Following an apparent hack of IOTA (MIOTA) official wallet on Feb. 12, the IOTA Foundation has released a safe desktop version of the Trinity wallet. According to a Feb. 17 update post, IOTA should update their Trinity apps to securely check their balances and transactions via Trinity 1.4.1, a new version that is designed to remove the recently detected vulnerability from the wallets. IOTA’s network coordinator is still paused for an upcoming token migration Released on Feb. 16, the new version of the wallet doesn’t apparently represent the full solution of the recent breach because the IOTA’s dedicated network Coordinator, …

Popular cryptocurrency wallet service and blockchain data provider Blockchain.com has led a funding round in its exchange partner Wintermute Trading. Wintermute Trading, a United Kingdom-based algorithmic trading firm, has completed a seed funding round led by Blockchain.com’s venture arm Blockchain.com Ventures. While the amount of funding is undisclosed, the seed round apparently involved a “seven-figure” investment, a Blockchain.com spokesperson told Cointelegraph on Feb. 10. Additionally, the funding round has also seen participation from blockchain-focused capital market FBG. Wintermute has been a partner of Blockchain.com since July 2019 The investment comes after Blockchain.com partnered with Wintermute to launch its proprietary crypto …

Despite centralized cryptocurrency exchanges suffering nearly $300 million worth of hacks during 2019, many digital currency traders continue to hold significant sums of capital on centralized exchange platforms. While many noncustodial crypto services have launched in recent years, few platforms have been able to garner significant liquidity. Cointelegraph reached out to several industry experts to discuss the promise of noncustodial exchanges. Are noncustodial platforms safer? Erik Voorhees, CEO of the noncustodial cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift, told Cointelegraph that, “Noncustodial exchanges provide a fundamentally safer way for individuals to trade digital assets.” He went on to add: “Traditionally, exchanges are custodial (and …

Kraken Security Labs revealed on Jan 31. that Trezor hardware wallets and their derivatives can be hacked to extract private keys. Though the procedure is quite involved, Kraken claims that it “requires just 15 minutes of physical access to the device.” The attack requires a physical intervention on the Trezor wallet by either extracting its chip and placing it on a special device or soldering a couple of critical connectors. The Trezor chip must then be connected to a “glitcher device” that would send it signals at specific moments. These break the built-in protection that prevents the chip’s memory from …

The Ethereum Foundation awarded a $650,000 grant to Nimbus for continuing its work on light Ethereum 2.0 clients, a Jan. 28 press release announced. The project’s goal is to allow smartphones and embedded devices to run smart contract-capable nodes. Nimbus is an infrastructure project launched in March 2018 by Status. While initially conceived as a way to ensure access to the Status app on all smartphones, its scope was later expanded into a public good for Ethereum. As Jacek Sieka, Head of Research at Nimbus, told Cointelegraph: “The R&D performed by the Nimbus team is not specific to Status or …

Ukrainian authorities will be able to “block crypto wallets” in order to seize illegally obtained assets, a notice on the country’s Ministry of Finance says. Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s Finance Minister, reportedly said that the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine (SFMS) will be the responsible authority for tracking the sources of origin of the funds on citizens’ crypto wallets. Authorities use an analytical product scanning for the crypto funds’ origins and uses As part of the regulatory policy, the SFMS will be able to not only find out the origin of crypto, but also detect how those funds have been …

Adult entertainment website Pornhub has added a new cryptocurrency payment option after PayPal had abruptly stopped servicing its models in late 2019. According to a Jan. 23 blog post, Pornhub now supports Tether (USDT) — a major United States dollar-pegged stablecoin — to allow instant and zero-fee payments via the crypto wallet and browser extension TronLink. Pornhub supports Tron-based USDT TronLink is a native wallet for Tron (TRX), the 12th largest cryptocurrency by market cap that is backed by the Tron Foundation. The USDT token became available on the Tron network after Tether and the Tron Foundation partnered and released …

When Peter Schiff claimed that his wallet lost his Bitcoin (BTC), many in the crypto community were skeptical. While some believe that Schiff simply lost his password, others, like Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, highlighted that losing private keys remains an important issue for cryptocurrency users. Being your own bank is hard Keeping custody of your own cryptocurrency is quite complex, especially for non-tech savvy users. Most wallets require the user to write down the private key before accessing the wallet. Storing the key can be done by simply writing it down on a piece of paper, a method that is …

The initial coin offering crypto buzz hit all-time high popularity in 2017 when there were 875 projects, a significant jump from 29 in the previous year. 2018 picked up on the trend, introducing a further 1,253 projects. To date, there have been a staggering 5,683 ICO projects with 2,318 of them being cryptocurrencies. Of the total projects, 4,932 are based on the Ethereum platform. However, only a few of these projects have lived up to expectations or the bear potential to pull through. A significant number have faded out and are now considered dead. Deadcoins, a platform that chronicles crypto …

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 …

Major Ethereum browser extension and wallet service Metamask has something to celebrate as 2020 kicks off, notifying its users that Google has now reversed its short-lived ban on the browser add-on. In a tweet posted on Jan. 1 2020, the MetaMask team revealed that: “Upon careful consideration, Google has permitted The MetaMask mobile app back on the Google Play (Android) store! Thanks to all the believers in an open web for speaking out in our support!” Google mistook MetaMask for a mining app MetaMask is a browser extension for Google Chrome that includes a built-in crypto wallet enabling to run …