Episode 215 - CryptoSenators, CryptoConvictions and of course CryptoHacks.

Welcome to this week's Flagship Friday, our weekly series where we discuss all the latest news from the cryptoverse! This episode actually covers the past two weeks, as we skipped last week due to Thanksgiving. So, tune in to hear about crypto CEOs being appointed as senators, crypto developers being arrested for working with North Korea and what the 5 biggest trends for cryptocurrency in 2020 will be. All of the above -and more- in this episode of the Crypto Basic Podcast. Rapid FireGeorgia Governor Appoints Bakkt CEO Loeffler as New US SenatorSo I'm gonna be honest, I didn't realize Senators could be appointed.Kelly Loeffler stepping in for Johnny Isaakson. Was appointed against the wishes of Trump who wanted someone else.She'll be stepping down from her position to take the seat. Unclear who takes the helm at Bakkt but it will likely be Adam White, COO & former Coinbase exec.Dwight Schrute talks Mona Foundation and BitcoinMona Foundation educates children in need globally. Rainn Wilson, Dwight talks about why you should donate it to help these children. Also trolls bitcoiners a bit jokingly saying its useless and quoting mark cuban who said it was more useless than a banana lol.You can now vote for what Juventus dances when they score a goal with SociosAlex Dreyfus who used to be heavily involved in poker started Socios, a few years ago. You get fan tokens and can vote on stuff with teams they have signed on and one of them is Juventus where you can actually vote what their next goal celebration will beBinance Makes A Deal In IndiaBinance acquired WazirX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange with 200k users.To launch multiple fiat-to-crypto gateways allowing traders to use the Indian RupeeThailand is putting visas on the blockchaineVisa to help streamline entry into the country. Aussie startup Sharering will provide its blockchain tech and will enable millions of tourists to apply securely for a travel visa online. Could be a big step for real blockchain adoption.FBI arrested a cryptocurrency developer for speaking in North Korea (Tweeted about making this bullish or bullshit - honestly I wanted to really dive into this story as almost a "main story")- KSo is Virgil Griffith a friendly unofficial liason to NK a la Rodman, or helping evade sanctions?On November 28, Griffith was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport.Could have been traveling for holiday cuz he lives in SingaporeFormally arrested for a trip he made in April 2019Acoording to SDNY Justice Department, he supposedly described how blockchain and cryptocurrency technology could be used by the DPRK to launder money.The U.S. federal government says Griffith’s presentation in North Korea constituted a transfer of technology,violates the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Executive Order 13466Americans can’t export any goods, services, or technology to the DPRK without a license from the Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)Who is Virgil Griffithgained notoriety in the hacker community for creating WikiScannerlinked anonymous edits on Wikipedia to the organizations where those edits originated, using the public IP addresses that are logged by Wikipedia.Showed how companies like Exxon would spin oil rig disaster on their Wikipedia pages, he said he did it to create PR disasters for these companiesIn 2003, the educational software maker Blackboard sued to prevent him from presenting research on security flaws in the company’s software.In 2006 he wrote a paper showing how easy it was to get Mother Maiden names from public records (so stop using it as a security question)2014, Griffith received a Ph.D. in computation and neural systems, moves to Silicon Valley and start working on EthereumThe criminal complaint says he was encouraged by organizer to talk about potential money laundering and sanction evasion because thats what would resonate with audienceSo in his talk "Blockchain and Peace" he talked about blockchain being used to achieve "achieve independence from the global banking system."Here's the brutal part tho...he did ask US State Department because he knew it violated sanctions. Got denied, he went anyway by traveling through ChinaHe tweeted a photo of his visa, writing on Twitter: "Visa to DPRK fixed without passport number.”He also apparently spoke with FBI agent after trip, allowed them to inspect phoneJustin Sun Buys Poloniex(Adam OBVIOUSLY ADAM) Also title is backwards?On Nov 13th Sun admitted to investment in crypto exchange Poloniex.Nov 29th Poloniex acquires Tron Networks largest decentralized exchange. Deal is unknown and what financial value was generated.Dec 3rd Digibyte founder, Jared Tate, posts a twitter thread criticizing Tron and its acquisition of PoloniexSeven hours later Poloniex replies by delisting Digibyte from their platform after a "careful review"Cred on TwitterThe 5 Biggest Trends In Cryptocurrency For 2020 - KFun story, this is from 'Benzinga' so financial news basically, and they got it by talking with the co-founder of a tracking and tax crypto comany (Accointing, Alex Lindenmeyer)The Halveningfrom 12.5 to 6.25 BTCmonths surrounding the 2012 halving, bitcoin price went from less than $10 to more than $100in 2016 it was 400 before halving, double that by the end of the yearOn the other hand, As bitcoin mining becomes less lucrative, the number of miners competing for a block will fall as will the hash rate necessary for mining until an equilibrium is reached.But likely to see a lot of volatility based on speculation\Enter LibraTheir goal was summer of 2020....if they get there =) (just found out Kushner family is one of the financial supporter, mini rant)If it does come in it will be huge though, people who wouldnt touch crypto will have access, think about older people on FB or non tech younger people.The FedsFederal Reserve revealed Central Banks have been exploring the potential of a digital dollarIRS has been more clear about what crypto entails for coming taxesMarket ConsolidatesEven with price falls number of cryptos in market has gotten to 2300Fewer than 33% have a trade volume of more than $100,000With more regulation and structure a lot of the scammy bottom feeders may get squeezed outCrypto And Fintech Hook Upoverarching theme of all of these trends is that cryptocurrency is growing up, becoming mainstream and finally finding actual use cases,Libra itself is (or was) stacked with members from various fintech companies.But mainly they added this section to plug his company,THAT'S A SCAMRecap of some the Top HACKS of 2019 (not like people pretending to be dead) (from a changelly blog)BitrueJune - 5M StolenThey had ADA and XRP stolen, but were able to reach agreements with the exchanges that the funds were sent to to Freeze the funds and recover them.We didn't cover this hackExchange Status - OpenCryptopiaJanuary 2019 - 16MWe covered this one and ran quite a bit of "told you so" material!We still don't know how the hackers got the funds, but it's also just as likely that it was an exit scam.The company went bankrupt, and still owes creditors 2.7M.Exchange Status - ClosedBithumbMarch - 19M Stolen.We covered this back then, this was the hacker we made fun of because they stole EOS and XRP.This wasn't the first time they were hacked, and though they never caught the culprit they believe that since they were previously hacked by the Lazarus NK group, that it might have been related.They covered the hacked funds and took the loss.Exchange Status - OpenBitPointJuly - 32MThis one got BTC, BCH, ETH, and LTC stolen.Bitpoint was one of the biggest Japanese exchanges... they're where a ton of coins were sold to payoff MtGox creditors.While they promised to pay their customers back on a 1:1 basis, I cannot find any information on them actually following through. They did reopen operations in August.Exchange Status - "Temporarily Suspended"BinanceMay - 40.5MWe definitely covered this one. Funduhs are Safeuh.This hack was on BTC where 7,000 of them were stolen, plus BTC from other accounts adding up to somewhere near 7200 BTC.This is when we gave them props for being so transparent.They covered all losses, and created a fund to handle it in the future.Exchange Status - OpenUpBitNovember - 48.5MUpbit is based in South KoreaWas hacked exclusively of ETHThis was fairly recent, and they suspended all trading and moved funds to cold wallets.Again they have promised to fully compensate their users, but the exchange is still down.Quick google of upbit says they're the most trusted crypto exchange.Exchange Status - Operational, and withdrawsl appear to be available.