 QUOTE OF THE DAY  |
| “One who doesn't recognise an opportunity is bigger loser than one who tries his hand at an opportunity.” - Amit Kalantri |
Happy Monday! It's a fresh start to a new week. Also, many events are happening in July that readers should keep an eye on. To see upcoming events for your favorite cryptocurrencies, visit coinmarketcal.com.
Cheers,
Blockchain Brew Team
| COIN | PRICE | 24H |
|
| BTC | $6,802.95 | -0.67% |
|
| ETH | $485.51 | -2.04% |
|
| XRP | $0.476966 | -3.14% |
|
| BCH | $748.917 | -3.17% |
|
| EOS | $8.57105 | -5.05% |
|
*Information as of 9:30 AM EST
Over $2 Million of Crypto Mined After Massive Chinese Computer Hack
20 ARRESTED
- Reported by a local news outlet Monday, 20 individuals working together at a computer technology firm were arrested for using malware to infiltrate others' computers and mine cryptocurrencies
- To spread the malware, the hackers created plug-ins that advertised various purposes such as enhanced browser speed
- Subsequently, the firm advertised the plug-ins all over the internet and reached over 5 million computers in China
- In addition, the firm made relationships with more than 100 agents working at internet cafes and other hotspots to distribute the malware
1 MILLION HACKED
- According to the report, an estimated 1 million computers were controlled by the hackers
- These 1 million computers were used to mine DigiByte (DGB), Decred (DCR), and Siacoin (SC) which totaled over $2 million
- The hack went on for 2 years mining the smaller altcoins that required less computing power so the scheme would be less likely to be spotted by victims
PROTECT YOURSELF
- Many security experts are warning that in the future cryptojacking malware will infiltrate any devices connected to the internet that have computing power such as a smart fridge
- As cryptojacking cases continue to skyrocket, we want our readers to protect themselves
Below we have listed two short articles we like to inform our readers on how to prevent cryptojacking:
- What is crypojacking? How to prevent, detect, and recover from it
- Protect yourself from cryptojacking
China Central Bank Declares Last Year's Crypto Ban a Huge Success
CRYPTO BAN SUCCESS
- According to a state-run news outlet, the People's Bank of China (PBoC), China's central bank and financial regulator, has declared that the crypto ban was a success
- This declaration was made after research was published suggesting crypto trading using China's native currency has dropped to 1 percent of global value
- Reportedly, prior to the crypto ban, China's trading volume accounted for an estimated 90% of all global trading
One Chinese crypto analyst, Zhang Yifeng, praised the effectiveness of China's crypto policy in protecting investors:
"The timely moves by regulators effectively fended off the impact of sharp ups and downs in virtual currency prices and led the global regulatory trend."
BAN CONTINUES
- Though many governments are welcoming crypto with open arms or creating regulatory standards for the new asset class, China upholds the crypto crackdown
- Allegedly, over the last year, China has shutdown 88 crypto exchanges and 85 initial coin offerings
- In addition, since many crypto exchanges moved out of China to avoid the ban such as Binance and Huobi, the PBoC has blocked web access to them and over 110 other websites that are cryptocurrency related
- For now, it is unclear if China will lift the crypto ban and the PBoC claiming the success of the ban does not help crypto's case
Alibaba's Ant Financial is Embracing Blockchain
DOMINANT TECHNOLOGY
- New reports coming out of China indicate that the Alibaba fintech affiliate Ant Financial has big plans for implementing blockchain into its platform
- The company believes that blockchain will be one of five technologies that will dominate the future, alongside: AI, security, IoT, and computing
- Zhang Hui, the director of Blockchain Department at Ant Financial, praised blockchain for its ability to send sensible data through a peer-to-peer network, but also said that scalability is a concern that needs to be solved
- Ant Financial will wait until a blockchain that has the ability to handle tens of thousands of transactions per second before implementing it into its processes
JACK MA & ANT
- Jack Ma is the co-founder of Alibaba and controlling shareholder of Ant Financial
- In the Asian market, Ant Financial's product Alipay is the market leader, over the likes of Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, and Android Pay
- Ant Financial is the biggest fintech platform in the world and recently received $10 billion in funding, valuing the company at $150 billion
- Its co-founder Jack Ma has been on record calling Bitcoin and other currencies a bubble, but has been insistent that blockchain is effective as a technology
Ma said last year:
“It is…not right to become rich overnight by betting on blockchain. Technology itself isn’t the bubble, but bitcoin likely is.”
Roundup of Recent Expert Bitcoin Predictions
NICHOLAS COLAS
- Nicholas Colas is the founder of Datatrek Research, a capital market research service
- Colas recently called Bitcoin a bubbled and told investors to be wary as he says interest in the cryptocurrency is declining and may never come back
RAN NEU-NER
- Ran Neu-ner is a well known cryptocurrency trader and CEO at The Creative Counsel
- He recently had an interview on CNBC saying that he expects Bitcoin to drop to as low as $5,350 in the short term, but he believes this is a great time to buy and is bullish on Bitcoin long term
MOHAMED EL-ERIAN
- Chief Economic Advisor at financial services company Allianz, Mohamed El-Erian, appeared on CNBC sharing that he will consider buying Bitcoin if it price gets down to $5,000
ARTHUR HAYES
- Arthur Hayes, the co-founder and CEO of Bitmex, is extremely bullish on Bitcoin, predicting a $50,000 price target and says that we will need to see an increase in volatility to reach that target
TOM LEE
- Tom Lee is currently a Managing Partner and the Head of Research at Fundstrat Global Advisors
- Lee has been a permabull for Bitcoin and recently reiterated his $25,000 price target for this year
- CBOE May Finally Get Its 'Holy Grail' Bitcoin ETF By 2019
- Crypto Bounty Hunting Is Offering A Way Out of Poverty
- FINRA Wants to Know All About Member Firms' Crypto Activities
Stellar (XLM)
A virtual conference dedicated to Blockchain. Presented by Hack VC.
Augur (REP)
"When Augur is deployed, all current REP token balances must be migrated to a new REP token contract."
Monaco (MCO)
Pub crawl hosted by Monaco on 9th of July in Hong Kong. Organised for RISE attendees.
Today in Crypto is powered by coinmarketcal.com
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