[Bitcoin Now] Catching Breath at 57 Million KRW... Cardano Riding the Uptrend

Google Removes 8 Cryptocurrency Mining Scam Apps from Play Store

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin is taking a breather around the 57 million KRW mark. However, Cardano (Ada) is showing a steep upward trend, approaching a market capitalization of 100 billion USD (approximately 117.01 trillion KRW).

According to the domestic cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, as of 1:22 PM on the 24th, Bitcoin recorded 57.39 million KRW, down 0.41% compared to the previous day. Since Bitcoin rose 4.85% on the 20th and settled in the 57 million KRW range, it has shown little change.

Recently, Cardano has been rising sharply. On the 22nd and 23rd, it increased by 10.47% and 6.95%, respectively, reaching the 3,300 KRW range. Looking over August, it rose about 117% in one month. It also set an all-time high by rising to 3,460 KRW the previous day. At the same time, Cardano recorded 3,325 KRW, down 1.77% compared to the previous day.

The background of Cardano's upward trend is system restructuring. Cardano is currently preparing a system upgrade to introduce the ‘conditional automatic contract execution (smart contract)’ function. Once this function is introduced, Cardano will be able to provide application services to automated decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and more.

As a result, there are expectations that Cardano could challenge the positions of Bitcoin and Ethereum. According to the cryptocurrency market tracking site CoinMarketCap, Cardano's market capitalization reached 92 billion USD on this day, following Bitcoin and Ethereum. According to the US economic media Bloomberg, Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of cryptocurrency lending firm Nexo, explained, “Cardano is competing with Ethereum, the second cryptocurrency that provides smart contracts.”

Earlier in May, Cardano also attracted attention in the cryptocurrency market. When Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, pointed out Bitcoin's environmental issues, Cardano, a proof-of-stake cryptocurrency, came to mind. The proof-of-stake method grants data management authority to a small number of holders with large stakes in the cryptocurrency, significantly reducing the decision-making process. However, since a few verify transactions, there is a downside that security can be relatively vulnerable.

Meanwhile, Google removed eight cryptocurrency mining applications that were scamming users out of their money from its app store, Play Store. According to cryptocurrency specialized media Cointelegraph on the 23rd (local time), Google announced the removal of eight cryptocurrency mining apps including Bitfund, Bitcoin Miner, Daily Bitcoin Reward, Crypto Holic, Minebit Pro, Bitcoin 2021, Ethereum Full Mining Cloud, and Bitcoin Full Mining Cloud Wallet.

These apps used tactics such as taking money from investors by promising returns in cryptocurrency if they invested in cloud-based mining businesses. They also introduced non-existent cryptocurrency businesses and charged monthly fees or displayed paid advertisements.

Prior to Google's action, cybersecurity firm Trend Micro reported that fraudulent cryptocurrency mining apps exist online and have caused many victims. Trend Micro identified a total of about 120 fraudulent cryptocurrency mining apps.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.