Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP), a coal mining company in the U.S., recently disclosed its use of underutilized electricity loads for bitcoin mining. Cary Marshall, the company’s CFO, revealed that ARLP concluded the first quarter of 2024 with an approximate total of 425 bitcoins. Marshall also stated that during the first quarter, ARLP mined 61 bitcoins […]
Bitcoin News
Crypto Analyst Uses Historical Data To Show When The Bitcoin Price Will Reach $207,000
A crypto analyst has laid out a scenario where the Bitcoin price could rise above 0,000 by June. This is based on a historical occurrence that could play out again following BTC’s recent run above its previous all-time high (ATH).
How BTC Could Rise To 7,000 By June
The anonymous analyst behind the prominent crypto X (formerly Twitter) account, Bitcoin Archive, alluded to the 2021 bull run when Bitcoin’s price more than tripled in just 103 days after breaking the previous cycle’s ATH. That means Bitcoin could run to 7,000 by June if history repeats itself.
Bearing the Bitcoin Halving event in mind, Bitcoin’s price tripling by June looks feasible. Bitcoin’s price has more than tripled 90 days after previous Halving events. Considering that Bitcoin surpassed its previous ATH even before this Halving, which is set to take place in April, the flagship crypto could also achieve this exponential price surge in record time this time around.
This narrative is supported by the fact that Bitcoin’s demand continues to exceed its supply, and the supply will be further reduced when miners’ rewards are cut in half. Therefore, although ambitious, a price surge of such magnitude cannot be ruled out.
Moreover, crypto analyst MacronautBTC already calculated how Bitcoin’s price could rise to 7,000 based on the imbalance between supply and demand. BTC rising to 7,000 by June will no doubt defy expectations, with analysts like Skybridge Capital CEO Anthony Scaramucci not expecting such a price surge until next year.
Scaramuci had predicted that Bitcoin would rise to 0,000 18 months after the Halving event. Meanwhile, Tom Dunleavy, Partner and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at MV Capital, took a conservative stance when he mentioned that Bitcoin could rise to as high as 0,000 this year.
What Next For Bitcoin?
Bitcoin has cooled off following its rise to a new ATH of ,000. As to the next move the flagship crypto could make, crypto analyst Satoshi Flipper suggested in an X post that Bitcoin could consolidate between ,000 and ,00 for a few weeks before breaking its ATH again.
This aligns with Alex Thorn’s (Head of Research at Galaxy Digital) analysis, where he noted that BTC could follow a similar path to December 2020. Back then, BTC touched its prior ATH of ,000, then traded 11.3% lower for the next 15 days before going on to “definitively” break its ATH.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at around ,000, up in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Court Uses Bitcoin Blockchain for Legal Summons, Revolutionizing Defendant Notification
A federal court in the U.S. has accepted the validity of using information contained in a Bitcoin transaction to notify a defendant about a civil action. The case, believed to be the first where this method is accepted, might help solve hundreds of cryptocurrency theft cases in which the attacker’s identity is unknown.
Federal Court Admits Bitcoin Op Return Usage to Serve a Defendant
Bitcoin is starting to be accepted as a communication means in civil cases. A federal court has accepted the validity of using the information in a Bitcoin transaction to inform an unknown defendant about his involvement in a civil action. This case, cited by the security portal Krebsonsecurity as the first time this medium is accepted for this task, might help expedite similar actions in which serving defendants is unpractical or impossible.
The case involves a cryptocurrency theft derived from a SIM swap made on Ryan Dellone, a California-based healthcare worker who had 0,000 worth of cryptocurrency stolen from his Coinbase account in December 2021. In December, the federal court accepted using Bitcoin’s Op-Return, a field in which information can be inscribed, to notify the attackers about this case.
This was possible because Dellone’s attorney, Ethan Mora, and a team of cryptocurrency researchers managed to track the movements of the funds to a Bitcoin wallet. While Dellone has been informed that the Bitcoin address has been part of an ongoing investigation against a cryptocurrency theft ring, and he doesn’t know which party is currently in control of these funds, he obtained permission to serve the address by a judge in a federal court in California.
The message was embedded in a transaction sending 0 to the wallet address and a link to a copy of the lawsuit hosted on Google Drive servers. Mark Rasch, a former federal prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, stated:
The courts are adapting to the new style of service of process, and that’s helpful and useful and necessary.
However, not all agree on the validity of this procedure. Peter Todd, a Bitcoin Core developer, declared:
This is an awful way of serving someone. I don’t know of any wallets that display OP_Return info on incoming transactions.
What do you think about using Bitcoin to serve a defendant? Tell us in the comments section below.
Analyst Uses 5200% Impulse Against Bitcoin To Predict XRP Price Surge To $9.6
Crypto analyst CryptoInsightUK has shared his bullish sentiment on the XRP price. He noted that something may be brewing for the token and its ecosystem. Interestingly, he agrees that XRP could rise as high as .6.
XRP Price Could Replicate 2017 Impulse
In a post shared on his X (formerly Twitter) platform, CryptoInsightUK shared a monthly XRP/BTC chart. He noted that XRP’s largest impulse against BTC was around 5,200%, which occurred back in 2017. Analyzing the chart that he shared, he suggested that a similar setup to that time was building up.
This time, XRP could see higher gains against BTC as CryptoInsightUK stated that the XRP is holding a higher floor. He also mentioned that the technical structure is more bullish after a longer consolidation. Besides these indicators, he highlighted the Relative Strength Index (RSI), which is grinding upwards.
With all this in mind, the crypto analyst believes that “something is coming” for the XRP token. CryptoInsightUK seemed very careful not to provide any projections on how much the XRP token could rally or what price action to expect when this happens.
However, another prominent crypto analyst, Egrag Crypto, provided an insight into what price action CryptoInsightUk may have in mind. In response to the main post, Egrag replied and stated that XRP could hit between .6 and this time around. CryptoInsightUK responded and stated that Egrag’s prediction is “perfect for the range.”
XRP’s Success Hinged On Bitcoin’s?
CryptoInsightUK shared some further thoughts when quizzed by another X user if the community may see any XRP price action this year. He suggested that any XRP rally was dependent on Bitcoin’s move as XRP goes higher whenever Bitcoin does so. As such, he is cheering Bitcoin on right now so that there can also be some price action from XRP.
As to when to expect this rally from XRP, he isn’t certain, as he stated that finding the starting point is hard. That is why the analyst is just comfortable with holding and waiting with his XRP bags. Despite the uncertainty, the crypto analyst seems to be one of those who is very bullish on the XRP token.
Another prominent figure in the XRP community, Rob Art, also shared similar sentiments with CryptoInisghtUK. He suggested that XRP cannot make a new all-time high (ATH) without Bitcoin doing so in the same cycle. As such, he believes that XRP can only fly when Bitcoin does so, too.
At the time of writing, XRP is trading at around .60, down almost 1% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Report: Zimbabwean Crypto Trader Uses Recovery Phrase to Steal Digital Assets Worth $457K From Client
A Zimbabwean crypto trader has appeared in court to face theft and money laundering charges after prosecutors accused him of stealing digital assets worth more than 7,000 from his client. The crypto trader is accused of siphoning the digital assets using seed phrases and passwords he obtained when he helped set up the client’s crypto wallets.
Crypto Trader Used Wallet Seed Phrases to Steal Digital Assets
A Zimbabwean crypto dealer, Lloyd Chiyangwa, has been accused of siphoning more than 7,000 worth of assets from crypto wallets belonging to one of his clients, a report has said. According to prosecutors, Chiyangwa stole the funds using the seed phrases and passwords he obtained when he initially helped the unidentified client create crypto wallets.
As per the report in the Herald, Chiyangwa’s client initially bought the digital assets in July 2020 from an unidentified United Kingdom-based company. At the time of the purchase, the client lived in India. However, after returning to Zimbabwe sometime in 2021, the client sought the crypto dealer’s help in setting up five wallets, namely: Trust Wallet, Metamask, Exodus, Cosmostation, and Wemix.
Crypto Trader a Flight Risk
Although Chiyangwa is alleged to have committed the crime between Oct. 2021 and March 2023, the client only discovered the theft in May when he attempted to trade using the Trust Wallet. According to the report, Chiyangwa withdrew the funds from the client’s wallet in seven transactions. The largest single withdrawal was 1,500 while the lowest was ,155.
Chiyangwa, who now faces theft and money laundering charges, is alleged to have used the stolen funds to buy two iPhones, a laptop, and a Mercedes Benz.
Meanwhile, in their submission against Chiyangwa’s bail application, prosecutors insisted that the crypto dealer, a holder of two passports and owner of two South African bank accounts that received part of the stolen money, is a flight risk and hence not a suitable candidate for bail. According to the report, Harare regional magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa remanded Chiyangwa in custody while the court studies his bail application.
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CLIFF Uses Deflationary Mechanism to Boost Token Price Regularly
Dogecoin started as a joke but ended up attracting billions of US dollars and the interest of Elon Musk himself. The cryptocurrency with the Shiba Inu dog as its logo has become an inspiration for many other crypto projects. The most recent example is Cliff, although it hasn’t been designed as a purposeful parody. On the contrary, Cliff, which also has a dog as its symbol, is seeking to help investors secure sizable returns by implementing a deflationary model.
What Is Cliff and How Does It Work?
Cliff is the first token with a true burn function that can directly and instantly boost the price per coin as a result of burning its circulating supply. The burning mechanism makes sure that Cliff keeps eliminating the excess liquidity on a regular basis. Every time it does so, the event pushes the price of each token up by a certain percentage. Besides this, the token’s value also increases as Cliff has exposure to yield-bearing assets with the goal to provide value to token holders.
Thus, Cliff is a token seeking to act as a hedge fund and grow continually thanks to two main mechanisms: burning a percentage of the circulating supply and investing in yield-bearing assets.
Here is how the burn function works:
- Every trade on Uniswap or other DEX comes with a liquidity fee. Currently, the tax is set at 5% for buys, and 8% for sells but it’s subject to change based on the market conditions. After a certain threshold, the smart contract releases fees accrued and injects it into the liquidity (Initial LP tokens have been burned forever).
- When the burn function is triggered (it can occur manually when the team decides or automatically according to the schedule), the contract unpegs a percentage of the circulating supply and sends it to the burn address. Basically, the process is similar to stock buybacks, in which companies purchase their own stock on secondary markets to reduce the circulating share supply available to the public.
- As a result, each token instantly increases in value after the burn.
When it comes to investing, Cliff is getting exposure to various assets that may grow in value over time. Besides the liquidity pool tax, every trade comes with a 6% tax on buys, and 7% on sells which is used for marketing campaigns as well as yield-generating investments. As of today, Cliff is invested in stablecoins used for staking, LAND assets, and other non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Eventually, the generated wealth will be distributed back to the ecosystem members.
Cliff Features
Cliff token relies on a hyper-deflationary model to encourage a never-ending bullish trend. Here are the token’s main features that you should know about:
- Predetermined automatic true burns – one of its unique features is the code that is programmed to unpeg a small percentage of tokens from the pool and burn it on a regular basis, creating a higher price floor over time.
- Manual burns when liquidity is oversaturated – the manual burn is used by the Cliff team to unpeg the excess liquidity, thus pushing the token price higher immediately after the burn.
- Stable liquidity pool – unlike other liquidity pools, Cliff holders are not required to stake their tokens. Instead, every trade incurs a tax that goes to the liquidity pool address to make sure Cliff becomes less volatile over time.
- Anti whale – During the launch phase, the maximum amount a wallet could hold was .1% of the total supply, ensuring a well-distributed supply across the holders.
- Marketing incentives – a marketing tax is applicable on each buy and sell to ensure the team has enough funds for the marketing campaigns as well as to invest and donate to charities.
- Security – the security of the Cliff token is based on the Ethereum architecture itself. On top of that, the smart contract has been audited by CERTIK, which is one of the most recognized platforms monitoring and auditing blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi) projects. The code is programmed so that the initial burned liquidity can never be pulled, while any new liquidity tokens generated will go straight to a dead address.
Cliff as a Gateway to RED
The Cliff community has the opportunity to get exposure to another great token that will be added to the ecosystem soon. Known as RED, it will act as a governance and yield-bearing asset.
RED will be a valuable asset for Cliff investors, and the only way to accrue it is by staking Cliff. RED holders will be able to submit ideas and vote on investments proposed by the team. RED will also be the token to accrue yield from the invested assets.
Thus, the ecosystem will be fueled by two tokens seeking to provide real value.
Image: Pixabay
What Exactly Can You Do With NFTs? How To Buy, Where to Store, and Common Uses
NFTs have taken the internet by storm over the last 18 months. From something completely unheard of to a market that’s worth over billion, NFTs have had an incredible year. But what exactly are NFTs, and more importantly, what’s the point of them?
While some people think that NFTs don’t have any real purpose, many industries are incorporating them in innovative ways. This is especially true within the gaming industry, which has taken to using NFTs as unique skins, methods of improving the diverse styles of play within gameplay, and digital methods of trading.
In this article, we’ll be explaining what NFTs are and breaking down how you can buy one, where they are stored, and the various functions associated with them. Let’s get right into it.
What exactly is an NFT?
NFTs, which stands for Non-Fungible Tokens, are digital assets that are stored in the blockchain. When a person buys an NFT, they’re buying ownership, with proof of their digital ownership being stored online. Due to the blockchain technology that’s used for this process, which is incredibly secure, NFTs are a safe digital asset and are famously difficult to steal.
Considering that NFTs can be anything digital, people are seeing everything from digital art to GIFs turned into NFTs and sold online. Launched and sustained on the Ethereum blockchain, every single NFT represents a digital asset that cannot be duplicated, which is why people are paying so much for them.
How do you buy and store NFTs?
Most commonly, NFTs are sold on NFT marketplaces. These are systems where people can either directly buy or bid on NFT auctions. Additionally, they act as digital auction houses, exhibiting NFTs that are about to go on sale for everyone to see.
Currently, the three biggest NFT marketplaces are OpenSea, Rarible, and Nifty Gateway. Once a person buys an NFT on these platforms, their proof of sale is then sent to the Ethereum blockchain.
Imagine this as a series of blocks that, once placed down, cannot be picked back up or changed. The immutability of blockchain ensures that once someone buys an NFT, their name is safely stored on a chain. If someone were to look up an NFT in the blockchain, it would clearly state the owner’s name on it.
While digitally, the original NFT and its owner’s details are stored on the blockchain, the NFT will be accessible to see from the owner’s wallet. These wallets, just like crypto wallets, are secured using a set of digital encryption pathways, as well as a private key.
Once purchased, NFTs can also be transferred off NFT marketplaces onto cold storage hardware wallets on a third-party platform. These offer advanced security for digital assets.
What can you do with an NFT?
NFTs haven’t skyrocketed in public attention simply because they’re new. On the contrary, there is a range of applications for NFTs that help boost their value, providing services alongside also just being interesting to look at. While there is a range of uses for NFTs, we’ll be focusing on the following three:
- Games
- Digital art
- Collectables
Let’s break these down further.
Games
One of the most well-known games that’s run directly in line with NFT purchase and renting is CryptoTanks. In this game, the classic 8-bit Tanks game has been reconfigured, setting up either team vs. team or battle arena-style gameplay. In this game, a user will move a tank around the screen, attempting to destroy other players without being blown up themselves.
NFTs come into this game in two ways: providing visual diversification for users and granting certain abilities that are attached to specific NFT designs. A user will be able to buy or rent an NFT tank and then put this NFT onto their base tank as a unique skin. This will distinguish them in games and bring something new to their playing experience.
Additionally, CryptoTanks also ensures that every NFT tank comes with a different weapons set, movement speed, customization panel, and armor level. Due to this, alongside visual motivation for buying an NFT on the platform, users are also motivated to purchase or rent a tank with good in-game statistics.
Considering that CryptoTanks runs on the Polygon ecosystem, it has high processing speed, eliminating the major annoyance of lag that traditional gamers experience. This is just one example of how blockchain technology is shifting the use and application of gaming worldwide.
Founded in April of 2021, CryptoTanks is a great example of how NFTs can be woven into the world of gaming to bring an exciting new layer to the platform.
Digital Art
Perhaps the most well-known use of NFTs is simply to be admired due to their unique artistic features. There is no denying that NFTs have changed the art world forever, significantly boosting the opportunity for artists to make a living with their art. What once would have taken large audiences and devoted fans now only takes a little bit of luck.
If you strike the right chords when uploading art to an NFT collection site like OpenSea, then you can make a significant amount of money from selling your art. People worldwide have turned to NFTs as a new form of dealership, buying specific pieces to ‘own’ them.
In fact, this digital form of art has already made a significant contribution to the world of auctioning. Most dramatically, an NFT minted (made) by the artist ‘Beeple’ sold for million through the internationally renowned Christie’s auction house. This wasn’t due to the artist already having a big name, in fact, the bidding started at only 0.
This new digital platform of art is also incredibly accessible. While auctions used to be geography-specific, often only receiving guests and bidders from the local area, NFT markets are completely run online. This move towards the digital space means that anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world, can log onto an NFT platform and browse through the artwork currently up for sale.
Once you purchase an NFT, you officially own it, with your information being stored in the blockchain. Just like normal art, you don’t actually own the copyright to the art, but you’ll still be able to admire the NFT nonetheless.
Collectables
Alongside collectibles in gaming that somehow change the appearance or characteristics of your characters, NFT collections have also become a fairly famous part of the market. Creating NFT collections is where an artist will make a certain number of NFTs that all have the same theme or are related to one another.
A famous example of this would be the Bored Ape Collection, which is a finite collection of 10,000 ‘Bored Ape’ images. Each of these images is an ape character with a different skin color, background, and different costume elements. Most recently, a Bored Ape sold for .8 million at auction.
Whole sites are now designed to accommodate for NFT collections, with Starly being one of said sites. Every week artists release their collections on the platform, always centered around a central topic or idea. Most recently, Melos Studio released an NFT collection that centered around the life and achievements of David Bowie, with trading card designs representing moments in his career.
These collections are released on a certain date, with buyers flocking to buy and then auction NFTs that are a part of that set before the sales period ends. This popular community form of trading is akin to trading card resales, with each NFT being housed in a trading card frame. The next collection that’s set to be released on Starly is by PhaseRunner and centers around celestial beings.
Collections are a core part of NFT functionality due to one core idea: scarcity. The idea of only having a certain amount of something creates the idea of demand. Especially in the case of Bored Ape, each of the pieces is now skyrocketing in value as famous people flock to claim their own ape. With 10,000 pieces, there is enough for many people to get something they like, but not enough to the extent where just anyone could buy one.
The link between NFT collections and scarcity is the core element that drives up their price, with investors flocking to buy NFTs in order to diversify their portfolio and use NFTs are a financial tool.
Final Thoughts on NFTs
Whether just a financial investment into a new stream of digital art, a way of broadening your portfolio, or a way of bringing a fresh element to your favorite games, NFTs have a wide variety of uses.
No matter if you’re well-versed in the world of NFTs or you’re just hearing about them, why not give the most accessible form, gaming, a go? You’ll be able to start playing without spending a cent, with NFT gaming platforms like CryptoTanks allowing you to earn NFTs while you play.
How TG Ecosystem Uses Cooperation to Solve Major Crypto-Market Problems
Several models for the development of nations for the next three to five years were presented by the World Economic Forum, where cooperation was emphasized as the foundation for successful and speedy economic and social recovery. Speaking at the WEF, Børge Brende, a Norwegian politician and member of the Conservative Party, said that “the direction in which we need to head is towards greater dialogue, coordination and collective action”. Even today in the world of global business, we’re seeing hundreds of examples of cooperation gone right, such as the UN Global Compact, C40 Cities, Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), World Resources Institute, and many others. How are things in the crypto-world?
The problems that cooperation can solve
Cooperation has been popular around the world for many centuries as a form of getting people to work together to achieve certain goals. Nowadays, cooperative societies are designed to solve modern economic problems, namely:
- eliminating intermediaries, thereby lowering the cost of goods and services;
- speeding up the process of producing goods or certain commodities;
- exchanging experience and information in order to make adequate decisions in politics, education, healthcare, and any other economic sectors;
- accumulating resources (money, time, labor) for effectively implementing projects and achieving goals.
Only up until a few years ago, cooperation was predominantly characteristic of industrial and manufacturing enterprises and companies as well as businesses from the non-financial sector. Today, however, we’re seeing more and more examples of cooperation in online environments and among IT projects. Here are just a few of them.
Blockchain Investors Consortium. The Blockchain Investors Consortium has more than 120 members with more than billion in digital assets under management in the group. The funds raised are used to support global projects aimed at the development and popularization of blockchain technology.
IBM Food Trust. This is an association of several blockchain technology companies at once. The IBM Food Trust consortium includes producers of agricultural products, carriers, as well as consumers such as Walmart and Nestle. Furthermore, businesses can track food products from their suppliers to consumers using their platform.
Today, cooperation can not only accelerate the launch of crypto and blockchain startups but also significantly influence the popularization of blockchain technology in the world.
The true power lies in a number
“Let’s remember what happened on the stock market with Gamestop. Hundreds of thousands of retail investors rushed to buy up the securities of a little-known company, succumbing to the influence of FOMO, which was skillfully created by crowd manipulators. Crowds, after all, are easy to manipulate. As a result, investors lost money after all the excitement had died down. A well-thought-out participant self-organization system turns a crowd into a group, and a decision-making system makes it possible to solve this issue in a centralized way,” says Eugene Melnik, the CEO of TG Ecosystem.
The self-organization of groups and, later on, the cooperation between them will be the solution to spontaneous investments lacking a clear strategy for recovering funds. The TG DAO 3.0 Launchpad, part of the TG Ecosystem, presented an effective solution to reduce the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrency, based on self-organization and cooperation.
“We analyzed the main reasons for the failure of the ICO boom in 2018 and developed our own solution for the startup launch market. It lies in the cooperation of experts, users, and the projects themselves. We achieve our goals much faster when we act together rather than separately,” said Eugene Melnik.
The TG DAO 3.0 Launchpad includes several instruments for effective crowdfunding. These include an accelerator and a platform for IDO, as well as other services that will be launched in 2022. The Launchpad team is also ready to collaborate with not only blockchain startups, but also with venture capital projects that offer innovative solutions for various areas of business.
“Even today, we’re receiving a large number of applications to participate in the accelerator program and conduct IDO. Four projects have been approved by our expert council and will soon be eligible for discussion by community launchpad members. By the end of the year, we plan to review another ten projects and choose the most deserving of them,” Eugene Melnik comments.
Cooperation is crucial when choosing startups to invest in, so the Launchpad team has arranged a voting system where users will decide which startups are allowed to conduct a token sale. This way, investors avoid the problem of recklessly investing their money into sketchy projects.
Cooperation introduces several advantages that can be successfully used in projects.
“First of all, it’s the ability to bring groups of people together and create the appropriate targeted programs for the purpose of investing or conducting joint activities. Secondly, the simplicity of participating within a cooperative, since a participant only needs to submit an application and pay the minimum entrance and share fees. Funds or other proprietary contributions to startups are allocated as early as when the cooperators create the program in question.
Thirdly, the cooperative has the possibility to distribute its income among project participants in proportion to their participation in the cooperative’s business activities. In this case, it is the cooperative members themselves who decide on how the income is to be distributed,” says Natalia Khitruk, lawyer at TG Ecosystem.
In the very near future, TG DAO 3.0 will conduct a Funding Round and a Public Sale of TGDAO tokens. More information about the project can be found on the website.
Meet The Malware That Uses Bitcoin’s Blockchain To Update It’s Army of Bots
An advanced malware is utilizing messages hidden within Bitcoin‘s blockchain transactions. These messages send signals to a botnet army ready to attack at command.
How exactly is this malware using Bitcoin’s blockchain and why?
Glupteba, The Malware-Installing Trojan From 2011 That Uses Blockchain To Command An Army
Glupteba, a backdoor Trojan designed to install malware on unsuspecting computers, has also been using Bitcoin in an unusual way.
It was initially distributed in 2011, as “a secondary payload by the Alureon Trojan in order to push clickjacking contextual advertising.” Later, in 2014, it was used as part of “Operation Windigo” – a highly sophisticated attack involving thousands of compromised Linux systems.
Once the malware is installed, the compromised computer is then added to a botnet army ready for an array of commands.
Related Reading | Crypto-Demanding Cybercriminals Ramp Up Ransomware Threat With Data Exposure
Somewhere along the line, Glupteba was updated to take advantage of Bitcoin’s public and transparent distributed ledger.
Like other malware with connections to cryptocurrencies, Glupteba can be used for cryptojacking. Cryptojacking is the process of backdoor malware mining for Monero, Bitcoin, or anything else, without the user’s consent or knowledge.
However, this is just one of many ways it can be used for harm and isn’t the reason for utilizing Bitcoin’s blockchain.
Botnet Commands Sent Via Messages Hidden In Bitcoin Blockchain Transactions
After malware utilizes its botnet to carry out an attack, once successful, the botnet can be rerouted to perform other tasks. These are typically more attacks, albeit on different servers with a unique domain or IP coordinates.
Botnets of this kind have in the past used Twitter, Pastebin, Reddit, and other messaging services to relay their commands. Glupteba, however, is using Bitcoin.
Not all Bitcoin transactions need to have a monetary value. Messages can be stored in a Bitcoin transaction’s OP_RETURN field, at up to 80 characters.
Using this method, Glupteba is able to hide its messages in plain sight and distribute them widely across to its botnet army.
Related Reading | Checking Crypto Prices on Your Mac? Watch Out for Malware
Hiding messages in plain sight is called steganography and dates back to the late 1400s. The advantage of steganography over cryptography is that messages hidden in plain sight don’t attract attention to themselves.
The term typically refers to computer data, however, it was also used by spies posting personals in local newspapers to deliver messages during the Cold War.
Also happening in plain sight, is another Cold War, between cybercriminals and security experts.
Cybercrime, especially in the cryptocurrency space, has seen explosive growth. Bitcoin ransoms are growing in number and hackers are becoming more brazen.
Cryptojacking may not be getting as much coverage in media due to it being yesterday’s news, but numbers cases continue to rise.
For now, Glupteba doesn’t appear to be targeting cryptocurrency users despite leveraging the Bitcoin blockchain in another way. But crypto investors will want to pay extra attention to cybersecurity to protect any funds they hold.
World’s Highest Paid Podcaster Joe Rogan Uses the Crypto-Focused Brave Browser
Comedian Joe Rogan, the host of one the most popular podcast in the world, discussed online privacy in his most recent episode, saying that he uses the Brave browser to avoid being tracked.
With data protection becoming an increasingly important issue in the world, the once niche products such as Brave are set to reach a huge new audience.
Brave Gets a Shout-Out on World’s Most Popular Podcast
Brave Browser has been on a crazy ride for more than a year, reaching milestone after milestone and introducing new features and updates on a monthly basis. The company’s latest achievement—surpassing 15 million active monthly users—was followed by a huge, but unintentional marketing boost when the browser got a shoutout on the world’s most popular podcast.
In the latest Joe Rogan Experience podcast, comedian and TV personality Joe Rogan discussed online privacy with his guest Reggie Watts. The two commented on the prevailing presence of sponsored ads and online tracking tools and methods on how to avoid them.
Watts, also a comedian, said that he uses Brave when online shopping, as checking products through Google and its Chrome browser can result in prices getting artificially jacked.
“I use Brave,” Rogen replied, adding later that he also used DuckDuckGo instead of Google as his primary search engine.
The Future of Online Privacy
But, despite seemingly satisfied with the protection they got from Brave, both Rogan and Watts remained skeptical of any extensive data protection software being implemented in the long term.
While this remains a valid topic to discuss, the recognition services like Brave are getting goes to show just how important online privacy has become in the past several months. Google’s invasive tracking policies, which were recently the concern of a very small privacy-conscious niche, are now being discussed by some of the most influential people in the media.
As the browser has experienced significant organic growth both in the number of users and creators on its platform, it’s no wonder that it will also organically pop up in discussions about data tracking.
At press time, the Joe Rogan Experience podcast with Reggie Watts has amassed more than 1.3 million views, and could potentially be the biggest marketing impact Brave has seen to date.
Featured Image from Shutterstock
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