Weekly Crypto News — July, 24 (YouTube Lawsuit, Monero botnet, Ethereum 2.0, and more)

What important crypto events happened last week?

Regulation, Government, Mass Adoption

📌 The Central Bank of Lithuania announced the launch of the LBCOIN collectible digital currency, becoming the first CBDC issuer in the world. At the moment, 4000 coins have been issued. The release of the digital currency is timed to the anniversary of the adoption of the Lithuanian Independence Act.

📌 The UK Treasury Department has published proposals to tighten controls on advertising promoting financial services and products, including those related to cryptocurrencies. Any authorized firm wishing to approve advertisements for financial products from unauthorized companies must first obtain the approval of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

📌 Deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation approved in the third reading the law “On digital financial assets”. It will enter into force on January 1, 2021. One of the main points of the adopted law for the cryptocurrency community is the de facto ban on payment for goods, services and works with cryptocurrencies. The document does not contain a prohibition on the possession of digital currencies.

Hacking, Law

📌 Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has joined a class-action lawsuit against YouTube and Google. The reason was fraudulent videos about the distribution of Bitcoin using his name. The lawsuit says that the actions of cybercriminals have already led to millions of dollars in losses among video hosting users. In the lawsuit, the video platform is opposed to the social network Twitter, whose management reacted to the recent hack quickly, saving users’ funds.

📌 Cisco Talos specialists have identified the Prometei botnet, which allowed hackers to use computer systems to mine Monero cryptocurrency. The botnet is capable of disabling security controls, copying files, and disguising itself as other programs to set up hidden mining operations. Prometei has been operating since the beginning of March. Since then, it has allegedly infected up to 5,000 computer systems.

📌 Latvian law enforcement officers have detained three suspects in the purchase of personal data on the darknet and the subsequent hacking of victims’ accounts on various online platforms. Law enforcement officers conducted 12 searches, as a result of which they seized cash in the amount of $37 thousand and 280 thousand euros, as well as funds in Bitcoin, ETH, XRP, and USDT. The attackers acted from 2015 to 2020, and at least a thousand people became their victims. The suspects face 3 to 12 years in prison.

📌 Cryptocurrency companies are preparing to file a class-action lawsuit against Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Representatives of bitcoin companies say that the actions of Google, Facebook, and Twitter have “undermined” the legitimate development of their business, as they were banned from using the world’s largest advertising platforms to attract leads.

📌 Ethereum developers have announced the launch of two ETH 2.0 testnets designed solely to identify vulnerabilities. All “white” hackers were offered to hack them for a reward of $5,000.

Projects, Startups, Coins

📌 Binance cryptocurrency exchange has announced support for the Maker Token (MKR) of the MakerDAO platform and the Dai stablecoin (DAI). Against the background of this news, the MKR quotes went up sharply, at the moment they came close to the $ 600 mark. MKR has grown by over 18% over the past 24 hours.

📌 The market capitalization of Tether (USDT) has again exceeded $10 billion. The issuer of the largest stablecoin issued an additional 120 million tokens pegged to the dollar at a 1:1 ratio.

📌 The head of ShapeShift, Eric Voorhees, presented the mobile version of the platform for iOS and Android. Users are promised non-custodial storage, sending, receiving, and trading of 50+ cryptocurrencies with attractive commissions and the ability to purchase assets using credit cards.

Blockchain, Tokensale

📌 The Avalanche project, led by Cornell University professor Emin Gün Sirer, raised $42 million in a public token sale. The project collected this amount in just four and a half hours. 72 million AVAX tokens were snapped up by investors from 100 countries.

📌 Crypto enthusiasts have launched a counter that counts the uptime of the Bitcoin blockchain since its launch. This figure was 99.9854%. From July 22, 2020, another 1938 days should pass before the “four nines”. Barring no disruptions, the landmark event will take place on November 14, 2025.

📌 Ethereum 2.0 lead developer Danny Ryan admitted the possibility of testing the latest testnet ETH 2.0 on August 4. In this case, the launch of the zero phase can take place already this year, starting from November 4.

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Originally published at https://coinjoy.io.