https://www.ccn.com/90-million-envion-ico-illegal

The Envion scandal was one of the most dramatic sagas to unfold in the cryptocurrency space, and it’s not over yet.

Swiss regulators have ruled that the crypto mining firm behind the $90 million ICO in 2018 participated in illegal activity. Specifically, Envion AG unlawfully received public deposits from 37,000 investors according to the FINMA regulatory authority.

Based in Zug, the company is now being liquidated, hopefully, to compensate investors.

Delusions of Grandeur

The project started out with great potential. To most onlookers, it seemed like a genuinely promising opportunity in a space rife with half-baked ideas.

A high-functioning cryptocurrency mining unit that users could buy shares in was the basic concept.

With an experienced CEO, solid partnerships, and what appeared to be a working product in production, the stage was set. It wasn’t to be.

The project fell apart after what was described by many as a hostile takeover on the part of Matthias Woestmann, the CEO.

The founders accused Woestmann of squeezing them out of the company and embezzling funds. They set up a website to communicate with investors.

Suddenly a relatively unknown figure, Michael Luckow, seemed to be a crucial member of the team.

Meanwhile, Woestmann accused the founders of printing off 40 million excess tokens (later saying 20 million) and selling them, taking the money for themselves. This is the reason, he claims, that he pushed them out.

The founders accused Woestmann of changing aspects of the ICO prospectus, which appeared to be true.

A complaint was filed in Germany and Swiss regulators also began working on the case.

https://www.ccn.com/exchange-coinbene-swears-it-wasnt-hacked-traders-fear-the-worst

Another major cryptocurrency exchange has gone dark, and bitcoin traders once again fear that it is using “maintenance” to cover up a crippling hack.

This time, the medal goes to CoinBene, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges according to CoinMarketCap.com. Per self-reported data, the platform enjoys over $780 million in daily trades through assorted cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, and monero.

    #Announcement ‼
    Somebody doubt CoinBene was attacked by hacker recently because our maintenance.
    We CoinBene are so sorry that made everyone worried for this problem.
    Truth is 👇 pic.twitter.com/2P8Ulwjj6C

    — CoinBene Global (@CoinBene) March 27, 2019

Is CoinBene Trying to Cover a Hack?

When services were down, and users began noticing extended delays while withdrawing and depositing funds, they instantly feared the worst. Thoughts that the company had somehow been exploited or potentially compromised by a cyberattack caused many to reach out for help, though executives initially claimed that the slow service was the result of “maintenance.”

https://www.ccn.com/north-korean-hackers-dont-give-a-about-crypto-winter

The cryptocurrency sector may still be in a bearish phase, but the state-sponsored North Korean hacking group Lazarus remains absurdly bullish on the bitcoin industry – at least if its continued focus on the sector is anything to go by.

For Lazarus, Crypto Exchanges are the Geese that lay Golden Eggs

Per cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab, both Mac and Windows OS users remain vulnerable to the group’s ongoing hacking effort. Lazarus is understood to have launched the operation in November last year.

For this effort, the hacking group has created custom PowerShell scripts which communicate with malicious command & control (C2) servers and run commands initiated by the operator. The names of the C2 server script names are made to look like WordPress files or other open source projects.