Autor Cointelegraph By Arijit Sarkar

Etherscan, CoinGecko warn against ongoing MetaMask phishing attacks

Etherscan, CoinGecko warn against ongoing MetaMask phishing attacks

Uverejnil používateľ | máj 14, 2022 |

Popular crypto analytics platforms Etherscan and CoinGecko have parallelly issued an alert against an ongoing phishing attack on their platforms. The firms began investigating the attack after numerous users reported unusual MetaMask pop-ups prompting users to connect their crypto wallets to the website. Based on the information disclosed by the analytics firms, the latest phishing attack attempts to gain access to users’ funds by requesting to integrate their crypto wallets via MetaMask once they access the official websites. Security Alert: If you are on the CoinGecko website and you are being prompted by your Metamask to connect to this site, this is a SCAM. Don’t connect it. We are investigating the root cause of this issue. pic.twitter.com/7vPfTAjtiU— CoinGecko (@coingecko) May 13, 2022Etherscan further revealed that the attackers have managed to display phishing pop-ups via third-party integration and advised investors to refrain from confirming any transactions requested by MetaMask. We’ve received reports of phishing popups via a 3rd party integration and are currently investigating. Please be careful not to confirm any transactions that pop up on the website.— “The Etherscan” (@etherscan) May 13, 2022

Pointing toward the possible cause of the attack, @Noedel19, a member of Crypto Twitter, connected the ongoing phishing attacks to the compromise of Coinzilla, an advertising and marketing agency, stating that “Any website that makes use of Coinzilla Ads are compromised.”Compromised CoinZilla source code with phishing link. Source: @Noedel19The screenshots shared below show the automated pop-up from MetaMask asking to connect with the link falsely portraying as Bored Ape Yacht Club’s (BAYC) non-fungible token (NFT) offering.CoinGecko website showing fake MetaMask pop-up. Source: @Noedel19On May 4, Cointelegraph further warned readers about the rise in Ape-themed airdrop phishing scams, which is further cemented by the latest warnings issued by Etherscan and CoinGecko.While an official confirmation from Coinzilla is still underway, @Noedel19 suspects that all companies that have ad integration with Coinzilla remain at risk of similar attacks wherein their users get pop-ups for MetaMask integration. As a primary means of damage control, Etherscan has disabled the compromised third-party integration on its website.Coinzilla has not yet responded to Cointelegraph’s request for comment. Related: Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs stolen in Instagram phishing attackThe team behind BAYC recently warned investors about an attack after hackers were found to breach their official Instagram account. There is no mint going on today. It looks like BAYC Instagram was hacked. Do not mint anything, click links, or link your wallet to anything.— Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) April 25, 2022

As Cointelegraph reported on April 25, hackers were able to gain access to BAYC’s official Instagram account. The hackers then contacted BAYC’s Instagram followers and shared links to fake airdrops. Users who connected their MetaMask wallets to the scam website were subsequently drained of their Ape NFTs. Unconfirmed reports suggest that approximately 100 NFTs were stolen during the phishing attack.

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Indian central bank’s 'informal pressure' disrupted payments: Coinbase CEO

Indian central bank’s 'informal pressure' disrupted payments: Coinbase CEO

Uverejnil používateľ | máj 11, 2022 |

Just three days after debuting in the Indian market, United States-based crypto exchange Coinbase abruptly stopped using United Payments Interface (UPI), the most popular payment service in the region. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong later revealed that the service disruption was due to an “informal pressure” from India’s central bank.During Coinbase’s 2022 Quarterly Earnings call, Armstrong spoke about the company’s global expansion plans while acknowledging Coinbase’s role in starting the conversation with regulators related to crypto adoption. When asked about the impact of the recent disruption related to offering payment services in India, Armstrong stated:“So a few days after launching, we ended up disabling UPI because of some informal pressure from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which is kind of the Treasury equivalent there.”While highlighting the Supreme Court’s ruling from March 2020, which forbids RBI from banning banks to deal with crypto business, Armstrong warned about certain government entities — including the RBI — “who don’t seem to be as positive on it.”The CEO revealed Coinbase’s aggressive strategy for international expansion that involves launching services in new jurisdictions and work with the regulators based on their reactions to Coinbase’s presence in the region. Highlighting India’s attempt to impose a shadow-ban on crypto businesses, Armstrong added:“Basically they’re applying soft pressure behind the scenes to try to disable some of these payments which might be going through UPI. I guess we have a concern that they may be actually in violation of the Supreme Court ruling.”Despite the evident regulatory hurdles, Coinbase prepares for a relaunch in the region by introducing other modes of payment as it tries to cater to the high demand of crypto investors. Armstrong concluded:“In most places in the free world and in democracies, crypto is going to eventually be regulated and legal. And the way that we push the conversation forward is by taking action.”On April 1, India introduced its first set of crypto laws that requires crypto investors to pay 30% tax on unrealized crypto gains. The move, however, negatively impacted the crypto ecosystem as trading volumes plummeted and in-house businesses shifted away into friendlier jurisdictions.Related: Binance to drive crypto and blockchain awareness among Indian investorsEyeing on the same pool of untapped market, crypto exchange Binance launched three key educational initiatives to fast-track educating Indian investors and students about the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem.Along with the announcement, Binance highlighted that the lack of education among Indian regulators and policymakers currently hinders the widespread adoption of crypto.

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Binance temporarily suspends LUNA, UST withdrawals citing network congestion

Binance temporarily suspends LUNA, UST withdrawals citing network congestion

Uverejnil používateľ | máj 10, 2022 |

As the crypto community still tries to decipher Terra’s ongoing pegging-de-pegging fiasco in relation to its stablecoin offering TerraUSD (UST), major crypto exchange Binance temporarily suspended the withdrawals for Terra (LUNA) and UST on Tuesday. The market value of UST, Terra’s stablecoin offering, recently fell below the expected $1.00 price point as LUNA’s price witnessed a sharp decline owing to a major selloff. At the same time, the BTC/UST trading pair on Binance reached highs of more than $42,000, while other Bitcoin dollar markets struggled to preserve $30,000, as reported by Cointelegraph.Which has caused a massive surge in BTCUST (Not Bitcoin valued in dollars, but valued in the UST stablecoin). pic.twitter.com/Xn7qcy4VMZ— Blockchain Backer (@BCBacker) May 10, 2022As a reactionary measure against the ongoing uncertainty within the Terra ecosystem, Binance suspended all withdrawals for LUNA and UST tokens for six hours (between midnight to 6:00 AM EST), citing a high volume of pending withdrawal transactions. Withdrawals for $LUNA and $UST on the Terra network have now resumed on Binance.We will continue to monitor the network conditions and provide further updates here if required.— Binance (@binance) May 10, 2022

According to Binance, the high volume of pending UST transactions is due to network slowness and congestion. While acknowledging the possible inconvenience to its investors, Binance stated:“Binance will reopen withdrawals for these tokens once we deem the network to be stable and the volume of pending withdrawals has reduced. We will not notify users in a further announcement.”Crypto Twitter, however, reacted to Binance’s announcement by questioning the inherent values of decentralization that the crypto community stands for — comparing the move to a centralized approach usually sported by traditional finance.Hmm… reminds me a lot of our shitty legacy financial system. https://t.co/yF11hj4i5N— Ergo Whale (@ergo_whale) May 10, 2022

As users across the globe get barred from withdrawing their own funds, the community reiterated the phrase “not your keys not your coins,” and highlighted Binance’s funds’ suspension as one of the major cons of a centralized crypto exchange. On the other hand, some members of the community supported the move by stating that Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao helped many investors from liquidating themselves by selling a stablecoin at $0.70.While Terra continues to find a permanent solution to the dropping value of UST, numerous crypto entrepreneurs including Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal showed support for the co-founder and CEO of Terraform Labs, Do Kwon.I have not followed LUNA/UST ecosystem or community discourse much BUT at a founder to founder level, I can feel for @stablekwonHe is at the epicentre of this industry wide event, handling so much pressure & responsibility at such a young age.Good luck to him & Luna community!— Sandeep – Use Stripe on Polygon (@sandeepnailwal) May 10, 2022

Related: Terra’s UST flips BUSD to become third-largest stablecoinOn April 18, UST flipped Binance USD (BUSD) to become the third-largest stablecoin on the market after Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) based on market capitalization.Cointelegraph’s report based on data collected from CoinGecko showed that UST’s total market capitalization had surged 15% over the past 30 days to sit at roughly $17.5 billion, which was slightly higher than BUSD’s market cap of $17.46 billion.Source: CoinGeckoHowever, the recent turbulence across the Terra ecosystem has resulted in BUSD regaining its position as the 9th-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization. At the time of writing, UST maintains 10th position in the list with roughly $16.5 billion in market cap.

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Binance takes legal action against fake billboard ads in Turkey

Binance takes legal action against fake billboard ads in Turkey

Uverejnil používateľ | máj 9, 2022 |

Binance TR, the Turkish arm of crypto exchange Binance, has warned investors in the region of an ongoing scam attempt that targets crypto investors via fake Binance-branded billboards and hoardings.Turkey is home to a large number of crypto investors that account for over 7% of the total traffic to Binance’s primary platform through a desktop browser, as evidenced by data from Similarweb. Trying to cash in on Binance’s popularity in the country, scammers in Turkey have been found to rent numerous billboards to advertise fake Binance-themed opportunities.Bir süredir Türkiye’nin farklı bölgelerinde aşağıdaki görsele benzer reklam panoları göze çarpmaktadır.Aşağıdaki görselin #Binance ile ilgisi yoktur❗️Dolandırıcılık faaliyeti içinde oldukları açıkça belli olan kişiler hakkında gerekli hukuki süreçler başlatılmıştır.#SAFU pic.twitter.com/znvJDLRP7v— Binance Türkiye (@Binance_Turkish) May 8, 2022In the latest warning issued by Binance Turkey, the billboard is shown sporting an advertisement for “Binance Tourist exchange” that has no affiliation with the original Binance, founded by Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. The ad also includes telephone numbers that, when dialed, can connect potential victims to scammers. A rough translation of the warning reads: “For a while, billboards similar to the image below have been striking in different regions of Turkey […and] has nothing to do with #Binance!”Given the ease in tracking down the people responsible for renting out billboards and posting fraudulent advertisements targeted at crypto investors, Binance has revealed its intent to go on the offensive and take necessary legal against the people “who are clearly involved in fraudulent activities.”Unwary investors who end up contacting the fake contact numbers are usually greeted by the scammer posing as Binance. With the ultimate goal to steal money in the form of crypto assets, scammers have been found to direct investors to create new accounts or share existing seed phrases. Just last month, on April 15, Binance launched its first 24/7 customer service center in Turkey as it prepares to expand the service worldwide. As Cointelegraph previously reported, Binance set up customer support in Turkey with the primary goal to proactively mitigate fraud cases before it happens.Investors who suspect being in contact with such scammers are advised to contact Binance’s official customer support through official channels, including the website or mobile application.Related: Coinbase is planning to purchase crypto exchange BtcTurk in $3.2B deal: ReportOwing to the massive interest in crypto among Turkish investors, the popular crypto exchange Coinbase reportedly planned to increase its footprint in the region by eying a purchase of local crypto exchange BtcTurk for $3.2 billion. Cointelegraph’s report on the matter reveals that both the crypto exchanges have reportedly already signed a term sheet. However, an official confirmation about the deal is still awaited. To support the ongoing global expansion drive, Coinbase has also posted a job opening in Turkey for a country director who can “play a key role in supporting major regulatory/policy efforts, and subsequently ensuring that Coinbase operates in full compliance with applicable local regulatory requirements.”

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Utah Governor approves of blockchain and digital innovation task force

Utah Governor approves of blockchain and digital innovation task force

Uverejnil používateľ | máj 8, 2022 |

After nearly a three-year-long discussion about establishing a task force to oversee blockchain and crypto initiatives, the governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, signed a bill to create the Blockchain and Digital Innovation Task Force.The Utah State Legislature first saw the introduction of the house bill (H.B. 335) in early February 2022, which took nearly two months to pass through several senate, house and fiscal actions before finally being signed by Governor Cox on 24th March.Some of the primary duties assigned to the task force involve making policy recommendations related to blockchain and related technologies. A part of the bill reads:“[The task force shall] develop and introduce recommendations regarding policy pertaining to the promotion in the state of the adoption of blockchain, financial technology, and digital innovation.”According to the bill, the task force in Utah will consist of up to 20 members with diverse expertise in blockchain technology, cryptocurrency and financial technologies. Out of the lot, up to five members will be appointed by the president of the Senate, up to five members by the speaker of the House of Representatives and up to five members by the governor, among others.In addition, the bill also requires the Utah Division of Finance to provide staff support to the task force. The policy recommendations also entail the development of non-financial incentives for industries in the state related to blockchain, financial technology, and digital innovation. Upon establishment, the task force is required to report annually on or before November 30 to two committees of the Utah State Senate — the Business and Labor Interim Committee and the Legislative Management Committee.Related: SEC doubles down on crypto regulation by expanding unitAs state and federal regulators explore the least disruptive scope of crypto adoption, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced plans to double the number of personnel responsible for safeguarding investors in cryptocurrency markets. As Cointelegraph reported, the SEC’s Cyber Unit, which includes the Crypto Assets and Cyber team, will hire 20 new people for 50 dedicated positions, including investigative staff attorneys, trial lawyers and fraud analysts.SEC Chairperson Gary Gensler welcomed the move while highlighting the success of the Cyber Unit in bringing down fraudulent activities in the crypto space, stating:“By nearly doubling the size of this key unit, the SEC will be better equipped to police wrongdoing in the crypto markets while continuing to identify disclosure and controls issues with respect to cybersecurity.”

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