Monday, February 11, 2019

The $420,000 mistake 😨

February 11, 2019

The Mistake That Cost $420,000 in Life Savings

The QuadrigaCX debacle rocked the crypto community recently after the exchange lost access to over $190 million worth of assets following its founder's death.

But while many lost access to their crypto trading funds, one user lost access to something worth much more: his entire life savings.

The move to Canada

According to the Star, 30-year-old Tong Zou lost $420,000 in the incident after he moved his life savings to QuadrigaCX in October.

During that time, Zou was preparing for a move to Canada from California and was using the exchange to avoid transfer fees.

Since then, Zou hasn't seen a single penny in deposits despite having waited for more than four months.

Hoping for a return

Recently, Zou confirmed in court that he believes he is one of the "largest affected individual" users in the situation.

To pay back users like Zou, QuadrigaCX is allegedly looking to sell its exchange platform.

For now, however, Zou will continue with the savings he has.

"It's all my savings, so I'm just living on what little I have left and trying to start over. It pretty much took everything away from me."

INSTITUTION

ICE is Looking to Fund Bakkt with More Than $20 Million This Year

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is looking to invest more than $20 million into its new venture Bakkt, a crypto trading and custody platform.

That announcement came just a month after the new platform already set out to raise a whopping $182 million to build its vision.

Not your typical product

In addition to the $20 million expense estimate, ICE CEO Jeff Sprecher called Bakkt "a bit of a moonshot bet" saying that it's not a typical ICE product.

He's got a point. Right now ICE owns and operates the New York Stock Exchange, several clearing houses, traditional futures markets, and creditors - all heavily regulated businesses.

With Bakkt bringing Bitcoin futures into its family, it is aggressively seeking regulatory approval that has already caused two delays that pushed back launch dates.

However, this time around, Sprecher simply commented that the exchange will launch "later this year."

HACK

MetaMask Lookalike Sneaks its Way into the Google Play Store

MetaMask, an app that allows users to access Ethereum decentralized apps (dapps), was alarmed on Friday to find it was being impersonated on the Google Play Store.

Discovered by security firm ESET, the fake app was set out to steal cryptocurrency from unsuspecting users.

The malware would find any wallet addresses that users copied onto their clipboard and replace them with the hackers address.

Not the first time

The Google Play store has had a tough time filtering out scammy cryptocurrency apps beginning last year.

In response to the issue, MetaMask tweeted:

"We would appreciate if @GooglePlayDev would reserve trademarked names for apps, especially repeat phishing targets like us."

BITS

But wait, there's more...

👀 IBM Blockchain is assisting in California to help track groundwater-usage in a drought-prone area.
🚀 SEC "Crypto Mom" believes the delay in regulation may allow more freedom for the technology.
🚨 The Bank of Spain has sent warnings to its citizens regarding cryptocurrency and the lack of regulations.

MEME