Crypto romance scammers — a cohort of crypto-stealing smooth-talkers — appear to have a new trick up their sleeves: targeted approval phishing. In a Dec. 14 report from on-chain analytics firm Chainalysis, the firm noted that the technique has seen explosive growth over the past two years, with at least $374 million in suspected stolen…
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As spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuers iron out details of their filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the regulator appears steadfast in demanding a “cash” redemption model instead of an alternative model proposed by other issuers such as BlackRock. On Dec. 14, finance lawyer Scott Johnsson said that ETF…
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Bitcoin (BTC) will hit a new all-time high in late 2024 on the backdrop of a long-feared United States recession and regulatory shifts after the next U.S. presidential election, asset manager VanEck predicts. On Dec. 8, VanEck made 15 crypto predictions for 2024, including price forecasts, timings of a spot Bitcoin ETF launch, the impact…
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A bug fix on the Bitcoin network could put a stop to new Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens as they’re causing network congestion by “exploiting a vulnerability,” claims a Bitcoin Core developer. In a Dec. 6 X (Twitter) post, developer Luke Dashjr said inscriptions — used by Ordinals and BRC-20 creators to embed data on…
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Smart contract development firm Thirdweb reported a security vulnerability that potentially “impacts a variety of smart contracts across the Web3 ecosystem.” On Dec. 4, Thirdweb reported a vulnerability in a commonly used open-source library that could impact specific pre-built smart contracts, including some of its own. However, Thirdweb’s investigations concluded that the smart contract vulnerability has…
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Crypto-friendly trading platform Robinhood has reported a 75% month-on-month increase in digital asset trading volume in November. In an 8-K filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Dec. 4, Robinhood noted that “November Crypto Notional Trading Volumes were roughly 75% above October 2023 levels.” The activity however equity trading volumes and options contracts traded…
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Bitcoin mining is a “critical tool” for clean energy and balancing the grid, according to a new working paper penned by Bitcoin advocates and the former president of ERCOT, the operator of Texas’ electrical grid. The Nov. 22 paper titled “Leveraging Bitcoin Miners as Flexible Load Resources for Power System Stability and Efficiency” argued that…
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United States government prosecutors are trying to stop former Binance boss Changpeng “CZ” Zhao from leaving the country, expressing concern about his potential flight risk. In a Nov. 22 filing to a Seattle federal court, U.S. prosecutors requested a review and overturn of a judge’s decision that would allow Zhao to return to his home…
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Executives from crypto asset manager Grayscale have met with the Securities and Exchange Commission to discuss details of its flagship Bitcoin (BTC) trust, which the firm wants to convert to a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). A Nov. 20 SEC memo disclosed Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein, legal chief Craig Salm, ETF head Dave LaValle and…
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Crypto exchange Binance has announced it has onboarded new partners to handle euro deposits and withdrawals, months after losing its previous fiat partner PaySafe in September. In an Oct. 19 statement, Binance announced that it had signed agreements with new fiat partners for euro payments, deposits, and withdrawals. The move follows regulatory and debanking woes…
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