South Korea announced its first independent sanctions related to cryptocurrency thefts and cyber attacks against certain North Korean groups and individuals. According to Seoul's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, four North Korean individuals and seven businesses have been placed on a blacklist for their alleged involvement in cyberattacks and cryptocurrency theft, reported a local daily. The blacklisted individuals include the infamous Park Jin-hyok, Jo Myong-rae, Song Rim and Oh Chung-seong. The most notorious of the four hackers, Park, works in information technology for the Chosun Expo Joint Venture, a front company connected to the Lazarus Group in North Korea. He is …

Ethereum co-founder and crypto entrepreneur Joseph Lubin is confident that Ether (ETH) won’t be classified as a security in the United States. Cointelegraph spoke with Lubin, Ethereum co-founder and founder of blockchain tech firm ConsenSys, in Tel Aviv at the Web3 event, Building Blocks 23. Asked if ETH could be classed as a security in the U.S. after Ethereum’s transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model, Lubin said: “I think it's as likely, and would have the same impact, as if Uber was made illegal.” “There would be a tremendous outcry from not just the crypto community but different politicians …

According to data from DeFiLlama, Ethereum staking service Rocket Pool reached $1 billion in total value locked (TVL) on Feb. 9. The move comes less than two years after the decentralized finance (DeFi) launched its mainnet on Nov. 9, 2021. Dubbed a liquid staking solution for Ethereum (ETH), Rocket Pool allows users to join an Ethereum decentralized node operator or run their own node. Unlike conventional staking solutions, the capital requirements are far less as users can run their own node with just 16 ETH as opposed to the network specified 32 ETH, with another 16 ETH coming from a …

London-based digital asset protection firm, Coincover, has secured $30 million in a funding round led by Foundation Capital, with a follow-on investment from CMT digital. According to Coincover’s announcement, the funds will be used to scale its operations, drive recruitment, develop new products, and form partnerships to help strengthen the security of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, thereby, providing even more comprehensive protection to businesses and individuals holding digital assets. Coincover was founded in 2018 and launched in 2019 with the aim of providing trust to the digital asset industry. The company already works with over 300 businesses including exchanges, wallets, hedge …

Amidst a drastic decline in coin prices, shifting player behavior, and hard-to-maintain tokenomics, it's been a difficult year for many GameFi developers. While more established franchises, such as Axie Infinity, have held ground, other lesser-known projects like Elexir have mostly pulled the plug, with a lack of viable game designs being unable to compensate for the "Fi" element in GameFi. That said, one project which, despite running into all challenges, experienced by its peers, appears to have gained traction anyway. In early February, blockchain multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game Superpower Squad (SPS) surpassed 200,000 downloads on the App Store …

As the crypto industry attracts more users, developers are laser-focused on improving user experience, a major pain point for most new users. Artificial Intelligence has often been seen as a technology that could improve how people use and interact with crypto. In the latest episode of Hashing It Out, the integration of AI with crypto is discussed at length. Cointelegraph’s Elisha Owusu Akyaw (GhCryptoGuy) interviewed Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik about the importance of on-chain data and the use of artificial intelligence in crypto in Episode 8 of Hashing It Out. The narrative that artificial intelligence is taking over has intensified …

Open-source refers to the practice of making source code freely available to the public, allowing anyone to view, modify and distribute the code. In computer science and software development, open source is important for several reasons, as explained in the below sections. Collaboration and innovation Global collaboration and contributions to the creation of software projects are made possible by open source, leading to faster innovation and the creation of more advanced and reliable software. The creation of the Linux operating system is a prime illustration of how open source promotes cooperation and innovation. Linus Torvalds founded the open-source Linux project …

105-year-old German bank DekaBank is planning to launch a blockchain-based tokenization platform as part of its collaboration with the digital asset firm Metaco. DekaBank targets the release of its blockchain platform sometime in 2024, while the infrastructure is expected to be ready in 2023, DekaBank’s digital asset custody executive Andreas Sack told Cointelegraph. “The tokenization platform infrastructure will be ready in the foreseeable future, and that will launch the first minimum viable product in our crypto custody solution,” Sack stated. He added that the first test transactions of the tokenization platform are likely to take place this year. DekaBank’s upcoming …

Five years on from its inception, fan token platform Chiliz has launched its own layer-1 Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible blockchain ecosystem to support its growth. Chiliz’s fan token ecosystem has long been powered by Ethereum-based ERC-20 tokens, but the validation of the Chiliz ‘2.0’ Blockchain genesis block sees the ecosystem shift to its own layer 1. The new blockchain uses a system of 11 active validators with Proof of Stake Authority (PoSA) consensus, which is touted to provide faster block times, lower fees and energy usage. According to the project’s documentation, Chiliz Chain 2.0 is a hard fork of …

As the market turned from bullish to bearish, many critics were quick to question the legitimacy of new digital collectible releases. Fortunately, the market turn wasn’t an end to the asset class as a whole, but rather to the projects that weren’t rooted in real utility. Although the utility itself varies from rallying people in support of a social cause to building a community for like-minded individuals to interact, the conclusion is clear — the real value of digital collectibles is what it represents to their collectors. Therefore, many collections are putting the community front and center, building intentionally so …

The cryptocurrency miner Argo continues to undergo a series of company changes in light of its major acquisition and newly filed lawsuit. Peter Wall, the CEO of Argo Blockchain, announced his resignation from his executive position at the company on Feb. 9. According to the announcement, Wall will remain an advisor to Argo throughout the next three months in support of the transition out of the position. He also commented that he was “pleased” to have spearheaded the recent Galaxy Digital acquisition deal. In the same announcement, the company also revealed the resignation of Argo board member Sarah Gow. This …

Businesses face several problems when storing data on-premises. There are steep technical and cost issues in scaling infrastructure up and down, and maintaining storage area networks is a challenge. One also has to deal with complex problems in data compatibility and security. These challenges have led to the emergence of a cloud storage model that delivers scalability, agility, security, cost savings and simplicity. Fortune Business Insights expects the global cloud storage market to grow from $83.41 billion in 2022 to $376.37 billion by 2029. Cloud storage enables users to save data at an off-site location through the public internet or …