miners, the company expects the hash rate to increase from 2.3 exaches per second (EH / s) to 3.8 EH / s.
In 2020, Bitmain and Riot entered into a partnership to supply new miners. In October 2020, the companies announced a 2,500 Antminer S19 Pro deal in addition to the previous 5100 and 8,000 Antminer deals in September.
According to The Block, with the price of bitcoin rising above $ 20,000, the demand for mining equipment is growing rapidly again. Since early December, Bitmain has raised miner prices by at least 20%.
The American mining company Riot Blockchain has signed another contract with Bitmain to buy 15,000 miners. According to a December 21 press release, Riot Blockchain expects the new purchase to increase bitcoin's overall hashrate by 65%.
The purchase cost Riot $ 35 million. The company acquired 3,000 S19 Pro Antminer miners and 12,000 S19j Pro Antminer miners. Riot expects to receive new miners from May 2021 to October 2021.
With the launch of new miners, the company expects the hash rate to increase from 2.3 exaches per second (EH / s) to 3.8 EH / s.
In 2020, Bitmain and Riot entered into a partnership to supply new miners. In October 2020, the companies announced a 2,500 Antminer S19 Pro deal in addition to the previous 5100 and 8,000 Antminer deals in September.
According to The Block, with the price of bitcoin rising above $ 20,000, the demand for mining equipment is growing rapidly again. Since early December, Bitmain has raised miner prices by at least 20%.
$ 1.4 billion in BTC went through mixers in 2020 - Crystal Blockchain report
Bitfury Group's Crystal Blockchain platform has released an annual report with totals and statistics for 2020. Key points from the report:
- In 2020, $ 1.4 billion in BTC went through mixing services (mixers). This is $ 500 million more than last year.
- In 2020, the amount received by darknet users increased by $ 300 million - the figure reached $ 1.6 billion, of which $ 533 million was sent from exchanges.
- The total value of BTC received in 2020 by all virtual asset service providers (VASP) was $ 272.9 billion, up from $ 154.3 billion a year earlier. The number of transactions decreased from 120 million to 109 million, but the average transaction size increased.
Bitfury Group's Crystal Blockchain platform has released an annual report with totals and statistics for 2020. Key points from the report:
- In 2020, $ 1.4 billion in BTC went through mixing services (mixers). This is $ 500 million more than last year.
- In 2020, the amount received by darknet users increased by $ 300 million - the figure reached $ 1.6 billion, of which $ 533 million was sent from exchanges.
- The total value of BTC received in 2020 by all virtual asset service providers (VASP) was $ 272.9 billion, up from $ 154.3 billion a year earlier. The number of transactions decreased from 120 million to 109 million, but the average transaction size increased.
Bitcoin continues to fly aboriginally and make great profits. Whoever bought with us and did not sell anything along the way, as we recommended, congratulations from the bottom of my heart! You are handsome, and the years of waiting have not been wasted.
This is tough, but many still do not believe in growth and sit in dollars, although today the price reached as much as 28420. But in any case, there is still an alt season ahead, where you can easily make a fortune. Now all the attention is on the dominance of military-technical cooperation.
This is tough, but many still do not believe in growth and sit in dollars, although today the price reached as much as 28420. But in any case, there is still an alt season ahead, where you can easily make a fortune. Now all the attention is on the dominance of military-technical cooperation.
The 3 main drivers of growth for the Ethereum market are related to its utility and plans to launch an institutional product based on ETH, which was recently announced
Ethereum 2.0 phase 0 was launched on December 1 after potential validators have collected enough ETH. The initial target of 524,288 ETH for blocking in the smart contract for staking has been met and users continue to send their Ether.
According to Dune Analytics, $ 1.2 billion has been blocked in the contract so far.
DeFi based on Ethereum
⚠️ Another reason dates back to 2020: decentralized finance or simply DeFi.
Numerous ETH-based DeFi applications have had great success this year, such as:
📍Yearn. finance
📍Chainlink
📍Wrapped Bitcoin
📍Compound
📍Uniswap
📍SushiSwap etc.
However, some of these projects, such as YAM, have also failed due to the high investor interest in them.
In addition, several DeFi apps fell victim to hackers this year, losing large amounts of ETH from their users.
⚠️ Another likely reason for the rise in ETH is the ongoing rally in BTC.
Over the weekend, the largest cryptocurrency managed to climb from below $ 25K to show a short-term rise above $ 28K, and then retrace to a level above $ 26K 🤑📈
In addition, the third major currency, XRP, has come under fire over the past week after the US regulator, the SEC, filed a lawsuit against Ripple, accusing it of selling XRP as an unlisted security for the past eight years and making more than a billion dollars from those sales. US dollars.
Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse have also been indicted by the regulator.
These two factors also likely played a role in ETH's rise.
Ethereum 2.0 phase 0 was launched on December 1 after potential validators have collected enough ETH. The initial target of 524,288 ETH for blocking in the smart contract for staking has been met and users continue to send their Ether.
According to Dune Analytics, $ 1.2 billion has been blocked in the contract so far.
DeFi based on Ethereum
⚠️ Another reason dates back to 2020: decentralized finance or simply DeFi.
Numerous ETH-based DeFi applications have had great success this year, such as:
📍Yearn. finance
📍Chainlink
📍Wrapped Bitcoin
📍Compound
📍Uniswap
📍SushiSwap etc.
However, some of these projects, such as YAM, have also failed due to the high investor interest in them.
In addition, several DeFi apps fell victim to hackers this year, losing large amounts of ETH from their users.
⚠️ Another likely reason for the rise in ETH is the ongoing rally in BTC.
Over the weekend, the largest cryptocurrency managed to climb from below $ 25K to show a short-term rise above $ 28K, and then retrace to a level above $ 26K 🤑📈
In addition, the third major currency, XRP, has come under fire over the past week after the US regulator, the SEC, filed a lawsuit against Ripple, accusing it of selling XRP as an unlisted security for the past eight years and making more than a billion dollars from those sales. US dollars.
Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse have also been indicted by the regulator.
These two factors also likely played a role in ETH's rise.
The first SEC pre-trial conference on the case against Ripple will take place on February 22. Meanwhile, a large-scale boycott of XRP is only gaining momentum, many companies and exchanges refuse to work with this cryptocurrency. Grayscale especially distinguished itself, which out of 35 million XRP has already sold 9 million and is clearly not going to stop there. Although the chart already gives quite a bullish picture.