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The FBI secretly created a coin to investigate crypto pump-and-dump schemes

“What the FBI uncovered in this case is essentially a new twist to old-school financial crime,” Jodi Cohen, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston division, said in a statement. “What we uncovered has resulted in charges against the leadership of four cryptocurrency companies, and four crypto ‘market makers’ and their employees who are accused of spearheading a sophisticated trading scheme that allegedly bilked honest investors out of millions of dollars.”

Liu Zhou, a “market maker” working with MyTrade MM, allegedly told promoters of NexFundAI that MyTrade MM was better than its competitors because they “control the pump and dump” allowing them to “do inside trading easily.”

An FBI spokesperson told CoinDesk that there was limited trading activity on the coin but didn’t share additional information. On a Wednesday press call, Joshua Levy, the acting US attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said trading on the token was disabled, according to CoinDesk.

New Perfctl Malware Targets Linux Servers for Cryptocurrency Mining and Proxyjacking

“When a new user logs into the server, it immediately stops all ‘noisy’ activities, lying dormant until the server is idle again. After execution, it deletes its binary and continues to run quietly in the background as a service.”

It’s worth noting that some aspects of the campaign were disclosed last month by Cado Security, which detailed an activity cluster that targets internet-exposed Selenium Grid instances with both cryptocurrency mining and proxyjacking software.

Specifically, the fileless perfctl malware has been found to exploit a security flaw in Polkit (CVE-2021–4043, aka PwnKit) to escalate privileges to root and drop a miner called perfcc.

Global infostealer malware operation targets crypto users, gamers

A massive infostealer malware operation encompassing thirty campaigns targeting a broad spectrum of demographics and system platforms has been uncovered, attributed to a cybercriminal group named “Marko Polo.”

The threat actors use a variety of distribution channels, including malvertising, spearphishing, and brand impersonation in online gaming, cryptocurrency, and software, to spread 50 malware payloads, including AMOS, Stealc, and Rhadamanthys.

According to Recorded Future’s Insikt Group, which has been tracking the Marko Polo operation, the malware campaign has impacted thousands, with potential financial losses in the millions.

FBI: Reported cryptocurrency losses reached $5.6 billion in 2023

The FBI says that 2023 was a record year for cryptocurrency fraud, with total losses exceeding $5.6 billion, based on nearly 70,000 reports received through the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

This marks a 45% increase in losses compared to the previous year, driven primarily by investment fraud, which accounted for 71% of the total cryptocurrency losses. Other types of fraud contributing to the statistics include tech support scams, call center fraud, and government impersonation.

The vast majority of the reported losses ($4.8 billion) were incurred by U.S. citizens, followed by Cayman Islands ($196M), Mexico ($127M), Canada ($72M), the UK ($59M), India ($44M), and Australia ($25M).

Coinbase Now Available in Hawaii Following Regulatory Clarity From America’s 50th State

Crypto exchange Coinbase just announced that Hawaii residents can now use its platform to buy and sell digital assets.

In a statement, the largest US-based crypto exchange says its products and services are now available in The Aloha State after the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) Division of Financial Institutions (DFI) made regulatory changes that provided clarity for cryptocurrency firms.

SpaceX to launch privately-financed international crew of four around Earth’s poles

A blockchain entrepreneur, a cinematographer, a polar adventurer and a robotics researcher plan to fly around Earth’s poles aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule by end of year, becoming the first humans to observe the ice caps and extreme polar environments from orbit, SpaceX announced Monday.

The historic flight, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will be commanded by Chun Wang, a wealthy bitcoin pioneer who founded f2pool and stakefish, “which are among the largest Bitcoin mining pools and Ethereum staking providers,” the crew’s website says.

“Wang aims to use the mission to highlight the crew’s explorational spirit, bring a sense of wonder and curiosity to the larger public and highlight how technology can help push the boundaries of exploration of Earth and through the mission’s research,” SpaceX said on its web site.

Infinite Resources: Develop the arctic, green hydrogen, fresh water and healthy food for the world

Discussion with Jeff Krehmer about his book Infinite Resources: How to sustainably develop the arctic, by supplying green hydrogen, fresh water and healthy food to the world, while mitigating the negative effects of anthropocentric climate change.

Links related to Infinite Resources:
The book Infinite Resources:
https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Resou?tag=lifeboatfound-20

Moon-shots program incubator:
https://foresightcac.com/earthtech205

Engage Jeff Krehmer:
www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-krehmer/

Home Page

Links:
Quora blog: https://spacefaringcivilization.quora
Amazon Author page: http://amazon.com/author/ronfriedman.
My Website: https://ronsfriedman.wordpress.com/

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Sam Altman Is Running Out of Orbs

Eyeball-scanning orbs are, apparently, not a dime a dozen — and now, a Sam Altman-backed crypto startup is running out of them.

As Semafor reports, the Altman-backed Worldcoin crypto startup, which uses bespoke metallic orbs to scan one’s iris and verify their identity, is running low on the spherical devices after giving out somewhere between 300 and 500 of them.

This news, as the site notes, has been confirmed by Alex Blania, the CEO of the Tools for Humanity startup that acts as Worldcoin’s parent firm.