Blockstream will look to raise more capital to buy Bitcoin (BTC) mining hardware through a second series of its Blockstream ASIC (BASIC) Note offering, which aims to accumulate and sell ASICs based on the predicted demand for miners over the next two years.

Speaking exclusively to Cointelegraph, Blockstream CEO Adam Back highlighted a surplus of Bitcoin mining hardware on the secondary market as a critical driver for a second series of its investment offering.

Series 1 sells out

Blockstream wound up an initial $5 million raise, which saw the firm purchase unused, boxed Antminer S19k Pro ASIC miners for $4.87 million. The company managed to secure the hardware, one of the Chinese…

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Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced on Dec. 13 that it plans to slash the cost of a version of its most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) model Gemini and make it more accessible to developers. 

According to reports, the company said the price for the pro model of Gemini has been cut 25-50% of what it was in June.

Gemini was introduced in three variations on Dec. 6, with its most sophisticated version being able to reason and understand information at a higher level than other Google technology, along with computing video and audio.

According to Google, the most powerful version is being designed to operate in data centers, while others will be implemented on personal…

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The front end of multiple decentralized applications (DApps) using Ledger’s connector, including Zapper, Sushiswap, and Revoke.cash, was compromised on Dec. 14. 

SushiSwap chief technical officer Mathew Lilley reported that a commonly used Web3 connector has been compromised, allowing malicious code to be injected into numerous DApps. The on-chain analyst said the Ledger library confirmed the compromise where the vulnerable code inserted the drainer account address.

RED ALERT :

Do not interact with ANY dApps until further notice. It appears that a commonly used web3 connector has been compromised which allows for injection of malicious code affecting numerous dApps.

— I’m Software … Read more on Cointelegraph

Users of crypto web apps are being warned to avoid the platforms until investigations into a potential cybersecurity incident affecting hardware wallet Ledger play out.

Notices of what’s believed to be malicious code were shared on social media Thursday morning, found in software libraries for Ledger’s ConnectKit, which connects blockchain apps with Ledger devices.

Decentralized exchange SushiSwap took its front-end web app offline soon after the warnings.

“We’ve identified a critical issue the ledger connector has been compromised, potentially allowing the injection of malicious code affecting various dApps,” SushiSwap posted. 

“If you have the Sushi page open and see an…

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TMX Group, the operator of Canadian stock exchanges such as the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Montreal Exchange, is finalizing the acquisition of VettaFi, a major player in the exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry, including blockchain ETFs.

The firm officially announced on Dec. 13 that it has agreed to acquire the remaining 78% of the common units of VettaFi for $848 million that it didn’t already own. The new deal brings the total amount of the acquisition to $1.03 billion, which includes investments TMX Group made in VettaFi in the first half of 2023 for around 22% of the common units, the announcement notes.

“The acquisition of VettaFi will add a dynamic new component to our growing…

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While Bitcoin’s decentralization gives many the freedom to transfer assets without the risk of censorship, malicious actors are also taking advantage of the network’s inherent privacy to move their stolen funds. 

Before the sanctions issued by the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2022, Tornado Cash was the prominent choice for hackers to launder stolen crypto. According to the OFAC, more than $7 billion in crypto assets have been laundered using the mixer since 2019. However, new findings from blockchain security firm CertiK shows that there’s been a shift in 2023. 

Data analyzed by CertiK shows that more than $300 million in the…

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Coinbase is working to square regulations with decentralized finance (DeFi) as it moves to attract institutions to the space.

The exchange’s asset management arm recently debuted Project Diamond, a platform for mirroring debt instruments used in traditional finance by tokenizing them on Base, Coinbase’s layer-2 Ethereum network.

Project Diamond is pitched to help institutions create, buy and sell their own native digital assets. Coinbase says under 0.25% of global assets are currently represented on blockchains, and the effort is geared towards boosting that figure.

Coinbase is a public company regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and through its new real-world…

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As the cryptocurrency community has been focused on the potential approval of a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States, some crypto-linked ETFs have already been racking up significant gains in 2023.

One such ETF is the VanEck Digital Transformation ETF (DAPP), which has surged nearly 207% year to date (YTD), according to data from TradingView. Launched in April 2021, DAPP tracks the price and performance of the MVIS Global Digital Assets Equity Index, which, in turn, is based on the performance of major companies involved in the digital asset economy.

VanEck’s DAPP ETF holds Coinbase (COIN), MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Block (SQ) as its top exposure assets….

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