GM citronauts. Knock knock. Who's there? Orange. Orange who? Orange you dying to hear about the latest crypto shenanigans? 😜
🥸 YouTube was flooded with streams of deepfake Tim Cook promoting crypto scams.
🕵️ The FBI reported that Americans lost $5.6B to crypto scams in 2023.
🍊 News drops: FTX has settled with Emergent Technologies, Singapore is investigating unauthorized trading of Worldcoin accounts and tokens, Japan might use surplus renewable energy for Bitcoin mining + more
🍍 Market flavor today
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| Crypto Market Cap $2.09 Trillion 1.3% (24H) | |||
| Name | Price | 24H % | 7D % |
|---|---|---|---|
 Bitcoin BTC |
$56,559.65 | 2.15% | -2.17% |
 Ethereum ETH |
$2,324.48 | 1.17% | -4.90% |
 BNB BNB |
$513.90 | 1.29% | -1.85% |
 Solana SOL |
$133.69 | 3.99% | 2.91% |
| Prices as of 11:05 AM EST. Click here to see live data. |
Crypto market sentiment is showing a bit of pep, with the Fear and Greed Index crawling up to 33. After eight consecutive days of outflows, Bitcoin ETFs finally caught a break with a modest inflow of $29 million yesterday.
The crypto grapevine is buzzing with theories about this price bounce. Some folks think the quiet weekend trading might've been the market catching its breath at the bottom, while others are whispering about a potential "short squeeze" that could send prices shooting up. And don't forget, everyone's got their eyes peeled for Thursday's U.S. inflation numbers. Some analysts are even tying potential Bitcoin prices to election outcomes, adding another layer of speculation to an already complex market. 🎭
🥸 Double the money, double the fun... or is it?
You go on YouTube to get your daily dose of well-deserved screen time. You notice a stream of the iPhone 16 launch event. Your phone’s laggy—maybe it’s a sign you need a new one? You click on the stream.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook mentions a giveaway of BTC, ETH, DOGE, and USDT, encouraging you to scan a QR code featured on the screen and double your deposits. Naturally, you start calling your manager to tell him that you quit.
The Cook you’re seeing is kinda giving uncanny valley. At the same time, 300K+ people are watching, and the channel is verified, so this must be real, right?
You’ve no time for questions. 2 + 2 = 4. You want a Lambo + the deposits double = give the QR code… and, scene. Thanks for taking part in my play. We both know this wouldn’t actually be you (I hope? 🤨)
Either way, it seems like this type of scam is getting more and more popular—the same thing happened during the SpaceX launch event in June when a bunch of fake YouTube channels broadcasted an AI-generated Elon Musk pushing this double-your-deposits scheme.
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There’s a group out there, which the Avast named CryptoCore, that actively spreads deepfake scams. And, unfortunately, they’re damn successful at it—using this method, they’ve stolen nearly $5.4M in crypto over the past 6 months alone.
While the scale of these scams is shocking, it’s not surprising that people fall for them with how fast AI tech is improving. Still, it’s not impossible to detect deepfakes. You should pay attention to things that are off, like weird body movements, emotions that don’t match what the speaker’s saying, strange shadows, the speaker saying their name is Siri, etc.
Still not convinced you need to watch your back? Lemme serve some data from a recent FBI report: in 2023, Americans lost $5.6B to crypto scams, a 45% jump from 2022.
Even though crypto fraud made up just 10% of all complaints, it accounted for nearly half of the total monetary losses. Basically, if you get hit by a crypto scam, you’re probably losing more than with any other type of fraud.
Investment scams seemed to be our biggest enemy in 2023, followed by personal data breaches and those tech support scams where they pretend they need access to “fix” your computer and swipe your info.
Another interesting conclusion from the report is that people over the age of 60 made up the largest group of victims, losing a total of $1.6B.
Moral of the story: don’t be a part of these statistics. Protect yourself and protect your elders.
📰 News drops
💰 FTX reached a $14M settlement with Emergent Technologies. In exchange, Emergent will withdraw any claims to over $600M worth of Robinhood shares.
🧐 Singapore has started investigating seven individuals involved in the unauthorized trading of Worldcoin accounts and tokens. Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong warned users against selling these accounts mainly because they can be misused for criminal purposes.
🧨 Elon Musk might be summoned to the UK Parliament to talk about how X operates. This follows claims that X helped spread false information that sparked anti-immigration riots in the UK.
🌱 Agile Energy X, a subsidiary of Japan’s TEPCO, is experimenting with using surplus renewable energy for Bitcoin mining. Simulations showed that this way, $2.5B worth of Bitcoin could be mined every year.
📅 Congress has scheduled a hearing on the future of DeFi. This could signal a turning point as lawmakers begin to consider the best policies for regulating the growing DeFi industry.
📋 Kamala Harris’ campaign has released a policy statement highlighting her administration’s main priorities. Crypto didn’t make the list.
🍌 Juicy memes
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