| Bitcoin | $44,981 | 7 day: +21.5% | | Ethereum | $1,736 | 7 day: +6.5% | | All crypto | $1.37T | 7 day: +22.5% | | Bitcoin dominance | 61.4% | 7 day: -0.2% | Prices as of 2:15 p.m. EST
| |
 A Mural in North Korea A cybercriminal group working for the North Korean government called the Lazarus Group has stolen $1.7B via crypto, according to Chainalysis. The state-sponsored hacking group laundered approximately 7% of its funds via decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. Chainalysis is a U.S. forensic blockchain analysis and enterprise software company. Details: - Chainalysis excerpted its 2021 Crypto Crime Report, showing how the Lazarus Group accumulated fortunes through various crypto exchange hacks, including the 2019 UpBit hack ($49M) and the 2020 KuCoin hack ($275).
- Chainalysis identifies how the Lazarus Group works for the North Korean government by laundering money through at least 20 crypto exchanges and various DeFi protocols, amassing over $1.7B worth of crypto since inception.
- The U.S. Dept. of the Treasury sanctioned the Lazarus Group in September (including two other hacking groups, Bluenoroff and Andariel). It identified the Lazarus Group as a North Korean state-sponsored cybercriminal group controlled by North Korea's primary intelligence bureau, whose proceeds aid the country's nuclear weapons program.
- The U.S. government also sanctioned two Chinese nationals last year who helped Lazarus Group launder stolen funds through crypto hacks, filing forfeiture complaints against 280 crypto addresses associated with the group.
- Despite U.S. efforts, Lazarus Group managed to hack the KuCoin crypto exchange by accessing private keys and hot wallets, according to KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu.
- KuCoin's Lyu later announced the recovery of $204M of the stolen funds.
- The Chainalysis team linked the KuCoin hack with Lazarus Group after they noticed their strategy of sending stolen funds to blockchain mixer platforms (usually in small amounts of bitcoin) and utilizing DeFi platforms to launder chunks of stolen crypto using swapping methods.
- The article mentioned that the Lazarus Group's use of DeFi platforms more than doubled from 2019 to 2020 as a strategy to launder money and evade civil complaints.
Click to tweet the following text (you can edit it before sending): North Korea hackers have stolen at least $1.7B via #crypto who laundered at least 7% through #DeFi according to @chainalysis Chainalysis 
| |
 Members of Congress sent letters to DLive and Justin Sun's BitTorrent (BTT), expressing concern about the torrenting platforms' use during violence at the U.S. Capitol. We noted large bitcoin donations received by some right-wing celebrities before the Capitol riot here. Congress inquired into the executives' treatment of dangerous content. More: - Blockchain-based streaming platforms DLive and BitTorrent face scrutiny by Members of Congress over the U.S. Capitol riot as Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Jackie Speier (D-CA) sent a letter to DLive's Charles Wayn and BitTorrent's Justin Sun.
- Sun is a Chinese multimillionaire casino magnate who also founded Tron (TRX).
- U.S. lawmakers are investigating DLive, acquired by BitTorrent in 2020, for any new policies regarding questionable content and ensuring that people don't misuse DLive's crypto donation model to fund right-wing extremism anonymously.
- The New York Times reported that multiple DLive users and some rioters livestreamed the deadly violence on the Capitol last month, including Time Gionet (a.k.a. Baked Alaska), who earned up to $2,000 livestreaming the attack.
- DLive CEO Charles Wayn later released a statement, citing a "zero tolerance" policy towards all forms of violence by suspending or limiting ten accounts and deleting 100 broadcasts.
- However, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, DLive actually processed payouts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to extremists via crypto donations through its platform.
- Based on the letter's contents, Congress wants to know if the newly-placed rules to curb online extremism are effectively enforced.
- We dedicated prior editions at Inside Cryptocurrency to Justin Sun here, here, and here.
Click to tweet the following text (you can edit it before sending): U.S. Members of Congress send letters to Justin Sun's BitTorrent $BTT and DLive, expressing concern about the torrenting platforms' use during violent acts at the U.S. Capitol riots. $TRX The Block Crypto
| |
 A message from IMPACT Wrestling with program complexity, AppSumo takes control and grows 255% with Impact. AppSumo had been using affiliate tracking software to manage their referral partner relationships and payouts. But that platform wasn’t able to keep up with the complexity and growth of AppSumo’s program. Like their customer base, AppSumo is always looking for the best value from their vendors and tools, and once they turned to Impact they were able to get: -
255% increase in revenue YoY -
215% increase in actions YoY -
129% increase in total affiliate partners YoY -
107% increase in active affiliate partners YoY Learn more about their story here.
| |
A U.S. bankruptcy judge ordered former CFO James Alexander of Cred Inc, a now-bankrupt cryptocurrency company, to return $4M. Cred was behind LibraToken (LBA). With hundreds of millions of dollars in customer deposits winding down in related bankruptcy proceedings, we’ve covered the bankruptcy here, here, and here at Inside Cryptocurrency. Ignoring an injunction: - Cred's executives accused former CFO James Alexander of illicitly transferring assets worth millions of dollars while ignoring an injunction signed in a California court.
- Within one hour of the court hearing, Delaware Judge John Dorsey ordered Alexander to "immediately" turn over $4M to debtors and submit documents verifying his transactions.
- During the hearing, the unsecured creditors' committee sought a temporary restraining order against Alexander.
- Before the recent hearing, Alexander agreed to send 50 bitcoin into an escrow account until resolving matters of control between Cred's affiliate and co-debtor Cred Capital Inc.
Click to tweet the following text (you can edit it before sending): A U.S. bankruptcy judge ordered former CFO James Alexander of Cred Inc., a now-bankrupt cryptocurrency company, to return $4M. $LBA Law360
| |
 Taro Aso shakes hands with former U.S. Vice President Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso added an agenda item to Friday's virtual meeting for G7 finance ministers to discuss central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). - A local news report regarding Japan's House of Representatives Budget Committee session held in Tokyo yesterday hinted that Taro Aso, Japan's finance minister, already spoke about hosting a virtual meeting on Feb. 12 to discuss CBDCs.
- According to a report from Mainichi dated Feb. 9, during the upcoming virtual conference, Aso and financial leaders from the U.S., U.K, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy will decide on formal policies for CBDCs.
- The news report suggests that G7 leaders remain conscious of China's rapidly-advancing digital fiat project and other pilot programs threatening conventional currencies.
- In Canada this morning, central bank Deputy Governor Timothy Lane reiterated that cryptocurrencies are "deeply flawed" payment methods, saying the recent spike in crypto prices is "a speculative mania."
- Nevertheless, the Bank of Canada Deputy Governor has reversed his comments from Feb. 25, 2020, when he said that there was "no need" for Canada to issue a digital currency. Lane is now open to issuing a digital loonie.
Coindesk
| |
 A message from TURING How do engineering Leaders from Facebook, Google, Uber, and Stanford Hire Remote Teams? Learn how at Turing Boundaryless: #BuildfromAnywhere, a virtual event for engineering leaders on February 18th from 11-2 p.m. PT. Speakers include: -
Pravin Desale, SVP of SDS and Appliances, Veritas -
Suneela Joshi, Senior Director of Engineering at Abbott Laboratories -
Darren Murph, Head of Remote at GitLab -
Chris Herd, CEO of Firstbase For more information, including the agenda, please visit the Turing Boundaryless: #BuildfromAnywhere Event Page. Sponsored by Turing.com, an automated platform that lets companies hire Silicon Valley caliber, remote developers, at the touch of a button. Register Here
| |
QUICK HITS: - How do engineering Leaders from Facebook, Google, Uber, Stanford, etc. manage remote developer hiring to solve for speed and quality -- at scale? Join us for Turing Boundaryless: #BuildfromAnywhere on February 18th, from 11-2 p.m. P.T. to learn how.*
- Tilman Fertitta said his Post Oak Motor Cars luxury car dealership in Houston sold over 17 cars (Bentleys and Rolls-Royce) for bitcoin since 2018, during an episode of CNBC's PowerLunch on Feb. 9.
- Spartan Group, a Singaporean digital asset investment company that manages up to $200M across various funds, announced a $50M venture fund. The fund is expected to focus on early-stage investments in DeFi ecosystems, according to a Coindesk report.
- BlockFi, a non-bank lending company and ultra-high yield "crypto savings account" company, filed for a new bitcoin trust with the SEC and launched its trust this week, according to a press release.
- In an interview with Bloomberg TV, MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) CEO Michael Saylor called bitcoin "the scarcest asset in the world" (notwithstanding thousands of upcoming competitors). His statement comes after the cryptocurrency crossed $44,000 on Feb. 8 amid news of Elon Musk's Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) $1.5B bitcoin purchase. MicroStrategy holds over 71,079 bitcoin and personally encouraged Elon Musk to use Tesla's cash to buy bitcoin.
- Crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX, which underwent strict scrutiny and enforcement actions from U.S. authorities, shared principles for more secure storage of additional customer data under the guidance of its new chief compliance officer, Malcolm Wright.
- Nic Carter's Boston-based Castle Island venture capital firm, which focuses on crypto and blockchain companies, launched a new venture fund, Castle Island Venture II. Carter has previously invested in BlockFi and River Financial. He intends to invest in companies dealing with DeFi and stablecoins.
- Cryptocurrency marketplace KeepChange announced that hackers were able to steal customer data but not bitcoin.
- The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTCQX:GBTC) now holds 649,130 bitcoin ⏤ over 3% of bitcoin's total supply.
- Streaming intent is the ultimate competitive advantage for ABM strategies. Learn 7 ways to shorten the sales cycle by utilizing real-time intent data.*
*This is sponsored content.
| |
 |  | Curated by Associated Press fanboy, eye-strained news terminal watcher, and bitcoin follower since $1, Aaron Wise. Temporarily listening to news squawk boxes in Florida while awaiting the construction of cryptopia. |  | | Editor | Charlotte Hayes-Clemens is an editor and writer based in Vancouver. She has dabbled in both the fiction and non-fiction world, having worked at HarperCollins Publishers and more recently as a writing coach for new and self-published authors. Proper semi-colon usage is her hill to die on. | |
| |
Hire senior pre-vetted remote developers that are affordable, have strong technical and communication skills, and work in your timezone. Hire elite engineers now. | |
