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Worldpay Enters the Blockchain Arena

Stepping into Blockchain Validation

Worldpay, a powerful merchant service, and a global payment giant, has finally decided to debut in blockchain validation. This company for the first time will directly validate, review, and verify Blockchain transactions. Worldpay intends to enhance its knowledge about how digital ledger works and provide a safe and more secure environment for all blockchain enthusiasts.

How Worldpay Will Operate as a Validator

Worldpay has till now acted as this huge industrial giant that used to power businesses of all sizes to make, take, and manage all payments. However, now it has decided to venture into the deep dark forest of Blockchain. Worldpay is currently in discussion with various blockchains to become a validator. To fulfill this role WorldPay has to monitor and verify transactions as well as ensure the accuracy of the digital ledger. Worldpay has already processed $1.3 billion in stablecoin transactions, a rising trend compared to 2023.

A New Chapter in Worldpay’s Crypto Journey

This initiative by Worldpay clearly shows their intention to position themselves at the center of the blockchain ecosystem. This move reflects their broader ambition to be at the frontline of the digital market enhancing both customer trust, security as well as technological capabilities.

Russian Hackers Using Fake AI Sites to Steal Crypto

Summary

Russian hackers are sneaking into your devices and stealing your personal stuff using fake AI sites.

According to a recent report, Russian hackers are using fake AI sites as a trap to steal crypto wallet details. Cybersecurity firm suspects this to be the work of FIN7, the famous hacking group. The AI sites unknowingly download malware into your device.

Malware like RedLine and Lumma Stealer is designed to collect login credentials and other sensitive information including one’s crypto wallet details. By luring users into their fake AI site they install this malware into their PC, giving direct access to their personal information.

Zach Edwards, a senior analyst at Silent Push, explains that the majority of people targeted in this scam are tech-savvy individuals interested in AI tools. The hackers have cleverly disguised these sites to look legit by making effective use of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and professional website design. Most of these websites promise deepfake nude images, which is directly connected to a Dropbox link which obviously doesn’t work and leaves the user with only malware on their devices. Some examples of such sites include “aiNude.ai”, “easynude.website” and “nude-ai. pro”.

FIN7 has a long history of hacking and and financial fraud, they are connected to several ransomware gangs, including DarkSide and BlackMatter. Although many of these sites have been taken down, experts warn anyone who interacted with them to consider whether their data is safe.

$120M Crypto Hacks in September

Summary

This past September hackers have managed to steal over $120 million from some big profiles on cryptocurrency platforms. Peckshield verified more than 20 incidents occurring during the month. The hackers are targeting both centralized and decentralized platforms.

The biggest damage by hackers in September was dealt to BingX, a Singapore-based exchange that lost about $44 million in a single incident. Penpie, a decentralized finance protocol also suffered a $27 million breach, making it 2nd most damaged entity by crypto hackers. Indodax, a leading cryptocurrency exchange in Indonesia, also suffered about $21million breach. These three represent a significant amount of losses the crypto community had to bear because of hacking.

Many other platforms, such as DeltaPrime, Truflation, Shezmu, Onyx, BananaGun, Bedrock, Cut, etc. were hacked, totaling up to $28 million which makes the overall hacked money well over $120 million. Despite the growing popularity of DeFi, it has become a major target for cybercriminals due to their insufficient security protocols. Most of the platforms hacked are from Asia, it seems that the hackers have found a way to exploit security gaps in the region’s rapidly growing crypto markets.

With September’s hacking, the total amount stolen in 2024 has reached a huge amount of $409 million. These incidents raise serious concerns about the security of the crypto market, casting doubt on its reliability and safety for investors.

SUI’S Market Rollercoaster and Resilience Amid Growth

SUI’s Price Drop After Hitting a High

On October 4, Sui suffered a massive dip. It dropped over 15% after experiencing a high of $1.97 for six months. The token took a massive loss and fell down to $1.62 before recovering slightly to $1.78, which leaves it 4% down. Its market value also dropped from $5.46 billion to $4.45 billion during this sad turn of events for SUI and SUI enthusiasts.

Token Unlocks, Market Moves, and Profit Rotations

Unlocking of 64.2 SUI tokens coincided with the steep price drop, which might cause volatility. However, the value decrease of SUI wasn’t as bad as anyone would expect. The value degrade wasn’t a complete downfall because SUI was experiencing high value for over 6 months which has kept investors optimistic about the project’s long-term potential.

Some market investors as well as watchers believe that traders shifted into Aptos (APT), a competing layer-1 blockchain hoping to gain short-term profit. Despite its low tide, SUI had 6 months of high tide which has rapidly grown SUI’s ecosystem, with its total value locked (TVL) hitting $1 billion, up from $383 million in August. Several factors have helped SUI gain such strong momentum, for example partnerships with companies like Circle and Atoma. Partnerships are also helping SUI broaden its utility across decentralized finance and blockchain-based AI.

Signs of Recovery and Future Growth

Despite the volatile nature of the layer-1 blockchain, technical indicators suggest that SUI might be heading for a recovery. The token is holding above the middle Bollinger Band ($1.55), and the Average Directional Index (54) points to a strong trend. With such a steady growth in its ecosystem and key partnerships with innovative companies, SUI remains well-positioned for future expansion and does show a sign of potential bullish momentum.

TradFi Meets DeFi: Zignaly’s Vision for the Future of Finance

From Banking to Blockchain

Abdul Rafay Gadit, co-founder of Zignaly, made a strong and bold move by moving his attention from traditional finance (TradFi) to digital decentralized Finance (DeFi). Traditional Finance is all about protection and regulation of customer information and assets but it tends to be really slow as it requires manual effort for the most part. Decentralized Finance on the other hand offers anyone with internet access the chance to involve themselves in this digital money world. Gadit believes that DeFi also comes with major problems such as the risk of hacking, and bugs on smart contracts however, he also believes we’re at a turning point where TradFi and DeFi are about to merge.

ZIGChain’s Vision for the Future

Gadit’s experience in traditional finance has made him well versed in its flaws so he aims to blend TradFi and DeFi into one, this way TradFi’s weak sections like risk management and user protection can be strengthened by innovation and openness of DeFi. That’s why he shaped ZIGChain, Zignaly’s upcoming decentralized blockchain, it aims to be a decentralized wealth-generation platform. This offers builders, fund managers, and users all over the world be able to make their own DeFi tools, dApps, and many more blockchain elements. This project also seems to have a bright future as it’s backed by a huge amount of $100 million. ZIGChain aims to make DeFi, Real-world assets, and NFTs into something way bigger than it already is, providing users with a wide range of investment opportunities.

TradFi and DeFi Are Converging

Gadit believes the future of all finance businesses leads to the merging of the digital aspect of finance with the traditional physical aspect of finance. He foresees a future where financial systems are more accessible and efficient, and users can very very easily rotate between traditional financial systems and Decentralized financial systems. Zignaly’s new mission is to create a new way of building wealth and making investment more inclusive, stable, and rewarding at the end of the day.

The AI and Crypto Miners Power Struggle

With the rapid advancement of AI, systems need a lot of data centers to run and those data centers require a lot of energy. Electric Power Research Institute said US data center energy consumption will become more than double by 2030. This makes it 9% of the overall energy use.

For power-based companies, AI has become both a competition and an opportunity. AI data centers are getting more attention than cryptocurrency mining as AI is backed by large technology with more capital and power contracts. Every industry looks for profit and AI data centers are more likely to favor than cryptocurrency miners as AI is more lucrative and secure. Since AI has more financial backing, right now AI developers can more easily meet their power needs.

With this growing competition, crypto miners have found a way to cope by marketing whatever they have to AI data centers. It requires hundreds of thousands of dollars per megawatt of capacity to run cryptocurrency mining whereas it takes about $7 to $8 million dollar for an AI data center to function per megawatt of capacity, this is because AI data centers are more sound and sophisticated. They also require a lot of system cooling hardware. Even so, everyone says the future is shifting towards AI and they are investing a lot to cover its huge price requirements. One of the main techniques crypto miners are pitching power companies to let them use power is that, AI cannot be interrupted while crypto mining can be turned on or off rapidly making it a flexible load that can work on power-saving modes.

These are the things that are being discussed and the competition between these two energy-hungry industries has been greater than ever.

Chromia Partners With Elfa AI

Summary

Chromia just leveled itself up by teaming up with Elfa AI. Elfa AI is made for giving real-time instant market tips straight from places like X (Twitter) and Telegram. You can trade directly on the app and also customize alerts according to your vibes.

Chromia, a blockchain platform built to give users and developers more control with its flexible framework—like dedicated DApp chains, adjustable fees, and enhanced digital assets—just announced a big move. They’re investing in Elfa AI, an AI-powered social platform that helps people make sense of the fast-moving crypto market by providing real-time, data-driven insights. This partnership is all about using AI to give users smarter, more actionable information to navigate the world of crypto.

This investment is the first capital advancement from Chromia since it announced the Data and Ecosystem Fund during the Singapore-based Token2049 crypto conference. The total fund is estimated to be around $20 million. The fund aims to help the rise of AI ecosystem and blockchain supporting a wide range of projects.

Elfa AI is a social platform that uses artificial intelligence to give real-time market insights to users. This makes it easier for users to remain updated on the market and, also helps in choosing which crypto is better to invest in. It is always active on Twitter and Telegram, collecting data from everywhere to set a definitive review of the overall market. Users can also customize signals to their own unique preferences, trade cryptos directly through the app, and share it with others.

The collaboration between Chromia and Elfa AI feels seamless as Chromia’s relational blockchain architecture supports efficient management of large datasets which aligns with Elfa’s datacentric approach. Hence, the collaboration presents a longer-term opportunity for ecosystem growth.

Ava Protocol Powers Sony’s Soneium Blockchain

Ava protocol and Soneium collaboration

Ava Protocol Partners with Sony’s Soneium

Ava protocol with the use of its Automation Infrastructure is set to power Sony’s new Layer-2 Blockchain, Soneium. This unexpected partnership allows creators and developers on Soneium to automate processes, monetize assets, and manage decentralized applications without the need for complex code.

Automation, Monetization, and Innovation

Ava protocol brings intent-based, non-code automation to soneium. This feature allows users to tokenize physical assets, manage payment, and easily execute smart contract. This collaborative innovation allows creators to monetize digital property as well as their physical property with the help of a decentralized marketplace and also tokenization. This also acts as a bridge between Layer-1 and Layer-2 solutions.

A New Era of Smart Contract Automation

By partnering with Sony’s Soneium, Ava Protocop has taken a major step toward becoming a leading smart contract automation platform. This crazy collaboration brings new opportunities for creators, and developers in this evolving world of blockchain innovation.

AI Has Started Writing Malware Scripts

Researchers at HP discovered the first instances of AI-written malware scripts being sent out in emails. Malware developers are now using AI to generate codes to speed up the process and accelerate the number of attacks. The AI involvement lets less skilled individuals into hacking which only expands the number of hackers trying to steal your data.

In a September report Wolf security team from HP, detailed how they discovered a variation of asynchronous remote access trojan (AsyncRAT) on an email sent to a client. However, AsyncRAT is a human-developed software used to fix contaminated devices. These are exploited by hackers to steal user data. This new version contains an injection method which is supposedly developed using generative AI. Generative AI has a history of creating phishing or deceptive sites to lure users into buying their malware but this is the first time it has assisted in creating malware.

The team first discovered the email when it was sent to a subscriber of HP’s Sure Click threat containment software. It was written in French, suggesting it was likely a file targeting French speakers. This software allows users to control infected hosts remotely by providing them with a user interface that can perform tasks on the user’s computer, AsyncRAT can be used to steal a crypto user’s private key or seed words, potentially leading to the loss of funds.

“The activity shows how GenAI [generative AI] is accelerating attacks and lowering the bar for cybercriminals to infect endpoints,” the HP report stated. Cybersecurity details are still grappling with the effects of AI advancement on security. Many believe after the new EU draft is passed, these activities are less likely to occur.

AI Chatbots Getting Worse

A recent research in the Nature Scientific Journal revealed that AI chatbots are making more mistakes over time as newer models emerge. One of the key reasons for this may be because AI models are optimized to always provide believable answers, and the seemingly correct answers are always prioritized. It doesn’t recheck whether the news it’s giving is accurate or not. AI chatbots are just brilliantly coded search algorithm, which answers based on what is most written over the internet.

These AI hallucinations are self-reinforcing meaning older large language models train newer large language models. This method has only led to model collapse and the improvement is very minimum. Editor and writer Mathieu Roy cautioned users not to rely too heavily on these tools and to always check AI-generated search results for inconsistencies.

There have been numerous examples of Google’s finest artificial intelligence drawing blatantly inaccurate images. Some examples of this include portraying Nazis as black people, creating inaccurate images of well-known historical figures. Incidents like this are far too common and are getting worse with new updates. One of the fixes to this issue can be changing these AI hallucinations by forcing AI models to conduct thorough research and provide sources for every single answer given to a user. However, these have been done and the problems still exist. Just in, HyperWrite AI CEO Matt Shumer announced a new 70B model that uses “Reflection-Tuning”- meaning it will analyze its own mistakes and adjust responses over time.

With such stubborn and somewhat flawed search algorithms, AI chatbots provide inaccurate information, suggesting it cannot replace humans anytime soon.

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