✌️2 Koreas, 2 Crypto Takes

Good Morning Switchers,

👋 Welcome to Switch Daily.

Yayy, you made it through another Monday. So, did you hear? Flipkart is Flipping! What? It’s introducing a new shopping experience on the metaverse—the Flipverse. They say it’s in pilot mode still and could be live on our apps next week. Wow! That would make it India’s biggest Web3 shopping app. 🛒😵

Here’s what we’ve got for you:

• Market pulse

• This country has been stealing crypto for years

• Not so boring news

• Meme of the day

Market pulse 📈

The market is greener today 💚

The broader crypto market remains flat but also experienced 24-hour green movement despite the bear. Dominant crypto Bitcoin (BTC) continues to hover around the $19,000 resistance. However, Ethereum (ETH), the second biggest crypto by market cap, finally broke out of its $1,200 resistance level and is currently priced at over $1,300.

Another crypto that is gaining investor attention is XRP. It is witnessing volatility while the token awaits the verdict in the ongoing XRP lawsuit. This Monday, XRP dropped past the First Major Support Level (S1) at $0.4680 before rallying to an early afternoon high of $0.48258. Following this, it fell short of the First Major Resistance Level (R1) at $0.4865 and was priced at $0.4733, at the time of writing.

👿 The Crypto Rogue 👿

The crypto market has lost over $3 billion from over 125 hacks and exploits in 2022 alone so far. A total value of $42.5 billion was used for illicit activities between 2017 and 2021.

But what if we told you that most of these activities are attributed to one group of hackers? What if these hackers were associated with a rogue nation? 

Wait, what? 🤨

Yep, we’re talking about the Lazarus Group from North Korea. You may have seen them on the news yesterday, but we’ll come to it later. 

Who are these guys tho?

• Cyber hitmen of Kim. No, not that Kim, but Kim Jong-un.

• Hackers behind the WannaCry hack that hit Windows devices worldwide.

• World's leading bank robbers, as per the US Justice Department.

• And the hands behind the biggest crypto hack of the year—the Ronin hack.

North Korea loves Bitcoin. But not for financial freedom or inflation hedge. Here’s some background. As a rogue nation, North Korea is cut off from international finance. Meaning, no access to World Bank or US Dollar and so and so.

So they found a jugaad: Crypto. 

How? They used Lazarus to hack into projects and accumulate loads of crypto. And apparently, they are building nuclear weapons using these stolen funds. How dare? 😠

And what did these guys do now? 

Turns out, they have been looting Japanese crypto exchanges for many years via phishing scams—the kind where you get a message from your boss asking for money. Japan’s National Police Agency have warned their citizens to beware of such scams. 

Meanwhile, it's neighbor—South Korea—has been using blockchain technology for the greater good. Just yesterday, they announced their plans to offer blockchain-powered digital IDs to its citizens to boost economic growth. With a digital ID, Koreans can apply for the benefits offered by the government, maintain all public records in one place and cast votes in a jiffy. 

Aur Kya? 🤷‍♀️

🎮VC funders still back Web 3.0 games

Despite the bears, the blockchain gaming and metaverse segments have continued to attract Venture Capital (VC) funding this quarter. VCs have pumped $1.3 billion into Web 3.0 blockchain startups in Q3 2022. Read more. 

🥭Mango DAO settles for 50% recovery of stolen funds

In an attempt to recover funds from last week’s hack, DeFi platform Mango DAO has chosen to take the settlement route. The settlement enables them to recover more than 50% of the stolen funds, but the hacker gets to keep $47 million. Read more. 

🫰Binance to support crypto miners with $500M lending support

Binance Pool, a crypto mining pool and subsidiary of the well-known crypto exchange called Binance, has pledged to offer $500 million worth of lending support to Bitcoin miners. Read more.

🏦Mastercard plans to launch crypto trading for banks

Mastercard officially announced that a new program called Crypto Source will enable financial institutions to bring crypto trading capabilities and services to their customers. The program aims to add Mastercard’s crypto security feature to crypto trading. Read more.

Community Spotlight 💥

This week on our community spotlight we introduce Web3 Bharat. 

A community on a mission to bring Web3 to India, including Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. They dream of making India ONE (Opportunity, Network, and Education) in Web3 to resonate India in one voice. And, you can find Web3 Bharat in 30+ cities.

They are hosting a workshop on building a Voting app on Polygon. 

Or if you are interested in learning Web3, you can join their #30daysinWeb3 event.

Check it out! 👇🏽You can win an NFT on completion too. 

Meme of the day

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See you tomorrow, folks. 👋

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