Researcher Finds 50,000 WordPress Sites Infected with Cryptocurrency Mining Malware (TheNextWeb.com)
The cryptocurrency mining malware epidemic is getting out of hand: nearly 50,000 WordPress sites have been surreptitiously infected with crypto-jacking scripts, according to security researcher Troy Mursch from Bad Packets Report. Relying on source-code search engine PublicWWW to scan the web for pages running crypto-jacking malware, Mursch was able to identify at least 48,953 affected websites. The researcher notes that Coinhive continues to be the most widespread crypto-jacking script out there, accounting for close to 40,000 infected websites – a stunning 81 percent of all recorded cases.
‘Huge Development’: Overt Asicboost Patent Crushes Bitmain Mining Monopoly (Bitcoinist.com)
The highly-anticipated move, which challenges existing mining monopoly of competitor Bitmain, could revolutionize Bitcoin mining, with Litecoin creator Charlie Lee describing it as a “huge development.” Halong’s acquired patent differs from Bitmain’s “covert” AsicBoost technology, which caused outrage in Bitcoin circles last year, the patent representing a way of saving energy while refraining on harming the network.
Pixabay/Public Domain
Cryptocurrency Miner Now Kills Off Other Miners (SCMagazineUK.com)
A security researcher has found evidence of a cryptocurrency miner that will find and kill off other miners, security tools or CPU-cycle intensive processes. According to ICS Sans researcher Xavier Mertens, is one of many new cryptocurrency-mining malware that have appeared this year. In a blog post, Mertens said the code is simple and downloads a crypto miner malware. Depending on the architecture, a 32bits or 64bits version of the miner is downloaded. They are not signed but pretend to be an HP driver.
VeChain Price Gains on Bitcoin and Ethereum (TheMerkle.com)
Things continue to look rather bleak in the world of cryptocurrency as of right now. Most markets are still in the red, although we see a few altcoins pushing back. The VeChain usually does well in times of market adversity, and this time around is no different. With a solid 5.62% VeChain price increase, it is the first top 20 market to note solid gains over Bitcoin and Ethereum as of today.
Litecoin is Slumping Amid LitePay Fiasco, but That Could Change (Inverse.com)
Litecoin is not having a good time, but it could turn things around. The fifth-largest cryptocurrency was ranked as having a $10.8 billion market cap on Wednesday, after a price decline that started on February 26. That was also the official launch day of LitePay, a highly-anticipated payment system that’s suffered from setbacks that have irritated the community. As part of a wide-ranging update released Monday, LitePay claimed that its consumer debit card was still on hold due to “the negative perception and drastic actions card issuers have towards cryptocurrency companies.” The update was not warmly received by Litecoin users on Reddit, who questioned the stringent merchant registration process.
Ethereum Was ‘Significantly Less Secure Than Bitcoin’ Until Last Month (Motherboard.Vice.com)
Last week, a team of security researchers from Boston University and the University of Pittsburgh published a report detailing an attack that would allow anyone to double-spend ether, the in-house cryptocurrency on the Ethereum network, with relative ease. Double-spending uses the same cryptocurrency token for two different transactions—an analogy with the physical world is difficult, but imagine it as being able to spend the same bill twice thanks to some glitch in the laws of physics. Preventing double-spends is arguably one of the main functions of any blockchain technology, so an attack that enables double-spending is a critical threat to any cryptocurrency.
Ripple [XRP] Likely To Go Down (EthereumWorldNews.com)
Ripple is very much volatile this week, and there’s a good fundamental reason for that: this time, it’s because of the rumors saying Ripple might be added into the Coinbase listing. Technical background soon came in line with the fundamental one, but later the company denied the rumor, and Ripple immediately reversed, spiking lower. This Coinbase listing story looks very unlikely even at first sight. On the one hand, there are currently two legal actions against Coinbase regarding unclaimed property regulation and insider trading. Both actions are being investigated, and meanwhile Coinbase is not going to add any new cryptocurrencies into its lists.
US Town Plans Freeze on Energy-Hungry Bitcoin Mining Operations (Cryptovest.com)
The power demands of Bitcoin mining operations are proving a headache for Plattsburgh, and the mayor of this small town in New York State is proposing a moratorium on cryptocurrency mining. The plan is to suspend such activities for 18 months “to allow the City of Plattsburgh the opportunity to consider zoning and land use laws and municipal lighting department regulations before commercial cryptocurrency mining operations result in irreversible change to the character and direction of the City.”
Russia: Vladimir Putin Signals Obligatory Cryptocurrency Regulation Will Begin ‘July 1’ (CoinTelegraph.com)
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has signalled cryptocurrency regulation in the country should become law “by July 1” this year, according to the official government publication Parlamentskaya Gazeta Feb. 28. Putin has set in stone the release date for a regulatory package, now called the Digital Assets Regulation Bill, which first appeared last year. Its introduction will end years of uncertainty in which cryptocurrency – along with investors corporate and private – lay in a gray area, with local authorities in Russia taking various contradictory moves to decide which aspects of it were and were not legal. Last week, a court in St. Petersburg annulled a law enacted in July 2017 which suddenly banned the distribution of educational materials related to Bitcoin.
