Speaker 1: I've got urgent news for you. Coinbase suffers a massive
Speaker 1: data breach and the hackers are calling for a twenty
Speaker 1: million dollar ransom. This is not good. I'll share the
Speaker 1: details what coinbased CEO is saying and what you can
Speaker 1: do to protect yourself. And MasterCard is making another big
Speaker 1: move in crypto, partnering with Tether and the sec versus
Speaker 1: Ripple is having some issues with its resolution as Judge
Speaker 1: Torres is pushing back. I'll share the details. Let's get
Speaker 1: into it. Hey, everybody, welcome into the Thinking Crypto podcast.
Speaker 1: You're home for cryptocurrency news and interviews. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Tony Edward. On your weight and please sit that subscribe
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Speaker 1: comment below. If you're listening on a podcast platform such
Speaker 1: as Spotify or Apple, please leave a five star rating
Speaker 1: and review. Folks. Breaking news. Coinbase has suffered a data breach.
Speaker 1: So essentially, if you are a coinbase customer, your name, address,
Speaker 1: phone number, email address and other data has been leaked
Speaker 1: now Coinbase. They tweeted out the following saying cyber criminals
Speaker 1: bribed and recruited rogue overseas support agents to pull personal
Speaker 1: data on less than one percent of coinbase customers. No passwords,
Speaker 1: private keys, or funds were exposed. Crime accounts are untouched.
Speaker 1: We will reimburse impacted customers now, They continued here, saying
Speaker 1: we will pursue the harshest penalties possible and will not
Speaker 1: pay the twenty million dollar ransom demand we received. Instead,
Speaker 1: we are establishing a twenty million dollar reward fund for
Speaker 1: information leading to the arrests and conviction of the criminals
Speaker 1: responsible for this attack. Folks, this is not good. However,
Speaker 1: Coinbase is going to reimburse the customers who lost their funds.
Speaker 1: Last week. I told you, guys, I've been getting a
Speaker 1: lot of spam calls, spam emails, spam texts of saying
Speaker 1: my coinbase account was hacked, and much more. And when
Speaker 1: I reported that to you guys, I told you to
Speaker 1: be careful, don't click on anything, don't get emotional, don't
Speaker 1: panic if you get those texts, because they are created
Speaker 1: in a way to trigger you and to get an
Speaker 1: emotional response where you don't think first, right, And unfortunately
Speaker 1: a lot of people fell for this. In fact, the
Speaker 1: reports are coming out that coinbased customers lost three hundred
Speaker 1: million dollars through these social engineering scams. And last week
Speaker 1: I reported that on chain sleuth zach xbt was reporting
Speaker 1: about forty five million dollars was lost. Will that number increase?
Speaker 1: So if you are a coin based user and you
Speaker 1: were getting those texts and emails and getting bombarded, this
Speaker 1: is the reason why this data was leaked by the
Speaker 1: overseas customer support person or persons, and unfortunately this is
Speaker 1: really bad and Coinbase CEO shout out to him though,
Speaker 1: Brian Armstrong. He put out a video addressing it, and
Speaker 1: let me play a clip for you here.
Speaker 2: Hey, everyone, I want to make you aware of a
Speaker 2: disturbing email that we received recently at Coinbase. It was
Speaker 2: a ransom note demanding twenty million dollars in bitcoin in
Speaker 2: exchange for these attackers not releasing some information they claim
Speaker 2: to have obtained on our customers. Now, we like to
Speaker 2: do things transparently here at Coinbase, and so I'm going
Speaker 2: to respond publicly to these attackers by saying no, we
Speaker 2: are not going to pay your ransom. In fact, I
Speaker 2: have a few next steps in mind that I'm going
Speaker 2: to share at the end of this video. But for
Speaker 2: the rest of you watching, wondering what happened. We did
Speaker 2: an investigation here, and these attackers have been approaching our
Speaker 2: overseas customer support agents looking for a weak link, someone
Speaker 2: who would accept a bribe in exchange for sharing some
Speaker 2: customer information with them. Now, our support tools have limited
Speaker 2: access to customer information. There was no passwords or private
Speaker 2: keys or funds accessed as part of this, but customer
Speaker 2: support agents do have access to personal information like name data,
Speaker 2: birth address, etc. And attackers still want access to this
Speaker 2: information because it allows them to conduct social engineering attacks
Speaker 2: where they can call our customers impersonating coinbased customer support
Speaker 2: and try to trick them into sending their funds to
Speaker 2: the attacker. And unfortunately they were able to find a
Speaker 2: few bad apples. Our systems are designed to mitigate the
Speaker 2: impact of something like this, so less than one percent
Speaker 2: of our monthly transacting users had their records accessed. But
Speaker 2: this is still unacceptable and I want to tell you
Speaker 2: what we're doing about it. So first, any customers that
Speaker 2: were socially engineered as a result of this incident, we're
Speaker 2: going to reimburse them. There's more details on our website
Speaker 2: on our blog posts about the reimbursement process. You can
Speaker 2: read more. There any customers who have been impacted by
Speaker 2: this or have been notified at this point. Number two,
Speaker 2: we're hardening our systems around customer support to make something
Speaker 2: like this much more difficult in the future. And third,
Speaker 2: we're actually relocating some of our customer support operations as
Speaker 2: a result of this. But the last step is maybe
Speaker 2: the most important, which is that instead of paying this
Speaker 2: twenty million dollar ransom, we're turning it around and we're
Speaker 2: putting out a twenty million dollar award for any information
Speaker 2: leading to the arrest and conviction of these attackers. For
Speaker 2: these would be extortionists or anyone seeking to harm coinbased
Speaker 2: customers know that we will prosecute you and bring you
Speaker 2: to justice. And now you have my answer.
Speaker 1: So really great update here from Brian Transparency. They're not
Speaker 1: giving into the ransom, I mean, the hackers they want
Speaker 1: twenty million dollars in bitcoin. This is crazy. So folks,
Speaker 1: what you need to do. Make sure your teaser cross,
Speaker 1: your eyes are dotted here. Do not click on any
Speaker 1: links or any emails that look suspicious that your account's
Speaker 1: been hacked, and this and that. Do not call any number.
Speaker 1: Do not apply to any text I've been blocking them
Speaker 1: and reporting them as spam. And if I have any
Speaker 1: concern or questions, I go directly to my coin base account.
Speaker 1: Now many of you know I believe in self custody.
Speaker 1: I put the majority of my crypto on hardware wallets,
Speaker 1: and I've been on the record saying this for years
Speaker 1: and years and years. Don't leave your coins on the exchanges.
Speaker 1: And I'm a user of the Treasure Save five. This
Speaker 1: is a beautiful hardware wallet that makes it easy to
Speaker 1: safely store your crypto. Treasure is a sponsor of this podcast,
Speaker 1: but I think it's timely here. So if you are
Speaker 1: keeping all your coins on an exchange, I highly recommend
Speaker 1: you get a hardware wallet like the Treasure Save five.
Speaker 1: Put your coins on here and put it in a
Speaker 1: safe in your home or a safety deposit box. And
Speaker 1: guess what, you can sleep at night. You don't have
Speaker 1: to worry. I do have exchange accounts because I swing trade,
Speaker 1: so I have a little bit of a crypto on
Speaker 1: the exchanges like coinbas and others, and I swing trade.
Speaker 1: But the major already of my holdings are on hardware wallets, folks,
Speaker 1: and the private keys are backed up and all that stuff,
Speaker 1: so I can sleep at night. If anybody tries to
Speaker 1: go into my coin miss account, you're not going to
Speaker 1: get anything like, Okay, you got some money, but you're
Speaker 1: not getting like all my crypto holdings. So this is
Speaker 1: why I use Treasure folks. And they've been at this
Speaker 1: since twenty thirteen. They're the ones that created the hardware wallet.
Speaker 1: It's open source and they support all the major coins Bitcoin,
Speaker 1: xrpiece of On and so forth, even new coins like
Speaker 1: black Rocks Biddle. So I highly recommend folks that you
Speaker 1: get a hardware wallet, and you can get a five
Speaker 1: percent discount by using the code thinking crypto all one word.
Speaker 1: So check out the link in the description to learn
Speaker 1: about Treasure's products. So, folks, keep an eye out, watch
Speaker 1: your emails. Don't click on stuff that look fishy. Make
Speaker 1: sure you double check those emails, and obviously you don't.
Speaker 1: If you pick up a call and they say they're
Speaker 1: from coinbase, immediately block the hell out of it. And
Speaker 1: those texts that come through. Don't click on anything, don't
Speaker 1: call it anything. Just reported as spam and blocked in numbers.
Speaker 1: That is what I've been doing to protect yourself. Now,
Speaker 1: this could happen to other exchanges. As well crack in
Speaker 1: and others because this was not a breach of the
Speaker 1: security system, but essentially they compromise an employee overseas, and
Speaker 1: they probably gave them a ton of money, right, more
Speaker 1: than they usually make because many of them are probably
Speaker 1: making minimum wage just answering calls and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So it really sucks. But I hope the crypto industry
Speaker 1: is able to use the blockchain technology and start putting
Speaker 1: different data on the blockchain where it can't be compromised. Right,
Speaker 1: it has to be multiple layers of security, so hopefully
Speaker 1: we can get there. But this really sucks. I mean,
Speaker 1: just protect yourself and watch out. Again. It can happen
Speaker 1: to other exchanges as well, and I have accounts with
Speaker 1: all the major exchanges uphold crackincrypto dot com because I
Speaker 1: use them as on and off ramps. If one exchange
Speaker 1: or two exchanges go down they're having issues due to traffic,
Speaker 1: I can go to other exchanges, so that's why I
Speaker 1: have these accounts. So just be careful, folks, and watch
Speaker 1: out even for regular mail, because these scammers have your
Speaker 1: physical address. They can send you mail and tell you
Speaker 1: to do stuff, So just watch out, be careful. Be
Speaker 1: skeptical of anything. And if you get something that says, oh,
Speaker 1: you just lost your funds or whatever, don't panic, don't
Speaker 1: have any emotional reaction. Slow down, take a deep breath,
Speaker 1: and then slowly go through the process and double check everything,
Speaker 1: and don't click on links, right, Just go directly to
Speaker 1: the app or the website and log in, and just
Speaker 1: check everything first before you go down any path of
Speaker 1: calling anybody or clicking on any links. It's very important, folks.
Speaker 1: It would really suck to lose your funds. But shout
Speaker 1: out to coinbase that they are going to reimburse folks
Speaker 1: who have lost their funds, and they're going after these
Speaker 1: scammers and they're putting out the reward out there. All right.
Speaker 1: Moving ahead, huge update. MasterCard has partnered with moonpay and
Speaker 1: this is to enable stable coin payments and spending at
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty million global businesses. We are seeing
Speaker 1: all the big credit card companies integrating stable coins. Visa
Speaker 1: is doing the same thing with USDC. And what's interesting,
Speaker 1: MasterCard is using USDT. The card itself has USDT branded
Speaker 1: on it. What a time to be alive. We are
Speaker 1: seeing incredible adoption of crypto from tradified giants, whether you're banks,
Speaker 1: credit card companies, stock exchange, and much more. MasterCard tweeted
Speaker 1: out stable coins meet one hundred and fifty million plus
Speaker 1: checkout counters, Enterprises and FinTechs can now offer MasterCard branded
Speaker 1: cards linked to consumers stable coin balances, unlocking new ways
Speaker 1: to pay and be paid. In partnership with Moonpay, we're
Speaker 1: combining our trusted global payments network and advanced stable coin
Speaker 1: infrastructure to bring seamless, secure digital assets payments to life. Folks.
Speaker 1: This is why I'm bullish. You are just seeing capitulation
Speaker 1: on many fronts. You know, years ago many of the
Speaker 1: folks that these companies were saying this is not then
Speaker 1: blockchain blah blah blah, crypto blah blah blah. Now they're
Speaker 1: all in a race to adopt the technology. It's incredible. This,
Speaker 1: this paradigm shift continues to amaze me. Moving ahead, we
Speaker 1: have a big company out in Brazil that is adding
Speaker 1: bitcoin to its treasury and I've been saying this trend
Speaker 1: is not going to die down, and it's a global
Speaker 1: movement where these companies are adding bitcoin to their balance
Speaker 1: sheet to protect their cash reserves and to grow it
Speaker 1: as well to outpace debasement and inflation. So meluse if
Speaker 1: I'm saying that right buys twenty eight point four million
Speaker 1: dollars a bitcoin, becoming Brazil's first bitcoin treasury company. You're
Speaker 1: going to see a lot of companies in different countries,
Speaker 1: do their folks okay? Moving ahead? Some not so good news.
Speaker 1: In the SEC versus Ripple case, many of you know
Speaker 1: the SEC and Ripple have settled. XRP was deemed not
Speaker 1: a security intrinsically by Judge Torres, and this case is
Speaker 1: pretty much wrapped up. However, Judge Torres is not making
Speaker 1: it easy for both the SEC and Ripple to fix this.
Speaker 1: So Judge Torres has denied a party's motion for an
Speaker 1: indicative ruling, saying if jurisdiction were restored to this court,
Speaker 1: the court would deny the party's motion as procedurally improper. Now,
Speaker 1: Attorney fred Rispoli said, the meeting here is that the
Speaker 1: parties didn't request relief under the right rule of civil procedure,
Speaker 1: so they will refile it under the correct rule. But
Speaker 1: me reading between the lines is that Ripple and the
Speaker 1: SEC need to get on all fours and beg for relief.
Speaker 1: So they're going to have to really get the judge
Speaker 1: to address this now. Is this something detrimental to the
Speaker 1: market or XRP. Of course not, because xrp's been moving
Speaker 1: without all of this stuff being done, even before we
Speaker 1: got this news. Because the market already sees the direction
Speaker 1: we're heading in. The settlement is there with the SEC,
Speaker 1: so there's no dark cloud and worry and ambiguity and
Speaker 1: all that, right, and the SEC lost when it comes
Speaker 1: to is XRP intrinsically a security And that was the
Speaker 1: major issue, right. Secondary sales are not security, So it's
Speaker 1: clear as day out there. But you want to get
Speaker 1: all the legal loose ends tied up, which is things
Speaker 1: like this. But the good thing is the SEC's working
Speaker 1: with Ripple, so it's not like the SEC's going against Ripple.
Speaker 1: Eleanor Turrett says, after speaking with my three legal sources
Speaker 1: and tuning into John Deeton's live analysis, my read is
Speaker 1: that Judge Torres is playing hardball here. She's not making
Speaker 1: it easy for the party so simply walk away. Instead,
Speaker 1: she'll make them work for it. Deaton raises a valid
Speaker 1: point from Taurus's perspective, the SEC has spent the last
Speaker 1: or the past five years, doubling down on a narrative
Speaker 1: and legal stress that resulted in thousands of hours of
Speaker 1: legal and judicial manpower, only for the agency to suggest
Speaker 1: that those five years were essentially a waste. While Torres
Speaker 1: has denied their initial requests, she's outlined a clear path
Speaker 1: forward provided the SEC in Ripple can meet the legal
Speaker 1: standards and presents a compelling case that withdrawing her ruling
Speaker 1: is in the best interests of the public and institutional
Speaker 1: buyers of XORP. Stuart Olleradi, which is Ripple's chief legal officer,
Speaker 1: mentioned Ripple will work with the SEC to revisit the
Speaker 1: issue together. Pretty while considering they've been on opposite sides
Speaker 1: for nearly five years, it'll be even more interesting to
Speaker 1: see if Torres eases up once they've done the necessary work,
Speaker 1: or if she sticks to her guns and makes this
Speaker 1: even more of a political fight. So this could be
Speaker 1: a little bit messy. I do think that she will
Speaker 1: ultimately do with the right thing here, because if the
Speaker 1: SEC's working Ripple and you know, I think they'll do.
Speaker 1: But as Attorney Fred Wispoli was saying, they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to beg They're gonna put some work in right, they're
Speaker 1: gonna have to come in and saying please Judge, please
Speaker 1: write and keep at it. But I think, guys, this
Speaker 1: thing is done right. It's just tying up the loose
Speaker 1: ends and eventually Judge tourists will get there. But just
Speaker 1: an FYI on what's happening here now, this is interesting
Speaker 1: Dave Portnoy. Now, I don't take financial advice from Dave Portnoy,
Speaker 1: But the reason why I'm sharing this with you he
Speaker 1: was at Consensus and the information he's putting out there
Speaker 1: is for the masses essentially, not for us who are
Speaker 1: educated and do our research.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: We don't take our investment if I from Dave Portnoy.
Speaker 1: We look at the charts, we look at the on
Speaker 1: chain data, we look at the macro. So I want
Speaker 1: to make sure that's clear. I'm not sharing this to say, oh,
Speaker 1: look at Dave port Nois. He's the best, but he
Speaker 1: represents retail and the mentality of retail, right, who may
Speaker 1: not be as educated about crypto, but they are jumping
Speaker 1: into the market. And you know, he was asked, why
Speaker 1: do you own XRP and he said, fomo, it's not
Speaker 1: like I have some grand belief in it. It's what
Speaker 1: two dollars, two bucks forty cents? What if that's the
Speaker 1: next bigcoin. Let me play the clip here for you.
Speaker 3: I remember I was trying to buy an apartment in
Speaker 3: Miami and I got out bid by crypto bro. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm just like that at Bastard.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he just bought.
Speaker 3: You know, he heard about bitcoin when it was I
Speaker 3: don't know, eight bucks, seven bucks. It's upbout one hundred.
Speaker 3: I've slaved for twenty years and he just outbid. So, yes,
Speaker 3: there's one hundred percent of fomo on everything. I think
Speaker 3: that's the mean coin. That's general. I mean, I I
Speaker 3: don't know Bitcoin. I don't know if there's as much
Speaker 3: fomo now it's so established. But like that's why I'm
Speaker 3: in XRP like that that it's fomo. It's not like
Speaker 3: I have some grand belief in it. But it's what
Speaker 3: two bucks forty cents or something like that is, Like
Speaker 3: what if that's the next bitpoint? So fomo I think
Speaker 3: plays a huge part.
Speaker 1: So interesting statements, right, And once again, this is not
Speaker 1: for you and I. We're not sitting here, Oh Dave Portnoy,
Speaker 1: give us more financial advice. That's not what this is
Speaker 1: about he represents once again that crowd. He has a
Speaker 1: huge following, well known, so imagine the Normans that are
Speaker 1: listening to him and what they're going to do, and
Speaker 1: how XRP has performed. And I've been seeing a lot
Speaker 1: of retail fomo as he mentioned, So it's interesting and
Speaker 1: I do believe XRP will continue to do well in
Speaker 1: this bull market for many different reasons, but fomo certainly
Speaker 1: one of them. So, folks, that's the news. Let me
Speaker 1: know what you think. I know it's not all great news,
Speaker 1: and the coin based news is a bummer, but you know,
Speaker 1: at least they're doing the right thing and making customers
Speaker 1: whole and so forth. So folks, let me know what
Speaker 1: you think. Leave your thoughts and comments below. A great
Speaker 1: way you can support me if you appreciate this content
Speaker 1: is by subscribing to my free email newsletter. It's one
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Speaker 1: it's available in paperback, in digital, and my course at
Speaker 1: mycryptocurse dot com. Folks, thank you for watching listening. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you all, and I'll talk to you all later.