This Week in Crypto

Weekly updates from the cryptosphere!

Facebook’s Creates a Blockchain Division

Social media powerhouse Facebook is known for continually expanding their operations and exploring new ways to be at the forefront of technology. Their most recent exploration? Blockchain. Facebook has launched a blockchain division that is focused on finding ways to implement blockchain technology. Earlier this summer, Facebook created a blockchain team to research the technology which was led by former PayPal president David Marcus. As Facebook continues to dive deeper into blockchain, the company appointed Evan Cheng as director of engineering,blockchain this past week.

MEW Gets Hacked

Popular wallet service MyEtherWallet, which manages ether wallets announced that they had been hacked this past week. MEW relayed information to their users via social media stating that the Hola Chrome extension had been compromised. Through further investigations by the Hola team as well as MEW, it was concluded that MEW users were specifically targeted. MEW encouraged their users to transfer their funds and worked on efforts to re secure accounts. MEW is a decentralized platform allowing its users to take control of all aspects of their accounts.

Uzbekistan to Legalize Cryptocurrency

The government of Uzbekistan is working towards legalizing cryptocurrencies in an effort to help the country’s economic development. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has issued a decree to guide the country’s plans in regards to a digital economy. The decree includes plans for using smart contracts, mining, circulating crypto assets, crowdfunding, and the use of blockchain technology. The decree is said to have gotten a positive reception from citizens of Uzbekistan.

Bancor Experiences a Security Breach

Early this week, Bancor announced that they are the victims of a security breach. ($13.5 million?) in cryptocurrency was stolen as a result of hackers attacking a wallet used for smart contracts. Bancor was able to freeze accounts in order to prevent any additional crypto to be stolen. The company also went under maintenance to work towards resolving the issue. Throughout this and at all times, users have access to their accounts, wallets, and funds as Bancor is decentralized.

Chinese Cryptojacking Scheme

A chinese cryptojacking scheme resulted in one million computers being infected with mining bugs. The hackers planted viruses in the computers in order to mine crypto. Investigations find that the scheme was planned and executed by a team of 20 hackers. The viruses were planted through an online video game and once the computer was infected, hackers were able to completely control and have power of the computers. $2.25 million in cryptocurrency was stolen.

Any exciting news stories we missed? Let us know in the comments.