Posts Tagged: Crypto
You can now buy a Ferrari with crypto in the US, if that’s your thing
Anyone sitting on a mountain of cryptocurrency can now use it to buy a Ferrari in the US. According to Reuters, the luxury carmaker is working with the crypto payment processor BitPay to accept bitcoin, ether and USDC for purchases stateside, which customers were apparently begging for. Europe is expected to get the same treatment in early 2024, with other regions to follow.
There won’t be any upcharges for those paying with crypto, Ferrari’s Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Enrico Galliera told Reuters, and BitPay will convert those payments to traditional currency at the time of the transaction to avoid any issues of volatility. Galliera said the move will help the company reach “people who are not necessarily our clients but might afford a Ferrari.”
Just last year, Ferrari announced a commitment to more sustainable operations, including reducing its environmental footprint, and embracing the notoriously energy-intensive cryptocurrencies would seem to go against that. But, the company insists this doesn’t get in the way of its mission. Galliera cited recent strides in improving crypto’s carbon footprint, like heavier reliance on renewable energy sources, and told Reuters, “Our target to reach for carbon neutrality by 2030 along our whole value chain is absolutely confirmed.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-now-buy-a-ferrari-with-crypto-in-the-us-if-thats-your-thing-214639691.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Venmo now lets you send crypto to other users for some reason
Paypal-owned money transfer service Venmo dipped its toes into cryptocurrencies in 2021 after opening up an in-app trading platform. That was just for individuals to buy or sell crypto. Now, the company is going further into the once-heralded digital currency space by allowing users to send crypto directly to other Venmo customers.
This looks to be Venmo’s attempt to simplify the often-confusing task of sending crypto to other people. To that end, the company says this feat is easily accomplished in a “few simple steps.” Just head to the Crypto tab, tap the transfer arrow and follow the prompts. Venmo’s new platform also lets you send currency to Paypal handles and any external crypto wallet. You can also tap Receive to display a QR code that’s embedded with your unique crypto address.
This does seem much easier than rival platforms, but this is crypto, so there is a major caveat. These transfers are not protected in any way, shape or form. They cannot be canceled or reversed, so triple-check the Venmo handle or wallet address before slapping that send button. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
More details on the actual transfer process are found here and Venmo says the update will begin rolling out to users in the next week, but this is a tiered update, so it could be until the end of May before everyone has access to the feature. This tool will not be available in Hawaii and New York and it only pertains to cryptocurrencies available for purchase on Venmo, like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.
Despite the public’s love affair with crypto starting to cool down, Venmo says that its trading platform has seen steady growth. It boasts that nearly 75 percent of crypto customers have held onto their funds since 2021 and that 50 percent have expanded their balance since the beginning of 2023.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/venmo-now-lets-you-send-crypto-to-other-users-for-some-reason-192015694.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
British army Twitter and YouTube accounts compromised to promote crypto scams
The British army is investigating an apparent hack after its official Twitter and YouTube accounts were compromised on Sunday. News of the breach was first reported by Web3 is Going Great. According to the blog, both accounts were simultaneously compromised to promote two different cryptocurrency scams.
Although it has since been scrubbed, the army’s verified Twitter account was briefly changed to look like a page for The Possessed, a project involving a collection of 10,000 animated NFTs with a price floor of 0.58 Ethereum (approximately $ 1,063). During that time, the account tweeted out multiple links to a fake minting website. It’s possible the hack is part of a broader campaign to leverage the recent popularity of The Possessed. On Saturday, the project’s official Twitter account warned its followers of another verified account that was similarly hacked to promote a NFT scam using The Possessed brand.
Over on YouTube, the army’s channel has been made to look like a page for Ark Invest. As of the writing of this article, the channel is livestreaming videos that repurpose old footage of Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey and Ark CEO Katie Wood discussing cryptocurrency. The clips feature an overlay promoting “double your money” Bitcoin and Ethereum scams. According to Web3 is Going Great, a similar scheme netted scammers $ 1.3 million this past May. It’s unclear who is behind the attacks.
“We are aware of a breach of the army’s Twitter and YouTube accounts and an investigation is underway,” an army spokesperson told The Guardian. “We take information security extremely seriously and are resolving the issue. Until the investigation is complete it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
While 2022 has seen its share of crypto hacks, few have targeted government organizations like the British army. To date, most have involved groups like Yuga Labs, the creator of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection. In April, the project’s official Instagram account was compromised in a $ 2.4 million phishing scam. BAYC’s Discord community has also fallen to two separate phishing attacks in 2022.
Mining Capital Coin CEO indicted in $62 million crypto fraud scheme
Mining Capital Coin CEO and founder Luiz Capuci Jr. was — in an indictment unsealed yesterday — accused by the DOJ of allegedly running a $ 62 million global investment fraud scheme. He's the latest of severalcrypto company heads who have recently been similarly charged.
Through his company, Capuci convinced investors to purchase “Mining Packages," a global network of cryptocurrency mines that promised a certain return on investment every week. But instead of using investors’ funds to mine cryptocurrency as he promised, the DOJ alleges that Capuci diverted the funds to his own cryptocurrency wallets. Another MCC product known as “Trading Bots” operated under the same false pretenses. Capuci claimed that the bots operated in “very high frequency, being able to do thousands of trades per second” and promised investors daily returns.
“As he did with the Mining Packages, however, Capuci allegedly operated an investment fraud scheme with the Trading Bots and was not, as he promised, using MCC Trading Bots to generate income for investors, but instead was diverting the funds to himself and co-conspirators,” wrote the DOJ in its indictment.
MCC seemed to have all the workings of a pyramid scheme. Capuci recruited affiliates and promoters to lure investors. In return, he promised the promoters a number of lavish gifts, including Apple watches, iPads and luxury vehicles.
Currently the FBI’s Miami Field Office is investigating the case. The DOJ has charged Capuci, who is from Port St. Lucie, Florida, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit international money laundering. If found guilty, he faces a maximum sentence of 45 years.
In a review of the cryptocurrency mining platform, crypto blogger Peter Obi noted that the combination of MCC’s $ 50 monthly fee for membership and its steep 3% withdrawal fee meant that investors were unlikely to make a profit unless they referred other investors. He pointed out that such a referral process was “particularly worrying” because it was consistent with other past crypto scams.
Indeed, a number of crypto leaders have been accused by authorities of running Ponzi schemes in recent years. Earlier this year the DOJ indicted Bitconnect founder Satishkumar Kurjibhai Kumbhani for allegedly running a $ 2 billion Ponzi scheme — believed to be the largest virtual currency pyramid scheme in history.
Capuci never registered his company with the SEC. The agency today issued a fraud alert for the company. According to the SEC press release, Capuci and his associates successfully convinced 65,535 investors to purchase mining packages worldwide and promised daily returns of one percent, paid weekly for over a year. In total, the group netted $ 8.1 million from the sale of the mining packages and $ 3.2 million from initiation fees.
If You Hold Crypto, You NEED a Wallet like Ledger, Here’s Why
Own crypto? You should be using a hardware wallet like Ledger to secure your private keys.
Emerging Tech | Digital Trends
Crypto exchange BitMart loses $196 million to hackers
Large-scale cryptocurrency heists remain a significant headache. According to Coindesk, the crypto exchange BitMart has lost the equivalent of $ 196 million (originally estimated at $ 150 million) to a hack. The intruder breached Ethereum and Binance wallets with a flood of transfers starting around 2:30PM Eastern on December 4th, followed by an exodus of tokens two hours later that included Shiba and USDC.
Founder Sheldon Xia said only a "small percentage" of BitMart's assets were at risk. Even so, the company has frozen withdrawals "until further notice" and is reviewing security.
It's not clear who was responsible, but the culprit may have been knowledgeable The stolen funds have been sent to an Ethereum mixing service that could make it difficult to trace the funds. Crypto thieves aren't always that astute. The Poly Network attacker, for instance, offered to "surrender" and wound up returning all their loot. They claimed they were contributing to Poly's security, but that might also have been an attempt to avoid repercussions after researchers obtained potentially identifying data.
While this isn't the biggest digital heist (the Poly attacker grabbed $ 610 million, for instance), Coindesk notes this is one of the larger centralized exchange hacks to date. It also underscores the growing issue of cryptocurrency theft — the technology makes it all too feasible to steal large sums with few repercussions.
Crypto scammers stole $500K from wallets using targeted Google Ads
Scammers used a new type of phishing campaign, which doesn't use emails, to steal around $ 500,000 worth of cryptocurrency from wallets this past weekend alone. According to Check Point Research, those bad actors purchased Google Ads placements for their fraudulent websites that imitate popular wallets, such as Phantom App and MetaMask. The malicious websites have URLs close to the original's, such as "phantonn.app" — the real service's URL is "phantom.app" — with designs also copied from the real deal.
The scammers will then steal the victim's passphrase if they visit the fake website and type it in. If the victim uses the fake website to create a new wallet, they will be given the attacker's secret recovery phrase. In the event that they use the recovery phrase to log in, they'll actually be logging into the bad actor's account, and any fund transferred to it will go to the scammer. For MetaMask, in particular, the fake website has the option to import an existing wallet. Since doing so requires a seed phrase, the scammers will also get access to it.
As Check Point Research explains, the Phantom App and MetaMask are some of the most popular wallets for Solana and Ethereum. It cross-referenced Reddit forums to come to the conclusion that around half a million dollars were stolen last weekend alone, and it found 11 compromised wallet accounts containing crypto worth between $ 1,000 and $ 10,000. The scammers had already withdrawn funds from those wallets before CPR found them.
CPR says scamming groups are now bidding on keywords on Google Ads, which is a testament to how effective the method is. It's now advising users to examine the wallet's URL closely and to skip Google Ads results altogether so as not to unknowingly fall for the scam.