1. Binance Suffers $40 Million Hack
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Accounts frozen for a week
What you need to know
Crypto exchange Binance said yesterday it was hacked to the tune of 7,000 Bitcoin ($40 million). The perps used a variety of phishing and hacking methods over time to obtain control of the funds. Binance will cover the stolen funds, and trading will continue, but the exchange will be locked for withdrawals and deposits for one week while it conducts an intensive security audit.
Why it's important
Binance has a reputation for being one of the most secure exchanges. This hack shows that even the most mighty can fall. Cold-storage wallet makers, among others, are capitalizing on the breach by repeating the mantra: "Not your keys, not your coins." The price of Bitcoin was down around 1% this morning as investors, used to these sorts of growing pains, mostly shrugged off the news.
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2. Russia Continues Internet Crackdown
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The Dissident and Telegram
What you need to know
Alexander Gorbunov—a wheelchair-bound crypto trader and author of the popular political blog, StalinGulag—was forced to reveal his identity this week after state police turned up at his parent's house and threatened them. He is being investigated in connection with the crime of “telephone terrorism.”
Why it's important
Telegram, which hosted StalinGulag and its community, is one of the key bastions of free speech. It provides a way for people to interact, through secure and private communication. This crackdown, which coincided with the government voting to disconnect Russia from the Internet in November, looks like a sign that things are about to get even worse in Putin land.
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From the interweb
The Binance hack is dominating the news:
- Binance CEO CZ had considered rolling back the Bitcoin blockchain to recover the lost funds, but Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu convinced him he couldn't.
- Vitalik Buterin responded to this, saying, "Wait, what?"
- Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said he was "shocked" at the idea.
- Tron CEO Justin Sun has offered to give equivalent amount of lost funds in Tether to Binance.
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Is a legal defense fund needed to face Craig Wright?
What you need to know
Craig Wright, who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, inventor of Bitcoin, has being suing people for calling him a fraud. Binance, which was one of the first to delist Wright's coin Bitcoin SV, said yesterday that it was considering seeding a legal fund with $10,000, to help defray defendants' lawyers' fees. Not that "self made multi-millionaire" Roger Ver needs it.
Why it's important
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao made the $10,000 offer yesterday before the hack happened. Perhaps those funds might now be needed elsewhere.
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CEOs are starting to love blockchain!
And we're talking good ol' regular CEOs here.
Blockchain often gets a good kicking. It's criticized for being used in large scale hacks (see above) and has been described as rat poison, a ponzi scheme or, worse, "a bubble." But, according to a Deloitte report, regular CEOs are starting to fall in love with the nascent technology. Read all about it here.
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