It has been another fantastic week in the crypto sector, with Bitcoin making most of the headlines – from surveys to predictions
Tether asked to pay a Bitcoin ransom
Tether revealed in a Twitter post that it had been asked to pay a ransom of 500 bitcoins. The issuers of the USDT stablecoin wrote that it had received a note detailing the demands. The ransom translated to about $22 million at the then BTC price. The note added that failure to come up with ransom would see the perpetrators leak documents that could affect the Bitcoin ecosystem.
The company didn’t react as the actors would have hoped. Instead, it downplayed the demand explaining that it was a failed attempt at a shakedown. Tether set forth that it didn’t underestimate the threat and pledged to deal with it. The company added that it had already reported the matter to the authorities and offered its support to put the extortion attempt to bed.
The USDT issuer is regarded as a controversial company in the digital currency sector. It was previously reported to have inflated Bitcoin’s price during the last rally over three years ago. Less than a fortnight ago, Tether settled with the New York Attorney General over an investigation involving an $850 million loan made to the Hong-Kong based exchange Bitfinex.
Bitcoin and Ether prices show recovery signs as the month begins
Many of the top cryptocurrencies by market had a hard time surging last week. This week wasn’t friendly either but most managed to gain some ground. As it appeared early this week, the tides were changing, and the top cryptos were making a recovery attempt.
Bitcoin started the week off at the $46k level, climbing up to around $48.2k by
