In the crypto industry, every day brings new challenges, achievements, and interesting news. From illegal schemes using celebrity names to initiatives that promise to revolutionize the way we interact with cryptocurrencies. What more exciting things are in store for us in the world of crypto innovation?
Recently, the number of hacker attacks on celebrity accounts on the social network X has increased. Attackers use their profiles to promote fraudulent celebrity meme coins. In particular, the famous rapper Curtis James Jackson III, better known as “50 Cent,” recently became a victim.
The fraudsters created a new crypto token called “GUNIT” and used the rapper’s account to attract more investors. They used the so-called “pump and dump” scheme. This means that fraudsters usually spread false or misleading information to create a rush of demand that “pumps” the price of a stock and then “dumps” it by selling their shares at an inflated price.
On June 21, Jackson posted on his Instagram that his X account and website had been hacked, and a significant amount of victims’ money had been withdrawn through a fraudulent project.
“Twitter worked quickly to lock my account back down. Whoever did this made $300,000,000 in 30 minutes,” Jackson said, adding that he has nothing to do with this cryptocurrency.
The rapper posted three images showing posts by other members of the crypto community discussing the GUNIT. The graphs show a sharp price spike followed by a rapid drop. DexScreen’s data indicates that several wallet addresses are selling significant volumes of tokens. Four accounts sold more than $100,000 worth of meme coins after they were advertised on rapper X’s account.
In addition to the problem with hacker attacks on celebrity accounts on X, the number of deepfakes with the network’s owner Elon Musk has recently increased. Over the past few months, fraudsters have been using AI-generated videos of investors to deceive users and lure them out of their money.
The other day, a 5-hour broadcast with more than 30,000 viewers was held, using semi-pixelated videos of Elon Musk. The video showed a fragment in which Musk was broadcasting live during a Tesla event. In the video, the voice of the entrepreneur, created using artificial intelligence, urged viewers to visit the website and contribute their cryptocurrency to participate in the drawing. During the broadcast, donations were requested in BTC, ETH, and DOGE. The repetitive message promised to “automatically refund double the amount of cryptocurrency you deposited.”
The account “@elon.teslastream” pretended to be Tesla and had a verification icon on the page. Google has now removed both the video and the channel.
The Solana Foundation is introducing a new feature that promises to connect the blockchain to any website via a link. On June 25, the company announced the launch of Solana Actions and blockchain links (“blinks”). They allow any website that can display the URL to execute a Solana transaction. The new feature can be used for crowdfunding, online shopping, and voting.
John Wong, head of ecosystem engineering at Solana Foundation, said that Actions and Blinks will allow sending funds directly from the Phantom wallet, buying NFTs on Tensor, voting for Realms projects, subscribing to Acess Protocol newsletters and content, exchanging cryptocurrencies on the Jupiter exchange, etc.
“We must reach the “first billion” users where they already are — on their favorite apps and websites,” Wong said. To enhance security, the launch takes place using authorized domains from Solana’s partners, including Jupiter, Helium, Truffle, Phantom, and Backpack.
Recently, the most profitable areas of the crypto industry in the first half of 2024 were revealed. According to BitEye, CoinGecko, and Wu Blockchain, meme coins are in the first place, bringing in 1834% of the profit.
New tokens such as Brett (BRETT) and BOOK OF MEME (BOME) have captured the attention of investors, with BRETT soaring by 14,353.54% from its launch price. The second place was taken by the real asset tokenization sector, which brought investors 214% of the return. The artificial intelligence sector also performed well, taking third place with an average return of 71.56%. Tokens such as Arkham (ARKM) and AIOZ Network (AIOZ) showed significant gains, reflecting the increasing integration of AI with blockchain technology.
Meanwhile, the major cryptocurrencies have shown significant results: BTC grew by 45% since the beginning of the year, and ETH by 49.65% over the same period. In addition, layer-1 platforms generated an average of 43% of revenue. Despite the growth in these areas, the once-leading DeFi sector has struggled. The gaming industry and decentralized finance lagged behind competitors but still managed to record a modest increase of 19% and 3%.
Strike, a payment application based on the Bitcoin Lightning Network, has officially launched in the UK, significantly expanding its target market to 100 countries around the world. This became known from the publication of the official Strike account in X.
Founded by Jack Mallers, the project aims to make Bitcoin more accessible and functional for ordinary users through its mobile application that uses the Lightning Network for fast and inexpensive transactions.
The UK launch of Strike includes several key features for local users. Customers can buy Bitcoin directly using free, unlimited GBP deposits from their bank accounts that support this feature.
In addition, the app allows for automatic conversion, scheduled recurring purchases, and self-execution of withdrawals. Users can sell Bitcoin and withdraw funds to their bank accounts, transfer to self-storage wallets, or make instant payments via the Bitcoin or Lightning Network.
Using the Lightning Network allows for fast and cost-effective micropayments, eliminating some of the scaling issues associated with traditional Bitcoin transactions. Strike users receive a Lightning address in the format of username@strike.me, which simplifies the process of receiving payments compared to the more complex Lightning invoices.
Deniz Tutku