DAY LONG NEWS ROUNDUP: LATEST NEWS 13/12/21

• Avinandan Banerjee
• December 13, 2021

Stuck in your everyday hustle and have no time for keeping a track of the crypto field? Well, if this is your problem then we can be your perfect partner. Here, we have listed some of the most important news articles of the crypto industry for you to keep yourself updated.

Following the BTC scam, Indian PM Narendra Modi’s Twitter account hacked

Hacking official social media handles of eminent personalities have seen a significant rise thanks to global technological proliferation. The recent victim to this hacking web was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose Twitter account was intruded on by some malicious tech geeks on December 12, 2021. With over 73.4 million followers, the official account of the Indian PM became a tool for hackers who used it to spread false information about Bitcoin becoming a legal tender and a 500BTC giveaway for the Indian crypto fans.

According to the report, the intrusion happened at around 4:00 PM EST. A Twitter user named Priya was among the people who saw the unforeseen tweet by the hackers claiming BTC to be the new legal tender in India. The tweet clearly mentioned a 500BTC giveaway by the government to all the citizens of the state. There was a post including a link that requested users to sign up and claim their rewards. This was for the second time when Modi’s Twitter account became prey for the hackers. Earlier in September 2020, his account was used by intruders to demand donations from people for the PM National Relief Fund for COVID-19.

Cryptocurrencies have been in a full swing across the global economic space especially after the slowdown brought in by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indian government has started giving positive signals for crypto adoption within the country. In a recent virtual summit hosted by US President Joe Biden, PM Modi stated that cryptocurrencies should be used to strengthen democracy and not curse it. He added that by working together democracies can cater to the citizens’ needs and manifest the spirit of humanity.

The release of the Indian crypto bill has created a lot of chaos amongst the investors. The lack of clarity on the word ‘private’ cryptocurrencies has created unrest as people misinterpreted it to be a complete ban on crypto use. The former Finance Secretary, Subhash Garg, who was also the creator of the bill, has refuted the ‘ban’ rumors by calling it a misinterpretation by the users.

 

Novi Wallets set Whatsapp trial

Striding through the crypto field like a leader, Meta (earlier Facebook) has extended support for its ‘Novi Digital Wallet’ project to WhatsApp, the popular messaging portal. With the digital wallet solution, Meta is planning to bring digital currencies to the mainstream business of its giant global community. The trials of the Novi wallet are doing rounds across Guatemala and other parts of the U.S via a pact with Coinbase exchange and now with WhatsApp, the team is looking forward to speed-up the entire testing regime.

As per the report, Meta will offer support for Novi wallet to only a ‘limited number’ of U.S customers. Talking about this, Novi chief, Stephane Kasriel stated that the initiative will ease money transfers amongst family and friends. The lead conveyed that the trials that have been conducted over the past six weeks have helped the team to figure out which features are most crucial for the users. The digital wallet will allow users to send money securely free of cost. The payments will be easily visible in the chat accounts of the customers.

The executive conveyed that the team will expand support for Novi wallet after analyzing the responses from the trial runs. He stressed that Novi will not affect the privacy standards of WhatsApp messages and calls which are thoroughly encrypted and safe. The past few months have seen constant inclination of Meta towards cryptocurrencies and Metaverse space as it strives to gain an upper edge in the fast-evolving digital hub.

 

Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez gets a portion of his salary in Bitcoin

Seeing the growing expansion of cryptocurrencies, it seems that there is no end to this global crypto fandom. Keeping up with the trend, the mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez has decided to take a portion of his 401 (k) retirement savings in BTC tokens. For those who don’t know, Francis has always been a huge supporter of cryptocurrencies and was also the first US lawmaker to accept a part of his salary in Bitcoin earlier.

During an interview, Francis revealed his plans to convert a portion of his retirement earnings into Bitcoin based completely on his personal choice. He showed his strong belief in the supremacy of Bitcoin by calling it a good asset for making investments. The reelected mayor advocated that the price of BTC is likely to increase in the near future.

Talking about BTC, Francis said that the use of the open-source, immutable ecosystem of Bitcoin is the chief catalyst for its global success. The mayor started getting salary in BTC via a third-party payment processor called Strike. He aspires to build his territory as a crypto hub and is taking all the necessary steps to ensure that. The city authorities accept fee payments from Miami residents in Bitcoin. The chief is working hard to chalk out a reliable channel for Bitcoin transactions by 2022.

The government of Miami announced on November 12 that it would give BTC yield as a dividend directly to the credit of each eligible resident of the city. The authorities will divide and allocate the BTC earnings to locals fetched by staking MiamiCoin, Miami’s native crypto token. The city is looking forward to creating digital wallet solutions for the residents to further its crypto expansion.