A report published by cybersecurity company Vectra has detailed what it describes as an “alarming surge in cryptocurrency mining on college campuses.”
Also Read: Markets Update: Cryptocurrencies Lose Over 20 Percent This Week
Colleges Become Hotbed for Mining Activities
Vectra’s report asserts that opportunistic students, malicious hackers, and even cryptocurrency mining scripts hosted by websites, are sapping power from universities to freely mine virtual currencies.
The analysis concludes that higher education is by far the largest industry that “exhibit[ed] cryptocurrency-mining attack behaviors from August 2017 through January 2018.” Vectra’s research claims that 85 percent of said attack behaviors identified across all industries originated from higher education institutions, followed by “Entertainment & Leisure” with 6 percent, Technology (3 percent), and Financial Services (3 percent).
The report notes that “The number of computers processing cryptocurrency hashes on college campuses increased before the value of bitcoin rose above $4,000 USD in 2017.” The sudden crash in bitcoin prices heading into January appears not to have deterred opportunistic students seeking to take advantage of campus electricity, with the report adding that “Even as the value of bitcoin fell 50% from its peak […], the number of computers performing cryptocurrency mining” on campuses did not decline.
Opportunistic College Students Take Advantage of Free Electricity
Joey Dilliha, an 18-year-old student at Western Kentucky University, recently told media that he leaves a Bitmain Antminer running in his dorm room, consistently garnering $30 each week in profit. “I believe more people should be doing it. It’s a super fun, and cool cheap way to be introduced to the market of mining,” Mr. Dilliha stated.
Dilliha said that his college does not permit his mining activities due to such being perceived as a fire hazard. “On dorm room check days, I have to turn it off and put a blanket over it. However, my RA loves to come in and talk about it with me,” he added.
In January, Stanford University issued a notice responding to what it described as “a sharp increase in incidents involving cryptocurrency mining at Stanford.” The notice sought to remind students that “Per university policy, Stanford resources must not be used for personal financial gain. As such, community members are prohibited from using university resources (including computing equipment, network services, and electricity) for cryptocurrency mining activities outside of faculty sanctioned research and course work.”
Vectra’s head of security analytics, Chris Morales, stated that “Students are more likely to perform crypto mining personally as they don’t pay for power, the primary cost of crypto mining.”
Do you think that colleges can do anything to stop opportunistic students from mining on campus? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
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via Samuel Haig
A report published by 
Mr. Mean launched his own cryptocurrency in November 2017, with local media stating that the “regulatory grey area […] prevents him from monetizing it.” Mr. Mean states that he “give[s] out the coin” and “tell[s] people that it has no value,” claiming that the project, Khcoin, functions as an educational tool as opposed to a speculative asset. Mr. Mean created a wallet for Khcoin, and claims that roughly 5,000 Cambodian citizens currently hold Khcoin. Mr. Mean states that he has also developed an exchange platform for Cambodian cryptocurrency trading, however, waiting for clear regulatory guidelines before he intends to launch such.
At the start of March, Cambodia saw the launch of another local altcoin, called Entapay. The project was initially the subject of confusion – with a 
ESMA has agreed on what it describes as “temporary product intervention measures on the provision of [CFDs] and binary options to retail investors in the European Union (EU).”
ESMA has stated that cryptocurrencies CFDs states that “CFDs with cryptocurrencies as an underlying raise separate and significant concerns as CFDs on other underlying” assets.
The measures will also see restrictions of 30:1 placed on “major currency pairs;” 20:1 for “non-major currency pairs, gold and major indices;” 10:1 for “commodities other than gold and non-major equity indices;” and 5:1 on “individual equities and other reference values.”
Meanwhile, when selling stocks, there is a sales tax of 0.3% for listed securities and 0.5% for unlisted ones, the news outlet detailed.
To rectify the situation, the tax authorities have set up “a virtual currency taxation standard in the first National Tax Administrative Reform Committee in 2018,” Money Today informed. Furthermore, the 2018 economic policy direction, announced by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, has a schedule set for crypto taxation plan for the first half of this year, the news outlet added, noting that:
The 
The PBOC also recently published a 
GMO announced on Friday the establishment of its Group Information Security Audit Office “to strengthen information security management and audit function in the whole group.” The company wrote:
The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) issued a business improvement order to GMO Coin, GMO Internet’s cryptocurrency exchange subsidiary, on March 8 after conducting an inspection. The agency began 
Following the FSA’s order, GMO Coin submitted a business improvement plan as required by the agency. The exchange will report its progress and implementation status to the regulator “every month by the 10th day of the following month in writing until the implementation of the business improvement plan” is complete, GMO Coin detailed. The first reporting date is the last day of March.
The business improvement plan includes “(1) business management systems, (2) contingency corresponding readiness plan [in] the event of a failure, (3) information security, cyber security management posture, and (4) quality control and configuration management systems,” GMO Coin outlined.
The FBI has issued a warning emphasizing the “widespread” nature of “
The FBI appears to be taking increasing action in the cryptocurrency sphere, with reports indicating that the institution has been actively working to persuade leading social media platforms to crackdown on the advertising of cryptocurrencies and ICOs.
The supported cryptocurrencies, according to Huobi, include DAT, DBC, DGD, DTA, EDU, ABT, ACT, ADX, AIDOC, APPC, AST, BAT, BCD, BCH, BCX, BIFI, BLZ, BTC, BTG, BTM, CHAT, CMT, CTXC, CVC, LINK, LSK, LTC, LUN, MANA, MCO, MDS, ICC, IOST, ITC, ICC, IOST, ITO, EKO, ELA, ELF, ENG, EOS, ETC, ETH, EVX, GAS, GNT, GNX, MTP, MTL, MTN, MTX, NAS, NEO, OCN, OMG, ONT, OST, PAY, POWR, PROPY, QASH, QSP, QTUM, QUN, RCN, RDN, REQ, RPX, RUFF, SALT, SBTC, SMT, SNC, SNT, SOC, SRN, STK, STORJ, SWFTC, THETA, TNB, TNT, TOPC, TRX, USDT, UTK, VEN, WAX, WICC, WPR, XEM, XRP, YEE, ZEC, ZIL, ZLA, and ZRX.
As for the Korean won trading, Huobi Korea wrote, “the KRW market is in the process of being prepared and will be available soon.”
“These will be pilot deals, not on a large scale. Some substantial private clients have asked for this kind of services,” Sobol explained. The bank is currently looking into different options to meet that demand. Gazprom’s subsidiary in Switzerland is studying the opportunities there. The alpine country has implemented more liberal regulations, he noted.