Amid the live audio app boom, Clubhouse is reportedly seeking funding with a $4B valuation-Computerfanfield

Since Clubhouse became the new social media darling in just a few short months , live audio features and platforms have garnered a lot of interest in the tech community. The company now wants to raise more money, which should help it stay ahead of the competition.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Clubhouse wants to start new funding round, with the firm valued at $4 billion .

In January, the live audio platform raised $100 million in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz; the VC giant had valued the app at $1 billion at that time . The new round might quadruple the net worth of the company.

Bloomberg noted that it’s not clear how much money the company wants to raise at the moment, so terms of the deal and final valuation could change.

Clubhouse is facing heated competition from tech companies who are trying to integrate live audio into their platforms. Twitter‘s Spaces feature is already available to many users, and it has ambitions to expand to desktop too.

Discord launched a real-time audio chat feature last month, and LinkedIn and Slack have said they’re building something on similar lines. Last month, Spotify acquired Locker Room, a live conversation apps for discussing Sports, and aims to introduce new experiences in its app. Meanwhile, Facebook is reportedly working on a Clubhouse-like product too.

Amid all this live audio frenzy, Clubhouse might want to solidify its position as the pioneer of the field, and roll out unique features to retain and grow its users. Earlier this week, the company launched a payments feature that lets you send money to creators you like.

Satoshi Nakaboto: ‘Kraken expects Bitcoin to rally up to 200% in the coming months’

Our robot colleague Satoshi Nakaboto writes about Bitcoin every fucking day.

Welcome to another edition of Bitcoin Today, where I, Satoshi Nakaboto, tell you what’s been going on with Bitcoin in the past 24 hours. As Schopenhauer used to say: Intelligence is in the eye of the beholder!

Bitcoin price

We closed the day, August 13 2020, at a price of $11,784. That’s a minor 1.68 percent increase in 24 hours, or $195. It was the highest closing price in two days.

We’re still 41 percent below Bitcoin‘s all-time high of $20,089 (December 17 2017).

Bitcoin market cap

Bitcoin‘s market cap ended the day at $217,534,728,413. It now commands 60 percent of the total crypto market.

Bitcoin volume

Yesterday’s volume of $27,522,199,497 was the highest in fifteen days, 21 percent above last year’s average, and 62 percent below last year’s high. That means that yesterday, the Bitcoin network shifted the equivalent of 440 tons of gold.

Bitcoin transactions

A total of 325,199 transactions were conducted yesterday, which is 1 percent above last year’s average and 28 percent below last year’s high.

Bitcoin transaction fee

Yesterday’s average transaction fee concerned $2.31. That’s $1.60 below last year’s high of $3.91.

Bitcoin distribution by address

As of now, there are 18,815 Bitcoin millionaires, or addresses containing more than $1 million worth of Bitcoin.

Furthermore, the top 10 Bitcoin addresses house 4.9 percent of the total supply, the top 100 14.2 percent, and the top 1000 34.7 percent.

Company with a market cap closest to Bitcoin

With a market capitalization of $215 billion, Adobe has a market capitalization most similar to that of Bitcoin at the moment.

Bitcoin’s path towards $1 million

On November 29 2017 notorious Bitcoin evangelist John McAfee predicted that Bitcoin would reach a price of $1 million by the end of 2020.

He even promised to eat his own dick if it doesn’t. Unfortunately for him it’s 97.7 percent behind being on track. Bitcoin‘s price should have been $508,597 by now, according to dickline.info.

Bitcoin energy consumption

On a yearly basis Bitcoin now uses an estimated 65 terawatt hour of electricity. That’s the equivalent of Switzerland’s energy consumption.

Bitcoin on Twitter

Yesterday 30,485 fresh tweets about Bitcoin were sent out into the world. That’s 50.7 percent above last year’s average. The maximum amount of tweets per day last year about Bitcoin was 82,838.

Squid Game? More like Scam Game: A roundup

Squid Game, Neftlix’s sensational survival drama, has officially become the platform’s most watched show ever. And rightfully so. If only I could unwatch it and watch it again from the beginning…

But Squid Game’s global popularity sadly has a negative side: cybercriminals are ramping up their efforts to scam fans of the show.

There are six games in the Squid Game, so we have selected for you the six most prominent related scams. Falling for them won’t cost you your life as in the show, but your money and your personal data will certainly be on the line.

Red light, green light — let’s begin.

A cryptocurrency inspired by the show lured enough investors to see its value rocketing to $2,856 just a few days after its launch on October 20. In fact, it jumped 310,000% in value last Sunday.

And then suddenly on Monday morning, the digital token collapsed after Twitter flagged the cryptocurrency’s account and temporarily blocked it due to “suspicious activity.”

And guess what. The token’s website and social accounts have disappeared.

According to Gizmodo , the scammers behind Squid seem to have made it off with an estimated $3.38 million. Well, that’s not equal to the $38 million (45.6 billion won) the actual Squid Game was offering, but it’s certainly enough for a comfortable life.

In the crypto word this type of scam is know as a “rug pull” or “pump and dump” scam. It’s basically when a token’s creators abandon a project, cash out the investor’s fund, and… run away.

Jake Moore, Cybersecurity Specialist at global cybersecurity firm, ESET , told us:

The Squid was presented as a pay-to-play token for an online game based on the show. Naturally the game’s website, SquidGameash, has also disappeared. You can find an archived version here .

While there were many signs that Squid was a scam, unfortunately the frenzy over the show enabled the cybercriminals to get away with some big money.

The so-called Joker malware is basically a Trojan malware that infiltrates users’ devices through an infected application. It then collects and stores data from the device, and uses them to make premium subscriptions without the users’ knowledge or consent.

The malware was spotted by Lukas Stefanko, Malware Researcher at ESET, in an application called “Squid Wallpaper 4K HD.”

Google has removed the app from Play Store, but as Stefanko has also pointed out there are more than 200 Squid Game-related apps, which means an equal number of scam opportunities.

Cybersecurity firm Kasperksy has also spotted various scams. An example are fake streaming websites that harvest data, or pirated episode downloads packed with malware.

According to the company’s report , those downloads can install malicious files — mostly in the form of Trojans — on Windows systems and even steal passwords or other sensitive information. And in some cases:

Kaspersky has found several websites that invite visitors to play online versions of the Squid Game in order to “win” prizes in crypto such as 100 Binance coins (approximately $48,000).

Yes, Binance that’s still under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service for tax evasion and money laundering .

Players are required to sign up, which means to provide personal data, which can result in cybercrimes like identity theft.

This is my favorite. As it turns out, there are fraudulent Squid Game merchandize online stores, and the most ‘successful’ ones are those selling Halloween costumes inspired by the show.

According to the report:

So again, consumers risk losing their money and turning over personal information.

Another cybersecurity firm, Proofpoint, has warned about numerous “season two” scams. And let’s keep in mind here that neither Netflix, nor the show’s creator Hwang Dong-hyuk have confirmed a second season.

Proofpoint reports that thousands of fans, mainly in the US, have been hit with an email asking them to fill out an attached Excel document for access… to season two. It says:

If the document is downloaded, the device gets infected with a Dridex Trojan virus (which mainly targets banking information) and a series of other ransomware and malware.

And if that’s not enough, there’s another email going round asking people to register their interest to audition for the show’s next season. You know what’s coming — attached is an Excel spreadsheet.

One word to say for both: phishing.