Friday, 9th of September. As the week comes to an end, we can focus on the highlights of the crypto industry.
Elon Musk’s deepfake posted to YouTube channel of the South Korean government
On Saturday, September 3, hackers attacked a YouTube channel owned by the South Korean authorities, renaming it SpaceX Invest and broadcasting spoofed videos of Elon Musk speaking about crypto. It is confirmed by a local report from Yonhap News Agency (YNA).
South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official explained that they regained control of the channel on the same day. As of this writing, it is not available. The hackers managed to compromise the account details, said the official.
Google proved Yonhap’s claim that the government’s YouTube channel had indeed been hacked. Google added that they are currently investigating the incident.
It was also reported on Sunday that the Twitter account of the Venezuelan branch of the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was compromised. As of the night of September 4, they began posting links to a website supposedly owned by Ripple.
The website shills fake XRP giveaway. To obtain the asset, users are offered to click on a malicious link. At the time of writing, phishing tweets are still on the PwC Venezuela web-page.
As you may remember, back in May 2022, scammers distributed Musk’s deepfake on Twitter, where he calls to invest in an obvious scam.
$370000 USDC stolen during flash loan exploit of Nereus Finance
Avalanche-based DeFi platform called Nereus Finance suffered an aggressive attack through the flash loan of 51 million USDC. It was estimated by CertiK that the hacker’s earnings amounted to approximately 370,000 USDC.
Using borrowed funds, the attacker manipulated the prices of AVAX tokens on Nereus. Once the transactions were completed and the loan repaid, about 370,000 USDC remained in hacker’s address.
Subsequently, the cybercriminal converted funds from the Avalanche blockchain to Ethereum. They had 194 ETH (~$310,000) and 15,850 DAI tokens at the same address in the second most capitalized crypto network.
The hacker transferred most of the ETH through four transactions of 45 ETH to the address on the FixedFloat digital asset exchange platform. As of this writing, 12.7 ETH and all 15,850 DAI remain in his Ethereum wallet.
UK financial watchdog cautioned investors about crypto influencers
The FCA forewarned investors of the potential risks associated with financial advice from influencers promoting cryptocurrency and forex trading as a way out of turmoil. This was reported by City AM.
A spokesperson of the agency told the reporter that an Instagram post was the reason for the warning. The author of the post, also a trader with more than 100,000 subscribers, claims to have made a fortune of “nearly £2m” after losing his father’s savings.
He allegedly “traded wisely” to get there, buying bitcoin at a low price and closing the position at its peak.
“I became successful at trading by learning the hard way, understanding that I could only save myself after losing all that money,” the publication quotes the account owner as saying.
The FCA voiced concern about such marketing materials. The agency pointed out that “people should always be wary of any promotion made by someone who is unauthorised,” as they are very unlikely to have any protection if things go wrong.
Personal finance analyst Myron Jobson supported the regulator’s view. In his opinion, attempting to get out of the crisis through trading is a “recipe for sleepless nights”.
White House reveals details of CHIPS act
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled plans to invest $50 billion to jump-start the semiconductor industry under the CHIPS Act.
According to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, about $28 billion is intended to increase production of logic and memory chips using cutting-edge manufacturing processes. The government plans to allocate funds in the form of grants and loans for the construction and expansion of facilities for manufacturing, testing, assembly and packaging of processors.
The administration is also seeking to increase production of older chips. $10 billion will be used to create semiconductors for cars, communications technology, medical devices, defense and other critical commercial sectors. Another $11 billion will go to R&D.
By early February 2023, the government will begin accepting applications. Raimondo announced that the department could begin allocating funds as early as next spring.
Moreover, recipients of federal funding will be prohibited from building “advanced technology” facilities in China for 10 years.
“We’re going to make sure that the United States is never again in a position where our national security interests are compromised. Companies who receive CHIP funds can’t build leading-edge or advanced technology facilities in China for a period of 10 years,” Raimondo claimed.
Only mature assembly plants in the PRC will be able to expand to serve the local market, she added.
The government believes that the CHIPS Act will enable the United States to regain world leadership in semiconductor manufacturing. In fact, only 10% of global chip capacity and only 3% of global packaging, assembly and testing services are responsible for the U.S., according to the agency.