| June 20, 2018 | Read in Browser |
 QUOTE OF THE DAY  |
| "It's waiting that helps you as an investor, and a lot of people just can't stand to wait. If you didn't get the deferred-gratification gene, you've got to work very hard to overcome that." - Charles Munger |
Happy Hump Day! Another day, another hacked exchange. As always, we recommend keeping your funds off of an exchange in your own personal wallet. You know what they say, keep your friends close and your crypto closer.
Cheers,
Blockchain Brew Team
| MARKETS |
| COIN | PRICE | 24H |
| | ||
| BTC | $6,668.15 | -1.66% |
| | ||
| ETH | $526.155 | -2.1% |
| | ||
| XRP | $0.534959 | -2.76% |
| | ||
| BCH | $878.282 | -3.02% |
| | ||
| EOS | $10.4146 | -2.93% |
| | ||
*Information as of 9:30 AM EST
| NEWS |
Bithumb Hacked for $30 Million: What We Know So Far
$30 MILLION HACK
- Yesterday, Bithumb, a South Korean crypto exchange that is the 6th largest exchange in the world by volume, was hacked and lost over $30 million worth of crypto
Bithumb stated officially that it will cover any assets that were lost to the hackers and the exchange's assets are being transferred to a cold wallet:
"[Notice for the suspension of all deposit and withdrawal service]
We checked that some of cryptocurrencies valued about $30,000,000 was stolen. Those stolen cryptocurrencies will be covered from Bithumb and all of assets are being transferring to cold wallet."
WHAT WE KNOW
- According to developers from the Sentinel Protocol, a project specializing in hacks, frauds, and scams, the Bithumb hot wallet was hacked on the night of June 19th and the Ripple protocol token XRP was targeted
- Prior to the hack, Bithumb noticed a need for upgraded security since the "number of unauthorized access attempts has increased"
- To limit damage, Bithumb has frozen all withdrawals and deposits on the exchange so it can conduct an investigation
WHAT WE DON'T KNOW
- Though it was noted that $30 million worth of crypto was stolen, it is unknown how many users have been impacted and also which assets besides XRP were stolen and in what quantities
- Bithumb has also not released any information regarding the cause of the breach
- It is unknown at what time deposits and withdrawals will continue
BITCOIN DIP
- Earlier this month, the hack at the Coinrail exchange which caused the loss of $40 million worth of cryptos was thought to have caused a market dip
- As for Bithumb's hack, after the announcement, Bitcoin prices dropped from $6,761 to a 24-hour low of $6,611 in a matter of 30 minutes
| REGULATION |
Bank of Korea Voices Opinion Against Central Bank Digital Currency
MORAL HAZARD
- A recent report out of Korea revealed that the country’s central bank does not find a central digital currency feasible and even called the idea “a moral hazard”
- Earlier this year, the Bank of Korea established a digital currency task force to research the cryptocurrency space, the task force has made regulatory actions and also provided the research used in this central digital currency report
- The report states that the central bank fears that a digital currency could “destabilize the market order” by hindering its control over monetary policy and influence on open market operations
The report explains how digital currencies aren’t money:
“We reviewed the possible feasibility of digital currencies as currency; however, our thoughts are that digital currencies have been exposed to various categories of risk associated with credit, liquidity and legal management. Digital currencies don’t perform as money.”
MAINTAINING CONTROL
- The Bank of Korea is firm on the idea that they must control monetary policy in the country, so they will not allow any private company to create a monetary instrument in the form of a digital currency
- Also included in the report is the possibility of an added tax to digital currencies, this would allow the government to prevent crypto startups from exaggerating the assets backing their cryptocurrency
STILL A BELIEVER
- Even as this report sounds negative towards cryptocurrencies, the Korean government recognizes that blockchain technologies have the ability to be revolutionary
- The government just wants to ensure that the technologies are adequately tested and regulated before they are implemented to any meaningful use cases
- The citizens of Korea, which is a technology innovative country, have shown a crypto mania and irritation with government decisions
| NEWS |
John McAfee Receives ‘Threats’ from SEC, Will No Longer Shill ICOs
NO MORE SHILLING
- Cyber security expert and cryptocurrency promoter, revealed on Twitter Tuesday that he has received ‘threats’ from the Securities and Exchange Commission and as a result will no longer be promoting initial coin offerings
- McAfee is infamous for shilling many ICO projects to his 800,000 Twitter followers, according to a report from The Verge, McAfee charged $100,000 for just a single tweet to promote an ICO
- He also mentioned that he is developing an alternative for an initial coin offering that the SEC will not be able to regulate and urged his followers to remain patient, it will be interesting to see what his idea becomes especially because the SEC made it clear they will regulate securities as securities, no matter what they are called
Here is what McAfee said in his tweet:
SEC CONTINUES CRACKDOWN
- The Securities and Exchange Commission has put in a massive effort so far this year to gain control over the ICO market, after it ran rampant with scams in previous years
- The SEC has made it clear that using celebrity figures to try and promote an ICO is against regulations and has cracked down on ICOs for using this tactic already
- In the midst of its ICO crackdown effort, the SEC did recently come out and announce that they do not classify Ethereum as a security, news that made crypto investors rejoice
| NEWS |
Justin Sun and Tron to Acquire BitTorrent
BITTORRENT
- BitTorrent is a communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing which is used to distribute data and electronic files over the internet
- BitTorrent claims to have approximately 170 million users on its platform
- The platform is most commonly used for pirating media, such as movies, TV shows, and music, online
TRON ACQUISITION
- It had been long rumored, but now according to a report published by TechCrunch, Tron founder Justin Sun has reached an agreement to acquire BitTorrent for $120 million
- Tron has ambitions of building a ‘Web 4.0’ platform and will likely use BitTorrent’s established peer-to-peer network to fulfill its plans
- Justin Son did not mention any specific plans for BitTorrent, but said that news would be released next month and BitTorrent also posted on its website saying it has "no plans to change"
MARKET RESPONSE
- It seems like investors are very pleased with this news, as Tron’s price quickly jumped about 16% after the announcement
- This acquisition comes also as Tron is preparing for launch of its mainnet
- The coin originally held an ICO to raise fund and is currently an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network, but the migration to Tron’s own blockchain has already begun and is expected to finish by the end of the month
| MORE BREWING |
- Nasdaq Blockchain Pilot Handles Margin Calls and Collateral Delivery 'Within Minutes'
- Coinbase CEO Tells New Employees ‘Don’t Panic’ Over Bitcoin Price
- CEO of BBVA Bank: Blockchain ‘Is Immature and Has Major Challenges’
| TODAY IN CRYPTO |
Aeternity (AE)
"Crypto Valley Conference on Blockchain Technology" from June 20 to June 22 in Zug, Switzerland.
Bitcoin (BTC)
"The first international conference in Georgia dedicated to earning on blockchain tech, cryptocurrencies and ICO."
ICON (ICX)
Coindelta will support ICON [ICX] Token-Swap dated to 20th of June 2018.
ICON (ICX)
On June 20th Binance and Upbit will swap ICX ERC20 tokens to mainnet ICX coins with a 1:1 swap exchange rate.
PIVX (PIVX)
PIVX representative Bryan "Snappy" Doreian to present at upcoming #TakeHumanAction community event.
Bytom (BTM)
Gate.io will airdrop 270000 BTM to BTM holders (snapshot is scheduled for 4:00 UTC).
Today in Crypto is powered by coinmarketcal.com
| COIN OF THE DAY |
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| Content Neutrality Network (CNN) |
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