We are on March 12, 2018, but Binance is going “old-school” in terms of its efforts to protect itself from hackers. Binance, the in the world by 24-hour volume has issued a $250,000 bounty on the hackers.
It isn’t like in the old Westerns though, where the bounty usually read “wanted dead or alive” as the Binance bounty is for credible information that leads to the arrest of the suspected hackers. The move is a direct response to the events of , when hackers attempted to add Binance to the list of cryptocurrency exchange platforms that have been successfully hacked.
No Longer Playing Defense
In a statement posted on the exchange’s on Sunday, 11 March 2018, the platform announced that it was issuing a “Binance Hacker Bounty.” According to the statement made, the platform declared that the attempted hack was clearly the work of an organized and coordinated team. Due to the large-scale nature of the attempt as well as the level of sophistication, feels that it is incumbent upon them to no longer play defense if they are to ensure the safety of their platform successfully. The statement went on to assert that Binance was going to adopt proactive measures to prevent a repeat occurrence.
The bounty has a that will be given to whoever can provide credible information that results in the arrest of the hackers. The money will be given to the first person able to come up with such credible information. The said person will receive the $250,000 in , the native transactional cryptocurrency token of the Binance platform. The exchange rate used for the payment of the reward will be determined at the time of the payment.
As part of the statement, Binance also announced that if information from multiple sources is used to prosecute the arrest of the hackers, then the reward will be split among the sources. Anyone with credible information is advised to send them to the email address of the Binance Hacker Bounty or to the nearest local law enforcement agency.
The Attempted Hack
According to an posted on the Binance website, hackers had over a two-minute period attempted to steal from the exchange platform. The hackers had tried to use an elaborate phishing scheme to artificially inflate the value of coins and then move bitcoins from the phished account. However, Binance were almost immediately alerted to the irregular movements, and a halt was put on all VIA-BTC transactions. The hackers were not able to withdraw bitcoin, and they even lost their VIA deposits in the process.
A Call to Action
In the aftermath of the incident, many have praised the way in which the Binance team . Considering the fact that there have been a number of successful high-profile cryptocurrency hacks in the past, the news of one being thwarted will come as a relief to crypto enthusiasts.
Not ones to rest on their laurels, Binance is sounding the call to action, encouraging other platforms to join them in the fight against hackers. The platform has even set aside $10 million in a reserve to prosecute any future bounty programs in the case of further hacking attacks on the platform.
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When the was effortlessly making new all-time highs almost every week back in 2017, bubble burst predictors never ceased predicting the fall of the king. Fast forward to 2018, the markets have gone all bearish due to regulatory pressures, Mt. Gox calamity and others, yet a former chairman of the CFTC has said the bubble may not burst after all.
No Bubble In Sight
Jim Newsome, a former chairman of the U.S Commodities and Futures Commission (CFTC), has that the highly anticipated bubble will not burst in the near future since the industry is still very much in its nascent stages. Furthermore, the “big money” is not there yet as many institutional investors are yet to catch the bitcoin fever because of the regulatory uncertainties surrounding cryptocurrency markets.
Newsome and Paul Atkins, the former SEC Commissioner, presented a paper on best practices for ICO organizers and participants at the Chamber of Digital Commerce’s annual meeting on March 8.
However, Newsome noted the completion of the report has been delayed for two weeks due to the fact that they found out the project is much more complex than they initially thought. The CFTC chairman-turned crypto advisor stated that the SEC Chair might be taking a harder line on cryptocurrency because of the word he’s getting from the White House.
Be Fair on Crypto or Be Left Behind
The former CFTC chief is not oblivious of the cryptocurrency revolution. He’s made it clear to officials that other world governments are trying their possible best to organize their and virtual currency ecosystem and the U.S. might be left behind in this revolutionary and innovative technological race if care is not taken.
SEC Precipitates Bearish Sentiment
On March 8, BTCManager a story on the latest SEC guidelines for and cryptocurrency exchanges. The regulatory body made it categorically clear that all crypto exchanges must register under the SEC. NASDAQ Index Research and Product Development Head, Dave Gedeon has said that its very unlikely the SEC would approve a cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF) anytime soon.
Also, the former CFTC Commissioner, now functioning as DTCC (Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation) Global Policy Chief, Mark Wetjen has hinted that the U.S. Congress will give the financial regulatory agencies the go-ahead to regulate cryptocurrency products.
The author strongly believes the bitcoin bubble burst in 2017 when the nearly reached $20,000. Instead, it crashed all the way down to near $6,000 in February. If that’s not a bubble bursting, then what is it?
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