# Security Related Articles

HTX News Center provides the latest articles and in-depth analysis on "Security", covering market trends, project updates, tech developments, and regulatory policies in the crypto industry.

$2M Crypto Stolen in Fake Coinbase Support Social Engineering Scam

An alleged scammer posing as a Coinbase support employee stole over $2 million in cryptocurrency using social engineering tactics. The fraudster contacted victims through platforms like Telegram and fake support chats, gaining their trust to trick them into revealing sensitive account details or authorizing transactions to wallets he controlled. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT identified the scammer by analyzing Telegram screenshots, social media posts, and on-chain transactions. The scam relied on impersonation rather than hacking, using spoofed emails and accounts to appear legitimate. Coinbase emphasizes that its official support will never ask for passwords, 2FA codes, or request funds to external wallets. Previous incidents involved compromised support agents leaking customer data for scams. Investors are advised to use hardware wallets, avoid sharing personal information, and verify support through official channels to protect against such evolving threats.

TheNewsCrypto12/30 10:08

$2M Crypto Stolen in Fake Coinbase Support Social Engineering Scam

TheNewsCrypto12/30 10:08

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Ends 2025 at 148.2 Trillion

Bitcoin's mining difficulty concluded 2025 at 148.2 trillion, marking a 35% annual increase from the 109.8 trillion recorded at the start of the year. This growth occurred despite market fluctuations and the 2025 halving event, reflecting the network's continued expansion and security. The difficulty peaked at 156.0 trillion in November before a slight decline. The trend indicates sustained miner confidence and investment, even as Bitcoin's price ended the year 4% lower. The rising difficulty post-halving demonstrates the network's resilience, with efficient miners remaining operational. The next adjustment is projected to reach approximately 149.3 trillion in early January 2026.

TheNewsCrypto12/30 07:50

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Ends 2025 at 148.2 Trillion

TheNewsCrypto12/30 07:50

Crypto Morning Brief: Brevis Opens Airdrop Check, Trend Research Accumulates Over 46,000 ETH in a Single Day

The SEC's corporate finance deputy director Cicely LaMothe, who led key crypto policies, has retired. Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters criticized SEC Chair Atkins for ending enforcement actions against crypto firms and demanded a hearing. Brevis opened its airdrop registration portal. SlowMist warned of a new NPM supply chain attack variant. Flow Foundation proposed a no-rollback recovery plan after a $3.9M exploit, while Trust Wallet confirmed 2,596 addresses were affected in a recent incident. Standard Chartered and Ant International launched a blockchain-based deposit solution in Hong Kong. Cantor Fitzgerald predicted a potential "crypto winter" by 2026 but expects continued institutional adoption. Trend Research accumulated over 46,000 ETH in a single day, and MicroStrategy added 1,229 BTC. Eightco Holdings announced a $125M stock buyback plan.

marsbit12/30 01:25

Crypto Morning Brief: Brevis Opens Airdrop Check, Trend Research Accumulates Over 46,000 ETH in a Single Day

marsbit12/30 01:25

Crypto Morning Report: Brevis Opens Airdrop Inquiry, Trend Research Accumulates Over 46,000 ETH in a Single Day

Title: Crypto Morning Brief: Brevis Airdrop Goes Live, Trend Research Accumulates Over 46K ETH in a Day Key developments from the crypto market: - SEC Corporate Finance Deputy Director Cicely LaMothe, who led key crypto policies including memecoin classification and staking guidance, has retired. - Representative Maxine Waters criticized SEC Chair Atkins for ending enforcement actions against crypto firms like Coinbase and Binance, demanding a hearing. - ZK verifiable computing platform Brevis opened its airdrop registration portal, with claims open from Dec 29 to Jan 3. - SlowMist warned of a new NPM supply chain attack variant called "Shai-Hulud 3.0." - Flow Foundation announced a no-rollback recovery plan after a $3.9M exploit, with phased network restoration. - Trust Wallet confirmed 2,596 addresses affected in its recent security incident, with 5,000 claims submitted. - Standard Chartered and Ant International launched a blockchain-based tokenized deposit solution in Hong Kong. - Cantor Fitzgerald predicted a potential "crypto winter" by 2026 but noted continued institutional adoption. - Trend Research withdrew 13,462 ETH ($39.3M) from Binance, accumulating over 46,000 ETH in one day. - MicroStrategy purchased 1,229 BTC ($108.8M), now holding 672,497 BTC with an average cost of $74,997. - Eightco Holdings (WLD treasury) approved a $125M stock buyback plan. Market trends and recommended reads included analysis of global trading, Web3 narratives, silver's surge, ETH vs. BTC performance, and stablecoin adoption challenges.

深潮12/30 01:15

Crypto Morning Report: Brevis Opens Airdrop Inquiry, Trend Research Accumulates Over 46,000 ETH in a Single Day

深潮12/30 01:15

What Flow Network’s ‘isolated recovery’ plan after $3.9 mln hack entails

Following a $3.9 million hack, the Flow blockchain has initiated an 'isolated recovery' plan after abandoning an initial proposal to perform a full-chain rollback. Validator consensus has been reached on a software upgrade, with testing underway. The new plan focuses on resuming normal chain operations while restricting addresses linked to the attack, avoiding a rollback that would have impacted innocent users who conducted transactions post-incident. The rollback was deemed ineffective since the hacker had already moved funds off-chain. Key partners, including Dapper Labs, support the revised approach, which prioritizes user safety and network recovery. Meanwhile, Flow’s native token, FLOW, fell over 40% in the aftermath of the breach.

ambcrypto12/29 23:01

What Flow Network’s ‘isolated recovery’ plan after $3.9 mln hack entails

ambcrypto12/29 23:01

Bitcoin Miners Brace For Another Difficulty Spike In January After 2025 Record

Bitcoin's mining difficulty has increased slightly to over 148 trillion as block times averaged 9.95 minutes, below the 10-minute target. The network is expected to raise difficulty again on January 8, 2026, to maintain steady block production. This follows a year of record-breaking difficulty levels, driven by earlier Bitcoin price surges and increased mining activity. Higher difficulty raises operational costs and can pressure miner profitability, but it also helps secure the network by preventing centralization. Despite recent price volatility, analysts project steady long-term growth for Bitcoin. Difficulty adjustments play a crucial role in maintaining network stability and a decentralized mining landscape.

bitcoinist12/29 16:32

Bitcoin Miners Brace For Another Difficulty Spike In January After 2025 Record

bitcoinist12/29 16:32

Ethereum's Two Major Upgrades in 2026: How to Achieve Breakthroughs in 10,000+ TPS and Privacy Security?

Ethereum is planning two major upgrades for 2026: Glamsterdam (mid-year) and Heze-Bogota (year-end), aimed at significantly improving scalability, privacy, and security. Glamsterdam focuses on boosting transaction speed and reducing costs through three key improvements: parallel transaction execution (enabling multiple transactions to be processed simultaneously instead of sequentially), an increase in the gas limit per block (from 60 million to potentially 200-300 million units), and integration of ZK-proof verification for more efficient and cheaper transaction validation. Combined with the continued expansion of data blobs, these changes could help Ethereum Layer 1 approach 10,000 TPS, while also greatly enhancing Layer 2 performance. Heze-Bogota aims to strengthen privacy and censorship resistance. It will introduce Fork-Choice Inclusion Lists (FOCIL), a mechanism allowing multiple validators to force certain transactions into blocks, mitigating censorship. The upgrade will also enhance privacy protections through improved encryption and anonymity features, and further decentralize the network to reduce reliance on large node operators. These plans represent the current roadmap and may evolve as development progresses.

marsbit12/29 12:20

Ethereum's Two Major Upgrades in 2026: How to Achieve Breakthroughs in 10,000+ TPS and Privacy Security?

marsbit12/29 12:20

Trust Wallet Reveals Number of Victims from the Hack and the Compensation Problem

Trust Wallet CEO Eowyn Chen revealed that last week's hack affected over 2,500 user accounts. However, the service has received approximately 5,000 compensation claims, indicating a significant number of fraudulent or duplicate requests, which is slowing down the payout process. The hack occurred on the night of December 26 due to a vulnerability in the browser extension version 2.68. An update (v2.69) was released, and the company promised to cover the estimated $7 million in losses. The verification of claims is being conducted alongside the technical investigation, prioritizing accuracy over speed. Trust Wallet is working with Google to obtain Chrome audit logs and is conducting a detailed security check on remote devices. In a related context, a recent Chainalysis report noted that 2025 has seen over 158,000 personal wallet compromises, resulting in $713 million in losses.

RBK-crypto12/29 10:49

Trust Wallet Reveals Number of Victims from the Hack and the Compensation Problem

RBK-crypto12/29 10:49

From the Fringes to the Mainstream: A Review of the Milestone Events Defining the 2025 Crypto Market Landscape

The year 2025 marked a pivotal "Sovereign Fusion Year" for crypto, transitioning it from a speculative asset to a geopolitical strategic reserve. The US, under the Trump administration, established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, repurposing seized coins and shifting from seller to long-term holder. The GENIUS Act created a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins, effectively ending the wild west era. Trump's personal memecoin $TRUMP and the controversial World Liberty Financial (WLFI) project blurred the lines between politics and DeFi. Solana and XRP ETFs were approved, signaling institutional adoption beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum. Major infrastructure upgrades occurred with Solana's Firedancer and Ethereum's Pectra & Fusaka. Circle's IPO and HashKey's Hong Kong listing showcased corporate maturity. Visa's integration of USDC on Solana and the rise of tokenized real-world assets (RWA) revolutionized payments. A catastrophic $15B hack on Bybit and the extreme market volatility of the "10.11" crash, which wiped out $150B in leverage, served as severe security and risk warnings. The year concluded with symbolic pardons for Silk Road's Ross Ulbricht and Binance's CZ, signaling a reconciliation between the crypto industry's past and its new, institutionalized future.

marsbit12/29 09:11

From the Fringes to the Mainstream: A Review of the Milestone Events Defining the 2025 Crypto Market Landscape

marsbit12/29 09:11

Written at the End of 2025: Code, Power, and Stablecoins

"Stablecoins have firmly established themselves as the foundational infrastructure for the next decade of financial services, with the market surpassing $300 billion in 2025. This growth is driven by a fundamental shift in trust: relying on transparent, verifiable code and math rather than opaque promises from centralized intermediaries, as starkly illustrated by the Synapse bankruptcy. Self-custody models change risk dynamics, eliminating intermediary risk (though not issuer risk) and reducing the necessity for traditional insurance like FDIC. Stablecoins offer inherent global reach, with the main bottleneck being local fiat on/off-ramps rather than rebuilding entire banking stacks per country. The emergence of payment-specific blockchains like Tempo and Arc faces the challenge of building trust from scratch, competing with the established security of networks like Solana and Ethereum. The real potential of 'agentic finance' lies in automating mundane financial tasks through smart contracts with enforced permission boundaries, providing security that traditional systems cannot. However, the rapid growth attracts teams with inadequate security practices, a critical misstep for financial infrastructure. Furthermore, as real business activity moves on-chain, solving for privacy through selective disclosure—not full anonymity—becomes crucial to prevent competitive intelligence leaks. The true opportunity lies not just in rebuilding existing fintech more efficiently but in leveraging programmable money and internet-native capital markets to reimagine financial services entirely."

marsbit12/29 01:35

Written at the End of 2025: Code, Power, and Stablecoins