Blockchain networking company Everything Blockchain Inc. has applied for a patent for its Blockchain drive (EB Drive).
As traditional data storage mainly exists on local or network hard drives is vulnerable to ransomware attacks. Despite data being encrypted, there are other disadvantages such as decrypting data, lack of backups and restoring data.
Everything Blockchain, Inc. designs and develops software solutions. The Company provides blockchain technology software solutions, including cryptocurrency, smart contracts, decentralized data management, and cryptographic security.
EB drives said they are able to store data in a mutable blockchain ledger, protecting the company’s intellectual property. In addition, the company can provide blockchain-enabled ransomware solutions for businesses of all kinds.
“EB Drive’s innovative and novel use of blockchain’s inherent immutability ensures locally stored data is safe from ransomware attacks from bad actors,” said Cedric Harris, Chief Research Officer at EBI.
The US Department of Justice has sealed half a million dollars in cryptocurrency seized from the NetWalker ransomware group so far.
Europol, European Union’s law enforcement agency, has also put together an anti-ransomware initiative that has managed to intercept $630 million dollars and more in ransomware demands, since 2016.
FTX, a leading crypto exchange, is willing to splash a few billion to help struggling companies amid the present cryptocurrency winter, according to the exchange’s CEO and founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.
Bankman-Fried has recently emerged as the white knight in the crypto sector because he has been giving different digital asset platforms a lifeline by bailing them out.
For instance, he recently injected $250 million in capital into the troubled crypto lender BlockFi with the option of acquiring it. As a result, BlockFi CEO Zac Prince revealed that the company was on track to bolster its balance sheet and general platform strength.
Various firms have found themselves on the receiving end with the crypto market experiencing a bloodbath based on tightened macroeconomic factors.
FTX has been getting requests for help from different companies. “We’re starting to get a few more companies reaching out to us,” Bankman-Fried said.
Through his crypto-trading firm Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried also rescued cryptocurrency brokerage firm, Voyager through a $200 million loan in June.
The FTX CEO acknowledged that the objective of the bailouts was to eliminate panic in the crypto ecosystem and protect investor assets. He pointed out:
“Having trust with consumers that things will work as advertised is incredibly important and if broken is incredibly hard to get back.”
This revelation comes days after Bankman-Fried acknowledged that he was willing to bailout jittered crypto miners who had been borrowing for the past two years to spur expansion plans, Blockchain.News reported.
Unforeseen circumstances like the Ukraine invasion of Russia and the collapse of LUNA and UST tokens have triggered a downtrend in the crypto market, whose value has dropped to less than $1 trillion from nearly $3 trillion recorded in November last year.
Furthermore, Bitcoin (BTC) has lost at least 70% of its value from the all-time high (ATH) price of $69K recorded in November 2021.
Therefore, Bankman-Fried’s bailout plans are a welcome move in the crypto sector because they are reigniting the fire.
The US Office of Government Ethics has issued a legal advisory notice, barring US officials holding cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and stablecoins as personal investments from advising President Joe Biden on how to oversee the virtual currency.
The new directive disqualifies federal employees from working on any crypto regulation and policy that could influence the value of their assets.
The directive set out the de minimis exemptions that – apply to security – allowing holders of security equities (like shares, and stocks) below a particular threshold with exposure to the crypto sector to work on related crypto policies. For instance, the directive allows mutual-fund holders with less than $50,000 invested in the sector to help write crypto-related rules, so long as the fund is not directly invested in cryptocurrency.
However, such exemptions do not apply to any cryptocurrency or stablecoin, even if the crypto constitutes securities for the purpose of the federal or state securities laws.
The directive is set to profoundly impact some White House staff who have been known to hold crypto investments. Tim Wu, a top technology and competition policy advisor for the Biden administration, holds millions of dollars in Bitcoin.
In March last year, Tim Wu, a prominent critic of Big Tech companies, joined the White House as an adviser on competition policy and disclosed a clear message that he owns $1 million to $5 million in Bitcoin. Wu has already exempted himself from working on crypto policy.
Declaring Crypto Holdings
Wu reported his holdings as it is a requirement by the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE) for federal workers to report their holding of a virtual currency and income from a cryptocurrency.
In June 2018, the OGE issued a legal directive that required US government employees to report their holding of cryptocurrencies on their public or confidential financial disclosure report.
The requirement is not limited to cryptocurrencies but also applies to other digital assets like tokens or coins.
The move was triggered by concerns that a conflict of interest could arise for employees who own cryptocurrencies.
Since then, anyone working for the executive branch of the US government is expected to disclose their crypto holdings because they “may create a conflict of interest”.
According to OGE, cryptocurrency is a property held for investment purposes or the production of income, though it is not considered a “real” currency or legal tender.
The US Office of Government Ethics has issued a legal advisory notice, barring US officials holding cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and stablecoins as personal investments from advising President Joe Biden on how to oversee the virtual currency.
The new directive disqualifies federal employees from working on any crypto regulation and policy that could influence the value of their assets.
The directive set out the de minimis exemptions that – apply to security – allowing holders of security equities (like shares, and stocks) below a particular threshold with exposure to the crypto sector to work on related crypto policies. For instance, the directive allows mutual-fund holders with less than $50,000 invested in the sector to help write crypto-related rules, so long as the fund is not directly invested in cryptocurrency.
However, such exemptions do not apply to any cryptocurrency or stablecoin, even if the crypto constitutes securities for the purpose of the federal or state securities laws.
The directive is set to profoundly impact some White House staff who have been known to hold crypto investments. Tim Wu, a top technology and competition policy advisor for the Biden administration, holds millions of dollars in Bitcoin.
In March last year, Tim Wu, a prominent critic of Big Tech companies, joined the White House as an adviser on competition policy and disclosed a clear message that he owns $1 million to $5 million in Bitcoin. Wu has already exempted himself from working on crypto policy.
Declaring Crypto Holdings
Wu reported his holdings as it is a requirement by the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE) for federal workers to report their holding of a virtual currency and income from a cryptocurrency.
In June 2018, the OGE issued a legal directive that required US government employees to report their holding of cryptocurrencies on their public or confidential financial disclosure report.
The requirement is not limited to cryptocurrencies but also applies to other digital assets like tokens or coins.
The move was triggered by concerns that a conflict of interest could arise for employees who own cryptocurrencies.
Since then, anyone working for the executive branch of the US government is expected to disclose their crypto holdings because they “may create a conflict of interest”.
According to OGE, cryptocurrency is a property held for investment purposes or the production of income, though it is not considered a “real” currency or legal tender.
Paxful, a leading peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto trading platform, has selected iProov to provide service to verify user identity when onboarding and making transactions.
Based on Paxful’s objective of offering significant access to crypto, the partnership with iProov will be a stepping stone toward a more secure user experience.
George Georgiades, Paxful’s chief compliance officer, pointed out:
“We need to ensure we provide the highest level of security and peace of mind to users. iProov’s technology allows us to safeguard against fraud and theft for our community while ensuring continued access and growth of the platform.”
As a reputable online facial biometric authentication company, iProov uses Liveness Assurance technology to authenticate that the online user is the right person and not an imposter.
The partnership will enable Paxful users to carry out accurate face verifications when undertaking a transaction because a brief face authentication is required instead of a one-time passcode (OTP) or password.
Andrew Bud, iProov’s CEO, stated:
“With the tremendous influx of new users into the crypto space comes an even greater invasion of fraudsters looking to empty or take over accounts or even hold them for ransom.”
Furthermore, iProov will make new Paxful users’ onboarding seamless as more people continue eyeing the crypto space. Bud added:
“Paxful’s mission is a critical one that helps connect the underbanked and unbanked around the globe to financial opportunities and stability. We are delighted to support them in offering inclusive and secure remote verification measures to protect their users.”
To expand its mission of providing financial inclusion to the unbanked and underbanked, Paxful launched its first crypto debit card in 2020.
Jason Fung, the former head of short video giant TikTok’s gaming division, launched a blockchain gaming startup called Meta0 as CEO and has completed its first round of financing.
The startup aims to provide users with a platform to transfer non-fungible tokens (NFTs) between different blockchains.
It also provides white-label application programming interfaces (APIs) and software development kit-based solutions for blockchain developers, ensuring that developers can isolate existing infrastructure options.
The founding team of Meta0 currently consists of six members, Fung said: “Right now, if you look at any developer when they implement NFTs or blockchain in their games, they have to choose a single blockchain, be it Polygon or Solana or Binance Smart Chain. But imagine a more interoperable option.”
Jason Fung left TikTok after working 2 years who believes in the promising development of blockchain gaming.
The global video streaming platform TikTok and the encrypted music streaming platform Audius have developed a new feature called “TikTok Sounds” to support users to share sounds to the TikTok platform through Audius.
He expressed his hope to obtain financial support from venture capital institutions and strategic investors through the issuance of tokens.
Crema Finance has received 6,064 Ethereum (ETH), worth around $7 million and 23,967 Soland (SOL) (around $870,000) from a hacker who had stolen 69,422.9 SOL and 6,497,738 USDC stablecoin (roughly $9 million) after the company had suffered a flash point loan exploit on Sunday.
Four transactions transferred the amounts into the team’s wallets on Solana and Ethereum.
Crema Finance, a concentrated liquidity protocol on Solana, said the hacker returned stolen funds after negotiating to keep 45,455 SOL ($1.65 million) as a bounty reward.
The team has labelled the perpetrator as a “white hat,” a term given to ethical hackers, according to The Block, which indicates that the company is not looking to take legal action against the unknown hacker.
“After a long negotiation, the hacker agreed to take 45,455 SOL as the white hat bounty. Now we have confirmed the receipt of 6,064 ETH + 23,967.9 SOL in four transactions,” the Crema Finance team said.
Prior to the negotiation, Crema Finance had immediately offered the attacker an $800,000 bounty before contacting law enforcement authorities and launching an investigation.
Hut 8, a Bitcoin mining company based in Canada, announced on Wednesday that it has bought 5,800 mining machines for its Ontario facility.
With the latest purchase, these mining rigs to its fleet at its mining facility at the North Bay site in Ontario. Hut 8 mentioned that new machines will add greater petahashes per second (PH/s) of hashrate to its Bitcoin mining capacity, once fully deployed.
The firm expects the addition of the new miners to help increase its mining production capacity, especially during this bear market that has seen a significant drop in mining output alongside a plunge in crypto prices.
Hut 8 disclosed that its machines at its North Bay site in Ontario were operating on 20 megawatts (MW) of power, as of June 30.
Currently, the Bitcoin mining firm said its total operating capacity in computing power stood at 2.78 exahash/second (EH/s).
Hut 8 revealed that it mined 328 Bitcoins during June and increased its holdings to 7,406 BTC ($148 million).
The company disclosed that it would continue to hold its mined Bitcoins. This is in contrast to other miners are selling their Bitcoins to pay operating expenses and loan obligations. On Tuesday, Core Scientific, a major mining firm in the industry, sold 7,202 Bitcoins in June to raise $167 million.
With the ongoing crypto winter, all miners are witnessing declining profits as Bitcoin prices dropped last month. Some mining firms are facing margin calls on debt issued during bull periods as the value of their collateral, normally mining machines or Bitcoin, has also dropped.
Hut 8 is one of the least leveraged publicly-traded Bitcoin mining companies relative to its equity. The firm had CAD$140 million ($107 million) in cash as of the end of last year, according to its annual earnings report.
Hut 8 has diversified its revenue streams away from cryptocurrency. Its high-performance computing business is on track to see a growth of up to 18% by the end of 2022.
Hut 8 is not the only Bitcoin mining firm to have added its mining rigs during this market crash. Mid-last month, CleanSpark, a Bitcoin mining based in California, purchased an addition of 1,800 Antminer S19 XP computers to take advantage of the bear market and the fallen prices for Bitcoin mining rigs.
CleanSpark capitalized on the current difficult market conditions, where the plunge in Bitcoin prices led to a drop in the prices of ASICs, computerized devices specifically used for mining Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency.
Etihad Airways plans to release its first non-fungible token (NFT) collection, featuring 10 comprehensive 3D aircraft models, on July 21.
Dubbed EY-ZERO1, the NFT collection will comprise 2,003 limited-edition collectables, including Etihad’s Manchester City FC and Greenliner-themed aircraft aimed at boosting travellers’ satisfaction levels.
Tong Douglas, the CEO of Etihad Aviation Group, noted:
“NFTs and other metaverse technologies are revolutionizing the digital economy, and we are proud to be one of the first airlines in the world to explore their potential to provide additional utility for our customers.”
As part of the airline’s Web3 strategy, the collection will open the doors to future metaverse merchandise. Douglas added:
“We’re excited to launch our first NFT collection, EY-ZERO1, which not only offers collectors, aviation enthusiasts and travelers a unique work of art, but provides real-world travel and lifestyle benefits with Etihad Airways.”
As the second flag carrier airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Etihad Airways intends to promote environmentally friendly measures through the collection.
For instance, the NFT collection will be minted on the Polygon network, an energy-efficient blockchain. Moreover, the airline will use the project’s proceeds to buy sustainable aviation fuel as part of plans to offset the entire carbon footprint.
“As well as recognising the artistic value of our aircraft liveries, our NFT collection has been designed to be as efficient as possible and support our wider sustainability and decarbonisation efforts at Etihad Airways,” Douglas added.
Airlines in the UAE are entering the crypto space to optimise customer satisfaction rates. For instance, Emirates Airline disclosed plans to enter the Metaverse and roll out a Bitcoin payment option, Blockchain.News reported.
According to Fortune media, three top executives at JPMorgan have left the leading major bank to join the cryptocurrency industry.
Despite the current crypto winter, this week has seen three executives working at the giant bank depart and joined crypto firms.
Eric Wragge, a former managing director at JPMorgan with 21 years working at the bank, has joined the Algorand blockchain technology firm as Head of Business Development and Capital Markets.
Puja Samuel, a former Head of Ideation and Digitization at JPMorgan, has also joined Digital Currency Group (a parent company that owns Bitcoin brokerage firm, Genesis Trading and CoinDesk crypto media) as Head of Corporate Development.
Also, early this week, Samir Shah, JPMorgan Chase’s Head of Asset Management Sales, left the bank and assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer at cryptocurrency-focused investment firm Pantera Capital.
Wragge’s joining Algorand shows that he will report to Algorand Foundation CEO Staci Warden. In the new role, he will be expected to chair the foundation’s investment committee as well as lead initiatives in both traditional capital markets as well as decentralized finance (DeFi).
Wragge talked about his appointment at Algorand and said: “Coming from a leading global investment bank, I understand the uncompromising performance requirements for a layer 1 blockchain to compete against and improve upon many aspects of traditional finance.”
Samuel, also commented about his role at Digital Currency Group: “I am excited to help build out new strategic partnerships alongside an energized team that is driving change across the financial system.”
Embracing Crypto World
The latest move of JPMorgan executives jumping ship to the crypto industry is a trend that has been developing lately. Several executives have moved from big corporations to crypto startups.
In February, Goldman Sachs executive Roger Bartlett left the leading global investment bank after 16 years and joined the Coinbase crypto exchange. In his LinkedIn profile, Bartlett stated that it was time to embrace the cryptocurrency economy. He described the change as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become part of building the next stage of the digital revolution.
That is the same sentiment held by several big tech executives and finance professionals making the move into cryptocurrency, as they look to be part of the rapidly growing crypto industry.
Some Wall Street executives have left to launch their own crypto or Web3 ventures. In 2018, Amber Baldet, a prominent blockchain executive at JPMorgan Chase, left the bank and co-founded decentralization startup Clovyr.
In March, Revolut’s chief revenue officer Alan Chang departed the British fintech to start a new crypto venture.
In April last year, Konstantin Shulga, a former senior executive of Russia’s largest bank, Sber, co-founded Finery Markets, a crypto-over-the-counter service, where he serves as the CEO.
The rise in executive moves is an indication of the growing attraction to the crypto world for financial and tech executives who are believed to have amassed a fortune but are keen to become part of the next disruption.
