Day: August 14, 2019

Researchers Find Monero Mining Malware That Hides From Task Manager

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Cybersecurity company Varonis has discovered a new cryptojacking virus, dubbed “Norman,” that aims to mine the cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) and evade detection.  Varonis published a report about Norman on Aug.14. According to the report, Varonis found Norman as one of many cryptojacking viruses deployed in an attack that infected machines at a mid-size company.  Hackers and cybercriminals deploy cryptojacking hardware to use the computing power of unsuspecting users’ machines to mine cryptocurrencies like the privacy oriented coin Monero. Norman in particular is a crypto miner based on XMRig, which is…

Terra Stablecoin Alliance Adds South Korean Music Streaming Platform

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Blockchain payment system and stablecoin issuer Terra has added South Korean music streaming platform Bugs to its e-commerce alliance.  As CoinDesk reported Aug. 14, there are now 25 partners in the Singapore-based company’s South Korea-focused payment ecosystem. The Terra Alliance uses payment solutions provider CHAI as its front-end. CHAI incorporates a mobile payments app which connects to 15 major local banks. Terra’s blockchain-based platform then sits in the background, linking payments to e-commerce sites. Terra co-founder Daniel Shin said that the platform is smoother than the legacy payment systems in…

US Financial Regulators Reach $7M Settlement Over PlexCorps ICO

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The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached a multi-million dollar settlement with PlexCorps owner Dominique Lacroix, business partner Sabrina Paradis-Royer and PlexCorps over an allegedly fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO). The SEC submitted its settlement agreement to a U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on Aug. 12. According to the filing, the defendants will collectively be fined nearly $7 million as part of the settlement agreement.  The SEC concluded that the defendants raised $8,269,218 through the PlexCoin ICO. The agreement further states that the defendants will pay 55%…

Craig Wright Faked Documents on Bitcoin Creation

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The developer of peer-to-peer messenger Bitmessage, Jonathan Warren, testified against Australian computer scientist Craig Wright stating that some of Wright’s documents in a recent trial were faked. Per a court document released on Aug. 13, Warren testified in the course of an ongoing lawsuit against Wright filed by the estate of David Kleiman, who was a cyber-security expert, whom many believe to have been one of the first developers behind Bitcoin (BTC) and blockchain technology. Access to Bitmessage  In the U.S. Southern District of Florida court, Warren confirmed his role…

Iran Crypto Devs Launch Platform for Flood Victims in Light of US Sanctions

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Volunteer cryptocurrency developers in Iran have created a blockchain platform called IranRescueBit, which allows people to make charitable cryptocurrency donations to aid regions in the country in recovering from destructive flooding. Al Jazeera shared the news in a report on Aug. 14. According to the report, the platform supports donations in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC). The government is reportedly not involved in the project. IranRescueBit reportedly allows donors to dodge American sanctions that have insofar prohibited international donations to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, which is a…

Crypto Entity Lied About Licensure

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Luxembourg’s financial regulator, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), says that a seemingly crypto-related entity called Cryptominingoptionsignal claims to be licensed in Luxembourg, but is not. In a warning notice dated Aug. 13, the country’s watchdog simply wrote:  “The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) warns the public of the activities of an entity named Cryptominingoptionsignal […] The CSSF informs the public that Cryptominingoptionsignal is unknown to it and that the entity has not been granted any authorisation to provide investment services or other financial services in…

New Zealand Tax Authorities Give the Go Ahead for Crypto Payroll

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The crypto train has not yet stopped chugging along. More and more companies and countries are looking to get involved in the crypto sector, despite the hardships it has faced the past year. New Zealand just so happens to be the latest country, with reports coming out on Tuesday that said the sovereign island country will allow employers to pay their workers in cryptocurrency. Here’s everything we know. New Zealand Allows Employers to Pay Staff in Cryptocurrency This month, New Zealand tax authorities published a ruling that featured a section…

Binance Jersey Partners with Crypto Platform Caspian for Faster Trades

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Binance’s fiat-to-crypto conversion branch for euros and British pounds, Binance Jersey, has entered into a partnership with the crypto investment service Caspian, which provides trading, portfolio and risk management on its platform. Caspian shared news of the partnership with Cointelegraph on Aug. 14. The partnership will purportedly result in improved security for crypto investors, as well as a lower barrier to entry for the crypto market. The managing director of Caspian Chris Jenkins elaborated: “I am delighted for us to partner with Binance Jersey, a  substantial step forward in helping…

2018 Vs. 2019 by the Numbers

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Along with Bitcoin (BTC) price growth in 2019 (from $3,400 in February to $12,689 in June), some segments of the labor market related to cryptocurrencies and blockchain have also actively manifested themselves. Demand for lawyers has risen sharply, Facebook is actively hiring and the United States is breaking every record in terms of the number of job offerings. However, the overall picture is rather ambiguous. Blockchain experts are still in demand, especially in the U.S. According to a first quarter 2018 report, published by the world’s largest freelance network, Upwork,…

Maryland State Government Participating in ‘Operation Cryptosweep’

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The Attorney General of Maryland announced that the state is participating in “Operation Cryptosweep.” Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh announced that state regulators would be participating in the initiative in a press release published on Aug. 14. “Operation Cryptosweep” is a joint initiative of state and provincial securities regulators in the United States and Canada, wherein they launched probes into potentially fraudulent or noncompliant crypto investment programs. The initiative targeting suspicious crypto investment products is reportedly the largest such coordinated investigation by state and provincial officials. In the press…