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The purchase as part of the company’s accumulation strategy started in 2020 has resulted in Strategy holding more than $73 billion worth of BTC.
The purchase as part of the company’s accumulation strategy started in 2020 has resulted in Strategy holding more than $73 billion worth of BTC.
Cointelegraph
Strategy’s Bitcoin stash hits $73B with 638,985 BTC in treasury
Michael Saylor’s Strategy reported holding 638,985 BTC as of Sept. 14 following the purchase of 525 Bitcoin.
The growing sophistication of the mass surveillance state has created the need for new tools to obfuscate identity and restore anonymity.
Deepfake-assisted hackers are now targeting US federal and state officials by masquerading as senior US officials in the latest brazen phishing campaign to steal sensitive data. The bad actors have been operating since April, using deepfake voice messages and text messages to masquerade as senior government officials and establish rapport with victims, the FBI said in a May 15 warning. “If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior US official, do not assume it is authentic,” the agency said. If US officials’ accounts are compromised, the scam could become far worse because hackers can then “target other government officials, or their associates and contacts, by using the trusted contact information they obtain,” the FBI said. As part of these scams, the FBI says the hackers are trying to access victims’ accounts through malicious links and directing them to hacker-controlled platforms or websites that steal sensitive data like passwords. Source: FBI“Contact information acquired through social engineering schemes could also be used to impersonate contacts to elicit information or funds,” the agency added. Crypto founders targeted in separate deepfake attacks In an unrelated deepfake scam, Sandeep Narwal, co-founder of blockchain platform Polygon, raised the alarm in a May 13 X post that bad actors were also impersonating him with deepfakes. Nailwal said the “attack vector is horrifying” and had left him slightly shaken because several people had “called me on Telegram asking if I was on zoom call with them and am I asking them to install a script.” Source: Sandeep NarwalAs part of the scam, the bad actors hacked the Telegram of Polygon’s ventures lead, Shreyansh and pinged people asking to jump in a Zoom call that had a deepfake of Nailwal, Shreyansh and a third person, according to Nailwal. “The audio is disabled and since your voice is not working, the scammer asks you to install some SDK, if you install game over for you,” Nailwal said. “Other issue is, there is no way to complain this to Telegram and get their attention on this matter. I understand they can’t possibly take all these service calls but there should be a way to do it, maybe some sort of social way to call out a particular account.” At least one user replied in the comments saying the fraudsters had targeted them, while Web3 OG Dovey Wan said she had also been deepfaked in a similar scam. Source: Dovey WanFBI and crypto founder says vigilance is key to avoid scams Nailwal suggests the best way to avoid being duped by these types of scams is to never install anything during an online interaction initiated by another person and to keep a separate device specifically for accessing crypto wallets. Related: AI deepfake attacks will extend beyond videos and audio — Security firmsMeanwhile, the FBI says to verify the identity of anyone who contacts you, examine all sender addresses for mistakes or inconsistencies, and check all images and videos for distorted hands, feet or unrealistic facial features. At the same time, the agency recommends never sharing sensitive information with someone you have never met, clicking links from people you don’t know, and setting up two-factor or multifactor authentication. Magazine: Deepfake AI ‘gang’ drains $11M OKX account, Zipmex zapped by SEC: Asia Express
Bitcoin’s fluctuating correlation with US equities is raising questions about its role as a global safe-haven asset during periods of financial stress.Bitcoin (BTC) exhibited a strong negative correlation with the US stock market when analyzing the short-term, seven-day trailing correlation, according to new research from blockchain data provider RedStone Oracles, shared exclusively with Cointelegraph.Bitcoin, S&P 500, 7-day rolling correlation. Source: Redstone OraclesHowever, RedStone said that the 30-day indicator signals a “variable correlation” between Bitcoin price and the S&P 500 index, with the correlation coefficient ranging from -0.2 to 0.4.This fluctuating correlation suggests that Bitcoin “doesn’t consistently function as a true hedge for equities” due to its lack of a strong negative correlation below -0.3, which is needed for “reliable counter movement during market stress,” the report states.Bitcoin, S&P 500, 30-day rolling correlation, 1-year chart. Source: Redstone OraclesRelated: $1B Bitcoin exits Coinbase in a day as analysts warn of supply shockThe research suggests that while Bitcoin may not be a dependable hedge against stock market declines, it still offers value as a portfolio diversifier.This fluctuating dynamic signals that Bitcoin often moves independently from other assets, potentially offering additional returns while other assets are struggling. Still, Bitcoin has yet to mirror the safe-haven dynamics of gold and government bonds, RedStone suggests.Related: Nasdaq-listed GDC plans to buy Bitcoin and TRUMP memecoin for $300MBitcoin needs to “mature” before decoupling from stock marketWhile Bitcoin is poised to grow into a safe-haven asset in the future, the world’s first cryptocurrency still needs to “mature” as a global asset, according to Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder and chief operating officer at RedStone.“Bitcoin still needs to mature before decoupling from stock markets,” Kazmierczak told Cointelegraph, adding:“Increased institutional adoption will absolutely help — we’re already seeing this effect with corporate treasury investments reducing Bitcoin’s 30-day volatility and with BlackRock repetitively praising BTC as an asset in a portfolio.”Meanwhile, Bitcoin will see growing recognition as a portfolio diversified, with an annualized return of over 230% for the past five years, which “significantly outperformed” both stocks and traditional safe-haven assets, Kazmierczak said, adding that “even a small 1–5% Bitcoin allocation can meaningfully enhance a portfolio’s risk-adjusted returns.”Source: Vetle LundeMeanwhile, Bitcoin’s falling volatility supports BTC’s apparent growing maturity as a global financial asset. Bitcoin’s weekly volatility hit a 563-day low on April 30, a development that may signal more stable price action.Bitcoin’s price volatility fell below the realized volatility of the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100, signaling that investors are increasingly treating Bitcoin as a long-term investment vehicle, Cointelegraph reported on May 13.Magazine: Uni students crypto ‘grooming’ scandal, 67K scammed by fake women: Asia Express
Censorship-resistant “dark stablecoins” could come in increasing demand as governments tighten their oversight of the industry. Stablecoins have been used for various groups to store assets due to a lack of government interference; however, with regulations pending, that could soon change, Ki Young Ju, CEO of crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant, said in a May 11 X post.“Soon, any stablecoin issued by a country could face strict govt regulation, similar to traditional banks. Transfers might automatically trigger tax collection through smart contracts, and wallets could be frozen or require paperwork based on government rules,” he said.“People who used stablecoins for big international transfers might start looking for censorship-resistant dark stablecoins instead.”On the heels of US President Donald Trump’s crypto-friendly administration assuming power earlier this year, lawmakers are weighing stablecoin legislation, which seeks to regulate US stablecoins, ensuring their legal use for payments. The European Union has already brought in its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which, among other measures, mandates that stablecoins be regulated and transparent.Source: Ki Young JuJu speculates that a dark or private stablecoin could be created as an algorithmic stablecoin, with the value maintained through algorithmic mechanisms rather than being pegged to an external asset like gold, which makes it susceptible to interference from authorities. “One possible example could be a decentralized stablecoin that follows the price of regulated coins like USDC using data oracles like Chainlink,” he said.Another way would be stablecoins issued by countries that don’t censor financial transactions, or, for example, if Tether chooses not to comply with US government regulations in the future.“USDT itself used to be considered a censorship-resistant stablecoin. If Tether chooses not to comply with US government regulations under a future Trump administration, it could become a dark stablecoin in an increasingly censored internet economy,” Ju said.Privacy technology in crypto is already being usedZcash (ZEC) and Monero (XMR) — while they aren’t stablecoins —already shield transactions and allow users to send and receive funds without revealing their transaction data on the blockchain.Related: Russia finance ministry official floats country making own stablecoins: ReportSeveral projects are also working on using similar technology for stablecoins, such as Zephyr Protocol, a Monero fork that hides transactions from being revealed on the blockchain. PARScoin also hides user identities, transaction values, and links to past transactions.The market cap of US dollar-denominated stablecoins has continued to grow, crossing $230 billion in April, a report from investment banking giant Citigroup found. That’s an increase of 54% since last year, with Tether (USDT) and USDC (USDC) dominating 90% of the market.Meanwhile, total stablecoin volumes hit $27.6 trillion in 2024, surpassing the combined volumes of Visa and Mastercard by 7.7%. Magazine: Ridiculous ‘Chinese Mint’ crypto scam, Japan dives into stablecoins: Asia Express
