Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Neutrino's dark past 😱

February 27, 2019

Coinbase Responds to Community Backlash About its Recent Neutrino Acquisition

On February 19th, Coinbase and blockchain security analysis startup Neutrino inked an acquisition deal that would bring the startup's team under Coinbase's wing.

Quickly, however, the community shamed Coinbase.

That's because the CEO, CRO, and CTO of Neutrino were previously executives of the spyware firm Hacking Team - a company that was exposed for selling tools to authoritarian governments.

Against the purpose of crypto?

The problem arises when people realized the tools Hacking Team sold were allegedly being used to:

Monitor journalists
Capture activists
Spy on political rivals

In some cases, the technology was used "to commit violations of human rights and freedom of information," according to Reporters Without Borders.

For many, these morals go against the core promise of cryptocurrency and the important idea of decentralized power.

We're aware and don't care

Now, after days of harsh criticism, Coinbase responded to the concerns in a statement sent to The Block:

"[We are] aware that Neutrino's co-founders previously worked at Hacking Team, which we reviewed as part of our security, technical, and hiring diligence. Coinbase does not condone nor will it defend the actions of Hacking Team [but] it was important for Coinbase to bring this function in-house to fully control and protect our customers' data and Neutrino's technology was the best we encountered in the space to achieve this goal."

For now, Neutrino will continue operating independently, under the same brand, in Coinbase's London office.

TRADING

Bitcoin Could Snap its Six-Month Losing Streak

Fingers crossed. There is 1 day left in the month and if Bitcoin can stay above $3,467, it will snap its six-month losing streak that started with a tumble below the $6,000 mark.

Actually, this losing streak is the longest on record. Each month's loss varied but the overall bear trend remained strong:

August	- 9%
September	- 6%
October	- 4.4%
November	- 37%
December	- 7%
January	- 7.5%

Before this losing streak, the previous record happened in 2011 when the asset lost value 5 months in a row. It then took 7 years to break that record.

Bullish in March?

We're not going to jinx it or give any random price predictions, but let's just say it can't *not* be good to snap a losing streak for a fresh new month.

But don't get your hopes too high, Bitcoin has lost value 6 out of 7 times in the month of March during the last 7 years.

EXCHANGE

Hacked Cryptopia Exchange Releases Details After Weeks of Silence

In a series of tweets sent Wednesday, New Zealand-based exchange Cryptopia released some details about its most recent hack.

"Currently, we have calculated that worst case 9.4% of our total holdings was stolen," the account revealed.

Previously, that amount was estimated by blockchain analytics firm Elementus to be around $16 million worth of Ether and ERC-20 tokens.

So when's the comeback?

It's not clear when the comeback for Cryptopia will be, however, the exchange reported it is "securing each wallet individually to ensure the exchange is fully secure when we resume trading."

In addition, the exchange warned users to "immediately refrain from depositing funds into old Cryptopia addresses."

The account left followers saying that more updates will come tomorrow. To follow them on Twitter for the live updates, visit here.

BITS

But wait, there's more...

😃 Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says we've already seen "massive value creation" from Bitcoin.
💰 The London Stock Exchange is leading a $20 million fundraise for blockchain startup Nivaura.
🔥 LinkedIn's founder becomes latest to carry the lightning torch.

MEME