Blockchain forensics firm Ciphertrace has traced funds obtained by the Twitter hackers in the ‘giveaway’ scam to peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges and crypto gambling sites. On July 21, Ciphertrace reported that 0.2 Bitcoin (BTC) had been transferred to a P2P exchange via a ‘peel chain’ also used by the hackers to move funds to a crypto casino. Peel chains comprise chains of wallets that funds incrementally pass through to obfuscate the movement of illicitly obtained crypto. The tactic is believed to be favored by North Korean hackers — with Ciphertrace estimating that Chinese nationals linked to North Korea have laundered more …

Crypto-focused institutional trading desks are lately springing up. While Wall Street investment banks and hedge funds are still in the early stages of involvement, a class of crypto-native funds founded by institutional pros is by now well established. Cointelegraph interviewed the co-founder of one of these funds, CMS Holdings’ Dan Matuszewski, to learn more about his views on the crypto market. Before involving himself in crypto in 2012, Matuszewski worked for some years at Bay Hill, an institutional hedge fund. Most of his career was nevertheless tied to crypto, with a brief stint at Kraken and a longer tenure as …

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing is clear: The video games industry is thriving. As people around the world find themselves with more time on their hands thanks to government-mandated lockdowns and a partial economic shutdown, video game sales have skyrocketed. Despite being overshadowed by some of the more glamorous uses for blockchain technology, the gaming industry may be poised for a generational leap forward with the advent of asset tokenization — a practice that could expose the gaming industry to a whole new wave of investors while simultaneously unlocking myriad benefits for the world’s 2.5 billion gamers. Related: Beyond …

Esports superstars of the popular first-person-shooter game Counter-Strike will participate in a crypto-powered tournament where fans will be able to bet with crypto tokens. The tournament is sponsored by Verasity — an attention based platform for video, gaming and entertainment rewards with a native VRA token. The tournament will feature Nathan Schmitt (NBK) and Asia’s best player Kevin Susanto (Xccurate), who according to the press release, have two million fans worldwide. Verasity has signed a long-term deal with the players agents. The company is also in the process of obtaining a gambling license in Curaçao. VRA aims to take on …

The culmination of a year and half of work, the American Gaming Association has proposed a set of updated policy guidelines for casino payments. The proposition looks to let visitors fund their activities at gambling establishments via digital avenues instead of allowing only physical fiat currency, said a statement Tuesday. It remains unclear whether the AGA includes cryptocurrencies under its digital payments reference. Cointelegraph reached out to the AGA for comment but received no response as of press time. The masses want options More than half of customers desire other payment options, the statement said, adding: "The principles come at …

Cryptocurrencies are making gambling on the world’s most popular sport easier, sports authorities suggest. Asian soccer has seen a sharp decline in match-fixing over the last six years, according to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in a Reuters article dated Feb. 14. However, the illegal gambling which has historically driven match-fixing in the region has grown, partly due to the rise of cryptocurrencies as a payment method. Corruption and match-fixing down The AFC and its integrity partner, Swiss-based Sportradar, have been working together to tackle corruption in Asian Soccer since 2013. Prior to this, a handful of large global syndicates …

Tron has made a name for itself in the crypto asset space and DApp world, although a huge portion of the protocol’s transactions rely on the gambling industry. A hefty 17 of the top 25 most-used Tron DApps fall in the gambling category on DappRadar’s list of most popular Tron protocol-based DApps. Top 25 lists The eight non-gambling Tron-based DApps on the list fall in several other categories, such as High-Risk, Exchanges and a general “games” tag. These non-gambling DApps, however, host significantly less volume than their gambling counterparts, with the exception of two other applications listed as exchanges. In …

The Japanese House of Representatives recently passed new crypto asset regulation affecting exchanges and custodians — the Payment Services Act and the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. However, the country’s crypto gambling industry still endures strict gambling regulations. “Japan has very strict rules regarding gambling and the same applies to crypto gambling,” Joseph D. Hugh, CFO of international cryptocurrency betting platform Jukebucks, told Cointelegraph, adding: “Although it is very difficult to restrict players who play, the government keeps a close tab on crypto transactions originating from Japan using taxation as an excuse.” Yet, Japan passed a federal law in July …

A hacker spent $1,000 in EOS to steal more than $110,000 in cryptocurrency through an exploit of EOS gambling game EOSPlay. Biggest DeFi service EOS REX used An alleged bug in EOSPlay allowed the attacker to steal 30,000 EOS via using EOS REX, a major decentralized financial (DeFi) service enabling EOS lending in exchange for extra CPU on the EOS blockchain, crypto-focused publication CryptoSlate reports Sept. 14. According to the report, the hacker used REX in order to ensure that blocks were filled with their transactions, allowing them to win continuously on EOSPlay. As previously reported, EOS REX is the …

The United States District Court for the Central District of California has issued a summons to video game virtual goods company OPSkins Group and Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX) in response to a complaint filed by Crypto Asset Fund. The allegations On Aug. 15, the court issued a summons to OPSkins Group, WAX and several of their high-level employees in response to a civil complaint filed on Aug. 12 by Crypto Asset Fund and affiliate Digital Capital Management. The complaint included 12 charges — including fraud, unlawful business practices and violation of the Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934. In particular, …

The Ethereum-based predictions platform Veil is shutting down, according to an official Medium post on July 11. As of July 11, no new markets will be added to the platform. Trading will be disabled entirely on July 24. Veil co-founder Paul Fletcher-Hill recommended that users redeem open positions, withdraw positions from active markets, and withdraw Veil Ether and convert it to Ether. Veil was a type of extension to the Ethereum-based predictions market Augur. Augur is a predictions market — that still exists — that uses smart contracts to let users create and bet on the outcome of any event …

Despite Japan’s reputation for being one of the most welcoming nations for fintech, online crypto gambling has struggled to take off in light of the country’s strict regulation. In late March, the blockchain-based, decentralized application (DApp) platform Tron announced that it would block gambling DApps in Japan, bringing the issue of regulating crypto gambling back to public attention. Cointelegraph takes a look at the legal and cultural approaches to gambling in Japan, along with how developers believe attempts to halt crypto gambling can only last so long. Tron complies with Japanese legislation On March 31, Tron announced in a press …