Crypto NFT Today: The latest news in blockchain, cryptocurrency and NFT: 22-28 February 2023
Welcome to another edition of Crypto NFT Today! If you like cryptocurrency, NFTs and riding emotional roller coasters, this is the place for you. So put on some soothing music and let’s go!
Hackers are targeting crypto investors with malware
As of 2022, two malicious files—MortalKombat ransomware and Laplas Clipper malware—have been scouring the Internet and stealing cryptocurrencies from investors, according to Cisco Talos threat intelligence. The victims of the attacks are mostly in the US, with smaller numbers in the UK, the Philippines and Turkey.
The two malicious files work together to steal wallet information pasted on the user’s clipboard. It then replaces the stolen wallet information with a different address. The attack is random, targeting individual investors, large and small.
When the malware infects the user, MortalKombat ransomware encrypts the user’s files and sends a ransom demand for payment.
The “tag-team campaign” starts with a crypto-themed email with a malicious attachment. The attachment runs a BAT file that downloads and executes the ransomware if opened, according to Malwarebytes. A typical email message reads in part:
YOUR SYSTEM IS LOCKED AND ALL YOUR IMPORTANT DATA IS ENCRYPTED. DON’T WORRY YOUR FILES ARE SAFE. TO RETURN ALL NORMALLY YOU MUST PURCHASE THE CERBER DECRYPTOR PROGRAM. PAYMENTS ARE ONLY ACCEPTED THROUGH THE BITCOIN NETWORK.
Bankman-Fried’s Balil Backers Identified
Two Stanford Law School and Stanford University graduates are the previously unknown signers of bail bonds that helped bail Sam Bankman-Fried out of prison, court documents show.
The two have been identified as Larry Kramer, who was dean of the law school, and Andreas Paepcke, a computer science research engineer at the university.
The two signed separate bail bonds included in a $250 million personal recognizance bond signed by Bankman-Fried’s parents. Kramer’s bond was $500,000 and Paepcke’s was $200,000.
The revelations came after Judge Lewis Caplan granted motions filed by several news organizations, ruling that it was public information.
Shortly after he was picked up from the Bahamas, federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York claimed Bankman-Fried was released on $250 million bail. In reality, the amount that could be recovered if Bankman-Fried fled would be a tiny fraction of that amount.
Democrats are returning just 2% of Bankman-Fried’s $45 million in donations
In related news, the Democrats, who received $45 million in campaign donations from Bankman-Fried in 2020, have only returned 2.2% of that amount to their bankrupt crypto exchange.
$5.2 million went to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. At a White House press briefing on December 13, 2022, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked if the president would return the funds. Jean-Pierre declined to comment.
“Anything related to political contributions, from here I have to refer you to the DNC,” Jean-Pierre said, citing the Hatch Act.
Bankman-Fried was the second-largest donor to Democrats during the midterm elections, surpassed only by George Soros, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records.
The bankruptcy estate is asking that the $45.2 million given to Democratic candidates, political action committees and Biden be returned to the company so it can repay its creditors.
Dollar collapse threatens as BRICS nations unite
In a February 16 interview with Michelle Makori of Kitco News, Miles Franklin CEO Andy Schectman predicted that much of the world’s economies would abandon the US dollar, causing a “tsunami of inflation.”
Schectman expects an economic collapse and believes the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset will be triggered, with central banks issuing digital currencies – allowing total monetary control.
He notes that the US dollar has been weaponized and expects China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and other nations to topple it as the world’s reserve currency.
“All it would take is for Saudi Arabia to stand up on the stage [and declare] we will now consider taking up other currencies for oil, said Schectman. “And suddenly, bang, all the countries that have had to hold dollars for the last fifty years no longer have an interest in holding them. And if they all start dumping dollars, and I think it will happen quickly, you’re going to have a tsunami of inflation hitting the coast of the West.”
See the full interview here:
