Gemini's MASSIVE Data Leak

GM Readers!📪 It's BitDegree Insider, and we bring you the hot stuff.

⭐️Today's selection:

• 💻Hackers Steal Gemini's Customer Data
• 📈FOMC Interest Rate Update
• 🤝Trust Wallet & THORChain Partnership
• 🧩Quiz Thursday
• 👌Selected Meme of The Day
• 📰Bite-Sized News

HACKERS STEAL GEMINI'S CUSTOMER DATA

Hackers hacked the servers of Gemini, an external cryptocurrency exchange provider.

They managed to access 5,701,649 lines of confidential information about the platform's customers. This included emails and phone numbers. 

But there is a nuance with the phone numbers. The attackers didn't get access to all of them - some numbers were deliberately made unrecognizable by security specialists beforehand.

Gemini blames its assessment of the incident on a "third party" that failed to protect against hacking. But it warns that platform users can expect more "phishing attacks" based on stolen data.

Such critical info as users' names, addresses, and identification data did not fall into the hands of hackers. That's the good part of this story.

Also, some email addresses appear twice in the leaked documents.

So that's a relief, and it suggests that 'the actual number of affected customers is lower than what is on the list', as explained by a Gemini spokesperson.

Gemini has 13 million active users at the moment. After the news about the vulnerability, the platform briefly suspended its work.

But now all trading services are available again, as well as depositing and withdrawing money.

TL;DR: Hackers broke in, and stole Gemini's user base data.

FOMC INTEREST RATE UPDATE

FOMC meeting concludes without mega surprises. As predicted, we got a 50bps interest hike. So, currently, the interest rate sits at 4.5%.

Here are the key takeaways from the FOMC meeting:

1. Interest rates will not be reduced in the nearest future.
2. Fed's Chair Powell avoided talking about a move to 25bps hikes. This signals that 50 bps is likely to be the baseline until they reach their inflation target.
3. The overall sentiment from the FOMC Press Conference is hawkish and signals a 'Risk Off' sentiment.

TL;DR: Fed raised interest rates to 4.5%.

TRUST WALLET & THORCHAIN PARTNERSHIP

After FTX and other cryptocurrency companies went bankrupt, users began to withdraw their assets from exchanges en masse.

But the question remained how to trade and swap coins without exchanges? One solution was offered by Trust Wallet - they launched crosschain swaps via THORChain.

Trust Wallet is one of the most popular mobile crypto wallets.

Ok. but what is THORChain technology and how does it work? Why is this partnership worth reporting about? Why do many people see it as crucial?

Firstly, THORChain is a protocol for the direct exchange of assets without the need for a third-party intermediary.

Importantly, it supports different networks (unlike Uniswap, which only offers swaps for ERC20 tokens).

The main advantage of such exchanges is decentralization and independence from exchanges. With THORChain, customers exchange tokens directly between wallets.

When exchanging through centralized exchanges, tokens need to be sent to the exchange account first. This means that your tokens are held by a third party until the transaction is finally processed.

It is a really important step in the development of the ecosystem! The trend of going from centralized exchanges to wallets has already started! 

And we were predicting it even before the FTX collapsed (humble brag, but we do feel good about that).

However, According to CZ, only 1% of people know how to do it safely:

"Most people can't back up their security keys. If they lose their wallet, they lose their crypto. Many don't know how to properly use encryption to back it up. They will write the code on a piece of paper, and someone else can see it and steal those funds".

This is a beginning of a very important and game-changing chapter. It will take some time till people master the procedures, and it will become the new normal.

TL;DR: New trend of self-custody has begun. The culture is changing, and new approaches towards exchanging tokens are being evolved that don't involve centralized exchanges.

QUIZ THURSDAY

This time, instead of logical, let's be creative. There are no CORRECT answers. But there are creative, interesting, and amusing ones. Everyone's a winner here.

This photo of SBF looks like he's about to drop the most fire rap album of 2022.

How would you call it? 

We compiled several possible options. But feel free to suggest your own ideas, press 'Other' and then, when directed to the new window, write it down!

SELECTED MEME OF THE DAY

BITE-SIZED NEWS

• G20 to Develop Joint Policy Consensus on Cryptocurrencies. International attention to international money.
• US Senators Introduce the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2022. As expected, scrutiny will only intensify.
• US SEC Approves Nine WisdomTree Blockchain-Enabled Funds. SEC appears to be one of the main characters in the 'Crypto' series.