Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

On February 10, the well-known developer of Cydia and iOS Jailbreak, Jay Freeman, otherwise known as Saurik, published a Twitter thread about a bug he found in the Layer-2 (L2) scaling protocol known as Optimism. According to Freeman, the vulnerability, which has been patched, could have allowed an attacker to create an infinite amount of tokens. Cydia Creator ‘Saurik’ Discovers Optimism L2 Vulnerability Jay Freeman is a prominent software developer who is well known for his iOS Jailbreak and Cydia tools. Freeman’s Cydia graphical user interface (GUI) was released in February 2008, and it gives users with jailbroken iPhones the ability to download unauthorized software for the Apple smartphone operating system iOS. Freeman recently published a blog post called “Attacking an Ethereum L2 with Unbridled Optimism,” which explains how he reported a critical security issue to the developers of the L2 scaling solution Optimism. Optimism’s L2 solution allows users to move ethereum for a f...

The governor of Hungary’s central bank has called for a ban on cryptocurrency trading and mining in the European Union. “It is clear-cut that cryptocurrencies could service illegal activities and tend to build up financial pyramids,” he said. Hungarian Central Bank Chief Wants EU-Wide Crypto Trading and Mining Ban The Hungarian National Bank, the central bank of Hungary, published a statement Friday from György Matolcsy, the governor of the central bank, declaring that the “Time has come to ban crypto trading and mining in the EU.” He noted that “China declared all cryptocurrency activities illegal last September” and Russia’s central bank has proposed “a ban on crypto trading and mining.” Commenting on the Russian central bank’s crypto ban proposal, Governor Matolcsy said: I perfectly agree with the proposal and also support the senior EU financial regulator’s point that the EU should ban the mining method used to produce new bitcoin. In January, the vice chairman of the Boar...

Financial services firm Wells Fargo says that cryptocurrencies are viable investments that have entered the “hyper-adoption” phase. “Cryptocurrencies have been following an adoption pattern similar to other new advanced technologies, such as the internet,” the firm’s global investment team detailed. Crypto in Hyper-Adoption Phase, Says Wells Fargo Wells Fargo’s investment institute published a special report titled “Understanding Cryptocurrency” this week. The report attempts to answer whether it is “too early or too late” to invest in cryptocurrencies. The Wells Fargo team explained: We believe that cryptocurrencies are viable investments today, even though they remain in the early stages of their investment evolution. They added: “We recommend professionally managed private placements for now, as the investment landscape is still maturing.” The research team continued: “We see cryptocurrencies in the ‘early, but not too early’ investment stage, which is why we have emphasize...

Netflix has ordered a documentary series about the couple who allegedly laundered billions of dollars from the 2016 Bitfinex hack. Aspiring rapper Heather Morgan and her husband, Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, were arrested in New York this week. The Department of Justice (DOJ) also seized 94,636 bitcoins stolen from the Bitfinex hack. Documentary Series About the Bitfinex Hack and the Couple Involved, Coming Soon to Netflix American subscription streaming service and production company Netflix announced Friday that it “has ordered a documentary series about a married couple’s alleged scheme to launder billions of dollars worth of stolen cryptocurrency in the biggest criminal financial crime case in history.” The company explained that Chris Smith — famed for directing “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened” and “Tiger King” — is set to direct and executive produce the Bitfinex documentary series. In addition, writer and producer Nick Bilton — famed for “Fake Famous,” “The Inve...