Coinbase CEO Reacts to $20 Million Bitcoin Ransom and Customer Data Attack, Stellar (XLM) Sets up for $0.30 Skyrocketing: Crypto News Digest by U.Today

U.Today - U.Today presents the top three crypto news stories over the past day.

Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) CEO reacts to $20 million Bitcoin ransom and customer data attack

Yesterday, May 15, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took to X platform to address a recent cyberattack, which targeted customer data and resulted in a $20 million Bitcoin ransom demand. As stated by Armstrong in his video message to the community, it all started with a threatening email from hackers claiming to have sensitive information on Coinbase customers. In exchange for not releasing the information, the malefactors demanded $20 million in Bitcoin. The CEO refused to pay the ransom and turned things around by offering a $20 million award for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the attackers. The breach was traced back to bribed overseas support agents, who accessed personal data like names, dates of birth and addresses. Even though passwords, private keys and funds were not compromised, the obtained data was used for social engineering scams to trick customers into transferring money. As part of its response, Coinbase enhanced security measures, relocated some support operations and offered full reimbursements to affected customers.

Stellar (XLM) sets up for $0.30 skyrocketing: Here’s why

As the market shifts focus back to mid-cap altcoins, Stellar (XLM) is showing promising signs of a potential breakout toward the $0.30 level. According to technical indicators, XLM has regained key exponential moving averages (the 50 EMA, 100 EMA and 200 EMA), suggesting a return to midterm control by bulls. The trading volume remains quite low; if it increases, XLM may challenge the $0.30 local resistance and use it as a launchpad for more aggressive price action. XLM’s price pattern closely mirrors that of XRP, which recently broke above its declining trendline and soared toward $2.60, hinting that XLM might follow suit soon in making its own push up. However, Stellar’s upward movement depends heavily on the market’s overall level of risk tolerance; a decline in major cryptos like Bitcoin or Ethereum could hinder its progress.

$307 million Bitcoin leave largest U.S. crypto exchange in just hours: Details

According to data provided by popular blockchain tracking platform Whale Alert, yesterday, six consecutive Bitcoin transfers took place, totaling approximately $307 million. These transactions involved anonymous wallets and occurred as Bitcoin’s price retreated from the recent high of $104,000. Each transfer carried between 493 BTC and 514 BTC worth around $50 million each, amounting to nearly 3,000 BTC in total. While some transfers appear to be withdrawals from Coinbase, data from Whale Alert’s website suggests that some of the Bitcoin moved directly to wallets associated with the exchange. This suggests that these are internal transactions, possibly part of Coinbase’s effort to reshuffle its Bitcoin holdings.

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