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Today in crypto, El Salvador reportedly expects to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a $1.3 billion loan deal in return for changes in its Bitcoin Law, Radiant Capital says a North Korean-aligned attacker was behind the $50 million October hack on its platform, and the Cardano Foundation’s X account was hacked to post a phishing scam.
El Salvador plans Bitcoin policy changes to secure $1.3 billion IMF loan — FT
El Salvador, the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as legal tender, is reportedly scaling back its BTC ambitions under pressure from the IMF.
El Salvador expects to reach an agreement with the IMF on a $1.3 billion loan deal in return for changes to its Bitcoin Law, the Financial Times reported on Dec. 9, citing people familiar with the matter.
If confirmed, the deal would obligate the government of El Salvador to drop a legal requirement for businesses to accept Bitcoin BTC$97,837 as payment, making it a voluntary payment method.
Expected to be finalized in the next two or three weeks, the deal is also expected to unlock another $1 billion of lending from the World Bank and $1 billion from the Inter-American Development Bank over the next few years.
The IMF has long been opposed to El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin, repeatedly warning the government and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele of the financial stability risks behind the decision to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021.
The IMF and the Salvadoran government have been discussing the $1.3 billion loan and possible changes to El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law since at least October.
Radiant says North Korean posed as ex-contractor in $50 million hack
Radiant Capital said on Dec. 6 that the $50 million hack on its platform in October was carried out by a North Korea-aligned hacker posing as an ex-contractor who sent malware via Telegram.
The platform said a Radiant developer received a Telegram message with a zip file from a “trusted former contractor” in September, which investigating cybersecurity firm Mandiant said was “attributable to a Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)-nexus threat actor.”
“This ZIP file, when shared for feedback among other developers, ultimately delivered malware that facilitated the subsequent intrusion,” Radiant added.
It believes the actor responsible is known as “UNC4736,” also known as “Citrine Sleet” — believed to be aligned with North Korea’s main intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), and speculated to be a sub-cluster of the hacking collective the Lazarus Group.
Radiant was forced to halt its lending markets on Oct. 16 after an attacker gained control of several signers’ private keys and smart contracts. North Korean hacking groups have long targeted crypto platforms and have stolen $3 billion in crypto between 2017 and 2023.
Cardano Foundation X account hacked
The Cardano Foundation’s X account was hacked on Dec. 8 by a threat actor who posted malicious links on the Foundation’s social media page.
Initially, the hacker created a post advertising a fraudulent token called “ADAsol,” which managed to rack up approximately $500,000 in trading volume before collapsing.
Following the promotion of the fake token, the hacker created a second fraudulent post claiming that the Cardano Foundation would drop support for ADA ADA$1.12 due to scrutiny from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Both posts have since been deleted, and the Cardano Foundation is working on regaining control of the social media account.
However, users are encouraged to stay clear of the account and not to interact with any links from the Cardano Foundation X page until the issue is fully resolved.
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