More Hedge Funds Are Hating Cryptocurrency (Money.usnews.com)
It has been a tough year for some of the largest hedge funds in the country, and big-name fund managers are taking out their frustrations on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This week, Baupost Group’s Seth Klarman and JANA Partners’ Barry Rosenstein became the latest investing gurus to question meteoric cryptocurrency price gains in their year-end letters to investors. According to the JANA letter, the cryptocurrency market is the most obviously overpriced financial market today.
Katy Perry Joins Cryptocurrency Celebs Club (NewsBTC)
Crypto mania has taken the world by storm this year. It is the hot topic from Davos to Da Club with billionaires and rappers getting on board the block train. Celebrities want to be seen to be hip with the latest in tech and gossip. Making the right moves this week was singer Katy Perry who flaunted what could be a new fad in crypto fashion.
Hackers Hit Over 15 Million Users with New XMRig Monero Cryptocurrency Mining Campaign (IBTimes.co.uk)
A new cryptocurrency mining campaign has infected over 15 million users across the globe. The new campaign, which involves hackers leveraging the XMRig Monero miner, has hit South America, Southeast Asia and northern Africa the hardest. According to security researchers at Palo Alto Networks, who discovered the attack, the new Monero mining campaign has been active for around four months. The hackers behind the campaign have already made several updates to the cryptocurrency mining malware, changing their tactics every month or so.
US Official Urges Cryptocurrency Regulation (TheStandard.com.hk)
A senior U.S. Treasury official touring Asia has urged banks and financial regulators in the region and elsewhere to do more to tighten oversight of booming trading in bitcoin and other crypto currencies. Sigal Mandelker, the Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said Friday that more needs to be done to prevent money laundering and other criminal activities using such transactions. Speaking to reporters in Tokyo after visiting China, Hong Kong and South Korea, she lauded recent moves to keep closer tabs on such dealings.
Texas Security Regulators Target Another Cryptocurrency Operator (Chron.com)
Texas security regulators are warning consumers about the perils of investing in a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency pitched to Texans as a “golden nest egg” that will never fall in value. The Texas State Securities Board issued an emergency cease and desist order this week against R2B Coin, the third time in recent weeks the board has warned investors about buying the popular, but unregulated and unregistered virtual investments. Williams Corp. Ltd. is the distributor of r2b coin and advertises that it is a “licensed global firm and “licensed securities dealer” based in Hong Kong and Dubai, according to the securities board. However the board said that Williams Corp. has never been registered to sell securities in Texas.
