Been scammed? ‘Crypto crimestoppers’ claim to help get crypto back

September 25, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Analytics

Private investigation firm Lionsgate claims it can help recover stolen crypto when going straight to the police fails.

If you’ve been scammed, it might seem like your crypto is lost forever. Decentralized blockchain wallets can’t be frozen in the way bank accounts can. And even if the scammer tries to cash out at a regulated exchange, the authorities may move too slowly to nab the funds before they are withdrawn.

But various private investigation firms do claim to have notched up success in recovering funds. Self-proclaimed “crypto crimestoppers” Lionsgate Network, claims it has recovered at least $4 million in stolen and lost crypto funds.

Lionsgate said it uses connections with law enforcement in various US states and countries around the world to freeze and return stolen crypto to its owners.

Founder and CEO Bezalel Eithan Raviv told Cointelegraph that while it’s difficult to track and freeze funds, it’s not impossible. “Everything begins with analysis, as that’s what we do,” he stated. “That’s our core service, and we do it with the most advantageous tech there is in [the] crypto space or blockchain analysis.”

Locating the funds is one thing, but recovering them is another.

Bitcoin miner wallets awaken after over 15 years — Is this Satoshi?

September 20, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Vitalik wallet sends 400 ETH worth $600K to Coinbase

September 25, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Vitalik wallet sends 400 ETH worth 0K to Coinbase

Analytics

A wallet associated with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has been flagged sending 400 ETH worth $600,000 to Coinbase.

Blockchain sleuths have flagged a number of ETH transactions from a wallet associated to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in September 2023 totalling over $3.9 million.

Seperate blockchain monitoring profiles shared details of a 400 ETH transaction worth an estimated $632,000 from Vitalik’s wallet to Coinbase on Sept. 25.

@VitalikButerin deposited 400 $ETH to #Coinbase at $1,579 ($632K) 2hrs ago.

Notably, Ethereum’s co-founder has deposited a total of 2,421 $ETH to multiple CEXs at 1,628 on average ($3.94M) via two addresses over the past 10 days.

More details: https://t.co/tiJwn0omkk… https://t.co/C3BqRmsUau pic.twitter.com/8v1jmadwaM
— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) September 25, 2023

According to Spot On Chain, Buterin’s most recent transaction is the latest in a spate of ETH deposits to centralized exchanges over the past 10 days. The blockchain analytics platform estimates that Buterin has deposited an estimated 2,421 ETH valued at $3.94 million from Sept. 15 onwards.

The platform outlined deposits amounting to 321 ETH worth $527,000 deposited to Kraken between Sept. 15 and Sept. 19. Buterin also reportedly deposited a total of 1,700 ETH ($1.95 million) to Bitstamp in a number of transactions on Sept. 17 and Sept. 20, while 500 ETH was deposited to Paxos on Sept. 19.

Cointelegraph has independently verified a number of these transactions using exclusive access to Nansen 2 beta’s wallet profiler. Blockchain data also highlights a transfer of 2,000 ETH worth $4.9 million to the address that has been carrying out these transactions from another wallet long associated with the Ethereum co-founder.

Nansen 2 wallet profiler highlighting a 3000 ETH transaction between wallets associated with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

According to Spot On Chain, the source of the 2,000 ETH transaction is a “better-known address” (0xD04daa65144b97F147fbc9a9B45E741dF0A28fd7) belonging to Buterin than the middle address (0x5567A4bE2D5b77F5Fd870f99Ed9167Feab8831B1) that has been transferring funds to exchanges.

Cointelegraph previously reported a $1 million, 600 ETH transaction from the vitalik.eth address on Aug. 21 that was also identified by on-chain monitoring platforms.

Magazine: Recursive inscriptions: Bitcoin ‘supercomputer’ and BTC DeFi coming soon

Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino says Bitcoin mining needs better analytical tools

August 17, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Analytics

Stablecoin operator Tether is building specialized Bitcoin mining software aimed at using data analytics to optimize mining operations and boost production, CTO Paolo Ardoino says.

Stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) is building specialized software to optimize Bitcoin mining and renewable energy operating using data analytics, following recent investment endeavors into both categories.

In conversation with Cointelegraph, Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino expanded upon details of its in-development mining software which aims to deliver improved analytics and performance of mining sites.

Moria, named after the dwarven mining kingdom from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, is being built by Ardoino and a team of developers. Tether's CTO had previously shared details of the software in a recent social media post.

Tether is investing in renewable energy production (with excess reserves / profits) and sustainable #bitcoin mining.
While there are ton of cloud-based bitcoin mining trackers, everything I've seen so far is not really customizable and lacks of deep-level orchestration…
— Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) August 15, 2023

Ardoino says that while the ecosystem has a number of cloud-based Bitcoin mining trackers, these lack a high degree of customizability and “deep-level orchestration capabilities” which has left a gap in the market for a solution that analyzes real-time data to optimize mining and energy outputs.

“So far most software that mining companies use are basic cloud solutions that have a simplified interface that provides an overview of the current status of the bitcoin mining site.”

Ardoino said that having access to deep data sources of an energy production site or a mining site requires complex and efficient analytical tools in order to understand the performance of a site and its surrounding environment.

“If energy used by the mining site is wind or solar, there are optimization parameters, like predicted speed of wind for a specific day or a specific hour of the day, that could be used to overclock some of the miners and boost the production.”

Tether has been actively investing in energy production and Bitcoin mining using a portion of excess reserves of USDT. Ardoino said that ensuring data produced by a variety of devices including miners, containers and electric transformers is recorded, monitored and analyzed in real time is imperative to streamlining operations.

His recent X post extrapolated the value to be derived from a Bitcoin mining site made up of thousands of physical mining units stored in multiple containers connected to thousands more devices. The Tether CTO likened a mining site to an IoT project that produces millions of data points.

Ardoino added that the development focus of Moria is currently on its Bitcoin analytical tools, before the software is extended to cover energy production.

“There as well you have solar panels, wind mills etc that provide an incredible amount of information.”

Ardoino describes Moria’s software as a Holepunch-based scalable and modular architecture that is able to collect, aggregate and analyze data from a variety of devices to optimize Bitcoin mining.

Tether recently announced that it would invest $1 billion into El Salvador's Volcano Energy project, directing shareholder profits into energy infrastructure and Bitcoin mining operations. In another extensive interview with Cointelegraph, Ardoino outlined Tether’s reasoning behind the move.

Magazine: ‘Elegant and ass-backward’: Jameson Lopp’s first impression of Bitcoin

Digital marketing will become Web3’s next major use case, says report

July 27, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Analytics

More than 70 startups have raised over $600 million in the embryonic Web3 digital marketing sector.

The Web3 ecosystem could become the next golden opportunity for digital marketers, with almost 200 companies already thinking deeply about how to utilize the Web3 tech stack.

On July 25, Web3 marketing analytics firm Safary released a comprehensive report titled “The Web3 Growth Landscape 2023."

It noted that the 2010s were the “golden age of digital marketing” with Web2 growth seeing 150 marketing companies in 2011 increase to 11,000 in 2023.

However, over the last three years, the digital marketing landscape has moved to a more privacy-centric environment. Therefore, marketers may also need to change tack and embrace the Web3 tech stack, it said.

Their findings reveal that there are currently almost 200 companies already “thinking deeply” about the new digital media landscape, and 71 of them have collectively raised $600 million in funding.

*Market map showing 180+ teams building Web3 growth tools and experiences: Source: Safary*

Messaging, Questing and Loyalty platforms are the most well-funded categories, it reported, with each attracting more than $100 million in funding.

Quest platforms like Yield Guide Games create engagement marketplaces, directing users to complete incentive offers. This facilitates a more direct brand-user relationship than ads.

Additionally, loyalty companies help brands increase customer value and retention through rewards programs powered by NFTs and tokens.

There are also analytics tools for marketers like Nansen and Dune that aggregate on-chain, platform and social data to uncover growth insights on Web3 communities.

Discovery platforms such as DappRadar “have the potential to be some of the biggest ad real estate proprietaries in Web3,” it added, provided they invest in long-term strategies like SEO. It also cited CoinMarketCap as an example of one of “the highest trafficked websites on the internet.”

There are also 18 Web3 growth agencies that advise and deploy growth strategies on behalf of blockchain projects.

Marketing industry analytics outlet Chiefmartec has logged 11,038 marketing solutions and services this year overall, an 11% increase from the 9,932 it charted in 2022.

As Web3 evolves and grows, marketers will need to keep up and it appears that hundreds of startups have already got a head start.

Web3 Gamer: Earn Bitcoin in Minecraft, BGA’s 50/50 gender split, Oath of Peak hot take

Analytics