🌐 Kaspersky Lab warns of cryptocurrency scammers on Discord platform
According to Kaspersky Lab, cryptocurrency scammers are luring users to fake cryptocurrency exchanges through Discord channels and are trying to collect a database for sale on the darknet.
According to an article in the blog of the cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab, cryptocurrency scammers have targeted users of the popular chat platform Discord, offering them free BTC or ETH on a fake cryptocurrency exchange.
Fraudsters are sending messages to Crypto Discord Servers users on behalf of a new exchange that distributes cryptoassets for free to the “lucky few”. Potential victims are encouraged to register on the exchange by providing their personal data and either make a small deposit in cryptocurrency or go through a process reminiscent of KYC.
When victims try to claim free cryptocurrency, they are asked to fund their account with a specific amount, for example 0.02 BTC, or the equivalent in ETH or USD. Then, a free cryptocurrency is supposedly credited to the user's account, but it cannot be withdrawn from the platform, as well as the deposit made before.
According to analysts at Kaspersky Lab, the constantly changing name of the exchange (one of the names is withEREUM) looks quite convincing and misleads users well due to the tools typical of real exchanges, for example, two-factor authentication.
According to the report, in addition to stealing users' cryptocurrencies, fraudsters can collect a database of cryptoasset owners in order to "sell it for a good price on the darknet."
Recall that at the end of last year, cybersecurity experts at Kaspersky Lab predicted an increase in the number of cryptocurrency crimes in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic that harmed national economies.
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🌐 DeFi: Yearn.Finance project repository attacked and lost $11 million.
Yearn.Finance decentralized finance project (DeFi) was exploited, during which the v1 yDAI vault lost about $11 million in digital assets. The exploit has already been eliminated.
The Yearn.Finance project allows you to engage in “profitable farming”: users add their digital assets to pools and receive interest for it. The platform recently updated its repositories, but smart contracts have remained unchanged. According to DeFi Pulse, Yearn.Finance has been entrusted with $500 million in assets.
Users of the Yearn Discord and Telegram channels began reporting leaks on February 4, in the afternoon. One user wrote: "Does anyone know why I have it written that I have lost thousands of DAI in the last few minutes?" In addition, a 1,059% loss notification has been added to the repository user interface on Yearn.Finance.
Yearn.Finance also reported the attack on Twitter. Later, the developer under the pseudonym banteg wrote that the organizer of the attack managed to get away with $2.8 million, and the v1 yDAI vault lost about $11 million in assets. Deposits in DAI, TUSD, USDC and USDT were deactivated for the duration of the investigation.
After the attack became known, Twitter user UniWhales DAO reported a large sale of YFI for ETH. The cryptocurrency dropped in price by more than $5,000 - from $34,979 to $29,580. Then the YFI rate gradually recovered to $31,500.
At the time of the attack, all funds were deposited in 3pool on the Curve platform. 3pool houses DAI, USDT and USDC, allowing users to exchange stablecoins for other limited slippage assets.
According to Mikhail Yegorov, CEO of Curve, someone invested "a lot of money" in 3pool to manipulate the price of DAI. The vault relied on this price, and after the attack, the contract was terminated. Such actions were repeated several times, and the attacker managed to take the borrowed funds.
Egorov added that this problem is well known and shared his thoughts with the Yearn.Finance team on how to prevent such vulnerabilities.
Recall that in September, the founder of Yearn.Finance, Andre Cronje, launched the Eminence game protocol, but due to a critical vulnerability, investors lost $15 million.
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🌐 Terraform Labs to open $10 million fund to develop DeFi projects
Terraform Labs has announced a $10 million Terraform Capital fund to cover audits of DeFi projects and the extended integration of TerraUSD (UST) and LUNA stablecoins.
Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon said that the fund's main goal is to ensure that the stable UST and LUNA cryptocurrencies are used as much as possible in the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry. In turn, Terraform Labs will cover the costs of projects related to the passage of security audits.
Kwon expects the return on investment to be strong - nearly a hundred audits can be funded to ensure the successful integration of Terra stablecoins. Terraform Labs has already compiled a list of auditors that include Sentnl, Quantstamp and Solidified. Jeffrey Kuan, Head of Business Development at Terraform Labs, said:
“It doesn't matter what blockchain the project is running on. The Terraform Labs Foundation invests in any projects that can interact with Terra stablecoins. In addition, it will accelerate the development of projects based on Ethereum. "
According to Director General Quantstamp Richard Ma (Richard Ma), only in 2020 as a result of breaches DeFi projects was stolen kriptoaktivov to $240 million. In November Akropolis project has undergone the attack, in which hackers managed to get $ 2 million in steyblkoinah the DAI, and a month earlier, cybercriminals attacked the DeFi Harvest Finance protocol and stole $25 million worth of crypto assets.
There are situations when a project can be closed due to a critical error in the smart contract code. This happened with the YAM Finance project, which was subsequently forced to restart. Therefore, the head of Quantstamp emphasized the importance of passing an audit of smart contracts, since we are talking about the security of users' funds.
Recall that last year, Terra, together with Cosmos and Polkadot, introduced a DeFi product called Anchor, which offers stablecoin deposits with interest.
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🌐 South African Internal Revenue Service sends out letters to cryptocurrency traders demanding taxes
The South African Internal Revenue Service has sent out requests to taxpayers holding cryptocurrencies to disclose their trading activities and pay taxes.
The South African Tax Service is interested in cryptocurrency traders. According to the publication MyBroadband, the agency sent inquiries to a number of taxpayers, who in turn contacted Tax Consulting South Africa, which prepares tax reports.
The taxpayers who receive the letters must indicate the reasons for buying the cryptocurrency, as well as provide detailed information about any transactions on the trading platforms and bank statements. According to Tax Consulting South Africa, the IRS 'actions mean the government is planning tough measures against tax-evading local cryptocurrency traders.
“It can be assumed that the IRS is in the process of identifying those responsible for tax evasion of citizens who did not disclose their profits or losses associated with trading cryptocurrencies,” the company said in a report.
Recall that last fall, the South African regulator proposed a bill under which crypto assets would be treated as financial products. Recently it became known that regulators of South Africa will strengthen control of the cryptocurrency industry due to the closure of the fraudulent scheme Mirror Trading International, which managed to collect 23,000 BTC worth more than $700 million.
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🌐 On April 21-22, Moscow will host the Blockchain Life 2021 Forum
On April 21-22, Moscow will host Blockchain Life 2021 - the 6th largest annual forum dedicated to blockchain, cryptocurrencies and mining, which will bring together over 4,000 participants.
Among the participants and exhibitors of the forum are the world's largest industry companies, top government officials, private investors and funds, representatives of sensational startups and cryptocurrencies, blockchain developers, significant players in the mining industry and all those who are interested in developing in one of the most promising areas of our time.
Blockchain Life 2021 is a combination of presentations by world industry speakers, more than 3,000 square meters of exhibition area for projects, productive digital networking that begins even before the start of the forum, and many unique formats of participants' interaction on the site.
The ticket can be purchased on the official website of the event. The number of tickets is limited.
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🌐 Mike McGlone: "the decline in popularity of gold plays into the hands of bitcoin"
Bloomberg analyst Mike McGlone has published a study according to which the bitcoin rate is moving towards $50,000, as investors withdraw funds from gold and invest in BTC.
In the document, McGlone recalled an increase in the inflow of funds to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and a decrease in the capitalization of the ETF for gold. In 2020, the capitalization of GBTC has grown from 1% to 10% of the $210 billion of "well-known ETFs that track gold." A senior analyst at Bloomberg noted:
“In a world that is increasingly becoming digital, it is logical to expect the transition of investments in bitcoin and a move away from the possession of precious metals. Unless there is a major technical glitch, old-fashioned gold investors will be at risk as investing between 1% and 5% of their assets in Bitcoin becomes more and more sensible. "
McGlone stressed that bitcoin has strong support at the level of $ 30,000 and now the first cryptocurrency is moving towards $ 50,000 due to "increased institutional recognition and the opportunity to take the place of a global reserve asset."
According to the analyst, by 2024 the volatility of bitcoin may decrease to the levels of gold volatility. And in the future, it may be even lower due to the limited number of coins issued. Bitcoin now has a 260-day volatility of 50%, the same as gold in the 1980s.
McGlone previously said that within five years, the rate of the first cryptocurrency may well reach $100,000.
