The Intrepid Report Issue #41
More than US$750M stolen, Bitmain nears 51% Bitcoin network hash rate, and more…
Here’s what’s in store for you this week: Large amounts of money have been lost to hackers through crypto exchanges and malware, and the Ethereum network experienced congestions, again. We’ve got insights on DAOs and why “blockchain” is meaningless, as well as thoughts from the Blockchain Review on protecting your ICO from hackers, and much more. Check it out below.
More than US$750M Stolen from Crypto Exchanges in First Half of 2018
The first half of 2018 has seen more than US$750 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen from exchanges, nearly three times as much as in all of 2017. The stolen cryptocurrencies end up being laundered to help criminals hide their true identities and avoid arrest. Here’s more on what’s happening and regulatory actions taken in response.
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2.3M Bitcoin Addresses Targeted by Malware That ‘Hijacks’ Clipboard
A new attack on Bitcoin users which gains control of Windows clipboard to swap out addresses is already monitoring 2.3 million targets, sources reported. The malware secretly gains control of memory, before replacing the Bitcoin address that the user has copied into the clipboard with the address of the attacker, which the user later unknowingly pastes and sends their coins to. Read on for how to protect yourself from this malware.
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Ethereum (ETH) Network Experiences Congestions, Gas Price Rises
The Ethereum network has experienced congestion leading to the price of Gas to shoot up, on some occasions skyrocketing more than five times. It’s not the first time the platform is experiencing this, and the latest congestion has been attributed to voting for the purposes of getting a coin listed on an exchange. The current network issues heightens the anticipation surrounding the release of Casper and Sharding, Ethereum’s scalability upgrades.
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Malta Passes Blockchain Bills Into Law, ‘Confirming Malta as the Blockchain Island’
The Parliament of Malta has passed three bills into law that establish a regulatory framework for blockchain technology, local news outlet Malta Today reported July 4. The bills include the Malta Digital Innovation Authority Act, the Innovative Technological Arrangement and Services Act, and the Virtual Financial Asset Act. This move taken by the Parliament would put investors’ minds to rest as companies now have the necessary legal tools to operate in a regulated environment.
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Bitmain Nears 51% of Network Hash Rate: Why This Matters and Why It Doesn’t
Recent Bitcoin block data shows that Bitcoin’s mining pools BTC.com, AntPool and ConnectBTC, makes for a combined hash rate of 42 percent; an all-time high for the Chinese mining giant’s mining pools. Several media sources have since covered this news, reporting that this near-dominance is a major risk to the Bitcoin network. How true are these claims?
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ICO Cybersecurity Best Practices: How to Protect Your ICO from Hackers
Security in the blockchain industry is always of utmost importance in any project. After a series of major hacks, it has become clear that blockchain projects around the world are finding it very difficult to secure their assets. ICO cybersecurity best practices are now required as hacks continue to have dire consequences for projects, their stakeholders, and the public’s perception of the industry. Here are vulnerabilities in ICO security and how to protect your project.
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Lessons From Past Hacks
It’s rare that a week goes by without hearing about an ICO getting hacked. Given the clear and persistent threats that exist, it’s quite surprising that there are relatively few resources on how to secure your ICO for teams in the process of launching or running a blockchain project. Here are lessons from past hacks and 10 critical tips to protect your ICO or blockchain project.
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“Blockchain” Is Meaningless
The idea of a blockchain, the cryptographically enhanced digital ledger that underpins Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies, is now being used to describe everything from a system for inter-bank transactions to a new supply chain database for Walmart. The term has become so widespread that it’s quickly losing meaning. There are countless blockchain explainers in text, audio, and video around the web. Almost all of them are wrong — here’s why.
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Here’s Some Cryptocurrency. Now Please Use It.
Ripple has quietly become one of the most valuable startups of the last decade thanks to the value of XRP, the digital token its founders created. The hard part comes in persuading people to use XRP for something other than speculative trading. In addition to giveaways and promotions by celebrities, Ripple is engaging in other efforts to encourage companies and developers to use XRP for its intended purpose while facing obstacles such as getting labeled as a security.
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On-Chain Vote Buying and the Rise of Dark DAOs
Blockchains seem like the perfect technology for online voting, they enable smart contracts, which can execute on-chain elections autonomously and do away with election authorities. Unfortunately, smart contracts aren’t just good for running elections. They’re also good for buying them. This post covers the how and why of vote buying, and introduce a new form of attack called a Dark DAO.
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What Is A Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)?
A Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) is an organization that can fully function without the usual management structure that involves people. DAOs give blockchain technology the ability to provide secure digital ledger to track financial interactions across the internet. Here are features, history, and issues with DAO, as well as notable examples of it.
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Metabase Pre-sale 2 Whitelist Commences
Pre-sale 2 begins today and we have allocated this week for whitelisting. This stage of the sale offers a discount of 20% on all tokens purchased, and we will be sharing more about a referral program that can help you and your friends earn more tokens as the sale progresses. We’ll be back with more updates so whitelist now and stay tuned!
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Intrepid Ventures: The Driving Force Behind Metabase Blockchain
Many of you are well on your way to getting acquainted with the Metabase project. To assist you on your journey to get to know us, we wanted to provide some insight into Intrepid Ventures, the company behind Metabase. Here’s what drives us, who we are, and the leaders behind our growing team.
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The Metabase ICO: Everything You Need to Know in Less Than 3 Minutes
We cover all aspects of the ICO pre-sale and main sales, including hard caps, token supply, getting on our whitelist, discounts and more. Note down the dates so you don’t miss the limited discounts and sale dates!
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Julien Breteau is Head of Content Marketing at Intrepid Ventures, a blockchain venture studio. He’s focused on championing Intrepid’s mission, delivering thought-provoking, high-quality content, and engaging with Intrepid’s growing communities around the world.
Originally published at The Blockchain Review.
