Elites have started saying the quiet part out loud
This week we witnessed the latest — and perhaps more striking — sign that crypto might not be the future of finance. On Tuesday, Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX, a huge crypto exchange, opened a can of worms by describing “yield farming” — crypto’s makeshift alternative to traditional bank lending — as a Ponzi scheme.
The US has linked North Korea-backed hackers to a massive cryptocurrency heist worth $615m (£469m) from players of the popular online game Axie Infinity last month.
Players can earn crypto through game play or trading their avatars.
The hack is likely one of the biggest ever to hit the crypto world.
US officials say they linked the breach to a group called “Lazarus”, believed to be controlled by North Korea’s primary intelligence bureau.
The RCMP is asking cryptocurrency exchanges to stop facilitating transactions with cryptocurrency accounts connected to convoy protests.
A letter sent to several cryptocurrency exchanges and obtained by The Globe and Mail notes that both the RCMP and the Ontario Provincial Police are investigating cryptocurrency donations “in relation to illegal acts falling under the scope of the Emergency Measures Act.”
The letter instructs the exchange operators to “cease facilitating any transactions” with more than 30 specific cryptocurrency wallet addresses that it lists.
For bitcoin enthusiasts in Kosovo with a breezy attitude to risk, it has been a good week to strike a deal on computer equipment that can create, or “mine”, the cryptocurrency.
From Facebook to Telegram, new posts in the region’s online crypto groups became dominated by dismayed Kosovans attempting to sell off their mining equipment – often at knockdown prices.
“There’s a lot of panic and they’re selling it or trying to move it to neighbouring countries,” said cryptoKapo, a crypto investor and administrator of some of the region’s largest online crypto communities.
Quebec woman loses thousands after clicking on a Facebook ad
… The representative promised a return of up to 70 per cent on her investment.
“I thought, why not?”
It started with about $300 to open an account, but that small investment quickly snowballed into an avalanche. Sahota says smooth-talking representatives soon convinced her she was getting big returns on her investment, telling her she should invest more to make more.
Coincidentally I have been checking out Alt-Coin pump and dump scams. In the video below the “Save the Kids” alt-coin scam is explained, (The vid is a bit “Loud” but bear with it.) What is shocking is that no one has been charged. And it’s just one of many such scams. A coin was created and marketed to followers by a “Social Influencer” named “Faze Kaye” with the unwitting assistance of fellow influencers. Within a half hour of the coin going public the influencer and accomplices sold all their holdings for a quick profit estimated to be in the 500K range. Needless to say the coin tanked and is now worthless. It’s a convoluted story and there are multiple videos by CafeZilla unravelling the whole mess. I was intrigued to learn that digital currencies can be laundered with relative ease via services such as Tornado-Cash and made virtually untraceable. I was under the impression that the blockchain was transparent, and it is, but as in all things subject to abuse by those with an elastic morality.
China’s share of global Bitcoin mining has fallen to effectively zero, research by the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) suggests.
In June China told banks to stop facilitating transactions, and issued bans on mining.
At its peak in Sept 2019 China accounted for over three quarters of all Bitcoin mining.
China’s crackdown initially led to a 38% fall in mining globally CBECI said.
… The move comes amid a global cryptocurrency crackdown as governments from Asia to the United States fret that privately operated highly volatile digital currencies could undermine their control of the financial and monetary systems, increase systemic risk, promote financial crime and hurt investors.
They also worry that “mining,” the energy-intensive process through which bitcoin and other tokens are created by high performing computers, is undermining global environmental goals.
Chinese government agencies have repeatedly raised concerns that cryptocurrency speculation could disrupt the country’s economic and financial order, one of Beijing’s top priorities.
When China announced a crackdown on bitcoin mining and trading in May, Kevin Pan, CEO of Chinese cryptocurrency mining company Poolin, got on a flight the next day to leave the country.
“We decided to move out, once [and] for all. [We’ll] never come back again,” Mr Pan told the BBC.
Headquartered in Hong Kong, Poolin is the second largest bitcoin mining network in the world, with most of its operations in mainland China. The country was home to around 70% of global bitcoin mining power, until the clampdown sent the price of bitcoin into a tailspin and caught miners off guard.
The security of digital assets has been thrown in sharp focus after a huge theft of around $600 million took place on a decentralized network. The lack of protection for those affected is clear.
Around $600 million (€512 million) worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen by hackers this week on a decentralized financial (DeFi) network which specializes in allowing users to transfer digital assets tied from one blockchain to others.
PolyNetwork links some of the world’s top digital ledgers and blockchains but it announced on Tuesday that a hacker or hackers had exploited a vulnerability in its system which allowed them to access various digital ledgers and transfer funds away from the network to their own online wallets.
Update – Cryptocurrency heist hacker returns $260m in funds
‘Up to 1 million’ bitcoin processors could be relocated to Alberta from China under energy firm’s proposal
Three natural gas-producing sites in southern Alberta could host “up to one million” bitcoin mining machines relocated from China under a deal proposed by Nevada-based Black Rock Petroleum Company amid Beijing’s ongoing crackdown on cryptocurrency production and trading.
… It’s unclear what the project could mean for Alberta’s tax base. Black Rock said the site would be staffed by Chinese and English speaking technicians and other employees, but it’s unclear how many jobs the project would entail.
…Under the terms of the Quirk Creek agreement, Black Rock’s press release said, Black Rock would work in partnership with China-based Optimum Mining Host Ltd. (OMH), which would cover many of the costs anticipated to arise out of the arrangement.
Courtesy of the China Broadcasting Corporation
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan and other books on risk and probability is Bitcoin’s nemesis. A one-time supporter of the cryptocurrency he now calls it a “Ponzi scheme.” Taleb recently posted an analytical take-down of Bitcoin using concepts from quantitative finance. He hits hard.
