Every week, I will be collecting some news stories / opinion pieces that I have found to be interesting in the crypto world and condensing them down into one easily digestible article. All the article and images are taken from a news source that I like to use and an alternative to CoinTelegram called BeInCrypto. 

BeInCrypto is a news website founded in August 2018 that specialises in cryptographic technology, privacy, fintech, and the Internet — among other related topics. The primary goal of the website is to inject transparency into an industry rife with disingenuous reporting, unlabelled sponsored articles, and paid news masquerading as honest journalism. You can visit their website by clicking here or join their new Telegram Trading channel by clicking here. I am also part of that group and like the content they are discussing. There is a lot of news that came out last week, So let's get started!

 

Darknet Bitcoin Use Grows by 65% (USD) in Q1 2020

Blockchain analytics firm, Crystal Blockchain, has analyzed cryptocurrency flows in and out of the darknet, revealing that transfers (measured in $) are peaking. Altcoins also appear to be growing in use. Transactions largely involve exchanges without KYC requirements. The report, published on July 14, shows that Bitcoin and altcoin use on the darknet has increased, at least in dollar terms for Q1 2020.

The report compared the Bitcoin darknet flows to previous quarters. While the amount of Bitcoin notably declined, the higher price of the alpha-crypto led to a 65% increase in USD terms. Both this and growing altcoin use have contributed to the reduction in the amount of Bitcoin transferred. In BTC terms, Q1 2020 saw a 22% and 26% drop in received and sent Bitcoin compared with Q1 2017. Compared to Q1 2019, outflows dropped from 64,000 to 47,000 BTC while inflows dropped from 64,000 to 50,000 BTC. What do you think about this? You can read the full article by clicking here.

 

Central Bank of Oman Warns Public Against Cryptocurrency Investment

The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) has issued a warning to the country’s citizens regarding investments in cryptocurrencies and related products. It should be noted that the country itself is not particularly anti-cryptocurrency, but still has yet to legalize cryptocurrencies.

In fact, blockchain-based financial transactions have already taken place within the country. The latest notice from the central bank does not offer definitive insight into the stance authorities are taking.Reports published by local media outlets on July 19, emphasized that cryptocurrencies are not legal tender in Oman and that digital assets are not protected under the law and are subject to several risks.

What do you think about this? You can read the full story by clicking here.

 

Balancer DeFi Platform Approves First Liquidity Mining Proposals

Over the weekend, Balancer Labs initiated its first rounds of voting to address liquidity mining. The move is the DeFi protocol’s first steps towards full community-driven decentralized governance. Following in the footsteps of Compound Finance, Balancer Labs launched its own governance token and liquidity mining incentive at the end of May, with the first ‘harvest’ of BAL tokens occurring in late June. Token prices and total value locked on the platform shot skywards as expected. What do you think about DeFi? You can read more by clicking here.

 

Dubious Report Claims That Chainlink (LINK) Is a Giant Fraud

Last week a dubious report about LINK surfaced titled ‘The Chainlink Fraud Exposed – An Investigative Report on Why Chainlink is the Crypto’s Wirecard’. The report, published under the guise of Zeus Capital, recommended that it was time to short the popular cryptocurrency. However, it appears that the report was nothing other than a fraud.

Members of the Chainlink community have presented evidence that points to CeFi operator Nexo. In this article, we’ll explore the timeline of the misinformation and how it’s impacting crypto. Have you heard about this? To read more, click here.

 

Peter “Bitcoin Has No Real Value” Schiff Strikes back

Peter McCormack interviews financial commentator, economist, and gold bug Peter Schiff. It’s no surprise that after an hour and twenty minutes of debate, Schiff still doesn’t like bitcoin. Additionally, Peter rattles on about the relationship between bitcoin and gold, the properties of sound money, and why Bitcoin should not be a store of value.

Did you listen to the podcast? What do you think about Peter Schiff's comments? You can read the full article by clicking here.

 

Elon Musk, Justin Sun & Other Accounts Hacked in Massive Twitter Scam

Probably the biggest news in this news roundup. The Twitter accounts for a large number of famous influencers have been hacked, offering a run-of-the-mill Bitcoin scam. The hacks appear to be related to a hacked posting service. Most of the hacks contain offers for a scam dubbed CryptoforHealth, and purport to offer respondents 5,000BTC as a giveaway. 

The list of hacked accounts includes some of the largest account holders in the crypto Twitter space. Here are some notable mentions: @binance, @cz_binance, @kucoincom, @Gemini, @justinsuntron, and @CoinDesk, among others. Most notably, perhaps, @Bitcoin was hacked as well. 

To read the full article, click here.

 

More Delays Ahead? Ethereum 2.0 Economic Model Under Scrutiny

An independent research paper explores the in-depth economics behind Ethereum 2.0. The study hails from Tanner Hoban and Thomas Borgers, both members of the corporate development team at ConsenSys.

During the 100 pages of the report, the authors dissect the incentive model for the future Ethereum network. They also point out some potential security risks as the network makes the big switch from mining to staking. What are the potential risks of this transition? And how will it affect the cryptocurrency space? What do you think about this? You can read the full article by clicking below.

 

Legitimate-Looking Malware Targets Mac Crypto Traders

Researchers on Thursday discovered a new trojan targeting crypto traders using Mac’s. Researchers from internet security firm ESET, found that legitimate-looking websites are distributing malicious cryptocurrency trading applications for Mac users. Dubbed GMERS, the malware could “steal information from browser cookies, crypto wallets and screen captures,” a release said.

According to researchers, the malware authors used the original website of the Kattana crypto trading terminal to re-brand their own spying applications. The researchers also created fake honeypots to reveal the real intentions of the criminals. To read more, click here.

 

Trading in Browser: Brave Integrates Gemini

Brave recently announced the integration of a Gemini trading widget. This widget is the second of its kind, following the integration of Binance.

The consistent growth of the browser and its privacy-oriented advertising model is appealing to big companies. However, Brave recently suffered some backlash after users launched an ad-less clone of the browser. You can find out more about this by clicking here.

 

Grin HardFork Incoming in the Next Couple of Days

The Grin project announced in July that its third programmed hard fork would take place at block 786240, which is just around the corner.

Grin recently released Grin 4.0 and Grin wallet 4.0, which included the implementation of their new Slatepack standard. The feature will modify the way that parties send transactions. Are you excited about this? You can find out more about it by clicking here.

 

That is my weekly roundup of the interesting news coming from the crypto world. What do you think about the topics / news stories and what was your favourite article? If you liked the content, please consider following me and tipping the article. Also are you a trader? If you are check out my favourite Telegram Trading chat, where you can discuss and find out more about crypto projects. Click here to start conversations with other crypto traders!