täällä seurataan web3-kusetuksen (nft, cryptot, metaverse) etenemistä

[pigra senlaborulo]

bloomberg.com
Bitcoin Miners in US Consume Up to 2.3% of Nation’s Electricity, EIA Report Says
David Pan
~3 minutes

Bitcoin miners in the US are consuming the same amount of electricity as the entire state of Utah, among others, according to a new analysis by the US Energy Information Administration. And that’s considered the low end of the range of use.

Electricity usage from mining operations represents 0.6% to 2.3% of all the country’s demand in 2023, according to the report

released Thursday. It is the first time EIA has shared an estimate. The mining activity has generated mounting concerns from policymakers and electric grid planners about straining the grid during periods of peak demand, energy costs and energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.

“This estimate of U.S. electricity demand supporting cryptocurrency mining would equal annual demand ranging from more than three million to more than six million homes,” the report said.

While mining began in the US a decade ago, an influx of crypto mining companies have relocated from China after that country banned the industry in May 2021. Over the last three years, a flurry of large-scale miners have gone public in the US, setting up operations in some of the most energy-rich states such as Texas and New York.

To date, EIA has identified a total of 137 facilities located in 21 states, with most in Texas, Georgia and New York. The agency used data from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index as well as the data it collected from the facilities for its calculations.
Source: Bloomberg

“CBECI estimates put electricity supporting Bitcoin mining in 2023 at about 0.2% to 0.9% of global demand for electricity,” according to the report. “Based on those estimates, global electricity use in cryptocurrency mining was about the same as total electricity consumption in Greece or Australia, respectively.”

Bitcoin mining is an energy-intensive process in which miners use specialized computers to validate transactions on the blockchain and receive rewards in the form of the token.

While it has been difficult to collect data, EIA said it plans to begin conducting a mandatory survey “focused on systematically evaluating the electricity consumption associated with cryptocurrency mining activity,” the report said. Data will be collected on a monthly basis from February through July.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... lectricity

[roskacore]

Miksei tota oo jo kielletty

[pigra senlaborulo]

Ohjelmistokehittäjien alustalla GitHubissa on väitetysti maannut koodia, joka on sisältänyt kryptovaluuttapörssi Binancen infrastruktuurikaavioita, sisäisiä salasanoja ja teknisiä tietoja. Data olisi ollut julkisesti saatavilla GitHub-tietokannassa kuukausien ajan.

Binance tiedotti Cointelegraphille, että kyseessä on ollut ”vähäinen riski” käyttäjille. Binance kiisti 404 Median raportin, jossa kerrottiin koodin sisältäneen arkaluonteista dataa.

Binance kuitenkin myönsi tiedottajansa välityksellä, että ”henkilö jakoi hyvin vanhentuneita tietoja GitHubissa”. Binance väittää, että tiedot olivat niin vanhoja, ettei niitä olisi voitu käyttää pahantahtoisesti. Poistopyynnössään GitHubille Binance kuitenkin sanoi riskiä pörssille ristiriitaiseen tapaan ”merkittäväksi”.

Binance sanoi poistopyynnössään datan sisältävän ”asiakkaamme sisäistä koodia, joka aiheuttaa merkittävän riskin Binancelle, aiheuttaen vakavaa taloudellista vahinkoa Binancelle ja hämmennystä sekä haittaa käyttäjille.”

Binance on aloittanut oikeustoimet tiedot jakanutta GitHub-käyttäjää vastaan.

https://muropaketti.com/tietotekniikka/ ... sien-ajan/

[pigra senlaborulo]

https://www.forbes.com/digital-assets/community/

[Spandau Mullet]

Molly Whiten arvostelu Chris Dixonin uudesta blockchain-höpöhöpö-kirjasta. En pasteta tekstiseinänä tänne mutta vahva suositus.

https://www.citationneeded.news/review- ... ris-dixon/

[Marxin Ryyppy]

Molly Whiten arvostelu Chris Dixonin uudesta blockchain-höpöhöpö-kirjasta. En pasteta tekstiseinänä tänne mutta vahva suositus.

https://www.citationneeded.news/review- ... ris-dixon/

Hyvä arvostelu tässä, Molly White osaa homman

Täytyy kyllä sanoa että jo tuo idea että korvataan RSS-fiidit lohkoketjuilla (varmaan linkit sisältöön sitten NFTinä tai jotain) toi oksennusta suuhun.

[pigra senlaborulo]

hs.fi
Pohjois-Korea on anastanut omaisuuksia krypto­valuutta­yhtiöiltä, kertoo YK:n raportti – miljardit käytettiin ydin­aseisiin
Lassi Lapintie HS
4–5 minutes

Uutistoimisto Reutersin näkemien katkelmien mukaan YK:n raportissa on eritelty 58 erillistä hyökkäystä, jotka Pohjois-Korea on tehnyt kryptovaluutan alalla toimiviin yrityksiin.

Pohjois-Korea on viime vuosina rikastunut kryptovaluuttaan liittyvillä kyberiskuilla, joista tienatut miljardit erakkovaltio on tiettävästi käyttänyt ydinaseiden kehittämiseen.

Näin kerrotaan myöhemmin tässä kuussa tai ensi kuun puolella julkaistavassa YK:n raportissa, jonka katkelmia uutistoimisto Reuters on saanut nähtäväkseen.



Raportin on koostanut asiantuntijapaneeli, joka valvoo Pohjois-Koreaan kohdistuvien pakotteiden pitämistä. Siinä eritellään 58 epäiltyä pohjoiskorealaisten hyökkäystä kryptovaluuttayhtiöihin vuosilta 2017–2023.

Pohjois-Korean arvioidaan anastaneen näillä iskuilla omaisuutta yhteensä 3 miljardin dollarin edestä, ja varat on tiettävästi käytetty ydinaseiden kehitykseen.

Pohjois-Korea ei toistaiseksi ole vastannut YK:lle raportin väitteisiin. Maa on tyypillisesti kiistänyt kaikki syytökset ulkomaille tehdyistä kyberiskuista.

Hakkeroinnin ja kyberrikollisuuden on arvioitu olevan Pohjois-Koreassa hyvin järjestäytynyttä toimintaa, jota johtaa maan keskustiedustelupalvelu RGB.

”Trendeihin kuuluvat DPRK:n [Pohjois-Korea] kohdistamat hyökkäykset puolustusalan yhtiöihin ja logistiikkaketjuihin”, raportissa kerrotaan.



Pohjois-Koreaan kohdistettujen pakotteiden pitämistä valvovat asiantuntijat raportoivat YK:n turvallisuusneuvostolle kahdesti vuodessa.

Tuoreessa raportissa Pohjois-Korean talouden arvioidaan elpyneen jonkin verran koronapandemian aikaisesta sulkeutuneisuudesta. Maahan arvioidaan päätyneen lisääntyvissä määrin ulkomaisia luksustuotteita pakotteiden vastaisesti.

Tämäntyyppisten tuotteiden myynti tai välitys Pohjois-Koreaan on ollut kielletty YK:n vuonna 2017 asettamista pakotteista lähtien.

Samat pakotteet myös kielsivät pohjoiskorealaisten työnteon ulkomailla, jotta ulkomaisia palkkoja ei päätyisi Pohjois-Korean kirstuun. Myös näitä pakotteita arvioidaan rikotun monin paikoin.

Erakkovaltioon tuskin kohdistetaan uusia pakotteita tai muita YK:n vastatoimia lähitulevaisuudessa, sillä turvallisuusneuvosto on ollut Pohjois-Koreaan liittyvissä kysymyksissä pattitilanteessa jo vuosien ajan.

Veto-oikeutetut pysyvät jäsenet Kiina ja Venäjä ovat pakotteiden lieventämisen kannalla. Venäjä on viime aikoina lähentynyt Pohjois-Korean kanssa maan toimitettua Venäjälle ammuksia käytettäväksi Ukrainan sodassa.

Venäjä ja Pohjois-Korea ovat virallisesti kiistäneet asetoimitukset, mutta YK:lle toimitettuja todisteita on kertynyt runsaasti.

Sanomalehti The Guardian kertoi tammikuussa Britannian toimittaneen YK:n asiantuntijapaneelille satelliittikuvia asetoimituksista Pohjois-Korealta Venäjälle.

”Tämä paneeli tutkii jäsenvaltioiden raportoimia tietoja DPRK:n tekemistä tavanomaisten aseiden ja ammusten kuljetuksista, jotka rikkovat pakotteita”, tuoreessa raportissa kerrotaan Reutersin mukaan.

Pohjois-Korea on viime aikoina kiihdyttänyt ohjuskokeitaan ja sotaisaa retoriikkaansa etelänaapuriaan kohtaan.

Maa julisti vuodenvaihteen tienoilla, ettei se enää tavoittele Korean niemimaan rauhanomaista yhdistymistä, mutta on sodan syttyessä valmis valloittamaan ja alistamaan Etelä-Korean.

Alkuvuodesta Pohjois-Korea myös ampui tykistöllään kohti Etelä-Korealle kuuluvaa Yeonpyeongin saariryhmää, joka sijaitsee lähellä Pohjois-Korean rannikkoa.

https://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/art-2000010212412.html

[pigra senlaborulo]

In early 2017 Clifton Collins, an Irish drug dealer, had a dilemma: where to hide the codes of his illicit €55m (£46m) bitcoin fortune.

His solution was to print them on to an A4 piece of paper and stash it in the aluminium cap of a fishing rod case kept at his rented home in Farnaught, Cornamona, County Galway. It seemed a good idea at the time.

Then three things happened. Police arrested Collins after finding €2,000 worth of cannabis in his car. He was sentenced to five years in jail. The landlord of the Galway house had it cleared out, resulting in Collins’ possessions being taken to a dump.

The codes are now missing, meaning the accounts cannot be accessed.

According to the Irish Times, which first reported the story, workers at the dump told the Irish police force, the gardaí, they remembered seeing discarded fishing gear. Waste from the dump goes to Germany and China to be incinerated. The fishing rod case has never been found.

Collins, 49, has apparently told the gardaí he has come to terms with the loss of the fortune and considers it punishment for his own stupidity.

The high court in Dublin ruled this week that Collins had forfeited the accounts because they were proceeds from crime.

Originally from Crumlin, a working-class district of Dublin, Collins worked as a security guard and a beekeeper – he won awards for his honey – before cultivating cannabis full-time from around 2005.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... g-rod-case

[Spandau Mullet]

https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7emkx/ ... bestseller

How Tech Firms Made a Crypto-Boosting Book an NYT Best Seller by Gaming the System

Motherboard found that firms linked to a16z and general partner Chris Dixon bought numerous copies of his new book promoting cryptocurrencies, which became an NYT Best Seller.

For any author, getting a spot on the New York Times Best Sellers list is a coveted accolade. The list, despite its name, is not in fact a list of the best-selling books, but the result of a proprietary system in which the number of copies a book actually sells in a given week is just one among a number of unknown factors. Just as search results can be gamed by reverse-engineering their algorithms, there are, as many writers have long known, ways to secure a spot on the list besides being popular with the general public. One of them is placing bulk orders with book sellers.

So it was that Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet, a new book by venture capitalist Chrix Dixon extolling the virtues of blockchain technology, came in at number 9 on the Times’ latest Best Sellers list for non-fiction books. Read Write Own is sandwiched between Masters of the Air—the basis for a new star-studded miniseries from Apple—and Britney Spears’ new memoir, The Woman In Me. Dixon’s book stands out not just because he’s a relative unknown outside of tech circles, but because the book’s entry on the list includes a small dagger icon.

That dagger icon indicates, as the Times helpfully explains, that bulk purchases were included in the count that put the book on the list, which is based on sales for the week ending February 3. “Institutional, special interest, group or bulk purchases, if and when they are included, are at the discretion of The New York Times Best-Seller List Desk editors based on standards for inclusion that encompass proprietary vetting and audit protocols, corroborative reporting and other statistical determinations. When included, such bulk purchases appear with a dagger (†),” a post explaining the list’s methodology states.

Bulk orders are a time-worn path to juicing sales and becoming a bestseller, despite the Times being concerned enough about this form of system-gaming to have special typographical tools meant to combat it. The most basic version of the scheme is a publisher—or another group, typically associated with the author in some way—placing huge orders for the book with sellers that report their sales to the Times.

For example, the Republican National Committee spent nearly $100,000 buying copies of Donald Trump Jr.’s 2019 book Triggered before it went on sale, giving it a spot on the Best Sellers list that was appended with a dagger icon. (This is, to be clear, not a partisan issue; politicians of all ideologies who have had unreadable books ghostwritten for them have arranged for fake purchases of the books for publicity reasons.) While everything to do with the list is opaque, the Times is known to outright disqualify books for the list based on bulk orders.

So, who could have placed the bulk orders that put Dixon’s book on the list? According to a16z, the technology-focused venture capital firm where Dixon is a general partner leading the way on its cryptocurrency investments, it was companies linked to Dixon and a16z.

“The New York Times has strict guidelines regarding bulk buys counting towards their best seller list—they’ve never hesitated from disqualifying a book that violates those guidelines,” a16z spokesperson Paul Cafiero said in an emailed statement. “We see this as a sign that the book is resonating with a variety of communities.”

Cafiero linked two examples of firms that publicly said they placed orders for Dixon’s book to give to employees. One was Syndicate, a company in the crypto industry that a16z has invested in. “We bought copies for all of our team members at @syndicateio,” Syndicate cofounder Ian Lee posted on X. “I’m so [excited] for others to enjoy it as much as I have.” According to LinkedIn, Syndicate has between 11 and 50 employees. Another firm that placed a much larger order for Dixon’s book—1,401 copies—was Electric Capital, a crypto-focused investment firm that has participated in funding rounds with a16z. Dixon, in his capacity as an individual, backed a $30 million NFT fund along with Electric Capital founder Avichal Garg.

“Want a free copy of @cdixon's new book "Read Write Own"? [cofounder] @jubos, @ElectricCapital, and I are giving away 1401 books,” Garg wrote in a post on X on Februry 1. “Chris has done a lot for @ElectricCapital and the entire crypto ecosystem over the last decade,” he continued. “The previous highest bulk purchase at the distributor was 1400. Our small way of saying thank you was to buy more books than anyone else (so far).”

1,401 copies is a lot of books. A 2018 study that analyzed books on the Times’ Best Sellers list from 2008 onwards found that nonfiction books sold around 2,000 copies on the low end.

Cafiero also confirmed that a16z placed orders for Dixon’s book to be distributed to employees. He claimed the company’s understanding is that these orders are not counted by the Times, and did not elaborate on how many copies a16z bought or when the order was placed.

“Yep we bought copies for employees, which is very common,” Cafiero said. “Defer to the Times but I don’t believe those are counted towards the best seller list. At least that’s our understanding.”

Times spokesperson Melissa Torres said in a statement to Motherboard that the paper reserves the right to include bulk orders in its count at its discretion, and directed us to its methodology page.

“For the Best Seller List, sales are defined as completed transactions by vendors and individual end users during the period on or after the official publication date of a title,” Torres said. “Institutional, special interest, group or bulk purchases, if and when they are included, are at the discretion of our editors based on standards for inclusion that encompass proprietary vetting and audit protocols, corroborative reporting and other statistical determinations.”

Random House, the book’s publisher, did not respond to a request for comment.

[pigra senlaborulo]

Arkansas on ensimmäinen Yhdysvaltain osavaltio, joka hyväksyi niin sanotun Right to Mine -lain (”oikeus louhia”), joka vaikuttaa kryptovaluuttojen louhinnassa käytettyihin laitoksiin. Osavaltion tuoreen datakeskuslain mukaan esimerkiksi bitcoinien louhintaa tekevät ”kaivokset” lasketaan tavallisiksi datakeskuksiksi, joille ei voida asettaa erityisiä ehtoja esimerkiksi äänenvoimakkuuden rajaamiseksi.

Tämä louhintalaitosten saama suoja ahdistaa nyt monia osavaltion asukkaita, uutisoi New York Times. Halvan sähkön ja lievien säädösten Arkansas on houkutellut monia bitcoin-alan toimijoita, mutta asukkaita vaivaa muun muassa louhintalaitosten hurja ääni.


Vaikka bitcoineja louhivat laitteet eivät ole erityisen äänekkäitä, niiden jäähdytykseen tarvitut suuret tuulettimet ovat. Ympäri vuorokauden humisevat laitokset valvottavat naapureita ja pilaavat asuinalueiden mainetta ja rahallista arvoa.

Lakia on ollut ajamassa ja osittain kirjoittamassa Satoshi Action Fund, kryptoalan toimijoita edustava säätiö. Louhintaa on perusteltu muun muassa sillä, että se loisi uusia työpaikkoja seudulle ja että louhintalaitteiston avulla voitaisiin tasata sähköverkon tilaa.

Louhinta kuluttaa valtavat määrät sähköä, josta iso osa tuotetaan fossiilisilla polttoaineilla. Lisäksi huolta aiheuttavat monien laitosten takana olevat yhtiöt, joilla on kytköksiä kiinalaisiin omistajiin ja jopa Kiinan valtioon.

Lyhyessä ajassa uusi laki onkin osoittanut irvokkaat puolensa ja osa sen kannattajistakin on tullut katumapäälle. Kaikki louhijat eivät suinkaan pyri toimimaan naapurustoa kunnioittaen, vaan ottavat täyden hyödyn lain tuomasta suojasta.

Yksi tilanteesta kauhistunut on osavaltion alahuoneen jäsen Jeremiah Moore. Moore kommentoi NYT:lle, ettei lakia säädettäessä lainsäätäjille kerrottu, minkälaisia louhintalaitokset itse asiassa ovat ja minkälaista sietämätöntä meteliä ne synnyttävät.

Myös osavaltion senaatin jäsen Bryan King on huolissaan tilanteesta ja yrittää ajaa lakia, joka kumoaisi nyt voimaan tulleen lain.

King kommentoi jo elokuussa Government Technology -sivustolle, että monikaan lainsäätäjä ei tarkalleen tiennyt, mistä äänestyksessä oli kyse. Kingin mukaan laitosten sähkönkulutus on tähtitieteellisissä lukemissa, mutta samalla luotujen työpaikkojen määrä on minimaalinen.

https://www.mikrobitti.fi/uutiset/mb/27 ... f0a6014f20

[Marxin Ryyppy]

I'm sure it's all about ethics in crypto journalism.

Kyllähän tuo on aika selvää ku halutaan kun Porter kehtaa ajaa normisjurttien oikeuksia.

https://web.archive.org/web/20240216063 ... enate.html

Crypto PAC Jumps Into Senate Race, Opposing Katie Porter in California


A group called Fairshake recently revealed that it and two affiliated super PACs had amassed roughly $80 million combined in 2023. Now it’s planning to deploy some of that cash.

The biggest name and the biggest spender of crypto money in the 2022 election cycle is now awaiting his prison sentence for fraud and conspiracy. But new super PACs have sprouted up as the successors to the collapsed Sam Bankman-Fried empire, and they are making their first big bet of the 2024 election cycle: trying to crush Representative Katie Porter, a Democrat running in next month’s California Senate primary.

The biggest new crypto-focused super PAC, Fairshake, began reserving television and digital advertising across California in a multimillion-dollar buy late on Monday, and it could be a major player in the race’s final three weeks.

Fairshake revealed two weeks ago in federal filings that it and two affiliated super PACs had amassed a combined roughly $80 million in 2023, with most of the money coming from three major cryptocurrency players: Coinbase, Ripple Labs and Andreessen Horowitz.

The California Senate race pits Ms. Porter against Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat, and Representative Barbara Lee, another Democrat, as well as Steve Garvey, a Republican and a former baseball player. The top two finishers in the March primary will advance to November, even if both are Democrats.

In a statement, Fairshake accused Ms. Porter of taking campaign cash from other industries and misleading the state about her record, saying, “Katie Porter says one thing and does another.”

The group is planning a blitz of anti-Porter advertising and had begun booking time in markets statewide on Monday. The ad released on Tuesday begins, “Katie Porter plays us for fools,” and accuses her of accepting some donations from industry executives.

It is not exactly clear what about Ms. Porter has drawn the crypto industry’s ire other than her record as a progressive who favored regulating the industry to better favor consumers and made the grilling of a financial chief executive a viral moment a few years ago.

“Californians aren’t fooled: Shadowy crypto billionaires don’t want a strong voice for consumers in the Senate,” Ms. Porter wrote on X after The New York Times reported on the advertising blitz. “They fear people who call out corporate greed, so they’re spending millions on dishonest dark-money ads against me.”

She also quickly sent out fund-raising emails about the “crypto-billionaires” attacking her.

The crypto financiers behind Fairshake and its two affiliated groups, Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs, are fairly open about their agenda: to ensure a favorable set of regulations as the federal government considers how to regulate the crypto industry and to use political spending to get it.

Brian Armstrong, the chief executive of Coinbase, who personally gave $1 million in September, told Axios that same month: “Money moves the needle. For better or worse, that’s how our system works.”

Mr. Armstrong said at the time, “If you look at like the oil and gas lobby or the banking lobby — I mean they’re spending, I don’t know, in the order of $100 million a year.” Interestingly, the statement from Fairshake cited some of those same industries as supporting Ms. Porter.

The new crypto mega group and its affiliates have attracted prominent Democratic and Republican consulting firms.

Fairshake has so far paid money to Impact Research, a polling firm that worked for President Biden in 2020, as well as Jamestown Associates, an ad-making firm that produced commercials for former President Donald J. Trump that same year. Records show the group is employing two other prominent polling firms: Schoen Survey Research, which was founded by Doug Schoen, and Global Strategy Group, which works for a wide range of congressional Democrats.

On Capitol Hill, Ms. Porter has been a close ally of Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, who was once her professor at Harvard Law School. Ms. Warren has been an outspoken critic of the lax regulations around cryptocurrency, and Ms. Porter once signed onto a letter with Ms. Warren to Texas regulators about crypto, according to the crypto news-tracking site Bitcoin.com.

Mr. Schiff, who has been campaigning to elevate Mr. Garvey over Ms. Porter into the general election, has a statement about the crypto industry on his policy page, writing about the need to nurture such innovative industries. “We need to develop comprehensive regulatory frameworks to ensure that these companies and jobs stay here and grow here,” the page reads.

Fairshake and its affiliated groups have already spent relatively small sums on other races, for candidates including Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, the Republican chairman of the House Financial services Committee, last year before he announced he would retire.

The other biggest spending to date, from the affiliated crypto group Protect Progress, has been to aid Shomari Figures, a Democrat running for the House in Alabama. On the issues page of his website, Mr. Figures plays up the importance of supporting crypto, writing that he would work to “embrace the new landscape around digital assets, like cryptocurrency, to stimulate innovation and technological advancement.”

Mr. Figures has benefited from nearly $750,000 in crypto spending since late January — reminiscent of the huge sums that Mr. Bankman-Fried and others poured into congressional contests in 2022.

Mr. Bankman-Fried’s crypto trading firm, FTX, collapsed in late 2022, and he was arrested and charged with fraud following the multibillion-dollar implosion. He was found guilty in November.

[pigra senlaborulo]

We hold cryptocurrencies and experiment with blockchain technology, which may subject us to exchange risk and additional tax, legal, and regulatory requirements.
We invested some of our excess cash reserves in Bitcoin and Ether and also acquired Ether and Matic as a form of payment for sales of certain virtual goods, which we may continue to do in the future. Ether and Matic received from the sales of virtual goods was not material for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2023. We also acquired and hold digital assets that are cryptocurrencies for use by our product and engineering teams, which is limited to specific uses. The prices of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, and Matic have been and may continue to be highly volatile, and our ability to sell cryptocurrencies for fiat currencies or other cryptocurrencies may be subject to unanticipated suspensions in trading, as well as exchange rate risk, which we may choose not to (or may be unable to) partially or fully hedge against. As of December 31, 2023, we did not hold digital assets other than Bitcoin and Ether for treasury purposes, and our investment policy requires approval by our board of directors for any investments in cryptocurrencies. Our investments in cryptocurrencies for treasury purposes are limited to Bitcoin, Ether, and any other cryptocurrency that the SEC, Commodities Futures Trading Commission, or high-ranking members of the staff of such regulatory bodies may, through public statements or guidance, identify as likely not being a security. Such determinations, however, are risk-based judgments made by us, and while such judgments are informed by regulatory developments, any such determination does not constitute a legal standard or determination binding on any regulatory body.
Cryptocurrencies have no physical form and rely on blockchain and other technologies for their creation, existence, and transactional validation on their respective blockchains. This reliance subjects cryptocurrencies, cryptocurrency exchanges, and other blockchain intermediaries to unique risks related to cybersecurity, malicious attack, and technological obsolescence. While we believe we have taken reasonable measures to secure our
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cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, these risks, in addition to human errors and computer malfunctions, may result in the loss or destruction of private keys needed to access the cryptocurrencies we hold and blockchain technology we control. In which case, we may lose part or all of the cryptocurrencies we hold and blockchain technology we control, and our financial condition and results of operations may be harmed.
In addition, cryptocurrencies are currently accounted for as indefinite-lived intangible assets under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, which means we will recognize decreases in the value of the cryptocurrencies we hold as impairments, but will not recognize any increases in their value until we have sold them. This accounting treatment may adversely affect our operating results in periods where we have recognized an impairment. The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued new guidance in December 2023 related to the accounting for cryptocurrencies that requires them to be recognized at their fair value instead of at their cost basis. This guidance goes into effect for all entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024, and early adoption is permitted. We have not determined when we will adopt this new accounting standard but, in adopting it, we will need to adjust our accounting treatment of the cryptocurrencies we hold and may require adjustment of how we acquire them as well. In addition, there is also no guarantee that the accounting treatment or tax treatment of cryptocurrencies will remain the same in the future. If the accounting or tax treatment of cryptocurrencies changes, then we may have to further adjust our accounting or tax treatment of the cryptocurrencies we hold and how we acquire them in the future.
While we believe cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have significant potential, the popularity and prevalence of cryptocurrencies is a relatively recent trend, and whether cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology will continue to be adopted by consumers and businesses in the long term is uncertain. There has been increased focus on the use of cryptocurrencies for improper, illegal, or fraudulent activities associated with various cryptocurrency projects, and the environmental risks posed by cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Many cryptocurrencies are distributed without an identifiable centralized issuer or governing body, and their legal and regulatory status in various jurisdictions is unclear and may change in the future. New legislation and regulations, law enforcement and regulatory interventions, and judicial decisions may adversely affect cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology, and future adoption of both by consumers and businesses. Developments of this nature may also adversely affect the value of cryptocurrencies we hold, blockchain technology we control, and our ability to buy, sell, accept, and use cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in the future.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data ... -1q423.htm

[pigra senlaborulo]

Snap store from Canonical (Ubuntu) hit with another crypto scam app
By Liam Dawe - 23 February 2024 at 2:21 pm UTC | Views: 4,105

Not the first time this has happened, but recently the Snap store from Canonical hosted a scam bitcoin app that claimed to be "Exodus wallet" that caused a user to lose money.

Posting on the Snapcraft forum an unfortunate user noted their wallet has been emptied after using it, and a day later a Canonical staffer mentioned it had now been removed and they were investigating the incident.

Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical, has now jumped into the discussion in another forum post to note that while "cryptocurrency is largely a cesspit of ignoble intentions even if the mathematics are interesting", Shuttleworth doesn't think that "banning cryptocurrency apps helps" as "If anything, it would make using Linux much worse.".

Additionally, Shuttleworth also opened an additional forum post to discuss requiring "more comprehensive proof of publisher identity for every publisher" for Snaps. So if you have good ideas for them to implement, to make Snap publishing more secure - drop a reply in the linked post.

Hopefully Canonical come up with a good solution, because repeating issues like this reflect pretty poorly on Snap, Canonical and Ubuntu.

Alan Pope (formerly of Canonical, now Axiom) wrote up two blog posts on it "Exodus Bitcoin Wallet: $490K Swindle" and the follow-up "Exodus Bitcoin Wallet: Follow up 2.0" that you may want to read for a little more background.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2024/02/s ... -scam-app/

[pigra senlaborulo]

tea.xyz causes a flood of spam pull requests to open source projects
This crypto skeptic I've heard of once said "Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome."

A project called tea.xyz promised people they could "get rewards for [their] open-source contributions", complete with a flashy website describing how it would "enhance the sustainability of open-source software".

So far, it's achieved the exact opposite. Promising to reward open source contributors with crypto tokens, the project asked users to verify their access to open source projects by merging in a YAML file containing their crypto wallet address. This kicked off a flood of pull requests to prominent, often non-crypto-related open source projects by people who had never contributed to the project (or, often, any open source project), but who wished to merge in a file describing them as a "code owner".

Particularly impacted by this project was the open source blogging platform Ghost, which was used as an example in the demo video released by tea.xyz, and which received several PRs of this kind. A somewhat flummoxed maintainer of the repository replied to one PR: "n practice the TEA project is not helping to support the Ghost project, but is instead causing a rush of self-serving PRs to be submitted to cash-in on other people's work. ... This why people hate on crypto." A maintainer of another unrelated open source project called "ghost" also reported receiving an influx of spam PRs.

This is not the first time crypto has generated massive Github spam, although another recent incident was (blessedly) mostly limited to open-source crypto projects and didn't waste the time of non-crypto-related projects as this one has.

https://www.web3isgoinggreat.com/single/teaxyz-spam

[pigra senlaborulo]

Matthew Perry's official Twitter account was hijacked by scammers this week who attempted to solicit donations from well-meaning fans of the much-loved late actor.

The post, which has since been removed from Perry's Twitter account, asked for cryptocurrency donations "to support our mission in battling addiction."

The tweet claimed to be signed by "The Matthew Perry Foundation", a genuine fund set up after the actor's death to fight for better addiction treatment.

However, in a tweet, the official Matthew Perry Foundation warned that the post was bogus and told followers not to share the fraudulent plea via social media, and reminded them to only donate via the official site at matthewperryfoundation.org.

Quite how the account of Perry, famous for his role of Chandler Bing in the TV sitcom "Friends", managed to be hijacked by scammers remains something of a mystery. Possibilities include:

that someone who now has control over the account was phished
that someone had the account's password stolen by malware
that Perry had made the mistake while alive of reusing the same password on his Twitter account as elsewhere on the net (and the shared password has been exposed through a data breach). Equally it's possible that someone else with access to Perry's account had made the mistake.

The social media accounts of celebrities are certainly an attractive playground for scammers. Matthew Perry's Twitter account, for instance, is still followed by more than 1.5 million people.

Social media managers for celebrities, living or dead, should follow best practices for securing accounts, such as using strong, unique passwords and enabling multi-factor authentication.

54-year-old Perry passed away at his home in Los Angeles in October 2023, after a well-documented struggle with addiction.