EU Votes to Block Anonymous Transactions

Cashio Hacker Asks Victims to 'Apply' for Refunds After $52M Heist

Hackers have seen the DeFi space as a profitable land to strike gold and have grown more crafty in accessing the gold. A recent hack by a group of anonymous hackers has left the DeFi community bewildered as they appear to have a different playbook.

A stablecoin protocol, Cashio, hosted on the Solana network, was the target of a hack that carted away $52 million on the 23rd of March. While all hope had been lost in recovering the stolen funds, an encoded message appeared in an Ethereum transaction on the 28th of March, asking victims of the hack to “justify why they should get a refund.”

The message further read that “our intention was to only take money from those who don't need it, not from those who do.” The Cashio team has encouraged its community members to go along with the flow, building a website that allows its users to submit the requirements demanded by the hacker(s).

It was discovered that the hacker(s) exploited an incomplete collateral validation system that gave them access to mint over 2 billion $CASH tokens with faux tokens as collaterals. Despite asking victims to apply for a refund, the encoded message excludes users in western countries, citing “money will not be refunded to rich Americans and Europeans who do not need it.”

MakerDAO Could Partner with Traditional Bank

A shift in perspective across the market is gradually coming to light as some centralized institutions drop the war against their decentralized counterparts to embrace fruitful partnerships.

MakerDAO has disclosed on its platform's forum that it's considering an application to accept loans by Huntingdon Valley Bank (HVB) as collateral on its platform. The over 150 years old bank will offer up its loan to MakerDAO in a bid to borrow its stablecoin, DAI. HVB will wrap its loans to a Delaware Statutory Trust, which will then be enforced via smart contracts between MakerDAO and HVB.

Cryptocurrencies Gain, Position for Possible Bull Run

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies enjoyed a positive boost last week, possibly preparing to get back to previous highs. This week saw the crypto market sustain its price rally just enough to keep the possible bull run hopes alive.

Bitcoin is currently trading above $46,400 after slightly climbing above $47,000 earlier in the week. Based on technical indicators, Bitcoin, as seen on the charts, has flipped a previous resistance zone to a support zone and has held it into this week. Analysts suggest that the price rally results from short-sellers being forced to cover their positions, initiating another wave of buying alongside fundamental support in the crypto market.

Ethereum also realized a 3% climb, rising from $3,100 last week to $3,400. Other alternative currencies also experienced a climb, with Cardano climbing 3%, Luna - by 10%, and Solana rising by 2%. Analysts believe that Bitcoin sitting above $45,000 shows that the recent price rally has staying power and on-chain data confirms a possible bull run for the crypto market.

US E-cash: Bill Proposes Digital Currency that Replicates the US Dollars

The United States has been under pressure to take the lead and maintain power even in the digital currency space. Countries like China and about 90 others are already developing some form of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

The United States House of Representatives sat to hear a bill that proposed an electronic form of the US dollars titled, The Electronic Currency and Secure Hardware Act (ECASH act). The bill proposes that the US treasury department should develop electronic cash that is easy to use for all and sundry, technically savvy or not.

This e-cash would be targeted at replicating the US dollars as much as it can by maintaining some of its core attributes like private, anonymous, instantaneous, direct, offline, and peer-to-peer transactions.

The bill comes with a proposed two-phased e-cash pilot program launched within three months of being approved and introduced to the public within four years of approval. The treasury department issuing this electronic cash instead of the Federal Reserve Board exempts it from being called a CBDC. Creators of the bill argue that there's no CBDC proposal like this in the world, giving it a stronger edge for market dominance.

Dubai School Will Welcome Tuition Payments in Bitcoin and Ethereum

Cryptocurrency spreading like wildfire is no longer news. Now, it's about watching to see which sectors of the economy wake up to the digital revolution and adopt it within its systems. It appears that some parts of the education sector in some countries are taking the leap of faith and integrating blockchain and cryptocurrencies into their operations.

A soon-to-be-opened school at the heart of Dubai, Citizens school, has announced that it will be accepting tuition fees in Bitcoin and Ethereum, which will automatically be converted to United Arab Emirates Dirhams (AED). The school administration clarifies that it isn't just about creating another payment option for parents, but a move to bolster interest in blockchain applications.

The school has its tuition fee sitting between 45,000 AED and 65,000 AED, which is equivalent to $12,250 and $17,700 per year. Citizens School has plans to pioneer blockchain application in the school system within the middle east by deploying blockchain across several aspects of its academic and administrative operations over time.

It won't be a surprise if other international schools follow suit, as the UAE has shown to be a crypto leader through its regulations.

EU Votes to Block Anonymous Transactions

The Crypto community is highly displeased with a Thursday sitting in the EU's parliament where over 90 lawmakers voted in favor of a proposal that outlaws anonymous transactions in a bid to subject the Crypto industry to the anti-money laundering (AML) requirements.

Requirements would subject every transaction above EUR 1000 to proper identification. The proposal went as far as subjecting the smallest of crypto transactions to identification which many crypto proponents find unreasonable. The proposal also threatens to cut off unregulated crypto exchanges within the EU from conventional financial systems.

The lawmakers faced opposition from members of the center-right European People's Party, who tagged the proposal as “unnecessary.” Some lawmakers opined that moves like this would keep the EU lagging behind other jurisdictions with a better approach towards regulating new technologies.

Despite heavy warnings from big players in the crypto industry against privacy invasion, lawmakers still voted in favor of the proposal. Now, big exchanges within the EU will have to report any transaction above EUR 1000 from a self-hosted wallet.

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