Security news-Page 19
Beanstalk Farms offers plea deal to perpetrators of $76M exploit
Beanstalk Farms, a credit-based stablecoin protocol exploited for around $76 million in crypto on April 18, has offered a bounty of 10% if the attackers return the funds. The offer was posted on the company’s Twitter and sent to the attackers via an on-chain message the following day. It proposed that the exploiters return 90% of the stolen funds to the Beanstalk Farms’ multisignature wallet. In return, the exploiters will be allowed to keep the remaining 10% as a whitehat bounty — a deal offered by platforms to reward individuals for reporting security exploits and vulnerabilities. As previously reported by …
Blockchain / April 20, 2022
Beanstalk Farms loses $182M in DeFi governance exploit
Credit-based stablecoin protocol Beanstalk Farms lost all of its $182 million collateral from a security breach caused by two sinister governance proposals and a flash loan attack. The problem for the protocol was seeded by suspicious governance proposals BIP-18 and BIP-19, which were issued on Saturday by the exploiter, who asked for the protocol to donate funds to Ukraine. However, those proposals had a malicious rider attached to them th ultimately created the sinkhole of funds from the protocol, according to smart contract auditor BlockSec. This latest security breach of a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol took place at 12:24 pm …
Defi / April 18, 2022
Ripple CEO: SEC case is going ‘much better than I hoped’
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is increasingly optimistic that the long-running case with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will deliver a positive result for the blockchain-based global payments company. Speaking on the main stage at Paris Blockchain Week on Thursday, Garlinghouse told attendees of the fireside chat that Ripple's defense in the ongoing case was faring better than he expected. “The lawsuit has gone exceedingly well, and much better than I could have hoped when it began about 15 months ago.” Live from #PBWS2022, @bgarlinghouse sat down with @cnbc's @ryan_browne_ to talk crypto regulation, Ripple's global traction and use cases …
Adoption / April 15, 2022
XRP price bounces to $0.72 but still risks new lows in April — here's why
Ripple's XRP took a break from its prevailing downtrend as its price rebounded from $0.68 to $0.72 in the last three days. Ripple scores vs. SEC Traders returned to buying XRP after a U.S. court denied the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) request to shield internal documents related to June 2018 speech made by its former director William Hinman, wherein he said Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) are not securities. To recap, SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple, a San Francisco payment services company, in 2020, alleging that it and its executives Brad Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen conducted illegal …
Sec / April 13, 2022
Yellen alleges crypto has not been used for significant Russian sanctions evasion so far
United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday that her department is not seeing significant use of cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions placed on Russian oligarchs and government agencies. Yellen was asked repeatedly about digital asset security at the committee’s annual hearing on the state of the international financial system. “We are aware of the possibility clearly that crypto could be used as a tool to evade sanctions and we are carefully monitoring to make sure that doesn’t occur,” Yellen said, “but I would say that we have a good deal of authority in this …
Blockchain / April 6, 2022
Crypto pundits gather online to discuss innovation and national security
The George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School National Security Institute hosted a webinar Wednesday, March 30, titled “Crypto and National Security: How to Validate American Innovation and Verify U.S. National Security.” Journalist Laura Shin moderated the discussion. CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation Sheila Warren, executive director of Coin Center Jerry Brito, and global managing partner and chief strategy officer of risk compliance and monitoring firm K2 Integrity Juan Zarate were participants. After opening comments, the first of three questions posed to the panel concerned American innovation. Brito expressed hope that crypto would be allowed to develop with …
Adoption / April 1, 2022
Binance wins dismissal of class action over 2018 tokens that tanked
A federal judge has dismissed a class action complaint asserting Binance violated U.S. securities laws by not registering as a broker-dealer or exchange, and sold crypto tokens which were not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The original complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York was brought by a group of investors who say they invested in the tokens EOS, BNT, SNT, QSP, KNC, TRX, FUN, ICX, OMG, LEND, ELF, and CVC around 2017 and 2018. An amended complaint was filed, only listing nine tokens, with BNT, SMT, and CVC …
Regulation / April 1, 2022
Seven common mistakes crypto investors and traders make
Investing in cryptocurrencies and digital assets is now easier than ever before. Online brokers, centralized exchanges and even decentralized exchanges give investors the flexibility to buy and sell tokens without going through a traditional financial institution and the hefty fees and commissions that come along with them. Cryptocurrencies were designed to operate in a decentralized manner. This means that while they’re an innovative avenue for global peer-to-peer value transfers, there are no trusted authorities involved that can guarantee the security of your assets. Your losses are your responsibility once you take your digital assets into custody. Here we’ll explore some …
Adoption / March 31, 2022
Quantum computers are years away from cracking crypto: MIT Tech Review
Condensed matter theory physicist and quantum information expert Sankar Das Sarma has argued in MIT Technology Review that quantum computers remain a very long way away from cracking RSA-based cryptography. RSA-Cryptography utilizes algorithms, codes and keys to securely encrypt private data without interference from third parties or malicious actors such as hackers. An example of the methodology in crypto is with the creation of a new wallet that generates a public address and private key. Quantum security is seen as a major issue in the blockchain and crypto sector and it is widely believed that powerful quantum computers will one …
Blockchain / March 31, 2022
Li Finance protocol loses $600,000 in latest DeFi exploit
The Li Finance swap aggregator has experienced a smart contract exploit leading to the loss of around $600,000 from 29 users’ wallets. The exploit took place at 2:51 am UTC on March 20. The attacker was able to extract varying amounts of 10 different tokens from wallets that had given “infinite approval” to the Li Finance protocol. Among the stolen tokens were USD Coin (USDC), Polygon (MATIC), Rocket Pool (RPL), Gnosis (GNO), Tether (USDT), Metaverse Index (MVI), Audius (AUDIO), AAVE (AAVE), Jarvis Reward Token (JRT), and DAI (DAI). TLDR: • ~$600K have been stolen from 29 wallets • User don’t …
Defi / March 21, 2022
Rare Bears Discord phishing attack nabs $800K in NFTs
Recently launched NFT project, Rare Bears, was hit with an attack, after a hacker posted a phishing link in the project's Discord channel, stealing nearly $800,000 in NFTs. Analysis from blockchain security firm Peckshield detailed that the attacker was able to steal 179 NFTs, including Rare Bears and other NFTs from various collections, including CloneX, Azuki, a “mfer” from artist sartoshi, and 6 LAND tokens used for The Sandbox metaverse. According to on-chain analysis, most of the NFTs were sold, netting the hacker 286 ETH, worth over $795,500, most of which was promptly put through Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer …
Nft / March 18, 2022
How blockchain intelligence can prevent Russia from evading sanctions
As pointed out by Caroline Malcolm, Head of International Policy at Chainalysis, the transparent nature of blockchain technology makes it relatively easy for crypto intelligence companies to track funds related to sanctioned entities. “We're in quite a unique position because of the transparency and the permanency and the immutability of that public record”, explained Malcolm in an exclusive Cointelegraph interview. Governments around the world have expressed concerns that Russia could use crypto to evade sanctions imposed as a response to its military offensive against Ukraine. Addressing those concerns, Malcolm pointed out that in the last few years there has been …
Blockchain / March 17, 2022