The digital asset firm Nexo has announced its partnership with Sift, aiming to upgrade its fraud prevention mechanisms. The collaboration between the duo is expected to streamline and secure the user experience for Nexo’s customer base, which exceeds six million globally. Nexo to Leverage Sift’s Fraud Protection Services By integrating Sift‘s payment protection and account […]
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Zcash To Enhance User Protection With Privacy-Focused Partnership
A partnership between privacy-focused projects Nym and Zcash was recently announced. The partnership aims to address some persisting issues in the sector to enhance user protection and data privacy in the Zcash ecosystem.
Data Leakage, A Challenging Issue
Electric Coin Company (ECC), the Zcash development organization, is collaborating with Nym, a privacy blockchain project focused on enhancing data confidentiality. The collaboration is possible through a Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) grant, as the project’s team announced on its X (former Twitter) account.
The partnership aims to address challenging user protection issues by integrating Nym’s mixnet into the Zcash ecosystem. Integrating with the Zcash light client libraries would allow the wallet developers to implement Nym mixnet’s privacy protection at their discretion.
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Nym is happy to announce a grant from Zcash Community Grants to integrate the Nym mixnet with Zcash, and enhance privacy for Zcash users by protecting against metadata leaks.
— Nym (@nymproject) February 13, 2024
The goal, as the announcement explains, is for the integration process of Nym and Zcash to fill the gap in the network layer. This gap allows the metadata of user’s transactions to be traceable and leaves the data vulnerable, which then presents a privacy problem for users, as the post explains:
Powerful adversaries can analyze traffic patterns such as the stream of TCP/IP packets used to submit transactions, which can then be used to de-anonymize users. ISPs can snoop on traffic patterns to passively record Zcash activity. And the growing crypto surveillance industry can passively spy on peer-to-peer traffic, as well as conduct active attacks.
Nym will work with Zcash’s already existing privacy-preserving infrastructure to “help provide an end-to-end protected solution for users’ privacy. Zcash uses zero-knowledge proofs to secure transaction privacy, but “even advanced privacy protections like Zcash’s auto-shielding feature are vulnerable at the network later.”
The Nym mixnet is a technology that prevents government, corporate, and criminal surveillance adversaries from tracing metadata by encrypting user data into sphinx packets and dispersing them across global ‘mix nodes’, making metadata patterns untraceable and ensuring online privacy:
The mixnet achieves this by splitting data into identically sized encrypted Sphinx packets and dispersing these in three hops to ‘mix nodes’ worldwide at randomized intervals. Next, the mixnet shuffles in dummy ‘cover’ traffic, further complicating tracing. Together these features make tracking metadata patterns impossible even for powerful adversaries with a global view of the network.
A Shared Vision: Privacy For Everyone
Nym and Zcash are privacy-focused projects that protect users’ rights to their personal information and transaction data. “It is an alienable right to a dignified life free from gross intrusion and interference,” said Harry Halpin, cofounder and CEO at Nym Technologies.
Halpin also commented on the state of the digital realm regarding privacy matters. The CEO believes that although intrusion and interference are the “normal state of affairs,” a change is needed. “With this groundbreaking integration, Nym and Zcash are working to make real privacy online a reality,” he concluded.
Josh Swihart, CEO of ECC, expressed his positive outlook on the partnership, reaffirming that network-level privacy has been a “missing piece since Zcash’s inception.” He believes that privacy ecosystems coming together will only “deepen protections from everyday users to protect their financial privacy.”
Global regulators have scrutinized privacy-focused projects and accused them of enabling criminal activity. Last year, Zcash (ZEC), alongside other privacy coins like Monero (XMR), was announced to be delisted from Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world, in four European countries. Similarly, Binance recently announced its plan to delist Moreno in the US amid regulatory pressure.
Safemoon Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Protection Amid Securities and Wire Fraud Charges
In the latest development, Safemoon, a crypto company, voluntarily initiated Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings in the District of Utah, as stated in their bankruptcy documentation. This action comes on the heels of the company’s founders facing indictment for securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice last month.
Safemoon US Files Chapter 7; SFM Token Plummets
On December 14, 2023, Safemoon US, LLC, the entity behind the safemoon.com website, lodged a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in Utah. This type of bankruptcy, often referred to as “liquidation,” necessitates selling the debtor’s nonexempt assets to settle debts with creditors.
For a business such as Safemoon, Chapter 7 bankruptcy signifies halting all operations, while a court-appointed trustee manages the sale of the company’s assets to repay creditors. The bankruptcy submission, authorized by the chief restructuring officer, reveals that Safemoon possesses assets valued between and million, against liabilities ranging from 0K to 0K.
Founded on March 1, 2021, by CEO John Karony, with assistance from Kyle Nagy and Thomas Smith, Safemoon introduced its native token safemoon (SFM) to the market at the end of December 2021. On January 5, 2022, SFM hit its peak value at .00338272. Currently, the token’s value is down by 98.7% from its all-time high, nearly two years prior.
However, last month brought turmoil as the SEC and the Eastern District of New York Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Safemoon with fraud, alleging misappropriation of millions. The DOJ accused the founders of extravagantly spending investor funds on high-end vehicles, real estate, and other luxury purchases.
Following the bankruptcy declaration, SFM‘s value plummeted to a record low, continuing its downward trajectory. In the Chapter 7 documentation, when asked whether the debtor owns or possesses any property requiring immediate attention, the restructuring officer affirmed with a “yes.” The assets in question, categorized as “other,” are listed as encompassing “cryptocurrency, intellectual property, and other intangible assets.”
What do you think about Safemoon filing for bankruptcy amid the SEC and DOJ charges? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Mastercard and Feedzai Collaborate to Increase Crypto Fraud Protection for 900 Million Consumers Globally
Mastercard is collaborating with Feedzai to “increase crypto fraud protection for hundreds of millions of consumers.” In pairing the technologies offered by the two companies, “Feedzai’s customers, who collectively protect over 900 million consumers globally, will now be able to identify and prevent transactions involving fraudulent crypto exchanges before they occur,” Mastercard explained.
Mastercard Expanding Crypto Fraud Protection
Mastercard announced Monday that the company is collaborating with Feedzai, a leading provider of financial crime and risk management solutions, to “increase crypto fraud protection for hundreds of millions of consumers.”
The payment giant detailed that Feedzai will “leverage Mastercard’s Ciphertrace crypto intelligence solutions to reduce the risk of account-to-account fraud flowing into crypto exchanges.” This integration will involve integrating Mastercard’s Ciphertrace Armada into Feedzai’s Riskops platform, which analyzes transaction data totaling over .7 trillion annually. Riskops also offers a comprehensive suite of artificial intelligence (AI)-based solutions designed to stop fraud and financial crime at the source.
Noting that “Ciphertrace Armada allows banks, crypto exchanges, wallets, crypto ATMs, and other virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to better assess the fraud risk in digital asset transactions,” Mastercard described:
In pairing these technologies together, Feedzai’s customers, who collectively protect over 900 million consumers globally, will now be able to identify and prevent transactions involving fraudulent crypto exchanges before they occur.
“The combined intelligence means that financial institutions can stop transactions involving high risk and potentially fraudulent crypto exchanges in real time, alerting the customer to the risk before money leaves their account,” the payments giant noted.
The announcement further explains that currently, an estimated 40% of fraudulent transactions directly flow from a bank account to a cryptocurrency exchange. As per Feedzai’s latest report on global anti-money laundering compliance, effective monitoring of cryptocurrency remains one of the significant challenges for financial institutions.
Feedzai CEO Nuno Sebastião commented: “Criminals use crypto as part of their scam strategies, with the scam proceeds often ending up being funneled to an unauthorized or otherwise risky crypto exchange. It also continues to remain a challenge for AML professionals as criminals become ever more sophisticated and money laundering techniques advance.” The executive continued:
This global partnership will further empower banks to protect their customers’ against the risks associated with crypto and instill further trust in the ecosystem.
What do you think about Mastercard and Feedzai collaborating to expand crypto fraud protection for hundreds of millions of consumers worldwide? Let us know in the comments section below.
Robert Kiyosaki Says Prepare for Hyperinflation — Sees Bitcoin as the ‘Best Protection’
Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki has urged investors to prepare for hyperinflation, emphasizing that bitcoin is “your best protection.” He perceives the cryptocurrency as “people’s money,” the value of which cannot be controlled by governments.
Robert Kiyosaki: Bitcoin Is Your Best Protection
The author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, is advising investors to prepare for hyperinflation, emphasizing that he views bitcoin as the best protection. Rich Dad Poor Dad is a 1997 book co-authored by Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. It has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for over six years. More than 32 million copies of the book have been sold in over 51 languages across more than 109 countries.
In a post on social media platform X on Sunday, Kiyosaki shared that he was “just in Germany to celebrate 100 years since 1923, the hyperinflation that brought Adolf Hitler to power.” He added: “Are we about to celebrate hyperinflation too? I hope not. Yet our government leaders are the most incompetent ever.”
The renowned author proceeded to recommend: “Study Germany and Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation and prepare.” Noting that “Food will always be valuable as will guns, gold, and silver,” he stressed:
Yet I believe bitcoin is your best protection because bitcoin is people’s money which means people control the value of bitcoin not our leaders.
This was not the first time the famous author has warned about hyperinflation. In September, he explained on X: “Many people think hyperinflation means prices are going up. It means the exact opposite. Hyperinflation means the purchasing power of your money is going going. Don’t be a loser. Buy gold, silver, & bitcoin and be a winner not a loser.”
Kiyosaki has been recommending gold, silver, and bitcoin for quite some time. He previously said that the three investments are the best for “unstable times.” He believes that they provide “lifelong financial security and freedom.” In April, Kiyosaki said “America is dying,” warning of the demise of the U.S. dollar.
The famous author is not alone in expressing concerns about hyperinflation. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey predicted in 2021 that hyperinflation will soon happen in the U.S. and the world. Venture capitalist Balaji Srinivasan said in March that hyperinflation is happening now. Economist Peter Schiff has also sounded the alarm on the matter, stating last year that major Fed rate hikes risk hyperinflation.
Do you agree with Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki about bitcoin being the best protection against hyperinflation? Let us know in the comments section below.
Fidelity Files 19b-4 for Spot Ethereum ETF, Aiming to Boost Investor Protection in Crypto Space
The asset manager Fidelity has filed a 19b-4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list a spot ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the Cboe BZX Exchange. The proposed ETF would hold physical ethereum (ETH) tokens and seek to track the Fidelity Ethereum Index, providing exposure to ether’s daily price movements.
Fidelity’s Latest 19b-4 Filing Highlights Spot Ethereum ETF
The Fidelity Ethereum Fund aims to launch as a U.S.-regulated spot ETF for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Fidelity’s 19b-4 filing says currently, the options for U.S. investors’ ethereum exposure are limited to over-the-counter (OTC) ether funds carrying high fees and volatile premiums or discounts.
Fidelity contends approval of a spot ETF would represent a major win for investor protection in the crypto space by reducing risks associated with existing ether funds. The 19b-4 account bears resemblance to Blackrock’s latest submission for a spot ether ETF, echoing comparable rationale.
“Approval of a spot ETH ETP would represent a major win for the protection of U.S. investors in the crypto asset space,” the filing states. “The Trust, like all other series of Commodity-Based Trust Shares, is designed to protect investors against the risk of losses through fraud and insolvency that arise by holding digital assets, including ETH, on centralized platforms.”
The proposed ETF’s pricing mechanism would be similar to CME Ether futures and utilize price feeds from major spot exchanges. Fidelity argues this should satisfy the SEC’s standard requiring surveillance-sharing agreements with a regulated market of significant size. The filing cites recent court decisions stipulating the CME futures market meets this standard for spot bitcoin ETFs.
“Both the Exchange and CME are members of ISG. The only remaining issue to be addressed is whether the ETH Futures market constitutes a market of significant size, which both the Exchange and the Sponsor believe that it does,” the filing states.
Fidelity’s proposed spot ethereum ETF would directly hold ether in cold storage to eliminate counterparty risks, value shares daily based on a spot price index, and let authorized participants exchange ether for share creations/redemptions. When shares are created or redeemed, the fund would exchange ether directly with authorized participants in blocks called “Creation Baskets.”
In tandem with Blackrock, Fidelity aligns with Ark Invest, 21shares, and Vaneck in its endeavor to introduce a spot ether ETF. Similar to Blackrock, Fidelity has simply filed a 19b-4 for record keeping purposes and will likely follow up with an S-1 form to register their product with the SEC.
What do you think about the Fidelity registration for a spot ethereum ETF? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Bitmain Unveils New T21 Bitcoin Miner; Offers BTC Fluctuation Protection Plan
On Wednesday, the bitcoin mining rig manufacturer Bitmain announced the introduction of a new air-cooled BTC miner, the T21 Antminer. The new device boasts a production capacity of up to 190 terahash per second (TH/s) and maintains an efficiency ratio of approximately 19 joules per terahash (J/T).
Bitmain Debuts T21 Antminer
After the recent unveiling of Microbt’s latest mining equipment, Bitmain, a competitor, has added the T21 Antminer to its extensive range of hashing devices. On October 25, Bitmain showcased the T21, capable of delivering 190 TH/s with an efficiency rating of 19 J/T.
Additionally, the company introduced an optional bitcoin price fluctuation plan, ensuring customers receive compensation if BTC’s prices fall below the strike on a reference day within a protected period.
The bitcoin fluctuation protection plan offers various tiers, depending on the duration of the protected period, with Bitmain asserting that “compensation shall be paid immediately upon the triggering event.”
The T21 Antminer is the latest in a series of launches by Bitmain, following two new devices from the S21 series introduced last month. The S21 Hyd achieves up to 335 TH/s with an efficiency rating of 16 J/T, while the air-cooled S21 miner provides up to 200 TH/s with an efficiency rating of about 17.5 J/T.
While the S21 air-cooled machine offers slightly superior ratings compared to the T21, the latter, however, surpasses the S19 Antminers in efficiency ratios. The specifications for the T21 detail a power consumption of 3,610 watts, with expected shipping in the first quarter of 2024.
The T21 is also comparable to the S21 air-cooled Antminer in terms of size and weight. This year has seen the release of several new devices by all three major bitcoin mining machine manufacturers: Bitmain with three, Canaan with two, and Microbt with three.
What do you think about Bitmain’s new bitcoin miner the T12? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Mexican Billionaire Advocates Bitcoin for Wealth Protection — ‘People Need to Realize They’re Being Robbed’
Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas sees bitcoin as a way to protect against inflation tax because the cryptocurrency cannot be debased. “People’s savings are being taken from them without their permission, without their knowledge,” he stressed, adding that “everybody would benefit from understanding that the debasement of currency is a very useful trick in the fraudsters’ trick book to avoid raising taxes or debt.”
Ricardo Salinas on Benefits of Bitcoin
Ricardo Salinas, chairman of Grupo Salinas, discussed how bitcoin can affect an economy, particularly in Latin America, in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, published Friday.
“All over the world, not just in Mexico or Latin America, what we’re seeing is this increasing inflation tax, which means that the people’s savings are being taken from them without their permission, without their knowledge, and it’s very sad, especially for people who depend on this for their retirement,” he began, adding:
So bitcoin is a way to protect against that because it cannot be debased.
“So the importance of bitcoin is that it’s tax resistant and many other things, but very specifically applied to hyperinflationary economies, which we have several in Latin America,” the Mexican billionaire added.
When asked about what needs to happen in Mexico for mass bitcoin adoption, Salinas replied: “The first thing that needs to happen is people need to realize that they’re being scammed, that they are being robbed by these crooks and the government.” He stressed: “That’s what they are, they’re fraudsters. They commit fraud and they stand there and say ‘how are we doing monetary policy’ and they’re just stealing people blind.”
The billionaire emphasized: “So first thing that needs to happen is people need to understand how this works so they can then defend against that but these ‘gobiernicolas,’ these government cavemen as I call them, they’re not dumb and they’re not stupid and they’re not going to give away this power they have to confiscate people’s wealth, so you gotta take it from them.”
He opined:
I think everybody would benefit from understanding that the debasement of currency is a very useful trick in the fraudsters’ trick book to avoid raising taxes or debt.
Regarding how a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) will affect BTC, he said: “Obviously, an ETF is a new source of demand. It makes it easier for people to invest in bitcoin so that’s great. It’s what’s needed. But precisely because it’s great and what’s needed, it’s precisely because of that reason that the crooks in power don’t allow it to proceed.” He noted that the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, “knows exactly what we’re talking about.” The billionaire concluded:
He [Gensler] has very good reasons not to allow, as well as the people in the Treasury and the Fed, they all know perfectly well it’s not about protecting investors, it’s about protecting their way of financing government spending without raising taxes.
Do you agree with Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas? Let us know in the comments section below.
Data Protection Bodies Call For ‘Privacy Threshold’ in Digital Euro Transactions
Ensuring low-value digital euro transactions are not traced is one of the recommendations made by two data protection agencies in the EU. The independent bodies have presented their joint opinion on the proposed regulation for the upcoming digital version of Europe’s common fiat currency.
Independent EU Regulators Insist on Embedding Data Protection in the Design of the Digital Euro
The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) have made several recommendations on how to ensure high-level protection for the personal data and privacy of users of the future digital euro.
The stated aim of the eurozone’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) is to provide Europeans with an alternative means to make online and offline payments, complementing cash. The authorities welcomed the idea that users will have a choice and that the proposal for an EU regulation on the establishment of the digital euro addresses many data protection aspects.
However, the agencies believe that data protection should be embedded in the digital euro’s design itself and suggest further improvements to guarantee that the rights to privacy and protection of personal data are effectively preserved. EDPB Deputy Chair Irene Loizidou Nicolaidou emphasized:
A high standard of privacy and data protection is instrumental in gaining citizens’ trust in this new digital currency.
Introducing a “privacy threshold” under which neither offline nor online low-value transactions with digital euro can be traced for anti-money laundering or counter-terrorism financing purposes is one of the steps the EDPB and the EDPS “strongly recommend.”
The two organizations are also objecting to the proposed establishment of a single access point to verify that individual digital euro holding limits are not exceeded. The plan is to conduct this verification by processing identifiers of the digital euro users and their holding limits.
The data protection bodies suggest “assessing whether the single access point is necessary and proportionate, underscoring that technical measures allowing for a decentralized storage of these identifiers are feasible, as an alternative.”
After two years of investigation, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced on Wednesday its decision to move to the next “preparation phase” of the digital euro project. The monetary authority assured in a statement that data protection will be a priority and that the Eurosystem would not be able to link payment information to individual users.
Do you believe the design of the digital euro will ensure sufficient personal data protection to gain European citizens’ trust? Tell us in the comments section below.
Digital Euro Enters ‘Preparation Phase’ — ECB Says ‘Digital Euro Would Make Data Protection a Priority’
The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to move its digital euro project to the next phase after two years of investigation. The “preparation phase” of the digital euro will involve “finalizing the digital euro rulebook and selecting providers that could develop a digital euro platform and infrastructure.”
Digital Euro Proceeds to ‘Preparation Phase’
The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided Wednesday “to move to the next phase of the digital euro project: the preparation phase,” the ECB announced.
This decision followed the completion of the ECB’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) investigation phase which the Eurosystem launched in October 2021 “to explore possible design and distribution models for a digital euro,” the European Central Bank detailed. The ECB also published a report Wednesday detailing its findings from the investigation phase of the digital euro.
The ECB detailed:
The next phase of the digital euro project — the preparation phase – will start on 1 November 2023 and will initially last two years. It will involve finalizing the digital euro rulebook and selecting providers that could develop a digital euro platform and infrastructure.
“After two years, the Governing Council will decide whether to move to the next stage of preparations, to pave the way for the possible future issuance and roll-out of a digital euro,” the ECB noted.
“The Eurosystem envisions a digital euro that would be free for basic use for individuals,” the ECB continued, adding that it has designed a digital euro to be “widely accessible to citizens and businesses through distribution by supervised intermediaries, such as banks.”
Moreover, the ECB stated: “The digital euro would make data protection a priority. The Eurosystem would not be able to see users’ personal data or link payment information to individuals. The digital euro would also achieve a cash-like level of privacy for offline payments.”
Fabio Panetta, ECB Executive Board member and Chair of the High-Level Task Force on a digital euro, opined: “A digital euro would increase the efficiency of European payments and contribute to Europe’s strategic autonomy.”
ECB President Christine Lagarde commented:
We need to prepare our currency for the future. We envisage a digital euro as a digital form of cash that can be used for all digital payments, free of charge, and that meets the highest privacy standards. It would coexist alongside physical cash, which will always be available, leaving no one behind.
What do you think about the digital euro progressing to the next phase? Let us know in the comments section below.