Trezor has warned users of its hardware wallet about a phishing scam it said was related to an earlier hack on one of its competitors. The company said the attackers claim a user's wallet has been disabled, before redirecting to a clone site to steal their credentials.

In a blog post, Trezor revealed that the attackers have been sending its users emails claiming they need to pass verification due to new KYC regulations. It then provided a website that's a replica of wallet.trezor.io on which the users can supposedly verify their identity. This site requests the users to key in their recovery seed, giving the attackers full control of the wallet.

Trezor reminded its users that they "will not be asked to enter their seed anywhere other than on their Trezor device." It also assured its users that all their funds are safe and that no Trezor customer data has been leaked.

"We continue to operate under a policy where we anonymize all customer data from e-commerce within 90 days, once it is no longer needed to complete the order, and will even remove customer data manually if requested before that," the firm stated.

Trezor believes that the recent wave of phishing attacks was a result of a hack on its hardware wallet competitor Ledger. The French company was hacked in late June, with the attackers accessing one million emails. They also accessed additional details such as postal addresses, first and last names and phone numbers for close 9,500 of the users.

Trezor believes that this is the data the attackers in the latest phishing attack are relying on.

"The timing and scope of this phishing scheme suggests it is a second wave of attacks resulting from a breach of our competitor's e-commerce database. Malicious actors who acquired the data from that attack are blindly targeting Ledger customers whom they presume may also own a Trezor wallet."

Trezor advised its users against ever digitizing their recovery seed or sharing them. They should also ensure they perform every important action using their hardware wallets.

This is not the first phishing campaign that has relied on data from the July Ledger hack. In October, thousands of Ledger users were targeted by a phishing attack that many described as "really legit-looking." The attackers told the targets that Ledger had found several of its servers to be infected with malware.

One user described the attack on Reddit, "Wow this looked really legit, so much so I used Contact Us form to ask Ledger if it was real. I am normally pretty good at sniffing things like this out – this was by far the most convincing attempt I have ever seen."

See also: CoinGeek Live presentation, Custody Changes Everything: How BSV Opens a New World for Digital Asset Custodians



As Ark approachs the launch of MarketSquare, we want to give our community an inside look at some of the partnerships we have formed. These strategic partnerships will not only help make MarketSquare the new homepage for the decentralized web but will also create inroads between ARK and other projects looking to build and collaborate together. Today we would like to introduce you to Magic.Link!

What is Magic?
Magic is a developer SDK that can be integrated into applications to enable passwordless authentication using magic links - similar to systems used by Slack and Medium.

Once a developer integrates Magic into their application a user is able to sign up or log in by doing the following:

A user requests a magic link be sent to their email address.
The user clicks on the magic link
The user is securely logged into the application.
#Saying Goodbye to Passwords
You may have noticed that this process occurs without the need for signing in or registering with a password. The benefits of passwordless authentication in modern applications and services are becoming more apparent. Let's go over a few of them below:

Increased Security: Passwords are becoming obsolete. The resources required to manage user credentials and passwords are increasing. It is estimated that 81% of security breaches are due to poor passwords set by users. The problem is further complicated due to the fact that 59% of users reuse their passwords everywhere. By using Magic, password leaks can be prevented which reduces risk and liability for companies using passwordless authentication.

Less Overhead: Statistics show that nearly 50% of all support tickets are related to lost and forgotten passwords. The estimated cost for handling 10 support tickets a day is $128,000 annually. Magic takes a different approach. Magic leverages blockchain-based, standardized public-private key cryptography to achieve identity management. When a new user signs up for an application or service, a public-private key pair is generated for them. Private keys are used to sign cryptographic proofs of a user's identity.

Boost Conversion: By removing passwords, Magic creates a better user experience. The number of steps necessary to login and signup for a new platform or application is reduced by over 66%. This amounts to better conversion rates and happier users.

Magic & MarketSquare
One of the main goals of MarketSquare is to be an industry leader in providing educational and informative content centered around blockchain. By working closely together with Magic we have an opportunity to explore integrating their robust SDK, create content around decentralized identification management, and more.

Other areas of collaboration include:
Creating MarketSquare content centered around Magic.
Explore integrating Magic's SDK for ARK's products.
Exploring other areas where working together would make sense and be beneficial for both projects.
As we expand the number of developer tools that we are featuring on MarketSquare, we believe that Magic is a great fit and are looking forward to having them as a partner.


Digital currency holders in South Korea have been granted an extra three months before a new taxation rule is implemented. The rule was to be implemented in October 2021, but will now be delayed until January 2022.

South Korea finalized its digital currency tax proposal in July, with the Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-Ki revealing it would take effect in late 2021. The rule requires Koreans to pay a 20% on digital currency profits above KRW2.5 million ($2,259).

Soon after the government revealed the rule, several stakeholders in the digital currency industry were up in arms against it. Some felt that the industry was still too young to face such a huge tax cut. Yonsei University economist Sung Tae-yoon stated at the time:

"It is premature for the government to impose cryptocurrency taxes at a time when the market has not developed enough in a stable manner. Any rash taxation or introduction of regulations can be a stumbling block for sustainable growth of the industry."

The Korea Blockchain Association soon after called on the government to delay the implementation for two years. According to the lobbying organization, the time period given to exchanges was too short. Oh Gap-soo, the association's chairman remarked:

"It is necessary to provide a reasonable minimum period of preparation so that it can contribute to the national economy and to secure tax revenue in the long term."

South Korean lawmakers have offered this reprieve to the digital currency industry, local outlet Dong-A Ilbo reports. The outlet reports that the lawmakers concurred the timeline wasn't sufficient for the exchanges to adhere to the new rules. The tax sub-committee at the national assembly is expected to announce the specific implementation dates in the coming week.

Rep. Lee Dong-min of the ruling Democratic Party stated, "It's good to implement it [the new tax rule] quickly, but it's also critical allow the system to settle calmly while securing a considerable degree of consensus."


The Waves Association announced on Wednesday a new grant program for cross-chain interoperability development.

The pool consists of 1 million Waves tokens, worth approximately $3 million as of press time. Projects will be eligible for grants of up to 300,000 Waves to develop solutions for interoperability and cross-chain communication.

There will be three separate types of grants: open grants, grants distributed through hackathons and Waves-focused grants. Sten Laureyssens, strategic advisor at the Waves Association, explained to Cointelegraph that open grants will have a wide scope:

"For the open grant category, the grants are open to a wide variety of interoperability projects, that don't necessarily have to be connected to Waves. We're looking for creative solutions to connect existing blockchains and dApps."
The latter two types of grants will have to adhere to certain requirements, which makes it likely that the Waves blockchain will be involved in some form. Nevertheless, Laureyssens said that the association is planning to sponsor blockchain-agnostic solutions as well.

Sasha Ivanov, president of the Waves Association, threw a subtle jab at certain types of interoperability solutions offered today:

"Waves Association aims to support independent developers working on interoperability solutions — especially those thinking outside the box. Solving interoperability by adding a dedicated blockchain and native token as an additional layer would only lead to more complexity, undercutting the potential of the proposed solution."
Grants will be stipulated and decided on by members of the Waves Association, though the disbursement of funds will be automated through a decentralized application.

Waves is a smart contract-enabled blockchain platform competing with the likes of Ethereum and EOS. Its developers have often criticized the mainstream approaches to certain tenets of blockchain technology, notably misleading claims of transactional capacity.

The Waves blockchain was recently used with apparent success in a Russian local election, following a disappointing performance by a similar system developed by BitFury.



Twetch, the social media app built on Bitcoin, exceeded 1 million transactions on October 27.

This is a remarkable and significant milestone for the company, its users, and the Bitcoin ecosystem. The 1 million transaction milestone makes Twetch one of the few Bitcoin companies to put 1 million transactions on-chain.

From the day Twetch launched to the 1 millionth tx, how long did it take to reach this milestone?

From the day that we started, it took about 18 months to get our 1 millionth transaction.

Is Twetch the first Bitcoin app to put 1 million transactions on-chain?

Twetch is the first and most active application to have 1 million transactions on-chain; Ethereum cannot even dream of such a thing.

Why should someone who has never used Twetch before give it a try and check it out?

Twetch represents the future of the internet. It is ad-free, you can profit off of it, you own your own data, and the user is in total control. In a world where these big internet giants are the ones that are in control, Twetch treats users and their ideas the way nature intended, giving users control of their property.

What would you say users like most about Twetch?
Twetch users like the money the most, they make a lot of money. There are people making thousands of dollars on Twetch. The other thing would be the culture. Bright gang represents a group of people who really are willing to go in the world and try to make a difference to see a brighter future, to really try and make things better in a world that is sort of doom and gloom. Bright gang stands out, we shine bright.  

Can you share any details regarding quarterly or YTD revenue?
I'm not going to go into specifics because the answer is on the blockchain. Twetch is on the blockchain, it's completely auditable on the blockchain, everyone can see the money going in and out on the Bitcoin blockchain.

But something that's really exciting about Twetch is that within the last 30 days, our revenue is more than last year's revenue. The revenue is really growing, people are coming back day to day to use Twetch, not just for our posts to the blockchain features and to profit from their content, but people are using Twetch DMs to do business and connect with new people. It's really about getting the world better connected on Twetch right now, and the culture is just really, really strong.


Joint work will be focused on developing a broader DeFi ecosystem using the Gravity cross-chain communication protocol.
We are excited to announce a collaboration between Waves and Fantom. Waves and Fantom are committed to building an open ecosystem between different chains, based on the Gravity protocol, which is essential to the DeFi industry's wider success.

Under the collaboration deal, WAVES, the native utility token of the Waves ecosystem, will join Fantom's DeFi ecosystem as collateral for minting synthetic assets, including fUSD, Fantom's stablecoin pegged to the US dollar.
WAVES holders will be able to use fMint to access fUSD and other synthetic assets, which can be used with other Fantom DeFi products. Specifically, fLend allows users to lend and borrow assets, while fTrade allows users to trade them.

For instance, If you want to go long BTC (without losing exposure to your WAVES collateral), mint fUSD against your WAVES in fMint and use the fUSD to buy fBTC (synthetic BTC) in fTrade. Sell the fBTC for fUSD later to repay the minted debt. Once you've repaid any outstanding minted debt, you can unlock your collateral to withdraw.

About Gravity
Gravity is a decentralized cross-chain and oracle network based on a truly blockchain-agnostic protocol for communication between blockchains and with the outside world, working with the native token economies.
Gravity provides multi-purpose cross-chain interaction without introducing a native token. The true blockchain agnostic no-token approach creates a more inclusive, open ecosystem, while addressing future scaling/stability issues.

About Fantom
The Fantom Foundation is committed to building technology that is open-source, decentralized, DAG-based distributed ledgers with aBFT consensus. Fantom aims to create fast, secure and scalable technologies across various industries, allowing organizations, businesses, and individuals to develop decentralized and secure applications, solving real-world problems.

The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted the operator of a BTC escrow on charges of defrauding two of his clients out of $7 million. Federal authorities said John Barry Thompson is charged with two counts of wire fraud and commodities fraud which collectively carry a maximum prison sentence of 60 years.

In its press release, the DoJ revealed that a grand jury in the Southern District of New York had returned an indictment charging Thompson with fraud. Thompson was the principal of Volantis Escrow Platform LLC and the related Volantis Market Making LLC.

In a separate action, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) also filed civil charges against Thompson.

The charges are related to allegations that Thompson defrauded $7 million from two clients in 2018. According to the DoJ, the 48-year-old man made false statements to an unnamed company in 2018, convincing the company to send him $3 million to buy BTC. He assured the company that the transaction was guaranteed as "cash is with me, coin is with me." However, he didn't have the coins as promised and he ended up sending part of the money to a third party to purchase the BTC. He then lied for days about the status of the transaction and in the end, he never returned the funds.

A month after the debacle, he enticed yet another unnamed company with promises of a guaranteed BTC purchase. The company sent him $4 million, and just like in the first case, he sent the money to a third party and never refunded the company.

Geoffrey Berman, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney, commented, "As alleged, Jon Barry Thompson repeatedly lied to investors in cryptocurrencies about the safety of their investments made through his companies. As a result of Thompson's lies, investors lost millions of dollars."

The Easton, Pennsylvania, resident is charged with two counts of commodities fraud, each of which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. He's also charged with two counts of wire fraud, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars.

The DoJ was the first U.S. regulator to pursue Thompson, with the CFTC following that up with civil charges. However, in November 2019, the U.S. government intervened, requesting the CFTC to stay its charges against the alleged cryptocurrency scammer as they could interfere with a parallel criminal case against him.