Crypto Hacks and Chaos Aren't Halting This Holiday Season

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By Jacquelyn Melinek

Dec 14, 2023

Welcome back to Chain Reaction!

If you’re feeling the holiday spirit this month, chances are you align with millions of people out there spreading joy, love, warmth, maybe even some generosity. However, if you’re feeling like the Grinch, you might be in a smaller party of individuals – one that (in this analogy) could include crypto hackers.

Hacking Season Continues

Even though it’s the season to feel jolly, that’s not stopping hackers from acting out. But hey, playing devil’s advocate, maybe the attackers are jolly every time someone falls for their scam. Two sides of the coin.

Hackers Compromise Ledger Code

Earlier on Thursday, hackers compromised the code behind a crypto protocol used by multiple web3 applications and services, according to Ledger. The crypto software and hardware wallet maker announced this on Thursday. It’s not immediately clear how many people fell victim to the hack.

ZachXBT, an independent crypto researcher, wrote on X that one victim had more than $600,000 in crypto drained from their account. Details below.

Supply Chain Attack Targeting Ledger Crypto Wallet Leaves Users Hacked

What’s Happening in Web3?

Bitcoin ATM Company Coin Cloud Got Hacked: Even its new owners don’t know how.
Worldcoin Adds Integrations with Minecraft, Reddit, Telegram, Shopify and Mercado Libre
Deadmau5-Founded Startup Korus Taps into AI for Music Creation

The Latest Pod

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Johann Kerbrat, the general manager of crypto at Robinhood. Johann is leading the application’s effort to expand its crypto exchange business and make digital assets more accessible to retail investors.

Before joining Robinhood, Johann was an engineer at Airbnb and was the head of engineering at Uber and VP of engineering at Iron Fish, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency startup. They discussed:

Appealing to Mainstream Audiences
Growing Crypto on Its Platform
Regulatory Concerns
Robinhood’s 2024 Objectives

Subscribe to Chain Reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the latest episodes. Please leave us a review if you like what you hear!

Follow the Money

Line Next Secures $140 Million Funding for Its Web3 Platform

Lolli raises $8 million Series B to expand its bitcoin and cashback rewards to enterprises

Andalusia Labs raises $48 million Series A to improve digital asset risk infrastructure

Dynamic raises $13.5 million from a16z crypto and Founders Fund to simplify access to web3 and crypto wallets

Avalanche-based Nodekit raised $1.2 million in pre-seed round to create a network focused on rollups.

This list was compiled with information from Messari as well as TechCrunch’s own reporting.

What Else We’re Writing

Want to branch out from the world of web3? Here are some articles on TechCrunch that caught our attention this week:

Temu’s Latest Lawsuit Against Shein Is Wild (TC+)
OpenAI Thinks Superhuman AI is Coming — and Wants to Build Tools to Control It
AI Isn’t and Won’t Soon Be Evil or Even Smart, But It’s Also Irreversibly Pervasive
Here’s Where Founders Screw Up Their Pitch Decks Most Often (TC+)
The Possibility of Regulation Hangs on the Horizon Over Generative AI

Follow me on Twitter @Jacqmelinek for breaking crypto news, memes and more.