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Kraken Creates Decoy Crypto Accounts to Lure in Scammers

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A person who was running a scam from a call center pretended to be President Joe Biden and tried to steal an amount of Bitcoin that they believed was worth $450,000 from a streamer. However, the situation did not go as planned and instead led to disorder and confusion.

Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, has come up with an innovative way to identify suspicious cryptocurrency wallets. They have created a fake cryptocurrency account on their exchange to attract and trap fraudulent individuals.

On May 10, popular streamer Kitboga, who creates content about irritating scammers, posted a tweet stating that Kraken had provided him with a specially designed platform to interact with scammers. He used this environment to irritate a scammer who pretended to be President Joe Biden, whom he had previously encountered about a year ago.

Joint Operation to Catch Crypto Scammers

In the video clip that accompanies the tweet, Kitboga is shown having an amount of Bitcoin worth approximately $450,000 (which is equivalent to $27,506 according to the current ticker price) in the fake cryptocurrency account provided by Kraken.

The scammer is able to see the funds through a screen-sharing software that he had convinced Kitboga’s character to download, and he becomes extremely excited at the prospect of a large sum of money entering his crypto wallet.

In the video, Kitboga is playing the role of an elderly woman and mistakenly sends all the funds to the wrong wallet address belonging to the scammer. The scammer becomes extremely angry and starts using foul language to berate Kitboga.

It is worth noting that the scammer had given a Bitcoin wallet address hosted by Kraken, which allowed the exchange to detect their activity and flag it as suspicious.

The collaboration between Kraken and Kitboga was made possible thanks to the efforts of the exchange’s chief security officer, Nick Percoco.

Kitboga has a significant following on social media platforms, with 1.2 million followers on Twitch and 3 million followers on YouTube. He creates comedic content that involves wasting the time of call center scammers by portraying non-tech-savvy characters.

In some instances, he has even been successful in getting the fraudulent websites used by the scammers taken down by reporting them to the hosting companies.

According to his YouTube profile, Kitboga’s main goal is to expose and mock scammers who take advantage of people every day. He aims to waste their time, expose their lies and methods, and report their activities when possible, all while bringing humor to a serious and dark situation.

On May 1, Kitboga shared a video in which he discussed a new scam related to Bitcoin and social security. The scam targets victims through emails or text messages claiming that unusual purchases have been made with their bank accounts.

The scammers involved in the social security scam ask victims to call a provided number and then claim that their identity has been stolen. They instruct the victim to withdraw all their money, purchase Bitcoin, and send it to a supposedly “secure government wallet.”

In response, Kitboga had some fun with these scammers by pretending to be a grandson who bought 10,000 BTC and then accidentally sent it to the wrong address.

BRC-20 Coins Take Aim at Bitcoin as Fees Skyrocket, Analyst Suggests

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The number of unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions on the blockchain is currently at 400,000, while fees associated with Bitcoin transactions are relatively high.

According to a CryptoQuant analyst, the Bitcoin network is facing a problem due to a popular new “token” standard, which has resulted in a surge in fees and a backlog of transactions. As a result, the value of BTC has fallen to $27,618.

On May 9th, Axel Adler Jr., an analyst working for a crypto data company, stated that the surge in demand for block space is due to the minting of BRC-20 memecoins on the BTC blockchain. Adding:

“Unlike conventional token standards, such as Ethereum’s ERC-20, BRC-20 does not utilize smart contracts and operates only with wallets supporting the Bitcoin blockchain.”

Bitcoin and its rising transaction fee

According to Bitinfocharts, there was a significant increase in the average transaction fee, which rose to $31 on May 8 from about $19 on the previous day. Moreover, on May 8, the total fees per block surpassed the block subsidy reward of 6.25 BTC for the first time since 2017.

On May 9, Bitinfocharts reported a new record high on the seven-day moving average for the number of Bitcoin transactions, reaching a peak of 534,000.

Bitinfocharts has reported two spikes over 600,000 daily transactions using raw values this month, indicating that the actual figure could be higher than the reported 534,000 transactions. On May 9th, Bitinfocharts recorded 598,000 Bitcoin blockchain transactions.

The data reported by Blockchain.com confirms that the average number of transactions per block has reached an all-time high of 3,778.

Mempool Space has reported that there are 400,000 unconfirmed transactions pending on the network, resulting in a backlog that is keeping transaction prices high. Additionally, on May 9th, the market capitalization of BRC-20 tokens exceeded $1 billion, according to Cointelegraph.

The severity of the issue has led Bitcoin core developers to consider taking action against BRC-20 tokens and Ordinals, which they view as network spam.

The number of ordinal inscriptions has increased significantly, nearly doubling from 2.5 million to 4.78 million in slightly over a week. However, the surge in the hash price or profitability since the start of the month has been a positive development for miners, with a 66% increase.

PEPE Coin Gains Listing on Gemini Exchange

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Gemini is excited to declare that they now support Pepe and users can deposit this cryptocurrency on the Gemini website and ActiveTrader.

What is Pepe?

Pepe coin is a token that runs on the Ethereum blockchain and was introduced to the market on April 14, 2023. Similar to other meme-inspired coins like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), PEPE rapidly gained traction and became very popular within days of its launch, reaching a market capitalization of around $750 million as of May 9, 2023.

Due to the hype around meme culture, many investors are turning to digital assets in hopes of striking it rich, just like with Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. Pepe coin is no exception and has provided investors with remarkable returns.

Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange, has been hinting at the possibility of adding PEPE to its platform for some time now. Recently, the exchange made an official announcement that deposits for this meme coin are now being accepted.

Gemini has announced in a recent blog post that the PEPE coin will soon be available for trading on their platform. However, at first, trading will be restricted to Gemini’s API/FIX and ActiveTrader applications, and will only be paired with USD.

Subsequently, PEPE will be available for trading on the Gemini Mobile App and website, with trading pairs including USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD, HKD, and SGD. In the post, the exchange also explained the rationale behind adding this unique coin.

PEPE’s Worth: Is Another Significant Increase on the Horizon?

Currently, the value of PEPE coin stands at $0.000002016, indicating a daily surge of 7.37%. Over the last 24 hours, the market capitalization of the coin has risen to $789,900,361, which is a 7.52% increase. Although the daily trading volume has decreased by around 52.98% compared to the previous day, it is expected to pick up once Gemini begins trading the coin.

PEPE’s current trading value is 53.65% lower than its all-time high of $0.000004354. However, the listing of PEPE on Gemini is predicted to serve as a stimulant for the coin to regain this level in the near future. It is projected that this listing will attract more investors to purchase PEPE, leading to an increase in its value. Additionally, there are rumors that other exchanges may follow suit and add PEPE to their platform, which may potentially raise its worth even more.

XRP’s Security Status Unambiguous, According to WeBlog Founder

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Jason Calacanis, an entrepreneur and angel investor from the United States who founded WeBlog (a now-defunct platform), has joined others in stating that XRP should be classified as a security. He made this statement recently while discussing the costs Ripple has incurred in its ongoing legal battle with the US SEC.

“XRP is obviously a security”, According to Calacanis’s tweet. In his opinion, Ripple’s best course of action would have been to register XRP as a security with the SEC. He thinks that this step could have been done with minimal costs and might have helped them avoid the expenses associated with the lawsuit.

During an interview with CNBC, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse disclosed that Ripple is expected to spend as much as $200 million in its ongoing legal battle with the SEC by the time the lawsuit is resolved. Which led to Calacanis’ statement.

Calacanis thinks that Ripple could have prevented the expensive legal battle by simply registering XRP as a security like many other industry players. However, this comment has faced criticism as most cryptocurrency companies have not registered their tokens as securities due to the lack of clear guidelines from the SEC.

Crypto Executives React to Latest Industry Developments on XRP

“Go try to register a digital asset as a security before you make ridiculous statements like this,” says Mike Belshe, the co-founder and CEO of digital asset trust company BitGo, Responding to Calacanis’s statement. Also adds saying “this is an ignorant view”.

Jason Calacanis is well-known for his angel investing skills and has invested in some of the most successful startups in recent years, including Uber, Tumblr, and Calm. However, some experts in the industry think that he lacks knowledge of securities laws.

Following this another leader, Jacob Franek, co-founder and former COO of Coin Metrics, stated “It bears repeating over and over — the asset itself, XRP, is highly unlikely to be a security. Your job is literally investing. You should try actually educating yourself on securities laws,”

Calacanis is not alone in his opinion. Lee Bratcher, the President of the Texas Blockchain Council, and many others share the same belief that XRP is a security. Bratcher had made this statement in December of last year.

Meme Coin Mania: Trader Pays $120K in Fees to Secure $156K Worth of Tokens

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Investors in the world of cryptocurrency are willing to pay exorbitant amounts to obtain a significant portion of newly-released meme coins in the hopes of getting in on the ground floor.

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Meme Coin Mania: Trader Pays $120K in Fees to Secure $156K Worth of Tokens 2

Ultimately, the decision proved to be profitable for the individual, as they are now in possession of a significant profit amounting to several hundred thousand dollars.

Meme Coins: A Potentially Lucrative Investment Trend

The original meme coin – Dogecoin, was originally designed as a parody of cryptocurrencies. With that said, several meme coins – including DOGE, have not only generated significant returns for investors – but some are now multibillion-dollar projects.

This year has brought another meme coin frenzy with various tokens showing huge gains in recent weeks and opportunities across the market.

However, meme coin investment also presents a significantly higher risk than other crypto niches with the tokens subject to increased volatility, sudden peaks and troughs, and having a larger number of scam operators.

Recently, data from the blockchain indicates that a trader paid a staggering 64 ETH in transaction fees on Monday to purchase 84 ETH worth of FOUR, a newly-minted meme token that likely derives from the popular “4” meme on Crypto Twitter.

As a result of paying 64 ETH in transaction fees, the trader’s total cost for acquiring $156,000 worth of FOUR tokens amounted to over $120,000. Despite the high costs, some individuals noted that the trader was only the second buyer of FOUR tokens, and as a result, has an unrealized profit of nearly $240,000.

According to DEXTools, FOUR tokens generated $136 million in trading volumes on the first day and currently have a market capitalization of $30 million. Additional on-chain data reveals that early FOUR buyers, including the recent trader, are currently profiting from $240,000 to $2 million. These large profits explain why traders are willing to pay such high fees to acquire these tokens.

The current trend in the cryptocurrency market is to seek out joke-based investments rather than fundamental ones, resulting in higher gas fees on the Ethereum blockchain.

The term “gas” in Ethereum refers to the amount of ether paid by users to guarantee that their transactions are prioritized by network validators and included in the earliest block.

These validators are incentivized to include transactions with the highest fees rather than processing them in a first-come-first-served basis. This means that fees for popular tokens can frequently amount to thousands of dollars.

Shytoshi Kusama Drops New Puzzle for Shiba Inu Army – Decrypting the Message

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Shytoshi Kusama has delivered a fresh message to the Shiba Inu community, and a prominent member of the SHIB team has likened Kusama to Vitalik Buterin while teasing an impending surprise for the SHIB army.

The leader of the Shiba Inu developer team, who goes by a pseudonym, has updated their Twitter bio status to read: “It is easier to attack a castle when they have no moat.”

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Shytoshi Kusama Drops New Puzzle for Shiba Inu Army - Decrypting the Message 4

Many users of Shiba Inu speculated that the enigmatic phrase could be referring to the recent announcement of the Shibarium-Ethereum bridge. This assumption was based on Shytoshi’s previous response of “soon” when asked about the release date of Shibarium.

As the beta network called Puppynet was launched on March 11 and the mainnet is expected to launch before May, the members have started asking Shytoshi and his associates about the launch of the Shibarium mainnet and the bridge promised earlier.

It’s possible that Shytoshi’s cryptic message was referring not only to the Shibarium-Ethereum bridge but also to competing projects that are attempting to undermine the Shiba Inu network.

Shytoshi Kusama of Shiba Inu Recognized in the Same League as Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin and Polygon’s Founder

@LucieSHIB, a content marketing specialist for the Shiba Inu team, recently tweeted a response to the frequent requests for updates on Shibarium and other related initiatives.

@LucieSHIB was frustrated by the frequent demands on Twitter, Discord, and Telegram for Shytoshi Kusama to provide constant updates and communicate with the community. She questioned whether other notable figures in the crypto world, such as Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, or Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon, regularly provide updates to their communities.

Lucie reminded the community of the recent updates that have been rolled out, including the beta release of Shibarium (Puppynet) on March 11th and an update on the SHIB metaverse in a blog post on April 10th.

Additionally, Lucie and the admins on Discord and Telegram have been consistently sharing information about various SHIB partnerships that have been discussed behind the scenes.

@LucieSHIB also informed the SHIB community about some of the potential outcomes of these partnerships, including a SHIB-branded cold wallet. In addition, she mentioned the creation of Shibarium Spaces, which serves as a forum for discussions about everything happening in the SHIB ecosystem, including Shiboshis rewards and an upcoming surprise. While she did not provide any details about the surprise, she encouraged the community to join Shibarium Spaces to stay updated on the latest developments.