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Web3 Gamer: Earn Bitcoin in Minecraft, BGA’s 50/50 gender split, Oath of Peak hot take

Minecraft gets the Bitcoin treatment

It seems like Minecraft has been around since the invention of computers, and there is a reason for that. Along with its official free updates, which provide extra content, the Minecraft ecosystem has an incredibly active community, helping it stay up to date. Thanks to the game’s open-ended gameplay, there is tons of community-built content available to enjoy.

Have you finished the standard content of the game? Then why not relive the industrial revolution with custom-built mods? Or enter a competition to see who can build a construction first against hundreds of others? There is a server for that. Pokemon in Minecraft? Pixelmon! 

And if you want to earn Bitcoin in Minecraft? Welp, you can even do that now.

Players can earn Bitcoin in Minecraft with the partnership between Zebedee and Satlantis. (Zebedee)

A community-operated Minecraft server by the name of “Satlantis” has integrated Zebedee’s gaming tech that lets players earn Bitcoin by completing in-game quests inspired by real-life BTC mining. Players in the server can join in-game mining pools, collect ASICs (popular hardware tailored for Bitcoin mining) and increase their hash rate to win block rewards. What a cool way to educate traditional gamers on the basics of Bitcoin!

Players can withdraw their earnings to Zebedee’s app, where they can spend their gains on other games made by the company or move them to exchanges that support Bitcoin’s layer-2 Lightning Network.

Bitcoin integration for Minecraft with Satlantis and Zebedee partnership.

Binance CEO warns of phishing scams as Uniswap founder gets hacked

The amount of social engineering attacks in the cryptocurrency industry has been rising, with major execs getting hacked recently.

Curve omnipool platform Conic Finance hacked for $3.2 million in ETH

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Conic Finance, a liquidity pool balancing platform for the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Curve, has suffered an exploit on the Ethereum omnipool.

Conic Finance has been exploited for $3.26 million in Ether (ETH), the Web3 risk-alert source Beosin Alert reported on July 21. Nearly the entire amount of stolen cryptocurrency was sent to a new Ethereum address in just one transaction, according to data provided by Beosin.

Transactions on the address involving a flashloan exploit on Coin ETH Pool. Source: Etherscan

Conic Finance was quick to confirm the news on Twitter, stating that the platform is currently investigating the exploit and will share updates as soon as they are available.

Related: DeFi protocol Arcadia Finance hacked on Ethereum and Optimism for $455K

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5 emerging digital finance trends to watch

Explore five emerging digital finance trends shaping the financial landscape in the digital age.

US DoJ accuses FTX founder of leaking private diary of Caroline Ellison

Sam Bankman-Fried attempted to publicly discredit government witness Caroline Ellison, who was once his business ally and a romantic partner, the DoJ argued.

US DoJ accuses FTX founder of leaking private diary of Caroline Ellison

Sam Bankman-Fried attempted to publicly discredit government witness Caroline Ellison, who was once his business ally and a romantic partner, the DoJ argued.

Bitcoin Bollinger Bands echo move that ended in 40% January gains

BTC price should put in a "strong" reaction now that Bitcoin Bollinger Bands are at their most compact since the start of 2023.

Dota 2, Rocket League pros ‘want to explore’ Web3 and blockchain gaming

Professional Dota 2 player Erik “Tofu” Engel believes that Web3 has features that are very beneficial to gamers.

US Justice Department to double its crypto team, target ransomware crimes

The National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, established in 2021, will be merged with the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.

Bitcoin no longer asset of choice for criminals - former Elliptic crypto advisor

Crime in Web3 is shifting away from Bitcoin (BTC) to stablecoins while ponzi schemes remain prevalent, according to Elliptic’s former head of technical crypto advisory.

Tara Annison shared the latest insights from the murky world of cryptocurrency-related crime during a presentation on the final day of EthCC in Paris, addressing a wide variety of ways in which digitals assets are either facilitating crime or being used to launder funds.

According to Annison, Bitcoin is no longer the cryptocurrency of choice to carry out illicit activities or launder money. As the cryptocurrency industry has matured, the establishment of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, mixing services and stablecoins present new avenues for criminals to explore.

Source: Tara Annison.

Criminals have shifted towards using dollar-denominated assets, like USD Coin (USDC), as their easy accessibility and ability to be laundered through decentralized exchanges (DEXs).

“The criminals use that as a target point. It's also super easy to launder through Dex's. There's deep liquidity, really good volume, so that's pretty worrying.”

Bitcoin no longer asset of choice for criminals - former Elliptic crypto advisor

Criminals have moved away from using Bitcoin for money laundering, with stablecoins emerging as an alternative due to accessibility.

Bitcoin no longer asset of choice for criminals - former Elliptic crypto advisor

Criminals have moved away from using Bitcoin for money laundering, with stablecoins emerging as an alternative due to accessibility.

Digital yuan integration introduced to Chinese business air travel

The Civil Aviation Administration and China Merchants Bank said passengers will be able to utilize the digital currency to access new services via this platform.

US state agency issues alert on crypto fraud happening over social media

The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), a United States state agency, warned citizens against rising crypto investment frauds perpetrated over popular social media sites.

On June 25, 74-year-old Naum Lantsman lost his life savings — $340,000 — to a crypto scam orchestrated over Instagram and Telegram. The DFR referenced the incident as it stressed “the need for Vermonters to exercise extreme caution and vigilance when using or investing in cryptocurrency.”

A snippet of Vermont's investor alert against crypto scams. Source: dfr.vermont.gov

Instagram has been rated as the top platform connected to crypto fraud by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which also holds true for Lantsman. His initial contact with the crypto scammer happened over Instagram, wherein he came across a post from SpireBit claiming to be an "international financial broker" dealing in cryptocurrencies.

Without any form of investigation or research about the platform, Lantsman created an account on SpireBit. A Spirebit representative contacted Lantsman over Telegram and — over several days — coerced him into making investments.

What started off as a $500 investment ultimately resulted in a loss of more than $340,000. Once a user ‘invests’ on fake platforms like SpireBit, the dashboard shows profits on every trade, which encourages investors to shell out more of their savings.

US state agency issues alert on crypto fraud happening over social media

Vermont issued the investor alert after a 74-year-old man lost his life savings of over $340,000 in a crypto fraud orchestrated over Instagram and Telegram.

Indonesia launches its crypto exchange and clearing house

The platform, monitored by the CFTRA, will be the only space in the country where the legal exchange of digital assets is allowed.

Canadian police warn crypto investors on growing home robbery trend

Perpetrators have impersonated delivery drivers in order to break into the homes of victims to steal cryptocurrency.

UK banks risk losing licenses for debanking customers over political views

The British government may impose tighter freedom of speech protections on banking permits following a public dispute between Nigel Farage and Coutts bank.

Solana records 1 outage in first half of 2023, 100% uptime in Q2

The Solana network is seeing steady improvements in performance and reliability as outages become more infrequent.

Coin Center and Blockchain Association slam ‘unworkable’ US Senate DeFi bill

Coin Center said the bill was unconstitutional, while the Blockchain Association called it incompatible with blockchain technology.

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