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With an increase in remote working, the chances of ransomware attacks have also increased. Be it any business or government organization, the majority of the staff is working from home. This pandemic has also given a boost to the cybercrimes.

What Is Ransomware?

It is malicious software that hacks a system and only gives access when a ransom is paid. Since payment through cryptocurrency can be made anonymously, it is easy for cybercriminals to hide their identities.

The cybersecurity departments of the United States and the United Kingdom have already issued warnings about the ever-increasing cyber scams. However, phishing scams are not just limited to individuals. The University of California also became the target of a ransomware attack. It had to pay $1.14 million in Bitcoin for the ransom amount.

Incidences like this show how easily scammers are misusing cryptocurrencies because of the anonymity of this asset. After receiving the ransom amount in cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, it is then converted and cleaned.

What Employees Should Do?

When the systems of employees are hacked, it is the company that suffers. To stay safe and prevent the ransomware attack, companies should teach their employees to keep their computers safe.

Whenever ransomware hits the system, three things happen:

1. Data encryption
2. Ransomware payment
3. Data decryption

Data is encrypted in many ways. The hackers may hack the system through email or a vulnerable network. If you want to protect the data at your end, invest in firewall software. Another method to stay protected is to use strong passwords. Don’t keep the password for a long duration though, keep changing it often.

Is It Optimum To Pay The Ransom Amount?

The hackers usually hack valuable data through a vulnerability in the network. This data may represent the company itself or its clients. In both of these situations, the hacked data can be sold to other hackers.

If the data means a lot to you or if it can damage your equation with the clients, then as a company or business you should pay the ransom. This question has different meanings in different situations. But one thing is sure, whether you decide to pay or not to pay the ransom, keep your systems or networks protected.

Since it is easy for the hackers to hack valuable data about your company under your nose and you won’t be able to do anything except paying the ransom amount. If the ransom amount has to be paid in cryptocurrency, you can’t even track who the hacker is.

Usually, when the price of gold rise this high as it is now, it is seen to witness a massive decline. In August 2020, gold stood more overvalued than it is in the last 50 years. It is the conclusion reached by the latest research conducted by Campbell Harvey, a finance professor at Duke University, Tadas Viskanta, founder/editor of AbonormalReturns.com, and former portfolio manager at TCW Group, Claude Erb. The timing of the research proved to be highly remarkable because the enthusiasm to invest in gold reached a new peak recently. 

One of the fund managers even predicted recently that the price of gold might even reach $4,000 per ounce in the near future. However, it needs to be noted here that the research in the discussion here has nothing to do with the volatility in the gold prices, as witnessed in recent times. As per many economic analysts, the gold is currently going through a price-discovery phase and unsure how long it would remain in this phase. Historically, it has been seen quite often that when the price of gold is high after being inflation-adjusted, its performance subsequently is almost always invariably low, and vice versa. 

As per the speculation of the research conducted, it is predicted that the price of gold would be lower in the coming years than at the price point, it is hovering over at the moment. Many of the gold-enthusiasts would go against the predictions made by the research and point towards the extensive money creation conducted by Federal Reserve in March. 

One other reason behind the massive Bull Run in the gold prices is gold ETFs. As per the data gathered by Bloomberg, the global holdings by gold ETFs are now over 3,356.6 tons. It easily surpasses the holdings of any government in the world, except the United States. It is seen recently that there is a strong correlation between the actual price of gold and that of total global ETF holdings. However, the researchers are not yet clear as to what this correlation may be. If the high price of gold is the reason why the ETF holdings are witnessing the influx of cash, then the ETF holdings would definitely take a hit when the gold prices decline. 

It is expected that the gold may hit a new all-time high during its current phase of price-discovery. However, historically, gold prices have always plunged whenever its inflation-adjusted price has sharply increased as currently. 

A major city in China had recently been rocked by a significant cryptocurrency fraud that amounted to over fourteen million dollars. Thankfully the swindle was successfully investigated and eradicated by Chinese law enforcement officers. The massive sum of hundred million dollars in yuan was attained back as well as several expensive vehicles and high-end real estate properties.  According to Chinese media outlets, the crypto conmen were swindling the masses since the last year and fished for prospective victims through social message-sharing groups that operate online. The chat groups were anonymous and hence an ideal place to commit such crimes.

Operating Scheme

The fraud is reported to have taken place by the common form of dishonesty, where greedy crypto-criminals lure unsuspecting victims with the promises of doubling the investment through higher returns. They spread out their messages on chat groups proclaiming to have benefited massively from investing in a specific crypto-currency platform and trading plan. Then they encouraged whoever they could to follow suit and transmit their cryptocurrency to a counterfeit altcoin wallet to receive a token that was double in value. But once it was done, the duped investor will only get a fake internet address and nothing else.

Stolen Commodities

The scammers operated cautiously and only promised eight percent more returns and not too much more, which would have made a potential investor suspicious. And in this way, they stole millions in Ether, Bitcoin, and other altcoins. They were eventually caught due to the extravagance that new money brings and were nabbed them when they tried to set up a center for their illegal activities in a complete building that they sourced. They had duped over a thousand people, and more details of the case are still surfacing.

These kinds of scams and frauds have become rampant with the growing use of crypto-currency and its burgeoning popularity on the trading floor. And it is especially hard to look out for fraudsters who promise good returns since the market volatility of crypto-currencies behaves in such a way that eight percent returns would seem like a reasonable promise any good crypto-currency investor would make. But with more and more usage and experience of dealing with altcoins grows in the common masses, the number of such scams and frauds will greatly diminish. There are always con artists out there who will try to lure you with fake promises. It is up to you to know the real from the fake.

One of the biggest South Korean companies, Hanwha, is making its presence felt in the cryptocurrency market by investing in a new startup. Hanwha Investment & Securities, one of the leading securities brokerage firms which are part of the Hanwha Group, is decided to invest $3.3 million in a new startup with the name of CrossAngle. Hanwha Investment & Securities is one of the subsidiaries of the Hanwha Group that also has many large companies like Hyundai, LG, and Samsung as its subsidiaries. The investment comes at a time when the Hanwha is looking to push its digital expertise. During the start of 2020, the company had invested $31 million in funding in Stellar based blockchain startup Lightnet.

CrossAngle announced the new funding in a press release, where it stated that the recent Series A2 investment would allow them to develop the necessary infrastructure to provide crypto data services to its customers. CrossAngle, based out of Singapore, founded Xangle in 2018. It is a crypto disclosure services provider that focuses on offering transparent data services for different cryptocurrencies such as BTC and others. To fulfill its services, Xangle works along with multiple projects globally and also companies that issue crypto-assets. It verifies the information collected from them before integrating them. It offers public access to all the information to help them understand crypto assets. Xangle already has around 60 exchanges partners from around the world, including the United States, China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Southeast Asia, and European ones. It currently provides disclosure data to them for about 800 crypto assets data to date. A majority of these crypto-assets are registered and also directly maintained by the blockchain projects. 

According to the co-founder and the current CSO of CrossAngle, James Junwoo Kim, the recent funding will allow Xangle to contribute immensely to the industry for its advancement and even expand to newer areas. He also added that there is a need to resolve the existing problems in the industry and to create an information ecosystem for the stakeholders if the industry has to grow and increase its usage. As crypto-assets crosses national boundaries and languages, there is a need for a platform like Xangle to help accommodate the needs of a wider base. The disclosure services that Xangle provides will help stakeholders from different parts of the world to communicate and get the latest information on funds, holders, and exchanges and to do their due diligence. It will also help them monitor the different projects and their timeline for different purposes.

CrossAngle claims that even though the cryptocurrency is currently at its tipping point due to the strict government regulations and policies on it, there are global financial companies that are continuously investing in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. For example, a unit of SBI Holdings, a Japanese financial company, has bought a minority stake in B2C2, a London based cryptocurrency market maker for $30 million. Nomura Holdings Inc, another Japanese firm, formed a partnership with Ledger and CoinShares to launch a Komainu, a platform to safeguard the digital assets for different financial institutions.  

Crypto is not completely accepted in some countries but it is a taxable property in others. Crypto income invites taxes but not every investor likes to go through the steps. The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) made it clear in 2014 that it is not a currency but property.

Crypto industry has got many tools to cover the taxes but one wrong step can get you into trouble. For the taxpayers of fiat currency taxation is difficult. But it seems even more complex when it comes to cryptocurrency.

IRS has released several pieces of information about crypto taxes. These documents have detailed FAQs for taxpayers. It may seem enough but it has no formal guidance albeit being a formal document.

These guidelines are not the ones that a taxpayer should rely on, said The Government Accountability Office itself. From now onwards there will be tax questions on every form of IRS. As a taxpayer, you should answer these questions carefully.

Most of the tax documents have the term “disclosure”. This is something every taxpayer is afraid of. It doesn’t matter how difficult it is to file crypto taxes, you will have to sign tax documents under your name. On the other hand, you also want to protect yourself.

It always seems dreadful to disclose our information. The word “disclosure” has a negative connotation attached to it. A taxpayer will only disclose certain information when it is must to do so. Some taxpayers afraid of disclosure because they are not willing to face audits.

What Is Disclosure?

Everyone wants to stay steer clear of tax audits. But have you ever reconsidered the term “disclosure”? In some cases, it can save you from a tax nightmare. Disclosure is additional information along with the usual list of income and expenses. It just explains the extra part of income and expenses.

How Disclosure Can Help You?

It may seem counterintuitive but disclosure can help you. If you want to avoid penalties for not disclosing enough information, then disclosure is your friend. If you are someone who is hiding from the disclosure then reconsider it. Because an understatement of the tax can also cause you a penalty.

However, it is also confirmed that you are not bound to disclose always. But if disclosure saves you from an extension of assessment for more than 3 years, then you should go ahead. In short, you should never go overboard with disclosure. Enough information is a wise decision to make.

Changpeng Zhao, CEO, Binance, showcased the first beat transaction made from a crypto exchange debit card.

Cryptocurrency holders can now enjoy a fiat gateway into different asset classes through the Binance business card. Changpeng Zhao, the CEO, revealed on his Twitter account, the first beat transaction from his own card, and said that he can now go from 99% to 100% crypto. The development was going on since March 2020, and now crypto holders can pay for goods and services using their digital currencies. These cards will resolve one of the greatest shortfalls associated with cryptocurrencies, that is the inability to use them in daily life with the same ease as traditional currencies.

As of now, this Binance card is in its beta version and is available only virtually. Since it is just the beginning, it can be only used for online services and sales. A physical prepaid card is in working, Binance said, and it will be available very soon. Binance will dedicate that approach to enable POS and ATM purchases.

The picture of the physical card concerning the implementation of technologies like PINs, Chips, Contactless Payments, and ATM withdrawals, is very unclear for now. This is because the card is still in progress and Binance has revealed nothing of this sort to date.

The company will do the foremost issuing of the card through Swipe, only as a white-label product. Another interesting news associated with this is that Binance has acquired a major stake in Swipe, in the first week of July 2020.

Binance virtual card enables the clients to pre-select the digital gateway they want to debit while funding the card’s balance. As of now, the cards hold only two tokens, bitcoin and the native Binance token, BNB.

The operation of the virtual card is very similar to the usual banking cards of any type. The only major difference is that instead of working with a mobile banking application is that it links them to a crypto wallet.

Binance’s titular Binance card application allows the users or clients to recharge their Binance debit card with crypto funds, which directly converts them into fiat holding in a matter of seconds. Now, users can use this money wherever Visa is acceptable, which means with around 47 million merchants worldwide. Because of this benefit, the card is not connected with the customer’s bank account directly.

Whenever the cardholder makes a payment through the Binance card, an instant conversion happens of crypto money into the fiat holding. Because of this process, any related commissions or expenses are automatically deducted. However, the details of such commissions or expenses have not been disclosed so far but are awaited to come soon.

 For now, the pre-order price of this crypto debit card stands at $15. It will be launched only in Malaysia, for the beginning. And then the plan will be pushed in Vietnam, with the eventual strategy of adding more countries to the list in a matter of time. The expansion will significantly depend upon the interest in the card worldwide, and the agreements with various service providers.

With the increasing demand for digital transactions, it’s high time to give digital money or a well-known cryptocurrency the status they deserve. Cryptocurrencies, however, is one of the majorly discussed topics around the world; its status is still privatized and unreliable in most of the cases. Russia, in this state, leapt forward by passing a bill towards legalization of the cryptocurrency, giving a redefined state to the cryptocurrency and making it more reliable and trustworthy.

Russia’s Cryptocurrency legislation bill:

The idea of Cryptocurrency legislation in Russia started back in 2018. After two hearings throughout the time, the Russian government has released the final amendment on 22nd July 2020 with the title, “On Digital Assets”. Once this bill comes into execution, industry experts feel that the usage of cryptocurrency will be as equivalent as regular currency like dollars and pounds even though the law says it’s not allowed to be used as a payment method.

Is it the Final call?

The legislation of the Crypto bill sure is a significant change in the finance market, and Russia is the first country to provide this status to digital currency. But with the latest statement, is it confirmed that this is going to happen? Let’s see what the experts have to say.

As the latest bill said that there would be a new bill to launch the legislation of crypto and the reports from the industry finance specialists are predicting for the launch at the end of this year and execution to happen on 1st Jan 2021, and there can be unpredictable surprises too. All we can do is wait and watch.

Stable Coins:

As per the current crypto amendment, Russian native businesses can develop their own cryptocurrencies or stable coins and introduce them as digital currencies for any transactions, or they can collaborate with different firms to announce one type of coins where people can use the single currency for multiple utilities.

Russian Central bank will be the head of official authorization of cryptocurrency once the legalization comes alive. With this reliable involvement of the Central bank, it may get more accessible for the investors to gain a profitable perceptive in investments and exchanges. Sources say that the Central bank will develop a streamlined framework for the crypto issuers to launch their stable coins in the market, usage and their survival.

Russia has made the dreams of many investors come true with the legislation of cryptocurrency and founded an authentic platform for the usage of digital currency. All we need to hope is now to let this come alive and work like magic.

Whenever a crypto transaction takes place, a part of the information is also shared with the stakeholders.  But this is not the case with utility token issuers. Many researchers have concluded that the information shared with the public is not enough.

Transparent information can attract more customers and enhance the confidence of stakeholders. This research was conducted at the Duke University School of Law and the results were shown on the blog.

A group of 76 industry experts were present in the discussion and 83% of those agreed that the information shared is not enough by utility token issuers. The stakeholders can have a bit more information about the users to serve them in a better way.

Crypto industry experts pointed out that this is the only reason crypto has failed to immerse in the industry since its first bubble two years back. According to the poll conducted by Nicholas J. Krapels and Dan Liebau, there are seven actionable methods to present the information sufficiently.

What Is The Relation Between Crypto Price And Information?

A short case study was conducted on renowned crypto companies like Thorchain, Tezos, Algoraland, and Hedera. This study explained how information can impact the cryptocurrency prices. The results were positive when minimum information was disclosed. Prices of utility tokens and cryptocurrency were increased gradually.

Although showing the insider information cannot always be considered as a technique to become successful in the crypto industry. By sharing the “basic” information can be a good strategy to promote blockchain as a widespread technology.

What Is The Information Disclosure Recommendation?

Seven methods are derived from the poll conducted by the Duke University. These can be used by token issuers, intermediaries, buyers, and regulators. The recommendations are comprised of both, financial and non-financial decisions. Financial information suggestion includes:

• Information About Token Issuer – An issuer documentation should be shared upfront. This information can be helpful for the buyers to identify the motivation behind the tokens.
• Token Treasury Information – If the utility token and cryptocurrency issuer hold treasury towards the compensation, software development, or any other community development, it has to be shown. The token treasury information informs the parties whether a part of the purchase is allocated or not.
• Initial Cash Position – Instead of relying on a thirty party, the token issuer should provide initial cash position. This information includes the total amount of the initial amount of U.S dollars received. It also consists of the information about the amount in cryptocurrency as well as the amount converted into fiat currency.
• Current Cash Position – Cryptocurrency is not accepted by every supplier. Thus, it is essential to disclose the respective amount in fiat currency. This information will help the token buyers to take appropriate decisions.
  
  

The non-financial information includes the following information:

• Open-source Software – Open-source has become quite a useful constituent of cryptocurrency transaction information. If the token issuer uses open-source code, its information should be regularly updated on the platform. The users must be able to access the code along with its documentation.
• Contact Information – Appropriate information about the token issuer should be available at hand. Stakeholders may need two main contact details that include email and telegram. The token issuer must community managers that are available to chat 8 hours a day. The longest wait period for a token holder should not exceed 48 hours during the working days. This information along with the prompt response service can increase the confidence of the customer even more.
• Project Progress – Stakeholders should be provided with regular updates on the project progress. The network and protocol usage directly impact the value of the token. Therefore, the project team should update the information about the short term and long-term goal. When the exact data is available to the stakeholders, they feel connected with the project and it also increases accountability. The project progress information also elaborates the difficult technical details in simple words that can be easily understood by the stakeholders.

Israel-based Simplex, one of the largest providers of digital payment processing for cards and wallets, has added Bitcoin SV support to its platform. Simplex provides merchants all around the world to accept payments for buying digital assets through multiple payment methods. The company currently has more than 150 partners ranging from gateways, wallets to exchanges. The company aims to expand its customer base by offering Bitcoin SV to its platform. Some of its popular partners that already support Bitcoin SV include Bithumb, BitMax, Bitmart, Cross Exchange, MXC, Poloniex, KuCoin, OKEx, BiKi, and many more. With the addition of Bitcoin SV, more number of Simplex’s partners will be able to allow their customers to purchase BSV on their own platform using their debit or credit cards.

Bitcoin SV was carved out of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and is currently on the 6^th position according to the market capitalization. Even though there have been claims that the volume of Bitcoin SV is overrated, Bitcoin has been able to maintain its position in the top 10 coins. There have also been controversies surrounding its inventor, but Bitcoin SV sees a daily turnover of about $1 billion, making it highly attractive for buyers. The growing ecosystem and services are pushing the demand for Bitcoin SV. Since it is a fast and effective payment system, it offers a variety of data usage that benefits customers in different ways.

Simplex’s offering of payment processing is combined with the best fraud prevention technology in the market. It allows its partners to accept a wide variety of payment methods without any chargeback risk. The company provide a refund on fraudulent transactions and allow legitimate users to make transactions securely and easily. It has also brought in mobile wallet provider Broxus that allows the purchase of Bitcoin and Ether via Telegram. Even though the details of Bitcoin SV have not been disclosed, generally, Simplex charges 3.5 percent of the amount of transaction and has a $10 minimum purchase amount. There is a maximum daily limit of $20,000 if one is using any debit or credit card and also a $50,000 monthly upper limit to minimize misuse and fraud.

At the announcement of Bitcoin SV, the founding president of Bitcoin Association, Jimmy Nguyen, said that Simplex addition of Bitcoin SV is another milestone for the global adaption of BSV. He added that through Simplex and its partners, it would become easier for people to purchase BSV from anywhere in the world by using a debit or credit card. In addition, since Simplex is a licensed institution in the EU, it brings about a regulatory-compliant approach that Bitcoin Association looks to build and expand its business lawfully around the world.    

The Vice President of Business Development at Simplex, Ari Last, also said that they were thrilled to team up with Bitcoin Association to provide a quick and secure way to buy BSV across all its partners. In addition to providing crypto-friendly banking services, Simplex will now be able to ensure unmatched flexibility to its customers too.

For your information, the switching of SIMs is a major issue. Unfortunately, many crypto have to face this problem, not one or two but multiple times. It does not matter whether you are at all notable in space or not.

The phone number of yours is very much responsible for being SIM swapped, ported from your device to another device. To be very specific, this issue does not, as a direct consequence, include somebody popular on “crypto Twitter”. Nonetheless, it involves the claimed theft of 1.8 million USD of amount inclusive of crypto. Now, that is not something to joke about.

It is Something Serious and to Occur Very Rarely

Negotiated privately, a numerous count of cases of SIM swaps have been sorted out. It is for the negotiation clauses that mobile carriers include in the section of agreement of users. The allegations are very shocking. Also, this is one of the very few cases that was filed openly. The filing of the case included the claim that AT&T insiders are very much involved in this case of disrupting the SIM swapping course of action.

The Accusation Against AT&T

A resident of California named Seth Shapiro is the accuser of this case. He is a popular man to win two Emmy Awards in the field of media and technology expertise. He is also an author and additive professor at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. For your information, he was too a subscriber of AT&T at the relevant period for the lawsuit.

If you are wondering about what is this ‘AT&T’, then it is the second-largest wireless carrier in the United States. It has more than 153 million subscribers. AT&T earned 71 billion USD in total operating revenues in 2017 and 71 billion USD in 2018.

The case that Seth Shapiro filed states that AT&T has been responsible for failing to provide security to his account from a SIM swap. As a result, it has made the outcome of a huge loss on cryptocurrency.

Specific Details about the Accusation

Based on the complaint made by the accuser, between the 16th of May, 2018 to 18th of May, 2019, AT&T employees have somehow managed to gain illegal access to Mr. Shapiro’s wireless account in AT&T. He also has mentioned that this has taken place at least four times.

Cause of Action?

A header in the lawsuit said in short that the several protection failures of the account are a federal law violation. It proclaims that AT&T was already aware of the trust that the account holders have.

Last Words

This is a very serious complaint made by a user of a very well known platform. AT&T will be in serious trouble if the court speaks for the accuser. As it is a very serious and interesting accusation, it would be watched very closely.