The US-based crypto exchange platform – Coinbase has now made its full services accessible for Indian retail traders. Direct INR support has also been brought by the platform in the country. Indian customers will now be able to deposit and withdraw INR via IMPS as part of it.

Read more about it below.

Coinbase Now Fully Accessible for Indian Retail Traders With Direct INR Support

As reported, Coinbase has made its full services accessible for Indian retail traders, and this has brought direct INR support in the country. With this, Indian customers will now be able to deposit and withdraw INR via IMPS, without having to rely on P2P rails or intermediaries.

Speaking more, Indian customers will also be getting access to spot trading across a range of assets, along with perpetual futures contracts covering major crypto assets. Local INR order books have also been built by Coinbase to provide dedicated liquidity for Indian customers, while continued access to its global exchange will also be offered.

For customers who need advanced functionality, Coinbase Advanced has been introduced with professional-grade tools, including APIs built to institutional standards, WebSocket order book streaming, and a full range of order types. To add, TradingView charting has also been integrated for customers who prefer a discretionary approach.

About fees and execution, taker fees on Coinbase Advanced are mentioned to be competitive when benchmarked against local platforms, and there are no deposit fees on INR. Execution quality has also been pointed out to matter, especially for higher-volume traders, and deep global liquidity may help in tighter spreads and lower slippage when compared to thinner local order books.

As of now, users can deposit INR from their bank account via IMPS, trade on spot or futures markets, and withdraw INR back to their bank when required. Existing Coinbase users will be receiving INR support as part of the current rollout, whereas new users can create an account via Coinbase’s official website.

Stay tuned for more updates.

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[Update at 15th April 2025: 1:53AM IST] The fake post promoting “Samsung Smart Token” ($SST) has now been deleted. It appears Samsung has regained control of its official X account.

Samsung’s verified X (formerly Twitter) account has been hacked, and the attackers are now spamming posts about a fake “Samsung Smart Token” ($SST). The posts claim $SST is a new Web3 token that can be earned through Galaxy Watch steps, SmartThings automation, and Galaxy AI usage — and then used for discounts, subscriptions, NFTs, and even something called “Galactic Quests.”

Yup, it’s a scam.

They even dropped a crypto wallet address and name-dropped Samsung Wallet and Knox security to make it look more real. But none of it checks out. Samsung hasn’t launched anything called $SST, and there’s no official announcement anywhere outside of these suspicious posts.

Here’s what the hackers are claiming:

Earn $SST by:

Walking 10,000 steps with a Galaxy Watch

Automating your home using SmartThings

Joining Samsung beta programmes

Using Galaxy AI

Spend $SST on:

Daily “Galactic Quests”

Discounts and subscriptions

Exclusive NFTs

They’re pushing it as part of a “Web3 Samsung Marketplace,” fully protected by Samsung Knox.

The branding and graphics look slick, but it’s all part of the act. These posts are still live at the time of writing, meaning Samsung likely hasn’t regained access to the account yet.

Not an Isolated Incident

This hack comes just two months after Bybit reportedly lost $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum in a major security breach. That attack was attributed to the notorious Lazarus Group, a state-backed North Korean hacker organisation known for targeting crypto platforms and Web3 infrastructure.

While it’s not confirmed who is behind the Samsung account breach, it shows how bold and sophisticated these Web3 scams are getting — especially when major brand accounts are being hijacked to spread them.

What You Should Do:

• Don’t click any links or scan any QR codes from the $SST posts
• Don’t send any crypto to the wallet address they shared
• Report the tweets for impersonation or misleading info
• Wait for Samsung to officially regain access and make a statement

This is just another reminder that in the crypto space, even the biggest names can get hit — and when they do, it can look very convincing.

The post Samsung’s official X account hacked: fake “Samsung Smart Token” ($SST) campaign shared appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

A prominent Bitcoin ATM operator in the US, Byte Federal has recently reported a data breach incident in which it was mentioned that the personal data of thousands of customers may have been compromised during a recent breach.

In a filing with Maine’s attorney general, Byte Federal revealed that the breach occurred on 30^th September and was discovered on 18^th November. It is said that the hacker tried to access the data of 58,000 customers which includes 111 Maine residents.

In the Data Breach notice, Byte Federal mentioned that the customer’s personal information that was subject to the attempt at unauthorized access includes name, birthdate, address, phone number, email address, government-issued ID, social security number, transaction activity, and photographs of users.

The company is not sure whether the said data is compromised or not, hence they took some preventive measures like a hard reset on all customer accounts, notice of the incident was sent to the users and a press release was also issued. Byte Federal has updated its internal passwords, password management system, tokens, and keys forthe  network to prevent any further unauthorized access. It is clarified that no user funds or assets were compromised. Users are also advised to reset their login credentials for access to Byte Federal services.

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Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao who is currently serving a four-month prison sentence with around 2000 other inmates at Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc II, will not be able to manage the exchange again. This has been reported by the Axios which wrote that Zhao is permanently restrained from managing or operating cryptocurrency exchange for life. It’s normal for someone to ask whether a person with a 90% stake in a company will influence the decisions of the company or not?

The answer is obvious and current Binance CEO Richard Teng said to Axios Report. “As a shareholder, he will be looking at the performance of the company, and if things are not up to what he expects, as an investor, it’s always his right to replace, nominate a new board of directors, or a new CEO … shareholders can also always table a resolution.”

The company has faced serious allegations of allowing users from sanctioned countries to use its platform in violation of sanctions laws and non-compliance with anti-money laundering program regulations. This case did reach a point where the company agreed to pay $4.3 billion as a settlement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ). As part of this settlement, Binance’s founder and CEO resigned from his role and was restrained from holding any executive position or operating the company. At that time, a question was left unaddressed and that was about the period until the founder would not be holding any position. Now the answer is out and we know that Zhao will never be holding any position in the company.

The post U.S. Regulators Permanently Bar Binance Founder CZ From Returning To Leadership appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

Sony has announced its own blockchain network named Soneium. This is a layer 2 network that has built-in collaboration with Startale Labs. The company plans to make the network available to the public and aims to create new services by leveraging the various businesses and IPs within the Sony Group. Apart from providing comprehensive Web3 solutions from the infrastructure to the application layer company will investigate how new services that collaborate with businesses within the Sony Group can be developed as Soneium-compatible apps.

“I think the development of a comprehensive Web3 solution based on blockchain is very significant to the Sony Group, which has developed a wide variety of businesses under its purpose of “Fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology.” We will work to create diverse businesses and new use cases to deliver customer value that can only be enjoyed through Web3 technology to as many users as possible and making people’s lives richer and more colorful” said Jun Watanabe
Head of Advanced Infrastructure Business Search Department, Business Development Platform, Sony Group Corporation, and Chairman of Sony Block Solutions Labs.

“The Web3 industry is in the midst of a major transformation. We believe that the watershed moment for the entire Web3 industry will be whether we, as companies involved in Web3, can truly provide solutions that billions of people use as a matter of course in their daily lives and make Web3 mainstream in the next few years. We believe that Soneium has great potential to lead the world and realize this vision, and we would like to collaborate with a variety of developers and companies, transcending the boundaries of countries, regions, and industries” said Sota Watanabe
Director of Sony Block Solutions Labs.

Source 

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WazirX an Indian cryptocurrency exchange firm has gone through a hard time because of a cyberattack on 18 July 2024. The report came after that speculated that North Korean hackers could be behind it. As soon as this incident took place company suspended all the withdrawals.

Now a new update has come from the company that talks about the INR balance withdrawals. As per the company, the suspension on withdrawals of INR balances will be lifted on 26 August 2024, and INR withdrawals will be enabled in phases. To make this withdrawal easier than before company says that it is reducing withdrawal fees by 60% – from INR 25 to INR 10.

Its operating entity for INR-related activities, Zanmai Labs Pvt Ltd (“Zanmai”), on the WazirX platform, was not affected by the cyberattack and has sufficient INR reserves to cover all INR user balances though all balances are not available for withdrawal. 34% of the INR balances are currently frozen while the rest is not available immediately. As a result of this, the user will be able to withdraw half of the ~66% limit of their INR balances from 26 August – 8 September 2024. From 9 – 22 September 2024, users will be able to withdraw up to the full ~66% limit of their INR balances.

Source

The post WazirX To Gradually Lift Suspension On INR Withdrawals Starting August 26 After Cyberattack appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

Scams are reaching new heights, with cryptocurrency scams becoming increasingly common. A recent report reveals that McDonald’s Instagram account was hacked to promote a fake cryptocurrency called ‘GRIMACE,’ named after the company’s purple mascot. This incident occurred on August 21st, 2024, with the hacker claiming to have earned approximately $700,000 by promoting it on McDonald’s compromised Instagram account. Some followers, unaware of the scam, clicked on the link in the post, which prompted them to provide their personal information and cryptocurrency wallet address.

Within just 30 minutes of the fake promotion, the value of ‘GRIMACE’ surged to $25 million. Following this spike, the perpetrators began dumping the cryptocurrency in Solana, causing its value to crash to nothing.

This type of scam is known as a ‘Rug Pull,’ where scammers hold 70-80% of the coins and, after a significant increase in value, start selling off their holdings, leading to a rapid collapse in value.

The hacker then changed the bio of McDonald’s Instagram page to read, ‘Sorry mah n–ga you have just been rug pulled by India_X_Kr3 thank you for the $700,000 in Solana.’ In response, McDonald’s issued a statement and provided a comment to the New York Post “We are aware of an isolated incident that impacted our social media accounts earlier today. We have resolved the issue on those accounts and apologize to our fans for any offensive language posted during that time.”

The post McDonald’s Instagram Account hacked, resulting in a $7,00,000 Cryptocurrency Scam appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

WazirX, a leading cryptocurrency exchange has been hardly hit by the cyberattack that cost the company the loss of digital assets worth $230 Million. As of now, the company has suspended all the INR and Crypto withdrawals.

📢 Update: We're aware that one of our multisig wallets has experienced a security breach. Our team is actively investigating the incident. To ensure the safety of your assets, INR and crypto withdrawals will be temporarily paused. Thank you for your patience and understanding.…

— WazirX: India Ka Bitcoin Exchange (@WazirXIndia) July 18, 2024

It has also filed a police complaint and reported the incident to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and CERT-In. In order to speed the recovery process recently announced the Bounty Programs. One of the bounty program objectives is to identify, track, and provide actionable intelligence leading to the freezing of the stolen funds. Under this program company will offer rewards of up to $10,000 worth of USDT.

The second bounty program is White Hat Recovery Bounty. Under this program, someone who assists in the recovery of the stolen funds gets 5% of the recovered amount as a reward. Now the company has increased the percentage of the bounty from 5% to 10% which means a total of 23 million. There have been some report that says that North Korean hackers are behind that has yet not been proven. Recently ZachXBT named a user and an investigator on X who wrote in an X post that “All I can say is the WazirX hack has the potential markings of a Lazarus Group attack (yet again)”

6/ This is where my tracing ends as the BTC appears to come from an unknown service making it difficult to trace.

All I can say is the WazirX hack has the potential markings of a Lazarus Group attack (yet again)

Hopefully the WazirX team will be transparent with their… https://t.co/IjzlI76TRQ

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) July 18, 2024

Those who don’t know Lazarus Group is a threat group that has been tied to the North Korean government since as early as 2009. Their name has earlier been associated with the Sony Pictures Hack, and Bangladesh Bank Heist and in recent days they have shifted their focus to cryptocurrency.

The post WazirX Suffers $230 Million Cyberattack, Launches Bounty Programs for Recovery appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX has been severely hit by a security breach that cost the company the loss of over $230 million worth of crypto. The company has confirmed this security breach along with other sources and experts. The stolen assets include significant amounts of SHIB and FLOKI tokens, among others. The exchange has temporarily suspended Indian rupee (INR) and crypto withdrawals to protect user funds while investigating the incident.

In a recently posted post X company said ” It appears that the security issue involves one of our Liminal multisig wallets”. For those who don’t know Multisig wallets are a type of cryptocurrency wallet that requires two or more keys to authenticate and confirm transactions before proceeding. As per the reports, the thief has already swapped a number of these tokens for Ether using a variety of decentralized services. A report by Elliptic mentions that North Korea-based hackers are responsible for this hacking.

📢 Update: We're aware that one of our multisig wallets has experienced a security breach. Our team is actively investigating the incident. To ensure the safety of your assets, INR and crypto withdrawals will be temporarily paused. Thank you for your patience and understanding.…

— WazirX: India Ka Bitcoin Exchange (@WazirXIndia) July 18, 2024

There is still a lot to come out though this data breach has costed the company a hefty amount. The WazirX is one of the few trusted Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange and trading platforms in India.

The post Major Security Breach At WazirX: $230 Million In Crypto Stolen by Hackers appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

There is a growing threat of distrust among netizens across the world. According to a 2022 study by the Pew Research Center, 64% of Americans are concerned about the reliability of the information they find online. Furthermore, a 2021 survey by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found that 54% of Americans believe it is difficult to tell the difference between real and fake data online.

These shocking statistics show how there can be distrust and doubt on verifiable data online. However, through the help of blockchain technology, bringing trust back to information found online might just be possible. VX Technologies, a firm that specializes in record creation and verification, revealed to the public their flagship platform AlphaDAPP that serves to bring data sovereignty to its end-users.

VX Technologies made the AlphaDAPP introduction at the London Blockchain Conference (LBC) held at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre last May 31 to June 2. Aimed to bring the world of enterprise, government and blockchain together, the LBC served to connect the brightest minds in the technology world and introduce how blockchain can disrupt industries.

VX Technologies President Justin Pauly participated in a panel about how verifiable data and digital sovereignty can be accomplished with AlphaDAPP. But first, he went on to talk about how AlphaDAPP is a foundational product that eases the long list of requirements for app development by putting data-on-chain, distributing the data, and having peer-to-peer verification for all users.

“When we put data on-chain through AlphaDAPP, we’re allowing a corporation to start an audit trail. Someone signed for this, now they’re an authorized signer. I’ve worked to go to school, right? Whether I complete that course or that final degree that I’ve taken my course, I have learned that information. You can’t take that away from me,” said Pauly.

“That is my sovereign thing that I’ve earned, and I think I should have a record of it. Whatever that may be, it brings trust. When we start bringing trust in education, into e-governments, into agriculture, into mining, into sustainability, these things are critically important,” he added.

Simply put, AlphaDAPP works by leveraging blockchain technology to enable enterprises to build trust and provide transparency into their apps. This platform mainly serves to ease down firms’ application and program development work from months to minutes, but it also ensures trust is built using blockchain’s inherent features of immutability, traceability and transparency.

Immutability means that once data is recorded and stored on-chain, it cannot be changed or tampered with. This happens because each block on the blockchain contains a hash or a unique identifier of the previous block—and all changes of data in one block invalidates hashes of all subsequent blocks. Traceability is done by emphasizing the distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the recording of data.

Being a distributed ledger means that data loss is prevented at all times. Data is distributed to each node or miner on the network. Because of this, each node has a master copy of all data on the blockchain. So, even if one crashes or goes bankrupt, no data will be lost because all other nodes will still be in possession of all the data held by that node. 

DLT also allows for the secure and transparent recording of data in a chronological order when it is combined with a public blockchain. This allows anyone to verify the accuracy and integrity of the data, as well as trace its source. Aside from it being a handy tool for law enforcement agencies to track illicit activities, it can also be applied to many different industries.

For instance, AlphaDAPP can be used to store medical records for the healthcare industry. And because AlphaDAPP provides immutability and transparency of data, doctors, patients, insurance agents and other stakeholders will be able to trust that the records they are accessing are verifiably authentic.

In the case of insurance claims, patients will be assured that they are getting what they deserve. On the other hand, insurance companies will also feel confident that they are not underpaying or overpaying claimants. Not only will this kind of system save time, effort and money in this age of digitalization, but it will also bring back the trust from the end user to the service provider. 

Healthcare is but one industry that AlpaDAPP can serve. Governments, which are in need of reliable and efficient digital systems, will also benefit greatly from this system of trust. Gaining back and building the people’s trust is crucial in establishing loyalty, which is a major factor to consider not only for brands, but most businesses.

According to HubSpot Research, 65% of consumers in the United States and United Kingdom “do not trust company press releases.” Distrust in the data that companies provide to the public is something that will negatively affect their margin. However, when the content of press releases, for instance, is based on verifiable data, then trust can be earned back. 

Data sovereignty is key in not only making digital systems highly efficient, but it is also crucial in building trust. This is extremely valuable today and in the future digital economy. 

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