Resorts in Soneva hotel chain can now be paid for in Bitcoin or Ethereum, review by our experts Crypto-Upvotes

Resort chain Soneva hotels in Thailand and the Maldives are now accepting payments in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Cryptocurrency payment provider TripleA and payment platform Pomelo Pay are helping to make payments.

The cryptocurrency payment option will be available at Soneva Fushi hotels. As well as Soneva Jani and Soneva in Aqua in Maldives. And in Soneva Kiri in Thailand. Also for Bitcoin and Ethereum it is now possible to buy real estate in the Maldives at Soneva Villa Ownership.

The resort network can directly book rooms. And pay with cryptocurrency through a secure link. In addition, you can use a QR code to pay in cryptocurrency. Soneva adds that while any payments made using Bitcoin or Ethereum are 100 per cent non-refundable, credits can apply in line with its flexible cancellation policy.

“At Soneva, we have always endeavoured to be a pioneer in the hospitality industry, hence accepting cryptocurrencies as a payment method is another example of enabling our international guests to easily make payments from anywhere in the world,” said Bruce Bromley, chief financial officer, and deputy CEO of Soneva.

Our experts told about its effect on cryptocurrency market “Merger” of Ethereum , and what will happen if it fails.

According to Ethereum developers’ plans, the blockchain update, also known as The Merge. Or Ethereum 2.0, is planned for second half of September. It is aimed at improving the efficiency and scalability of their network.

The speed of transactions in the network will increase to 100,000 TPS (transactions per second). It is now around 15 TPS, according to analytics platform Kaiko. The update will also improve Ethereum’s protection against coordinated attacks. Such as the 51% attack. In which, the person who controls most of the network. Can forcibly make fraudulent changes.

Phase 0 of the Ethereum 2.0 update, the Beacon Chain, was launched on December 1, 2020. Phase 0 began the blockchain’s transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) algorithm. Its full implementation will mean the end of ETH mining.

Networks such as Ropsten and Sepolia have already switched to the new protocol. And on the morning of August 11 developers have successfully completed Goerli’s latest testnet upgrade. The tentative start date for the main network migration is September 19.

The cryptocommunity suggests that a bifurcation of the blockchain may occur during the “Merge” process. In this case, two parallel networks will emerge, each of which may have its own ETH token. Also, an update failure cannot be ruled out. These events could have an impact on the cryptocurrency market and token rates. Since the market was sensitive to Ethereum price changes after the completion of test updates.

Increased uncertainty in a crypto market

A failure of the transition to ETH 2.0 is unlikely. As all current updates in test networks are successful. In the worst case, the timing of the transition can be shifted, but not the refusal of the update and not its failure.

That said, the risks of a fork of ETH with a split into two coins, PoW and PoS, have increased in recent weeks. In the case of a fork, the PoW version of ETH will be more in demand at the expense of miners for the first time. Because of the continued ability to mine and accumulate tokens. However, in the long run, the PoS version will be more interesting for investment.

Splitting the network is not dangerous in terms of problems for the team and Ethereum project. But it could lead to uncertainty in cryptocurrency market. For example, it is unclear how long it will take to stabilize tokens, networks, exchanges and wallets. Which will have to account for not one, but two new protocols and two tokens.

Possible temporary collapse of Ethereum price

The market is already pricing in an option with a possible Ethereum upgrade. When the blockchain completely moves to the POS algorithm, there will not be any immediate reaction. If everything is “good and positive” with the market. Then ETH exchange rate will go up one way or another.

If the update will fail or will be postponed. Most likely there will be a local temporary dump of ETH price.

Ethereum has a lot of potential, especially after moving to PoS. There will be additional interest in it. Users will start investing in ETH to create nodes and get extra income from it. Our experts also said that it will open a road for institutional investors. And Ethereum itself will become more environmentally friendly due to the fact that less electricity will be used to mine it.

Market for virtual art continues to grow, despite falling prices for cryptocurrencies and collectibles. Which of NFT artist’s works sold the most, and what was bought this summer.

NFTs are unique crypto-assets that are often objects of art and digital collectibles. Rapid growth in popularity of NFTs began in 2021. And by the end of which NFT trading volume exceeded $13 billion.

This figure was up almost 400 times from 2020 ($33 million). However, due to the downturn in the cryptocurrency market in 2022. The NFT industry has shown a significant decline in sales: in July, it was about $647.23 million.

Despite this, investors and NFT enthusiasts continue to be interested in digital art. Prices for some works by virtual artists approach those of luxury goods. And in particular, they are comparable to the cost of a luxury home. The most popular tokens continue to be items from the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats and Crypto Punks collections. Such NFTs are owned by celebrities including rappers Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, footballer Neymar, Madonna, Ozzy Osbourne and others.

Our experts found the most expensive NFTs ever sold

The Merge – $98.1 million

This work of art was created by Pak, a student of Mike Winkelmann (also known as Beeple). This painting is made up of balls of different sizes. About 29 thousand people invested in The Merge, and total value of NFT was $91.8 million.

The First 5000 Days – $69.3 million

Work by American graphic designer Beeple. NFT was sold in 2021 for $69.3 million at Christie’s auction. First 5000 Days is a collage of Beeple work from 2007.

Clock – $52.7 million

This NFT was created by digital artist Pak to support Wikileaks journalist Julian Assange. The clock counts down how many days Assange has been in prison. It was bought by an activist group AssangeDAO.

HUMAN ONE – $28.8 million

Another NFT by Beeple, sold by him at Christie’s auction. HUMAN ONE is an animated 3d image of an astronaut. Beeple has access to this NFT and can change it periodically.

CryptoPank No. 5822 – $23.7 million

Pixel NFT with a blue punk in a bandana was sold for 8,000 ETH. It was bought for that amount in early 2022.

Expensive NFT buys over last few months

The Answer

The Answer was sold for 100 ETH ($174,900) This work is by one of the most successful digital artists of anyma. Who illuminates in his work the interaction between technology and nature.

gn

NFT gn desktop wallpaper by artist Rajon Bliss (@rivenribbon) was purchased by Snoop Dogg for 64.0 ETH ($97.3k).

88MPH In SoHo

A work by photographer Guido Di Salle was sold for 55.0 ETH ($74,000).

Synth Garden

NFT by Indian artist Archana Nair was sold for 124.69 ETH ($138,100).

Painting by actor Jim Carrey– Sunshower for 62,04 ETH ($69,500 )

Poloniex and MEXC began trading ETHW and ETHS tokens in anticipation of Ethereum updates. And BitMEX launched trading in futures contracts.

Three crypto exchanges have supported trading of tokens that may become available after hardfork Ethereum. Last week, Poloniex and MEXC announced the launch of ETHS and ETHW trading. And on August 8, BitMEX launched a futures product based on ETHPoW tokens.

Poloniex and MEXC allow Ethereum holders to exchange their cryptocurrency for ETHS and ETHW at a 1:1 ratio. These tokens function like derivatives and allow users to trade blockchain assets that have yet to launch.

On these exchanges, ETHS trades at a price close to Ethereum, while ETHW is much cheaper and trades in the $125-130 range.

In case two blockchains are formed. Then these exchanges will support the holders of both tokens.

If the ETH 2.0 update is completed without a blockchain fork. The cryptocurrency will keep its previous name ETH. In this case, Poloniex and MEXC will suspend and exclude ETHS, ETHW and related markets.

Our experts also noted that сryptocurrency exchange Binance has also announced that it will consider supporting new Ethereum tokens. Binance team has announced support for the upcoming Ethereum update. However, it warned that all new hardfork tokens will undergo the same strict verification process before listing on Binance as any other coin.

Major internet platforms in China have deleted more than 51,000 posts with illegal information about digital assets

China has blocked more than 12,000 accounts on local social networks. Their owners promoted and advertised cryptocurrency. This was reported by publication “Net Letter China” in its official account WeChat. In addition to closing accounts, Weibo, Baidu and other Chinese web platforms have deleted more than 51,000 posts with illegal advertising. Which advertises easy earnings through investing in cryptocurrencies.

Local units of Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) have been tasked with interviewing more than 500 commercial entities. They have been asked to remove illegal content.

Find accounts, articles, and websites that publish information about cryptocurrencies. This year, users of these social networks themselves actively helped and reported these violations. CAC also plans to continue cooperating with other Chinese agencies. To strengthen the fight against illegal cryptocurrency activity and improve security of funds.

In late June, China’s largest messenger WeChat, updated its usage rules to prohibit posting information about services and services related to cryptocurrency or NFT.

Advertising in China is still possible. And our crypto marketing agency “Crypto-Upvotes” is working on this issue. Already now we can offer advertising of your project. In popular Chinese Media and Weibo influencers. In the near future we will be able to offer billboard advertising in China.

But despite WeChat and other prohibitions in China, cryptocurrencies in China are very popular. Chinese investors take leading role in the world. We do articles in popular Chinese media. To order you need to provide us with text and a picture for your article. Our team will translate the texts into Chinese and prepare them for publication.

Additionally you can order Weibo influencers. We can offer influencers for any marketing budget. To order you need to provide a text and a picture or video. And texts in Chinese we make ourselves. Weibo is very popular and they haven’t introduced restrictions for cryptocurrencies yet. So you have time to order now.

Crypto marketing agency “Crypto-Upvotes” will help to tell about your project to millions of new investors from China.

Our experts have analyzed possible changes in ETH price. And paid attention to factors which can lead to growth or decline of ETH in the near future.

Our experts believe that of all cryptocurrencies, Ethereum will make maximum profit by the end of this year. We predict 4 possible scenarios for ETH price as of March 31, 2023. In these possible scenarios, we consider two factors. These are the change in Fed rates and the Ethereum “Merger” ( blockchain’s transition to a new protocol) planned for September.

Scenario 1: Fed reversal (change of regulator’s policy towards lower key rate) and successful “Merger” of Ethereum. according to our experts, this is most likely scenario, with the target price of ETH at $5,000.

Scenario 2: Fed does not change policy, but ETH “Merger” is successful. In this case, expected price of cryptocurrency is about $3,560

Scenario 3: Fed does not change policy, “Merger” of ETH goes unsuccessfully. In such a case, we forecast a price equal to recent lows around $1,000.

Scenario 4: There is a reversal of Fed policy, with the “Merger” failing (ETH network will continue to operate as it does today). In this case, the price of ETH will be $1.6k.

There are all preconditions for these scenarios, but there is no guarantee that it will happen.

At this moment, both futures curves, money markets, and surveys of leading economists are signaling that the key rate hike will peak in December and January, and the start of FED policy easing will begin in March at best.

FED will raise rates in September by 0.75% and the market will refocus its expectations for a peak rate hike in March 2023. In that case, Ethereum could hold in a $1K-$1.7K range closer to a lower line.

Only after that by the end of the year a Merger factor will be triggered. And there will be prospects for the end of the cycle of tightening of monetary policy. And more headlines about Web3 and ETH will start to appear in the media. Then there will be more reasons to realize optimistic scenarios with Ethereum price returning to $3.5k – $5k.

Cybercriminals send emails on behalf of Metamask cryptocurrency wallet support

New phishing attack targeting MetaMask crypto wallet users was detected by cybersecurity company Halborn. Scammers send a phishing link to your email. And they look like they were written to you by official Metamask support.

This email looks like a real message from MetaMask. It uses a logo of cryptocurrency wallet with a picture of a fox. And in this message there is a link to an open appeal to support. This email contains a demand to verify your wallet by August 30.

When user clicks on proposed link he is redirected to a scam site. Which is similar to MetaMask page. This site prompts the user to enter a Seed phrase (a unique set of words) from their wallet.

Team Halborn notes that their sender’s name and email address contain a spelling mistake. Their name is Metamaks instead of MetaMask. Scammers also use a fake domain (metamaks.auction) and a server unicarpentry.onmicrosoft.com. Which has nothing to do with the real wallet support service. Earlier in mid-July, FBI reported that American investors who used fake crypto-apps and websites. According to FBI data, 244 people were victims of scammers who created copies of web-pages and mobile wallets of famous companies.

Important

Our Crypto-Upvotes experts warn you. Never click on unverified links that you received to your email. Carefully read who sent you email and look for spelling mistakes in names or links you received. Because scammers use similar names of large companies. But they are different if you look closely and compare names. You should also go to official website of any company on behalf of which scammers have written to you. And check whether there are official important notices with any requirements for users. If there are no important announcements, you can delete this email. Remember an important detail, dear MetaMask users. Scammers can steal your funds. If only you tell them your secret Seed phrase. So never give this information to anyone.

Crypto-Upvotes experts told about investments in ETC and estimated probability of miners’ transition to Ethereum Classic mining

Cryptocurrency Ethereum Classic (ETC) shows significant growth. Having risen by 45% in the last month alone. On July 28, ETH reached $34, gaining more than 23% in one day. Ethereum Classic is currently ranked 20th in cryptocurrency capitalization at $4.61 billion with a daily trading volume of $5.26 billion.

Rise in price of coin began after announcement that main Ethereum network will switch to new operation protocol (Proof-of-Stake) at the end of September. This transition will mean the end of ETH mining. Due to this event, and because Ethereum Classic blockchain uses the same mining algorithm. All ETH miners can start migrating to ETC.

Ethereum Classic cryptocurrency appeared in 2016 as a result of a hard fork of main Ethereum network. Because reason for blockchain forking was hacking of DAO investment project. And the theft of about 3.6 million Ethereums from it, which at that time amounted to about $60 million. Developers of Ethereum Foundation project conducted a blockchain split to compensate for losses.

Interest of big players grows in ETC

Ethereum Classic began to appreciate after announcement that ETH will switch to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) in fall. Ethereum Classic will remain its only major blockchain with smart contracts after main network switches to a different algorithm. Which run on classic PoW and Ethash mining algorithm.

Miners will migrate to the ETC network because of specific ASIC chips. Migration of miners will theoretically strengthen security of Ethereum Classic network, which has been attacked several times. Developers of fork are counting on growing interest of smart contract owners, who will not want to migrate to PoS.

ETC has been showing growth for the last few days. It is very likely that the volumes we are now seeing from the big players and companies. Who are buying up the asset in order to further hold on to it.

Our Crypto-Upvotes experts have noticed that mining pool Antpool. Which is affiliated with mining equipment maker Bitmain. It has invested $10 million in Ethereum Classic ecosystem. It also intends to accept accept ETC for payment for its products. Our experts say that in bull market ETC price with support of corporations can go up to $100+.

What will be effect of Ethereum move to POS for ETC

For holders of large scale crypto farms, ” classic” PoW algorithm is more profitable. Than new PoS, to which Ethereum main network is migrating. Traders take into account in their estimates of cryptocurrency that transition to PoS in Ethereum Classic is not planned and mining in this system will be profitable for all major mining players.

It’s too early to talk about mass transition of miners from Ethereum to Ethereum Classic. But interest in ETC has clearly emerged. This is evidenced by the local maximum hash rate of Ethereum Classic network. In any case, the vast majority of GPU miners will stay on ETH until its transition to PoS.

Ethereum and Ethereum Classic mining has clear advantages over BTC mining. Because net profits are higher due to lower power costs compared to ASIC equipment, especially during a bear market.

How Crypto Exchanges use users’ personal information. And what exactly government interests.

Legal treatment of crypto exchanges varies greatly from country to country. A number of states officially allow cryptocurrency transactions.

In accordance with the international recommendations of the FATF. Operators of virtual asset services. Including crypto-exchanges, should collect data on participants of cryptocurrency transactions.

What Crypto Exchanges must do.

They are required to conduct a rigorous check on their users – both individuals and businesses. Crypto exchanges cannot disclose this data without a valid reason, for example in USA. In USA, 4th amendment to Constitution prohibits illegal searches and seizures of data. In order for a crypto exchange to release personal data, there must be a court order. A mere request from law enforcement will not be enough.

Monitoring activities of users of various crypto-platforms takes place worldwide as well. State authorities most often request information on what kind of cryptocurrency the user owns. And how often he or she makes transactions. In addition, the source of funds may be of interest.

Crypto exchanges monitor suspicious trades.

Legislative requirements for suspicious trades have been in place for a long time. Crypto exchanges are required to report suspicious trades. And provide detailed reports on transactions over $10,000. And also to keep information about money transfers. But this obligation is so far only relevant in those countries. That have allowed cryptocurrency exchange at the legislative level.

If an exchange gathers evidence of illegal activity. It will be required to notify law enforcement. Most often, crypto exchanges simply block suspicious accounts. Or they restrict any transactions other than transfers to a local wallet.

Users cannot find out if their personal data has been provided to a third party. But such information can appear, as in the case of Coinbase. Coinbase sell crypto user geo-location data to U.S. ICE immigrations and customs agency.

Our experts say that cryptocurrency platforms themselves use personal data to ensure legal procedures. And compliance with all requirements.

Who is monitoring you and what do they want to know?

It is almost any worldwide country that has legally binding methods for analyzing centralized user data.

They are interested in what coins you have. And how often you trade them. As well as where your funds used to buy cryptocurrencies come from. And they also track where coins are sent when they leave centralized exchanges. If you’re storing coins in an offline wallet. There’s a good chance that. One or even more governments will find out about that wallet address. Regardless of where you move the coins that have ever been in a centralized exchange, they can track you.

How to avoid being watched?

In answer to the question of how to avoid government control. We can say this: DEX exchanges and confidential coins are really only answer we know. If you use centralized services, you take a risk.

Conclusions:

Our Crypto-Upvotes experts warn you. Always check website to which you are providing your personal information. Don’t give your personal information to everyone who asks for it. Use one or two exchange at most where you will disclose your personal information. In principle, there is no notification mode, so you won’t know that your data has been disclosed. Our experts believe that disclosure of personal data in crypto-industry is possible only in extreme cases.

Hidden mining threat (CryptoJacking) reached a record level in first half of 2022: number of detected attacks raised to 66.7 million, 30% more than in first six months of 2021

Hidden mining or CryptoJacking is a cybercrime. It involves unauthorized use of devices (computers, smartphones, tablets or servers) by hackers to mine cryptocurrency. Hidden mining is often done through security exploits in mobile apps. As well as web browsers and goes unnoticed by victims.

Cyber security company SonicWall recorded 45.1 million attacks in the first quarter. This is their highest number in their history of monitoring. However, in Q2 there were half as many cases – 21.6 million. According to a study, falling prices for cryptocurrencies may be a reason for this. According to experts’ forecast, the “summer recession of CryptoJacking” will continue in Q3 of this year. But attacks will peak again in Q4.

What drives growth of hidden mining and why it is dangerous

Two factors are responsible for general growth in the number of hidden mining incidents. First factor is a critical vulnerability in the Log4j Java library. It was found in 2021. It allows hackers to gain unauthorized access to hundreds of users’ apps remotely around world. In addition, Hidden Mining is an attack with less risk for scammers. Than extortion, because victims of scammers often do not know that their computers or networks are being used. As a result, cybercriminals have less chance of being detected. Normal users see their devices running slower. But it’s hard to connect this to criminal activity.

At least one extortion group has already publicly announced its intentions to switch to hidden mining. And if they do, it won’t be the first time cryptojacking has replaced extortion software.

The number of attacks on government, health care, and education sectors decreased by 78%, 87%, and 96%, respectively. However, cases of hidden mining in financial industry increased by 269%, and in retail by 63%.

Earlier, FBI reported that American investors who used fake crypto-applications and sites lost at least $42.7 million. According to FBI, 244 people were victims of fraudsters who create copies of web pages and mobile wallets of famous companies.

Our Crypto-Upvotes experts warn you to be careful when visiting unknown sites. Or when installing applications on your devices. Hidden mining is a real risk that you could lose your money.