Survey Shows 64% of Britons Believe Crypto Is ‘Not a Safe Investment,’ Respondents Think Ethereum Is a Drug, Cardano Is Cheese

While there’s a lot of hype surrounding digital currencies like bitcoin, a great number of people are still confused by the crypto economy and the myriad crypto assets that exist. One study shows that some people think Ethereum is a drug, while others think Cardano is a cheese.

Traders of Crypto Surveys Hundreds of Britons, Researchers Parse 12 Months of Crypto Query Data

A recent study published by the researchers at tradersofcrypto.com combed through the most-searched questions that could be entered into Google Keyword Planner in order “to discover how many searches each question received.”

The researchers scanned data over the last 12 months using results from the U.S. and U.K. to rank the most-asked questions to the least. The results produced a data set which attempts to explain “the most common cryptocurrency questions.”

Tradersofcrypto.com’s researchers also surveyed “hundreds of members of the British public” to get the answers to the crypto questions. The statistics show that less than 1 in 4 individuals think that a cryptocurrency will ever become legal tender. “The vast majority of the British public were unconvinced, with 75.7% responding “no.”

The ones that did believe crypto could become legal tender assumed it would happen over the next decade. “The largest portion of ‘yes’ responders (9.8%) believed that this would happen in as little as five years’ time,” the study notes.

The researcher’s study continues by adding that despite the recent bull run, 64.6% of those polled did not believe crypto was a “safe investment.” 22% have “no idea” what crypto is and 21% replied that crypto assets are “digital currency,” “online money,” or “virtual money.”

“1 in 4 have no idea what Dogecoin is,” the study details. “1 in 2 admit they’re not sure what Binance Coin is.” The research report adds:

3.6% of survey respondents believe that Cardano is a cheese or alcoholic drink. 3.4% of survey respondents believe Ethereum is a drug.

Close to a Billion Searches for the Term Cryptocurrency, Interest in Crypto Is Booming

The researchers further explain that across 12 months in the U.K. and U.S. there have been approximately 9,269,000 searches for “cryptocurrency.”

The study revealed the most searched phrase with the term was “best cryptocurrency” with 502,200 searches, followed by “what cryptocurrency to mine” and “how to buy cryptocurrency,” with 406,000 and 306,540 respectively.

“Questions about crypto experienced significant increases in search volume across the board,” the study concludes. “This booming interest in the crypto market suggests that cryptocurrency is turning more mainstream than ever, and will become a staple of the future investment landscape.”

What do you think of the study about crypto confusion and the number of searches this past year? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

via Jamie Redman

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How Binance Helps Legal Authorities Take Down Cybercriminals Laundering Illicit Funds

According to the latest UN statistics, global money laundering transactions reach up to $2 trillion a year. A small fraction of that huge amount passes through the digital assets ecosystem, and responsible actors in it are working to bring that down even more. As the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance has especially taken it upon itself to protect the safety and security of the virtual finance world. Here is how it helps legal authorities to take down cybercriminals laundering money.

Busting the $500 Million FANCYCAT Ring

In June 2021, Binance announced to the public that its security team has taken part in an international investigation that resulted in busting a prolific cybercriminal ring. The company cooperated in the operation with authorities from around the world including Ukraine Cyber Police, Cyber Bureau of Korean National Police Agency, US Law Enforcement, Spanish Civil Guard, Swiss Federal Office of Police, and more. The cybergang, known as FANCYCAT, has been running multiple criminal activities: distributing cyber attacks; operating a high-risk exchanger; and laundering money from dark web operations and high-profile ransomware attacks. In total, legal authorities estimated that FANCYCAT was responsible for over $500 million worth of damages in connection with ransomware and millions more from other cybercrimes.

Video of the arrests from Ukraine Cyber Police:

Research found that in a majority of the cases associated with illicit cryptocurrency flows coming onto exchanges, the exchange is not harboring the actual criminal group themselves, but rather being used as a middleman to launder stolen profits. Understanding this diagnosis, the Binance security team applied a two-pronged approach to the FANCYCAT investigation. An AML detection and analytics program detected suspicious activity and expanded the suspect cluster, and once they mapped out the complete suspect network, Binance worked with private sector blockchain analytics companies to analyze on-chain activity. Based on this, Binance found that the group was not only associated with laundering ransomware attack funds, but other illegally-sourced funds. This led to the identification and eventual arrest of FANCYCAT.

Binance’s Bulletproof Exchanger Project

In August 2020, Binance announced to the public that suspicious activity detected and analyzed by its team led to the identification and arrest of a cybercriminal organization responsible for a ransomware campaign and the laundering of more than $42 million in cryptocurrencies over the previous two years. Binance took part in that operation in collaboration with the Cyber Police of Ukraine.

This development came after Binance allocated extra resources in early 2020 for its security researchers to probe the ways criminals were laundering money through “Bulletproof Exchangers” – cryptocurrency platforms often serve as the cash-out points for cryptocurrency operations connected to financial crimes and other fraud. Bulletproof Exchangers are well-known for their lenient know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) policies. Data analysis showed that these exchangers, which are often based in regions with a lack of enforcement or regulation, have a high proportion of transaction volume linked to high-risk categories such as ransomware attacks, exchange hacks, and darknet-related activities.

These examples show that Binance means business when it comes to aiding authorities in the global fight against money laundering. It has already committed its resources, manpower and expertise to this cause, which resulted in the arrests of criminals responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. And as the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, it is uniquely situated to help tackle cybercrime using its big data capabilities, industry partnerships and much more.

To learn more about everything the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange is doing to protect the safety and security of the ecosystem, follow the Binance Blog.

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Terra to Apply Columbus 5 Mainnet Migration

Terra, a top 15-ranked cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is planning to apply the Columbus 5 upgrade to its mainnet today. If everything goes according to plan, this new update will bring improvements to allow the Terra network to keep expanding. Columbus 5 will change how the network mints UST (terrausd), the main stablecoin of the blockchain, and will also bring integration with other chains, and faster transactions.

Columbus 5 to Go Live Today

Terra, a smart contract-enabled cryptocurrency chain, is prepared to apply the new Columbus 5 mainnet upgrade today. This will bring important updates to the network that could pave the way for future growth. However, the upgrade procedure is anything but simple: the old mainnet, Columbus 4, needs to be stopped completely to be replaced by the new one. The Terra team estimates this upgrade will take two hours.

The network upgrade will make fundamental changes in how UST is minted. Before, to mint the UST stablecoin, users had to pay a fee called seigniorage, which was redistributed to the community. With Columbus 5 changes, this seigniorage will be all burned, adding to the scarcity of the LUNA token. Due to this, the update has been referred to as a sort of EIP-1559 for Terra.

In addition to this, the update brings IBC support, which allows Terra to communicate with other networks such as Solana and Polkadot. This will allow the movement of assets between these networks, potentially increasing the presence of Terra-based assets in other chains.

Terra USD Expansion Is the Goal

Terra developers and proponents expect these new improvements will allow UST, the native stablecoin of the system, to become the defacto decentralized stablecoin on several blockchains. At the same time, it is thought this UST acceptance would create an appreciation of the value of Terra’s governance and minting token, luna (LUNA). This is the reason a new bridge called Wormhole, which will provide easy access to the UST stablecoin on Solana, will debut in this upgrade.

The Terra ecosystem, albeit young, has made an impact in the cryptocurrency market. While UST is still not listed on some of the biggest exchanges like Binance, it has reached a market cap of $2.6 billion, becoming the fifth-largest stablecoin by market cap. Luna has also grown immensely, experiencing growth of over 10,000% in one year.

What do you think about Terra and its Columbus 5 network upgrade? Tell us in the comments section below.

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Nigerian Lawmaker Proposes Closure of All Domiciliary Accounts in Order to Save Imperiled Naira

Nigerian lawmaker Ibrahim Obanikoro has called on Nigerian authorities to “close all domiciliary accounts for the next 12 months.” Such a move, he argues, will help to ease pressure on the naira, which has depreciated by more than 10% in the past two months.

The Naira’s Continuing Depreciation

The call by Obanikoro comes nearly two weeks after threats from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor forced Abokifx to stop publishing the naira’s black market exchange rates. Yet even after the suspension of the service, the naira continues to slide in value.

This continuing depreciation, in turn, is forcing panicking stakeholders including Obanikoro to propose even more unconventional and controversial solutions.

However, in his September 28 tweet, Obanikoro also justified his call by suggesting that other countries would never allow Nigerians to open a naira account. The lawmaker explained:

I am not the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] Governor but at this moment, I’m of the opinion that CBN should mandate that all dorm accounts be closed for the next 12 months. Let’s see the effect on the naira. After all, you can’t go to any of the Western world and open a foreign currency account. Your opinion.

Lawmaker’s Suggestion Questioned

As expected, Obanikoro’s controversial call sparked an immediate reaction from some Twitter users. For instance, in his response to the lawmaker’s suggestion, an account called “Cryptocurrency Thought Leader” brings bitcoin into the discussion and says: “Satoshi looked through history and decided to create this alternative for us.” The user ends his reply by predicting that the naira’s drop to $1 for every NGN1000 will “happen faster than I predicted.”

Another user, Orisha welcomes the lawmaker’s willingness to solve the local currency’s continuing depreciation but warns against closing domiciliary accounts. The user said:

“This idea can work, but you can’t just close people dom account, but only mandate them to withdraw all their $ from the account within let’s say 4month max. Will the North and Naija Elites allow you to destroy banks & bureaux de change [BDC]?”

Still, other users have asked Obanikoro to focus his attention on factors that caused the naira to lose its value, and not the accounts.

Do you agree with the Nigerian lawmaker’s suggestion? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

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Russian Post to Employ Blockchain Technology in Parcel Tracking

The national postal operator of Russia plans to implement a parcel tracking system that will rely on blockchain technology. The introduction of the new service is part of Russian Post’s digital transformation strategy and is expected to reduce the number of lost shipments.

Blockchain-Based Tracking System to Help Russian Post Save Time and Resources

In the context of efforts to develop its services and improve the efficiency of its logistics, Pochta Rossii, or Russian Post, is considering various options, including the implementation of blockchain technology, a representative of the company told Vedomosti. Quoting the postal operator’s Strategy for Digital Transformation, the business daily reported that the first pilots are expected in the coming years.

Russian Post intends to introduce its blockchain-based tracking system as early as 2023. The new service will be market-oriented, Director of Digital Products Vladimir Urbansky noted. He further explained that Russian Post is part of a logistics chain, emphasizing that the system will allow it to provide other companies with end-to-end tracking information.

Vedomosti quotes a source from the IT industry who commented that the blockchain project aims to limit the number of lost parcels. The expert believes that the new platform can replace Russian Post’s existing tracking mechanism and save time and effort in the search for lost items. That also means that fewer people will be involved in the process.

The postal operator’s digital transformation strategy, including a roadmap for the blockchain tracking service, is currently under review at the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media. A final decision is yet to be taken, Minister Maksut Shadaev told the newspaper. When that happens, the strategy will be presented to the company’s Board of Directors. If approved, investments worth 38.2 billion rubles (almost $525 million) will be made by the end of 2025.

Russian Post has been eyeing blockchain technologies for some time, the report notes. In October 2017, its director general Nikolai Podguzov revealed plans to implement blockchain solutions to better control the company’s financial transactions.

“We have 9 billion rubles in transactions every day. In order to ensure the security of these transactions, it is quite possible that we use blockchain technology, and we are working on it,” the executive stated, quoted by Tass. During the Russia Calling forum, Podguzov said he expected this could have the effect of improving the quality of postal services.

Do you think other postal service providers will turn to blockchain technologies in the future? Tell us in the comments section below.

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EverRise Brings Buyback Token and Ecosystem of dApps to Polygon and Ethereum

PRESS RELEASE. Singapore, September 30, 2021. Less than three weeks after releasing its first dApp EverOwn for Binance Smart Chain, EverRise is proud to announce they will launch EverBridge to both the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains on October 5th. With EverBridge, EverRise will make its revolutionary suite of dApps available to projects on both networks starting with EverOwn for Ethereum on October 5th, followed by EverOwn for Polygon on October 8th. This will expand the reach of EverRise’s security solutions and enable the $RISE token to be traded and utilized across all three networks.

“This is an exciting time for us to expand the EverRise Ecosystem and also introduce improvements to our project. This bridge allows us to take the dApps and blockchain solutions we have been building and make them more accessible to all developers on the Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, and Ethereum networks,” said Suresh Maddineni, EverRise CEO and Founder.

Keeping with the standard of being security pioneers in the DeFi space, EverRise is bringing a novel approach to the cross-chain bridge concept to protect $RISE holders. Typically tokens are minted and burned as they move between chains, but EverRise is creating new smart contracts and locking the supply within the bridge: allowing holders to transfer tokens on one chain to the bridge and receive tokens on another chain without paying a transaction tax beyond gas fees. This locking and unlocking mechanism on the bridge makes it impossible for hackers to exploit a mint function to mint an infinite number of tokens while keeping the circulating supply the same across the three different networks– effectively creating three different $RISE pairings with one circulating supply.

When EverRise launched on June 15, 2021, the project immediately became famous for being the first to introduce the concept of a strategic buyback to crypto and has been forked thousands of times. With EverBridge, EverRise will introduce separate Strategic Buyback Reserves and automatic buyback functions to each network. Like on BSC, the Ethereum and Polygon Strategic Buyback Reserves will be locked and only able to buy and burn $RISE tokens on the respective network and debut a new feature of the ability to swap the native coin in the reserves for a stable coin.

New trading pairs of RISE/ETH and RISE/MATIC will have their initial liquidity funded by EverRise and will be fair launched on October 5th, 2021 with no presale. Users will be able to trade the ETH backed pair on Uniswap and the MATIC backed pair on QuickSwap.

RISE/ETH – Tokenomics – 6% Tax

1% Rewards to Holders

2% Project Sustainability: Operations, Marketing, Development

3% Buyback Strategic Funds

RISE/MATIC – Tokenomics – 11% Tax (Same tax as Binance Smart Chain)

2% Rewards to Holders

3% Project Sustainability: Operations, Marketing, Development

6% Buyback Strategic Funds

EverRise will also be making EverBridge available to projects on the Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum, and Polygon looking to access the other blockchains without the hassle of developing their own bridge. Projects interested in utilizing EverBridge can contact the EverRise team at partnerships@everrise.com

 

About EverRise

A blockchain technology start-up committed to bringing security solutions to the DeFi space through an ecosystem of decentralized applications (dApps). EverRise was the first token to bring the buyback to cryptocurrency with the novel function that purchases tokens from the open market and immediately burns them. $RISE tokens are required to utilize their dApps, with EverOwn released in September and more coming soon. EverRise aims to bring additional levels of trust, safety, and security to Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum, and Polygon space.

 

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‘Faster and Cheaper Cross-Border Transfers’ — Banking Report Led by BIS Highlights the Benefits of Cryptocurrency

According to a report published by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) and a group of central banks, digital currencies can lead to faster settlement and cheaper transfers. Moreover, the banking group leveraged a prototype that shows how money transfers can be done in seconds with very little processing fees.

Inexpensive Transfers & Speed: Bank of International Settlements Report Says Digital Currencies Can Be More Effective

During the second week of September, the head of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub, Benoît Cœuré, explained that central banks need to act quickly in order to develop central bank digital currencies. Cœuré stressed that a digital currency economy already exists and “CBDCs will take years to be rolled out.” Following Cœuré’s statements, BIS, alongside four central banks from the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, China, and Thailand, is embarking on a digital currency experiment.

The banking group produced a prototype and published a report that detailed the group’s findings after testing the “multiple central bank digital currency bridge project (mBridge).” Bénédicte Nolens, the head of the Hong Kong center of BIS Innovation Hub, explained that digital currencies can be more effective for the banking system and would be beneficial to the economy in general.

“Enabling faster and cheaper cross-border wholesale payments, including to jurisdictions that don’t benefit from a vibrant correspondent banking system, would be positive for trade and economic development,” Nolens said in a statement published on Monday. The prototype used by the BIS researchers and collaborating central banks was built on Ethereum’s Hyperledger Besu blockchain.

Banking Group Plans to Continue Distributed Ledger Technology Prototype Research Until a ‘Production-Ready’ Solution Is Created

Testing showed that distributed ledger technology (DLT) cuts the cost of cross-border exchange by half and settlement speeds take mere seconds. The report said that the mBridge team aims to keep working on the DLT going forward. The group plans to address legal issues and jurisdiction hurdles in order to develop a “production-ready digital currency solution.” The mBridge project is being developed in the midst of China getting prepared to launch the digital yuan as the CBDC nears completion.

The mBridge collaboration was previously dubbed “Project Inthanon-LionRock” and it was started by the Bank of Thailand and Hong Kong’s Monetary Authority. The two banks published joint research in 2020 after testing a number of technologies. The report notes that the DLT model research involved ten smaller bank branches from two different locations.

What do you think about BIS and the four central banks saying that digital currency transactions are faster and cheaper? What do you think about the mBridge DLT prototype? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

via Jamie Redman

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