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[AnyExchange]

The largest Croatian supermarket has started accepting cryptocurrency as payment

The Croatian supermarket Konzum was the first in the country to accept cryptocurrency as payment. So far, you can pay for the goods in this way only in the online store. But in the future, this option will also be available in physical supermarkets.

In total, nine cryptocurrencies are accepted for payment - Bitcoin, Etherium, USD, BCH, Ripple, Stellar, DAY, Tether and USDCHF.

The company has provided a moment with the variability of the price of digital assets. The exchange rate will be fixed at the time of the transaction creation. The buyer will have enough time to complete the payment.

To implement the project, a partnership was concluded with the Paypal payment system. She was the first in Croatia to start accepting cryptocurrency.

Konzum is the largest retail chain in the Western Balkans. The supermarket has more than 700 outlets in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[AnyExchange]

On behalf of the Prime Minister of India, hackers wrote a tweet about the recognition of bitcoin in the country.

Last Sunday, December 12, unknown persons hacked the Twitter account of the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.

On his behalf, the scammers announced the recognition of bitcoin as a means of payment. The message said about the distribution of 500 BTC among the population.

"India has officially recognized bitcoin as a means of payment. The government has purchased 500 bitcoins and is distributing them to the population. Hurry up! The future has come today!" - said in a tweet.

The text was accompanied by a link to the supposedly official distribution site. A person had to register to qualify for free bitcoins.

The message was deleted just a few hours after it appeared. It is not yet known whether anyone was injured due to the scam. But, in theory, a vast number of people could see the fake statement because Modi is one of the most popular politicians on Twitter. More than 73 million users have subscribed to his account.

[AnyExchange]

About $12.1 billion of cryptocurrencies was stolen between 2011 and 2021 - Crystal Blockchain analysis

The analytical company Crystal Blockchain has published a report analyzing the largest crypto fraud and hacker attacks cases over the past ten years.

According to their calculations, about $12.1 billion in cryptocurrency was stolen during this time.

A total of 226 incidents were recorded. From them, 120 cases of circumvention of security systems of exchanges, 73 hacking of De-Fi protocols, and 33 fraudulent schemes.

About $5.9 was stolen by organizations of financial pyramids. The leader among them is the Chinese Plus Token project. Its organizers promised the participants huge returns for investments and attracting new people. About 4 million investors from Russia, Ukraine, China, Japan, and Germany were deceived. The attackers were able to launder almost $3 billion.

The largest theft of cryptocurrency from the exchange occurred in 2014.  At that time, the leading exchange Mt. Gox lost more than 850 thousand BTC due to the hack. Taking advantage of a security breach, the attackers gained access to users' private keys and withdrew money to third-party wallets.

Turkey—$2 billion, Japan—$1.3 billion, and China—$1.1 billion became the anti-leaders for the total stolen amount. Most scam and hack cases occurred in the United States, Great Britain, and Japan.

[AnyExchange]

27% of all BTC belongs to 0.01% owners - research

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, 5 out of 19 million BTC are stored on 10 thousand addresses.

Finance professors Antoineta Shor and Igor Makarov analyzed all bitcoin transactions since 2008. According to their estimates, about 114 million people own BTC, which means that approximately 0.01% of bitcoin owners control 27% of circulation.

"This calls into question the whole concept of decentralization and equality. In practice, bitcoin has become highly centralized and inaccessible to most.  The bulk of transactions is conducted through exchanges that are actually intermediaries. And mining costs have become so high that only a small group of corporations can afford it"  the study says.

Also, the professors managed to find out the purpose of bitcoin transactions. About 90% of transfers have nothing to do with buying and selling. The researchers agreed that users often move their funds between several wallets to make it challenging to track them.

About 3% are related to fraud and illegal transfers. And about 7% is accounted for by trading through exchanges and trading platforms.

[AnyExchange]

Only 3% of the total Bitcoin transfers account for illegal transactions

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, only 3% of all bitcoin transactions are somehow connected with criminal activity. This completely refutes the results of a previously published Oxford study. The share of illegal BTC transactions is 46%.

The authors of the study, finance professors Antoineta Shor and Igor Makarov, analyzed all BTC transactions since 2008. According to their estimates, 90% of transfers have nothing to do with buying and selling.

"Blockchain is a public registry, and all payment flows between addresses are perfectly visible. Therefore, many BTC owners purposely transfer their money between several wallets to make it difficult to track. This creates a large number of false volumes" the text of the study explains.

Among the remaining 10%, 75% of all transfers related to purchase and sale were made through exchanges, OTC, and trading platforms.

And only 3% of transactions are somehow connected with fraudulent schemes and the darknet. As the researchers noted, their Oxford colleagues deliberately excluded the data of cryptocurrency exchanges from the calculations, which account for the majority of volumes. The figure of 46% appeared because analysts focused only on transfers for goods and services. Therefore, the result of their research does not reflect reality.

[AnyExchange]

 

In 2021, people were more interested in NFT than cryptocurrencies – Google Trends.

Over the past 12 months, people have started looking for NFTs more often than cryptocurrencies, according to Google Trends.

The growing interest in collectible tokens is associated with the fact that more and more media personalities and brands are issuing their own NFTs. Also, according to the report of the analytical platform Cointelegraph, the total volume of token sales increased 25 times in just a year. If in 2020 it amounted to $ 340 million, then in 2021 sales exceeded $ 9 billion.

The most frequently googled queries for "NFT" were in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. But in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Slovenia, the term "crypto" was of interest to users much more often.

In Ukraine, "crypto" is slightly ahead of "nft".  Of the total number of searches, cryptocurrency accounts for 54%, and tokens - 46%. Among the queries related to NFT, the leading ones are "nft binance," "nft is," and "nft token". Also, most often, Ukrainians were interested in the news of the cryptosphere and were looking for an application for visualizing the cryptocurrency market named "Crypto Bubbles".

[AnyExchange]

 

Since 2017, North Korean hackers have stolen $1.7 billion from cryptocurrency exchanges

Over the past five years, North Korean hackers have hacked many exchanges worldwide, according to South Korean media outlets. They managed to withdraw about $ 1.7 billion in cryptocurrency.

Among the most significant cases of hacker attacks, hacking of the South Korean exchange Youbit in 2017. The cybercriminals withdrew about $ 1.5 billion. After the incident, the exchange filed for bankruptcy.

Hacks took place worldwide - in the USA, South Korea, Indonesia, Slovenia, India, Mexico, and other countries.

It is known that hackers do not withdraw stolen cryptocurrencies, storing them on wallets.

"Considering that the price of bitcoin had risen more than 60 times since 2017 when North Korean hackers began to seriously hack cryptocurrency exchanges, the country may consider cryptocurrency as a reliable long-term investment," explained Koh Myung-Hyun, a senior fellow at the Institute for Political Research in Asia. "For North Korea, cryptocurrency has become the only financial asset that can be acquired in the face of strong economic sanctions, as well as to avoid them."

Experts believe that some of the stolen cryptocurrency can be used to finance the development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.

Also, according to the US Federal Attorney's Office, North Korean hackers have repeatedly colluded with criminals from other countries, supported their activities, and conducted the training.

[lanjer50]

Users of cryptocurrencies will see the first virtual crypto card

The first financial hybrid crypto-fiat company Alchemy Pay announced that it will launch the first virtual crypto card allowing users to purchase products using around 40 diverse cryptocurrencies. The innovative solution will fill the gap between fiat money and cryptocurrencies. This virtual card will provide users with access to digital wallets, including Google Pay and PayPal. In addition, the owners of the card will be able to purchase products on the most popular trading platforms, including Amazon and eBay.

I just want to know form you that is there any facility to convert my digital balance like paypal or something like that. If it is acceptable then definitely it will do better in the future.

[AnyExchange]

 

Bitcoin hashrate fell 12% amid protests in Kazakhstan

The global volume of bitcoin mining has dropped markedly due to the unstable situation in Kazakhstan. The country began to massively disconnect the Internet, which had a significantly negative impact on the production speed of new blocks.

It is impossible to mine without stable access to the network. Interruptions have actually stopped the work of many enterprises. According to the analytical portal NetBlocks, large Kazakhstani pools 1THash (a decrease of 82%), OKExPool (a reduction of 46.3%), and KuCoinPool (a decrease of 22.7%) were significantly affected.

The protests in the country began due to a sharp rise in gas prices for cars. In some areas, a state of emergency was declared. According to the laws of Kazakhstan, the state of emergency allows you to restrict access to the Internet.

This situation has noticeably affected global volumes because Kazakhstan is one of the world's centers for bitcoin mining. After the mining ban in China, enterprises began to massively transfer power to other countries. Kazakhstan has become one of the most popular destinations thanks to low electricity tariffs. In just two months, from June to August 2021, the hash rate increased from 8.8% to 18.1%. Thus, Kazakhstan became the second center for Bitcoin mining after the United States.

So far, the situation cannot be called catastrophic. But for now, it is difficult to predict anything because the protests in the country are actively continuing.

[AnyExchange]

In Ukraine, hackers were detained who spread a cryptographic virus extorting cryptocurrency.

The Ukrainian police, together with law enforcement officers from the United States and Great Britain, detained a group of attackers spreading the virus through mailing lists.

Letters with infected links were sent to the victims' mail. A virus was automatically downloaded to the computer when clicking on it, which the cryptographer launched. As a ransom, the attackers demanded cryptocurrency.

According to the police, more than 50 foreign companies were affected. The damage from the attacks exceeded $1 million.

According to recent data, encryption viruses are the most popular type of malware. The police told us how you can protect yourself from them.

Foremost, it is worth periodically creating backups of all data. This is the surest way to protect your essential files from a virus. It is also recommended to update the software and antivirus. This will significantly reduce the risk of infection because the program can detect a malicious cryptographer on time.

Do not click on unknown links on websites or in emails. While downloading files — check their extension. For example, an attacker can slip a malicious program under the guise of a movie torrent.

Do not use an administrator account unnecessarily. Users with traditionally restricted access cannot install third-party programs and change system files. This may prevent the virus from spreading.

[LucaMarco]

See, if we talk about exchanger then for sure Binance will be number one and if we talk about any broker then FreshForex is number one cause they support both Forex and Cryptos even they cut very less spread than any other brokers.

[AnyExchange]

It will stay in the range of $42-46 thousand — experts predicted bitcoin price this week.

The bull cycle continues in the market. The price will not fall below $42 thousand, but it will not exceed the resistance level of $45.7-46 thousand, according to Nikita Soshnikov, head of the Alfacash cryptocurrency exchange service.

The middle of March may be a difficult period for bitcoin. That's when the US is going to raise the key rate. According to Soshnikov's forecasts, this will entail a sharp drop in the exchange rate. But the currency can recover quickly. This will be facilitated by investors' interest in bitcoin as an asset that protects against inflation.

The founder of the EXMO cryptocurrency exchange, Ivan Petukhovsky, believes that the level of support for bitcoin will be at the level of $40-42.2 thousand. The rate may drop to $40 thousand. But the expert does not exclude the penetration of this mark. The price may drop to $33 thousand. External factors can facilitate this - negative statements of opinion leaders and disturbing news.

Recall that last week, the bitcoin exchange rate jumped to $44.5 thousand. This happened after the US Department of Labor stated that consumer inflation broke the 40-year anti-record. According to the results of the report, in December 2021, it amounted to 7%

[AnyExchange]

New tarifs on the AnyExchange.best website

We do not stand still and develop thanks to your feedback. Now, you can quickly buy and sell PureFi tokens on the website of our exchange service. You can find out more in our Telegram channel. There, we publish exciting news from the world of cryptocurrencies' current courses and talk about our upgrades.

PureFi is an innovative cross-chain solution designed to serve the decentralized finance sector. It is a protocol with a built-in AML service.

The project will allow to link companies providing KYC/AML services with users of DeFi platforms or services to provide them with a high level of security in the world of cryptocurrencies.

PureFi will contain asset price information, AML/KYC and other metadata. This will serve as one hundred percent proof of the legal origin of the assets. It will be possible to use the protocol on the most popular blockchain platforms, including Ethereum, Binance, Polkadot, etc.

PureFi will provide honest users of the DeFi market with a high level of protection against suspicious transactions and allow customers to remain anonymous. Clients can analyze crypto wallets and transactions using extensive AML databases thanks to this protocol.

PureFi will be useful:

1. Users of the liquidity pool who want to put their coins in the pool and must prove that their funds are clean;
2. To the operators of the liquidity pool who control and manage the liquidity pools and want to be sure of the purity of all new assets;
3. Issuers - companies or enterprises that track cryptocurrencies and make decisions in the field of KYC and AML.

Exchange PureFi on the AnyExchange.best website is worth it because we have:

1. Quick exchange procedure. You will be able to carry out the exchange as quickly as possible. Thanks to the intuitive interface, you will receive a token in your wallet in just a few minutes.

2. A large number of directions. PureFi exchange is available for Perfect Money, Tether TRC-20, as well as for cash dollars.

3. Available cash exchange. Our ticket offices are located in 30 cities of Ukraine.

4. High-speed technical support. If there is a problem during the exchange, our support service will answer all questions in clear language.

[AnyExchange]

Uknown has hacked dozens of crypto bloggers' YouTube accounts to conduct fraudulent broadcasts.

Unknown persons have gained access to several popular YouTube channels dedicated to cryptocurrency. On behalf of the bloggers, they posted a video with a fake distribution of coins.

More than ten channels of analysts, investors, and traders were attacked. Among them: BitBoy Crypto – 1.4 million subscribers, The Moon – 553 thousand subscribers, and CryptoBanter - 538 thousand subscribers. Also, the attackers gained access to the account of the analytical platform CoinMarketCap.

Videos with the name “ONE WORLD CRYPTOCURRENCY” appeared on hacked channels. Hackers urged users to send Ethereum, Binance Coin, USDT, and USDC stablecoins. In response, potential investors were promised to send an equivalent amount of a new, and in fact non-existent, OWCY cryptocurrency.

It is known that as a result of the attack, hackers received a little more than two BNBs and less than $200 in tokens and stablecoins. This can only mean one thing — the crypto community is becoming more aware and is less likely to engage in such schemes.

To not fall for this bait, you need to remember only one thing. During open cryptocurrency giveaways, the organizers never ask participants to transfer money to them. Do not participate in such airdrops. You will not be able to return the money sent.

Interestingly, most of the hacked channels were protected using two-factor authentication. The owner of one of the attacked accounts reported that he found no traces of hacking or infection with viruses. And in the action log, I didn't notice any input from third-party addresses.

Most likely, the scammers gained access to the channels by replacing the SIM. Since the account is linked to a mobile number in most cases, you can bypass authentication by changing your SIM card. The old number will be blocked, and all messages and login information will be sent to the new one.

[AnyExchange]

More than 70% of all losses from crypto hacker attacks are accounted for by hidden mining programs - Chainalysis.

Malware for hidden mining brought the most losses from 2021 to 2017, about 73% of the total. This is the conclusion reached by Chainalysis analysts in their new report.

Program for hidden mining or cryptojacking is an infected script that allows attackers to remotely use someone else's power to mine coins. Usually, the virus gets to the victim's device unnoticed, adding itself to the exceptions of the antivirus and protection systems. Because of this, it can be noticed far from immediately.

Due to uncontrolled mining, infected devices overheat and even fail. Also, the most unpleasant moment is the enormous financial losses due to the impressive costs of electricity.

Experts from Chainalysis believe that such software is the most common cryptocurrency malware. Cryptojacking programs are pretty easy to use and do not require special technical training. Also, a big plus for attackers is that usually, such a script weighs little. Because of this, the virus is easily embedded in any torrent or open file library while remaining almost invisible.

Most of the cryptojacking software is created for Monero(XMR) mining. It is believed that this is the high anonymity of this cryptocurrency. Unlike bitcoin, it is almost impossible to track who, when, to whom and how many coins were transferred. According to a report by Palo Alto Networks, 5% of all Monero was mined by cryptojackers. This amounts to more than $100 million.

To protect your devices from infection with this malware, you should follow a few simple rules. First, update your operating system periodically and install a good antivirus. Also, it is worth downloading a particular extension to block cryptominers on the Internet. For example, MinerBlock, No Coin, or Anti Miner. Carefully download any files from unverified sources and carefully check file extensions. For example, you downloaded a movie whose extension should be .mp4 or .mkv. The torrent file .exe is typical for a program but not for a media file. Thus, the attackers play on the inattention of the user.