Major cryptocurrency hardware wallet supplier Ledger has warned its users about another phishing attack trying to steal their crypto — this one using a Google Chrome extension. In a March 5 tweet, the French crypto company specified that there is a fake extension on Google Chrome browser that attempts to steal users’ crypto by asking them to enter their 24-word recovery phrase to access their wallet. Ledger Live gets removed from the Chrome Web Store The phishing attack was reported by Catalin Cimpanu, a cybersecurity reporter at business technology news website ZDNet on March 4. According to Cimpanu, the malicious …

Remittances giant MoneyGram announced a new service allowing real-time money sending, but the solutions of its blockchain partner Ripple are not involved. MoneyGram recently announced FastSend, a new service that allows its customers to send money in real-time to a phone number via a dedicated website or mobile application. Still, the firm’s answers to Cointelegraph’s inquiries revealed that surprisingly MoneyGram’s latest product does not make use of Ripple’s technology. You don’t need blockchain for real-time settlements Kamila Chytil, MoneyGram Chief Operating Officer explained to Cointelegraph that FastSend uses Visa’s Direct Original Credit Transaction to deliver funds to bank accounts through …

Cryptocurrency hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger has reignited an old feud with competitor Trezor, in a blog post dated Feb. 13 highlighting the claimed benefits of its internal Secure Element chips. Trezor co-founder and CEO of SatoshiLabs, Marek “Slush” Palatinus, hit straight back, in a tweet accusing the post of being “dishonest” and not telling the “whole story.” The Ledger post compared the three internal chip types common to hardware wallet devices: Microcontroller Units (MCU), Safe Memory chips and its own Secure Elements. It claimed that the MCUs found in Trezor wallets were intended for general devices such as microwaves and …

Bangladesh-based Bank Asia has joined Ripple’s RippleNet blockchain-based financial services network. The partnership was only recently discovered after a Twitter user pointed out the Bank Asia logo in an official Ripple document on Feb. 10. Still, the partnership must be well over a month old, given that the document in question was published in December 2019. Bank Asia’s logo is present on a page showing examples of RippleNet users, alongside Santander, American Express, MoneyGram, Send Friend, Standard Chartered, SABB and SBI Group. The LinkedIn profile of the bank’s head of foreign remittances Khandaker Mujahidul Islam shows that he is working …

As the United Kingdom exits the European Union, a new ad campaign by French crypto hardware wallet firm Ledger is reviving one of the most divisive pro-Brexit slogans, “Take Back Control,” to ambiguous effect. An email shared with Cointelegraph on Jan. 30 revealed Ledger’s mock-up of a planned billboard for an installation in London’s Canary Wharf, one of the capital’s prime financial districts. Ledger’s plans for a digital billboard in London’s Canary Wharf. Shared with Cointelegraph via email The billboard reads ”Let’s Take Back Control For Real” — a modified version of the 2016 pro-Brexit campaign’s notorious “Take Back Control” …

Chinese entrepreneurs registered 714 blockchain firms in China this month, resulting in a total of 26,089 such companies operating in the country. According to cryptocurrency data firm LongHash on Jan. 26, the total number of blockchain firms registered in China is 79,556, while 57,257 Chinese blockchain firms also lost their legal status or had their licenses revoked. From 2009–17, the annual number of founded blockchain firms remained relatively static, before a notable jump upward in 2018. While it remains to be seen whether funding remains stable for the remaining 11 months of 2020, if the average monthly rate of founded …

The World Economic Forum (WEF) — together with some of the world's major central banks — has created a central bank digital currency (CBDC) policymaker toolkit. According to an announcement on Jan. 22, the toolkit is the WEF's attempt to help policy-makers understand whether deploying a CBDC would be advantageous and guide them through its design. The WEF collaborated with regulators, central bank researchers, international organizations and experts from over 40 institutions to develop the framework. The head of blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) at the World Economic Forum Sheila Warren explained: “Given the critical roles central banks play …

In the last quarter of 2019, Hyperledger’s Fabric open source blockchain software saw more developer activity than R3’s Corda platform. Blockchain service firm Chainstack recently published a report about developer activity on six major enterprise blockchains, showing that Fabric has overtaken Corda in regard to dev activity on its repository. A chart included in the report shows that Fabric developer activity exceeded Corda’s in Q4 2019. Total GitHub activity per-protocol. Source: Chainstack Fabric’s growth after the switch to GitHub The surge in Fabric developer activity closely followed the project’s transition from the code management tool Gerrit to the more popular …

New York lawmakers proposed a bill on a peer-to-peer (P2P) savings and payment platform called the “New York Inclusive Value Ledger.” Introduced by New York State Assembly legislator Ron Kim and Senator Julia Salazar, the bill proposes to set up the “empire state inclusive value ledger establishment and administration act” that would create a system of wallets for payments by state entities and residents. According to public records, the bill was proposed in the State Assembly and the State Senate on Oct. 23, 2019, but New York State’s legislative session only reopened on Wednesday Jan. 8. Kim says that implementing …

Twitter user and software architect WizardofAus (@BTCSchellingPt) has warned cryptocurrency holders against a Chrome extension for Ledger crypto wallets that allegedly contains malware. In a tweet posted on Jan 2., WizardofAus claimed that: “Malware Chrome extension alert. If you have "Ledger Secure" installed - REMOVE IT. The @ChromeExtension "Ledger Secure" contains malware that passes your seed phrase back to the extension's author. This is *not* a @Ledger product. Successfully used against @hackedzec.” “@hackedzec”’s Twitter handle was notably created in Jan. 2020; both the handle’s novelty and the chosen name suggest that he created the account specifically to spread awareness following …

Hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger has announced the latest version of its Ledger Live application, adding support for Tezos (XTZ) and Tezos staking. Unveiled last year, Ledger Live is a software solution that allows Ledger hardware wallet users the ability to manage their digital assets via a smartphone or computer. Ledger Live lets users check their cryptocurrency balance and send or receive tokens, while maintaining control of their private keys. Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier told Cointelegraph: “Ledger aims to combine security with a seamless user experience. The announcement with Tezos is exactly part of this mission. Ledger Live makes it easy …

Microsoft’s blockchain-enabled cloud service Microsoft Azure announced new tokenization and blockchain data management services. In a post published on the official Microsoft Azure blog on Dec. 6, the IT service giant announced the Azure Blockchain Tokens and blockchain data manager. New tools for Azure blockchain users The Azure Blockchain Tokens service aims to simplify the definition, creation and management of compliant tokens built to industry standards. The firm also provides pre-built templates for common uses and hosts a gallery for templates created by partners, which are expected to be added in the future. The announcement reads: “With this latest offering, …