● Bitcoin Makes Another New High Above $50,000
● DOJ Files Charges against North Korean Bitcoin Hackers
Hello and Welcome to this week’s Edition of Overbit Weekly Round Up. A common theme over these past six months is the massive interest that banks, retail, and now companies have in Bitcoin. If it feels like every week Bitcoin is breaking a new all-time high, that’s because it is. And this week Bitcoin has done precisely that – make a new all-time high, pricing it at $52,000 at time of writing.
This market move comes after a slight correction on Bitcoin and even larger drawdown on alt coins, but now the market is showing massive signs of further advancement in this bull market. The cryptocurrency surge continues by riding on the wave of momentum that massive institutional participants are creating by signalling their support for Bitcoin. It was just a year ago when most investment funds were calling for Bitcoin’s demise, and now significant institutions like JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are turning bullish. The cohort of Bitcoin converts continues to grow as well, with this week it is announced that the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, is dabbling in Bitcoin. Given all this newfound and continually growing wealth in Bitcoin, it’s essential to keep your security in mind, which brings us to our next article.
As cryptocurrency markets continue to grow, one factor that we must be confronted with is the issue of fraud, theft and hacks. Given the non-custodial nature of cryptocurrency, many of these problems are simply part of the terrain, but it seems at least one major government is trying to take action.
On Wednesday, 17 February, the Wall Street Journal reported that the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) had made public a set of charges brought against “two alleged members of North Korea’s military intelligence services”. The Department of Justice has brought forth a wide range of charges spanning 13 different countries in which North Korean hackers have made off with $1.5 billion for the country in the past five years.
According to the report, these two North Korean hackers have set their sights on the cryptocurrency markets and attacked it from all angles, from ransomware attacks and malicious apps to entirely-fraudulent coin offerings and other products.
It seems this was a prolific hacking duo as well, as one of the two charged was also associated with the infamous Sony Pictures hack as well as the WannaCry ransomware attack.
As cryptocurrency markets continue to grow and emerge, exchanges, investors and users alike will become larger targets for these digital threats. Nevertheless, despite cryptocurrency’s libertarian spirit, it is reassuring for market participants to see the appropriate federal agencies exercising their jurisdiction on these criminals.
How the cryptocurrency theft develops will certainly be a trend to watch going forward, especially given the ongoing run-up, so we’ll do our best to keep you updated at Overbit.com.