Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Philippines Financial Watchdog cautions against Binance

The Philippines SEC has warned investors away from Binance, saying the exchange is not authorized to provide investing services in the nation.　　When it comes to doing business with Binance, the Philippines Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) has issued a caution.　　This warning was included in a reply given to Infrawatch PH, a public policy research organization advocating for the outlawing of the exchange.　　Earlier in July, Infrawatch PH issued a 12-page letter to the SEC asking that Binance be prohibited from operating in the nation and seeking a probe into the exchanges actions. The organization charged that Binance, without having obtained the necessary SEC registration, was marketing digital assets that qualified as securities.　　After conducting an inquiry, the SEC has warned investors from using Binance since the company is not registered with the SEC.　　Official word comes as follows:　　Binance is neither a corporation nor a limited liability company. Since only legally formed organizations are eligible to apply for and receive authorization to actively solicit investments, Binance is not legally able to do so.　　In light of these concerns, we strongly advise against making any investments through Binance at this time.　　The commission has also set up a method of inquiry for Binance customers who may have

2022-08-05Deep Dive

Coinbase and BlackRock collaborates to offer crypto to institutional investors

In a blog post published on Thursday, the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase revealed a partnership with BlackRock, the largest asset management in the world, to offer its customers direct access to cryptocurrencies, beginning with the most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.　　Customers of BlackRocks Aladdin institutional investment management platform will have access to Coinbase Prime, an institutional trading solution that offers trading, custody, prime financing, staking, data, and reporting services on over 300 digital assets, if they sign up for it. Using Coinbase Prime, which is designed for institutions like hedge funds, asset collectors, financial institutions, and corporate treasuries and serves 13,000 customers, BlackRock, which manages about $9 trillion in customer money, will offer the service. Back in January, BlackRocks CEO Larry Find dropped a hint that the asset management giant was considering getting into cryptocurrency trading. At the time, he remarked on the increasing need for cryptocurrency publicity. BlackRocks global head of strategic ecosystem relationships, Joseph Chalom, commented on the news, noting that the firms customers are more curious about gaining exposure to cryptocurrencies.　　Many of our institutional customers are thinking about expanding their portfolios to include digital assets, and they are concerned about the best practices for managing the whole digital asset lifetime.

2022-08-05Deep Dive

Damage Estimates Uncertain for Thousands of Hacked Solana Wallets

Hackers targeting the Solana ecosystem emptied thousands of cryptocurrency wallets.　　The Solana Foundation reported the theft on Wednesday after a weakness was exploited to suck away cryptocurrency from 8,000 crypto wallets where owners placed their monies. Wallet providers such as Slope and Phantom were also impacted.　　The value of the stolen assets is unknown, as is the nature of the exploit.　　According to PeckShield, a blockchain security service, an estimated $8 million was taken from four Solana wallets.　　Elliptic, a blockchain forensics service, believes that over $5.2 million in crypto assets have been taken from more than 7,900 Solana wallets so far, but “the main reason is still not obvious,” Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson said. “It appears to be the result of a weakness in certain wallet software rather than a flaw in the Solana blockchain itself.”　　According to Solana spokesman Austin Federa, “much remains unknown at this point - except that hardware wallets are unaffected.”　　While the incident may have been a supply-chain attack, the nature of the exploit remains unknown, according to Federa.　　Following the attack, Solanas SOL token plummeted as much as 7.3 percent to $38.40 in early trade on Wednesday at the time of writing, according to Bloomberg, while bitcoin surged 1.3 percent

2022-08-05Deep Dive

Almost $5 million was withdrawn from ZB.com in a possible hack.

According to security firm PeckSheild, crypto exchange ZB.com may have been hacked after $4.8 million was withdrawn from its hot wallet.　　The funds were withdrawn following the stoppage of withdrawals from ZB.com, according to PeckShield.　　On Tuesday, the crypto exchange blocked client withdrawals, citing “temporary maintenance” of the platform, after which the suspected hacking incident was carried out.　　“Due to the sudden breakdown of some fundamental applications, it still takes time to troubleshoot the situation.” Deposit and withdrawal services have been suspended. Please do not deposit any digital currency until you have recovered, ZB.com said in a statement.　　PeckShield revealed on Twitter on Tuesday that over 20 crypto tokens, including SHIB, USDT, and MATIC, were transferred from ZB.coms hot wallet to another address, which later liquidated all but five tokens.　　The tokens were subsequently sold on several decentralized exchanges for $2,224 ETH ($3.6 million), and the monies were transferred to another address by the possible hacker.　　Every day, ZB.com processes over $1 billion in trades and bills itself as “the worlds most secure digital asset exchange.”　　Meanwhile, another suspected wallet held by the prospective hacker still has about $1 million worth of the remaining five tokens. This wallet held the funds transferred from ZB.com.　　ZB.com is one of

2022-08-05Deep Dive

What Is KYC ?

While the crypto space started with complete anonymity, in recent times crypto exchanges have become centralized now more than ever. This means exchanges now have detailed know-your-customer procedures before and after signing up.　　Now, there is a place for KYC rules, as procedures like these nip crimes like money laundering in the bud. However, there are millions of crypto users who want to be anonymous without any interest in these ills. Besides, isnt that the point of cryptocurrencies, decentralization？　　This article will explore what KYC is.　　What is KYC？　　KYC is a system adopted by cryptocurrency and financial service providers aimed at censoring users on their platforms. As stated earlier, the term stands for “Know Your Customer” or “Know Your Client”.　　Generally, the KYC process involves asking potential users for basic personal information before getting the service they need. Additionally, some service providers expect the users to undergo a more detailed verification process before they grant access.　　This is hinged on the responsibility of these service providers to account for their consumers. These service providers include exchanges and platforms that sometimes need to know their customers.　　However, some other crypto exchanges dont request any verification before allowing people to use their services.　　They leverage the fact that some

2022-08-04Deep Dive

What we will expect from Binance after appointing Hi Ye to lead Binance Labs?

From the star of Binance, He Yi has played a pivotal role. She has overseen several areas of the exchange, including customer service, institutional partnerships, marketing, Binance P2P, and Earn.　　When she takes over Binance Labs, he will be heading the companys investment strategy at a time when the venture capital outlook is quite dim.　　Binance CEO CZ (Changpeng Zhao) said, “As a founding team member, Yi has been actively involved in Labs since its inception and has played a pivotal role in identifying early-stage projects and founders with the vision and drive to disrupt those global institutions that no longer serve society effectively.”　　He will contribute to the expansion of Binance Labs, which has seen total growth of over 2,100% since its establishment. For example, some of Binance Labs most prominent protocols include FTX, CertiK, Polygon, and Dune Analytics, and the company is presently managing as much as $7.5 billion in assets.　　The female CEO will use her expertise to identify the startups with the most promising innovations and growth strategies as the crypto industry navigates its current stormy waters.　　“The ability to identify those founders who have the abilities and embody the principles needed to flourish in an environment where resources are more

2022-08-04Deep Dive

How to Protect Yourself from Cybersecurity in Web3

Even though Web3 evangelists have been talking about how secure blockchain is for a long time, the huge amount of money flowing into the industry makes it an attractive target for hackers, con artists, and thieves.　　When bad people get through Web3s security, its usually because users dont notice the most common threats like human greed, FOMO, and ignorance, not because the technology is broken.　　The FTC calls money-making opportunities and investment scams that promise big payoffs, investments, or special perks “money-making opportunities and investment scams.”　　Scams with lots of money　　A report from the Federal Trade Commission in June 2022 says that since 2021, more than $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency has been stolen. And where people meet online is where hackers look for people to hack.　　“Nearly half of the people who reported losing crypto to a scam since 2021 said it started with an ad, post, or message on a social media platform,” the FTC said.　　Even though scams sound too good to be true, people may believe them because the cryptocurrency market is so volatile and they dont want to miss out on the next big thing.　　Attackers targeting NFTs　　Along with cryptocurrencies, NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are becoming a more popular target for

2022-08-03Deep Dive

New York regulators slapped a $30 million fine on Robinhood Crypto.

Robinhood Crypto was fined $30 million by the New York Department of Financial Services for several regulatory infractions.　　Following an inquiry, the agency decided that the corporation had failed to maintain sufficient cybersecurity safeguards or to meet anti-money laundering duties. Robinhood Crypto was found to be in violation of the departments virtual currency, money transmitter, transaction monitoring, and cybersecurity requirements.　　Aside from paying the penalties, Robinhood Crypto will be compelled to employ an independent consultant to examine its compliance with state regulations, according to a statement from the commission. The corporation was also chastised for not including a specific phone number on its website where customers could lodge complaints.　　“As its business expanded, Robinhood Crypto failed to commit the necessary resources and attention to build and sustain a compliance culture,” said Adrienne Harris, superintendent of New Yorks Department of Financial Services.　　The agency claims that Robinhood Cryptos anti-money laundering program was “inadequately staffed,” employing a manual system for monitoring transactions even as its user base grew, and that its cybersecurity program had major flaws. The violations, according to regulators, were caused by a lack of management and control, demonstrating a “failure to establish and maintain an effective culture of compliance.”　　Despite the flaws, Robinhood applied

2022-08-03Deep Dive

Nomad lost $190m TVL in "Decentralized Robbery"

The trading platform verified the hacking event in a statement posted on Twitter:　　“We have been made aware of the situation concerning the Nomad token bridge.” We are presently researching and will offer updates as they become available.　　The protocol also cautioned against “impersonators acting as Nomad and offering false addresses to receive cash,” and concluded, “We have not yet provided guidelines on how to return bridge funds. Disregard all communications from channels other than Nomads official channel.”　　The protocol acts as a cross-chain bridge, allowing users to exchange tokens such as Ethereum (ETH), Avalanche (AVAX), Evmos (EVMOS), Milkomeda C1, and Moonbeam (GLMR).　　According to the online media outlet Cryptonews, the total value locked (TVL) of Nomad reached up to $190 million before the exploit, citing statistics from DeFi Llama, a Defi tracking data portal. At the time of writing, the platform indicated that Nomads TVL was less than $11,000.　　TVL represents the quantity of user funds put in a DeFi protocol.　　DefiLlama is the source.　　Another cybersecurity company, BlockSec, believes that the overall damage in this attack is approximately $150 million in Tether (USDT). The monitoring platform highlighted that various gaps in Nomads verification approach may exist among functions: “Because an uninitialized storage slot is always

2022-08-03Deep Dive

COINBASE ETHER STAKING BLOCKCHAIN UPGRADE INSTITUTION

Coinbase Prime, an integrated solution that provides secure custody, a cutting-edge trading platform, and prime services, has launched an Ethereum staking service aimed at corporate clients in the United States.　　The addition of Ethereum to Coinbases staking options for US institutional investors was described as a significant feature aimed for financial institutions who want to enter the crypto money business but are hesitant.　　According to the exchange, the staking service allows businesses to receive passive income while minimizing risks. The program provides yet another cryptocurrency on-ramp for institutions interested in the industrys tremendous expansion but have not always known how to get in.　　Staking generates yield, which is vital for large corporations that are constantly looking for appealing areas to deposit their money.　　Coinbase Prime also provides staking services for Solana, Polkadot, Cosmos, Tezos, and Celo currencies, according to a blog post published on Monday.　　According to Aaron Schnarch, Coinbases Vice President of Product, Custody, institutional customers can build a wallet, decide how much to stake, and begin staking ETH in their Coinbase Prime account.　　According to the exchange, withdrawal keys are kept in Coinbases cold storage custody vault, and staking is accomplished by validating new cryptocurrency transactions on a proof-of-stake blockchain.　　Coinbase has offered staking services

2022-08-03Deep Dive

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