Chile is under cyberattack from REvil, with one of the country’s biggest banks being forced to halt operations yesterday. 

Public-owned Banco Estado, one of the country’s biggest banks, had to shut down operations across the country yesterday, after suffering a major ransomware attack from the REvil hacker gang. 

Banco Estado has assured its customers that their funds are safe, but Chilean authorities have now issued a cyber security alert about a widespread and serious ransomware campaign against businesses in the country. 

Sources close to the investigation into the Banco Estado attack have been reported by ZDNet as saying the ransomware infiltrated the bank’s system via an Office document infected with malware, opened by an employee. 

The bank’s cyber security team identified the attack, but also judged the threat to be so severe that it required a complete shut down. Yesterday afternoon, 21 branches of the bank did re-open with limited services, but they were forced to close again after just one hour. 

It now seems the hackers have managed to encrypt the majority of internal servers and employee workstations, but the bank had employed a segmented internal network, which protected its website, banking portal, mobile apps and ATMs. 

At the time of writing it did not appear that REvil had leaded any Banco Estado data, which means the bank is either conducting negotiations with the group, or has paid up its crypto ransom.

REvil hit the headlines in June, when it stole data from two US law firms; Fraser Wheeler & Courtney LLP, and Vierra Magen Marcus LLP. The data subsequently appeared offered for auction on REvil’s official darknet blog. 

Información importante sobre nuestra red de atención pic.twitter.com/CfFeb9tCzK

— BancoEstado (@BancoEstado) September 7, 2020

AYO.NEWS says:

Ransomware attacks against large businesses are becoming an increasingly concerning problem around the world. In August, cybersecurity company McAfee reported that the gang behind the NetWalker ransomware had raked in more than $25 million USD, paid mostly in Bitcoin,  in just a few months. 

In July, Evil Corp hackers attacked multinational tech company Garmin – which appeared to have paid a $10m ransom to regain its data. In the same month, US travel firm CWT confirmed it had negotiated a Bitcoin (BTC) ransom down from $10m to $4m, and paid up, in order to regain control of its systems. 

But, it doesn’t always go the hackers’ way. In late August, it emerged that a loyal employee had helped thwart a major crypto ransomware attack on electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

CyberVein is helping the Chinese government create a blockchain-powered governance system for its new ‘Aerospace City.’

The Singapore-based blockchain firm is one of a dozen companies engaged in the construction of the Hainan Wenchang International Aerospace City, which commenced in August. The project is part of Hainan’s wider ‘Free Trade Port’ initiative. 

Built near to the Wenchang Space Launch Site (from where the Long March 5 rocket, carrying China’s Tianwan-1 Mars probe, blasted off on 23 July 2020), the new project aims to create an aerospace hub to promote the development of products and services used in Chinese spacecraft and launches, along with a tourism centre. It will also be hosting China’s first aerospace dedicated supercomputing centre. 

CyberVein, in cooperation with Chinese companies including Huawei and Kingsoft Cloud, is now employing its blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and big data technologies to support the development of the city’s Smart Brain Planning and Design Institute. 

According to the company, the Smart Brain initiative is a “data-driven governance system” aimed at organising urban public resources. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Blockchain and AI are rapidly making the ‘Smart City’ dream a real possibility, and China and Singapore are among those countries leading the way. Just last month Singapore-based Limestone Network revealed it is aiming to revolutionise urban living, by providing a complete blockchain solution for smart cities. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

Authorities in the US state of Texas have issued Emergency Cease and Desist Orders against two alleged crypto scams. 

Last week, the Texas Securities Commissioner, Travis J. Iles, entered the orders against Forex Birds and Pek Universe – allegedly operated by Kumar Babu Bondesi and Darwin eric Balusek, a.k.a, the “Bitcoin Pope.”

Bondesi and Balusek are accused of fraudulent securities offerings tied to foreign exchange (forex) and cryptocurrencies. The Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) is threatening the operators with $10K fines and up to ten years in prison. 

Apparently, Forex Birds, which is operating from London and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, has been promising investors up to 11% returns on deposits up to $1m USD, and has been fraudulently claiming to be registered with several European, Caribbean, and Australian regulators. 

Pek Universe, which is operating out of West Perth, Australia, is also alleged to be promoting a fraudulent crypto program, promising a 2% daily return for 30 days. 

The TSSB also details that the both the Forex Birds and Pek Universe websites list fake boards of directors, with photographs lifted from other sites.

Though neither of the schemes are registered in, or operating out of Texas, the orders say they have been targeting Texan residents through an advertisement in the general community section of the Craigslist website targeting Dallas. 

And, if Bondesi and Balusek think they are untouchable, they might want to refer to Mirror Trading International – a multi-level crypto scam operating out of South Africa – which the TSSB nevertheless managed to get shut down in July 2020. 

AYO.NEWS says:

It really is hard to believe that operators of these blatant scams think they can still get away with such practices, shamelessly creating fraudulent boards of directors and claiming to be registered with regulators when they aren’t. Though the $10K fine probably won’t phase Bondesi and Balusek, the prospect of a 10 year stretch in a Texas state penitentiary might do! 

Staying with crypto scams, just last month the operators of AirBit Club, and an attorney, were charged with fraud and money laundering by authorities in New York. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

Major crypto exchange Binance has announced the release of a new asset farming platform, Launchpool.

According to the company, it will enable users to acquire new token rewards in return for staking BNB, BUSD, and other tokens.

The first project to be hosted on Launchpool is Bella Protocol (BEL), with users able to stake their BNB, BUSD, or ARPA tokens in three separate pools to farm BEL tokens over 30 days, starting from 00:00 UTC on 9 September. From 06:00 UTC on 16 September, BEL will be listed for open trading for BEL/BTC, BEL/BNB, BEL/BUSD, BEL/USDT. 

Seychelles-based Binance says staked BNB, BUSD, and ARPA balances will be recorded each hour for 30 days after the staking period begins to get an average daily staking balance for each day. Rewards allocated to each pool will be split evenly every day over the 30 day period. Each participant’s rewards will then be calculated every day based on their ratio of BNB staked compared to all BNB staked in each pool. 

The Bella protocol aims to overcome the problem of high gas fees, slow speeds, and poor user experience associated with current defi products. According to the company, Bella DeFi suit allows users to simply deposit and enjoy high yield from sophisticated arbitrage strategies, either on-chain or via its custodian service – all with a nicely designed 1-click user experience. 

In August the project raised $4.5m USD in a private token sale, with investors including Arrington XRP Capital, David Namdar (co-founder of Galaxy Digital), Koi Ventures,, Force Partners, Coinbene, Ben Gorlick (former head of Product at Blockstream), Bitblock Capital, Laurenz Apiarius (founding partner, Blockwall Capital), BlueHill Capital, Consensus Labs, Yunshang Capital, and others.  

AYO.NEWS says:

Binance getting in on the asset yield farming scene is going to get quite a few people excited no doubt, and the Bella Protocol seems like a pretty solid project to kick things off. As for Bella, if it really can live up to its claims of making defi more accessible and user friendly, then there’s definitely a bright future for it.

Staying with Binance, last week the company rolled out a major advertising campaign in the United Kingdom, ahead of its launch in the country. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

Social aggregation platform Discussions.app has confirmed its expansion to the Telos network, and announced a project to counter social media bans.

The Reddit-inspired platform is planning to create a decentralised identity system, allowing users to record their accounts and contacts from social networks, including Twitter and YouTube, to the blockchain. 

The idea is to give users a measure of protection should they become subject to a block or ban – allowing them to migrate across platforms without losing the identities and connections they’ve often spent many years creating. 

Discussing the project Telos chief architect, Douglas Horn, said:

“It seems that every few days I see another unique voice de-platformed and the connections they invested years building pulled out from under them like a cheap rug — especially in the crypto community. Discussions.app empowers individuals to secure their own social networks immune to the whims of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.”

By joining the Telos network, which represents its first cross-chain expansion, Discussions.app will also gain access to options for advanced governance and Ethereum Virtual Machines. 

AYO.NEWS says:

The big social networks do have a very real problem with seemingly arbitrary bans, which is rapidly eroding users’ trust and willingness to invest time and energy into them. While the Discussions.app collaboration with Telos might not solve this, it will at least make users feel a little more secure, so it’s a step in the right direction. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Singapore Exchange (SGX), has issued its first blockchain-powered digital bond. 

The 400 million Singapore dollar (approx. €248m) 5.5 year public bond issuance, conducted on SGX’s digital asset issuance, depository, and serving platform, was for Olam International – a local agribusiness, and was focused on Asian bond markets. 

It was the result of a joint initiative with blockchain partners including HSBC Singapore and investment firm Temasek. Handling the proceeds between issuer, arranger and custodian, HSBC provided its on-chain payments solution, which enables instant settlement in multiple currencies. 

Digital Asset’s DAML smart contract language was used by SGX to issue the bond, enabling its digital platform to capture the rights and obligations of parties involved in issuance and asset servicing, such as arrangers, depository agents, legal counsel, and custodians. 

Discussing the milestone, Senior Managing Director, Head of Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities (FICC), SGX, Lee Beng Hong, said:

“We are very excited that this collaboration with HSBC and Temasek has led to the successful completion of the first digital syndicated public corporate bond in Asia. Debt capital markets globally are characterised by deeply engrained legacy systems and processes which can be made faster, more accurate and efficient with this new technology. 

“DLT and smart contracts are rapidly evolving technologies, and our vision is to fully digitalise the end-to-end corporate bond issuance and asset servicing process. We look forward to playing a part in strengthening the fixed income market infrastructure of Singapore, Asia’s fixed income hub for bond issuers.”

While Managing Director and Group CFO of Olam International, N Muthukumar, added:

“Olam is delighted to pilot Asia’s first digital bond in close partnership with SGX, Temasek and HSBC. Going digital will make the entire process more efficient and transparent for all parties – issuers like us receive our funds more speedily, investors get their bonds more quickly while the arrangers, custodian and banks benefit from the reduced probability of error and speed. 

“This is in line with Olam’s focused push into digitalisation as part of our refreshed strategy, to grow sustainably and live our purpose of re-imagining global agriculture and food systems.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Although the bond market has embraced electronic trading, it is still heavily mired in archaic, legacy systems and highly reliant on manual processes, so it’s clearly one of the most compelling use cases for blockchain technology right now. 

However, despite the obvious advantages, there’s a whole hidden ecosystem of professionals making their living off these inefficient and wasteful processes, so we can expect some resistance to adoption. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020