Chinese Hackers Mined $800k Worth Siacoin Hiddenly

According to the police, hackers in collusion with serving companies hacked 100,000 computers in Internet cafes in 30 Chinese cities

19 June 2018 1114

In China, 16 people were arrested who earned $ 800,000 on the illegal mining of Siacoin cryptocurrency in the Internet cafes in dozens of Chinese cities, CoinDesk reports.

According to the police of Chinese Ruian (Zhejiang Province), hackers in collusion with serving companies hacked 100,000 computers in Internet cafes in 30 Chinese cities . Their income was 5 million yuan ($ 800,000).

Hackers used a malicious program that used the computing resources of infected devices to extract Siacoin crypto currency. Malicious software was sold to employees of computer maintenance companies who could download it to a PC in an Internet cafe during scheduled checks.

Suspicions arose in July 2017, when employees of Internet cafes in Ruyan noticed that their computers began to work very slowly. The CPU performance dropped by 70% even after the reboot.

Around the same time, the price of Siacoin according to CoinMarketCap grew by 400% from $ 0.002 in May to more than $ 0.01 in July. Accounts for utility services of Internet cafe Ruiana during this period also significantly increased. This caused their owners to contact the police.

Most Internet cafes in Ruian were served by one company. Its executive director was arrested in August last year, and disclosed information about hackers.

Mining Bitmain Blockchain

Bitmain's Q3 Losses to Reach $500M

Bitmain still hopes to conduct an IPO at Hong Kong Stock Exchange

19 February 2019 99

The Chinese mining company Bitmain lost $ 500 million in the third quarter of 2018 amid a decline in the cryptocurrency market, CoinDesk reports, citing updated financial reporting provided by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) for its initial public offering (IPO) on its site.

In the first nine months of last year, Bitmain earned about $ 500 million, with a total amount of revenues of $ 3 billion, a source familiar with the situation said. Earlier, Bitmain stated that its profit for the first half of 2018 was $ 1 billion. As reported, subtracting that from a $500 million profit for the first nine months leaves it with a net loss of roughly $500 million for the third quarter.

In the past, Bitmain also reported that its income for the first half of the year was $ 2.8 billion. Thus, taking into account the total amount of revenues for nine months, only about $ 200 million remains for the third quarter.

The updated statements also contain information about Bitmain's cryptocurrency possessions - they depreciated from more than $ 800 million on June 30 to less than $ 700 million at the end of the third quarter. The fall of more than $ 100 million coincided with a general decline in the cryptocurrency market.

The application for IPO, issued by Bitmain at the end of September, contained information that the company held mainly Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin and Dash. The ratio of assets in its portfolio is unknown. According to CoinMarketCap, the rates for these cryptocurrencies fell by more than 50%, and Bitcoin Cash lost over 70% of the cost.

The documents will be presented to the general public only if the Bitmain application is approved to the meeting regarding the listing of the company's shares, which may not take place, given HKEX’s doubts about the viability of mining companies.