A confidential United Nations report has revealed North Korean hackers stole more crypto assets in 2022 than in any other year so far. The UN report, seen by Reuters, was reportedly submitted to a 15-member North Korea sanctions committee last week. It found North Korean-linked hackers were responsible for between $630 million and more than $1 billion in stolen crypto assets last year and targeted networks of foreign aerospace and defense companies. The UN report also noted that cyber attacks were more sophisticated than in previous years, making tracing stolen funds more difficult than ever. "[North Korea] used increasingly sophisticated …

Newly proposed advertising rules in the United Kingdom could potentially see executives of crypto firms face up to two years of prison for failing to meet certain requirements around promotion, according to the U.K. financial watchdog. In a Feb. 6 statement, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed that if the proposed "Financial promotions regime" is approved by Parliament, all crypto firms in the country and overseas would have to follow certain requirements when advertising their crypto services to U.K. customers. “Cryptoasset businesses marketing to UK consumers, including firms based overseas, must get ready for this regime,” said the FCA. …

United Kingdom-based neo-banking platform Revolut, which boasts 25 million customers globally, has introduced crypto staking to its U.K. and European Economic Area (EEA) customers. According to a report by London-based news agency altfi, the staking feature is expected to go live this week, allowing users to generate income on their crypto assets during its "soft testing" phase. At present, the staking feature is available for Polkadot (DOT), Tezos (XTZ), Cardano (ADA), and Ether (ETH) crypto assets, with yields ranging from 2.99% to 11.65%. However, these yields are not guaranteed. In cryptocurrency, staking is a process where an individual holds or …

On Jan. 24, the dYdX Foundation, the entity responsible for the dYdX decentralized crypto exchange, announced “changes” to its tokenomics — the way it distributes tokens to early investors, employees and contractors, and, of course, the public. So, what’s uncommon about the situation? The project’s foundation, in agreement with dYdX Trading Inc. and its early investors, decided to amend the project's tokenomics and extend the period for which such investors’ initial batch of tokens would be locked, changing the date from Feb. 1 to Dec. 1, 2023. Whether this was a good or a bad thing depended on which side …

The United States dollar index (DXY) has started a strong recovery and its rise is putting pressure on Bitcoin (BTC) and the S&P 500 (SPX) index. The market participants will be keenly watching for any insights on future rate hikes when the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks before the Economic Club of Washington on Feb. 7. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s 43% rebound in January has improved sentiment among small investors. Crypto analytics firm Santiment said that the number of Bitcoin addresses holding 0.1 Bitcoin or less soared by 620,000 to hit 39.8 million, the highest level since Nov. 19. With the …

On Feb. 6, European cryptocurrency investment firm CoinShares published its “Digital Asset Fund Flows Report,” which revealed that investors are showing a strong interest in digital asset investment products, with inflows totaling $76 million last week, marking the fourth consecutive week of inflows. The report indicates a change in investor sentiment for the start of 2023, with year-to-date inflows now at $230 million. This growth has led to an increase in total assets under management (AUM), which now stands at $30.3 billion — the highest since mid-August 2022. Investors are primarily focusing on Bitcoin (BTC), with weekly inflows of $69 …

Crypto security is one of the hottest topics for investors and companies actively working on creating better security solutions for the Web3 industry. Web3 Antivirus was created in an effort to make wallet security more accessible to all users in the space. The company offers a browser extension that helps users monitor wallet interactions and spot potential scams and malicious activity before investors fall victim to them. Below are the most common crypto scams and malicious tactics, and how to protect against them below as found through the experience of developing Web3 Antivirus. Malicious transactions Hacker tactics: While on a …

Regulators in Hong Kong are stepping up their game when it comes to monitoring the activities of the crypto industry. According to a Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) report filed on Feb. 6, it plans to hire four additional staff to “better supervise” the activities of local virtual asset (VA) providers. Moreover, the extra oversight will help “better assess the compliance and risk” in allowing retail investors the opportunity to trade virtual assets on regulated platforms. The commission wrote: “This is in response to an increasing number of operators who have expressed interest in carrying on VA activities such as …

Troubled cryptocurrency lending firm Hodlnaut is reportedly working with several potential investors to sell its business and other assets. A number of potential buyers have inquired about purchasing Hodlnaut and its claims against the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, Bloomberg reported on Feb. 6. Hodlnaut’s interim judicial managers have received multiple proposals to acquire its Singapore-based crypto business after the company sought protection from creditors. Citing an affidavit, the report notes that the judicial managers are now in the process of signing non-disclosure agreements with the potential investors. The affidavit reportedly indicated that as of Dec. 9, Hodlnaut Group owed a …

Bitcoin (BTC) price surge above $20,000 in the second week of January led to a market FOMO (fear of missing out), especially among small BTC holders with a wallet balance of 0.1 BTC. There was a significant surge in BTC addresses holding 0.1 BTC or less, after January 13. According to data shared by crypto analytics firm Santiment, 620,000 new BTC addresses have popped up since the January 13 BTC price surge totaling 39.8 million. The rise in Bitcoin small addresses indicates regrowing investor optimism in 2023. The growth of such small addresses was very limited and slowed down remarkably …

For many countries, the tax season is right around the corner, which means companies in the crypto industry will need to be ready to help their users comply with local regulations. On Feb. 6, crypto exchange Binance announced it is launching a tax reporting tool to help users stay on track of their crypto transactions for tax reporting purposes. According to the announcement, Binance Tax lets its users download a tax summary report which includes any gains or losses which have occurred throughout the year in their Binance account. This includes spot trades, crypto donations and blockchain-based fork rewards. The …

A luxury rehabilitation center in Spain has recently added services aimed at treating a relatively new kind of addiction — crypto trading. The center, called “The Balance,” is a Switzerland-founded wellness center, with its main facility located on the Spanish island of Mallorca along with representations in Spain, London and Switzerland. While it has been known to treat addiction ailments such as alcohol, drugs and behavioral health — it has now recently begun offering services aimed at combatting crypto trading addiction, according to a report from the BBC. The Feb. 5 report revealed that one of the center’s clients reached …