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(Bloomberg) — One of the most significant hacks in the history of crypto has gone unsolved for almost six years, after an unknown attacker siphoned 3.6 million Ether — worth over $9 billion at current prices — from a decentralized fund known as TheDAO. Now, journalist Laura Shin says in a new book that she may have discovered the person behind it.

The 2016 attack on TheDAO was the result of a flaw in its code allowing an attacker to slowly drain funds from the main platform into other newly-created DAOs, relying on good actors to engage with those offshoot DAOs to stop the attacker from withdrawing funds entirely. 

That year, a hacker exploited that flaw to steal around 31% of TheDAO’s total Ether stash, which at the time was around 5% of all ETH ever created. In order to stop that person getting away with most of the cash, Ethereum developers were forced to split its blockchain in two. The result was that the hacker was not left with the ETH we know today, but Ethereum Classic  — worth far less than ETH, valuing the total token pile at around $94 million in today’s prices.

Detailing the findings of her book in a Forbes summary on Tuesday, Shin pointed to Toby Hoenisch, co-founder and chief financial officer of Euro-pegged stablecoin project Mimo Capital, as the alleged hacker. Shin cited a web of data and evidence based on tracked transactions and comments made by Hoenisch about security flaws in TheDAO before the attack occurred.

Hoenisch denied to Shin that her findings were accurate. Hoenisch did not immediately respond to Bloomberg requests for comment.

Research carried out by Shin, early Ethereum developer Alex van de Sande, crypto research firm Chainalysis and others alleged that Hoenisch had brought the specific flaw exploited in the 2016 hack to the attention of TheDAO several weeks before it occurred. 

In a statement to Bloomberg, Shin said her findings provide “extremely strong evidence of the attacker’s identity”, alleging Hoenisch’s knowledge of TheDAO provided him with the means and motivation to carry out the hack.

Following the theft, the attacker tried to obscure some of their activity by transferring funds through the privacy mixer Wasabi Wallet. A tool newly developed by Chainalysis de-mixed these transactions, allowing researchers to find the exchanges that subsequently received the stolen funds in accounts allegedly managed by Hoenisch. 

Wasabi Wallet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Now that Chainalysis has disclosed with my book and article that it has the ability to de-mix Wasabi transactions, I imagine a number of people who have used that mixer for illicit purposes are feeling insecure today,” Shin said in an email. 

“This may get them wondering if blockchain forensics will catch up to them later, even if they use the latest crypto obfuscation techniques today.”

 

(Adds comment from Shin beginning in the seventh paragraph.)

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(Bloomberg) — Cummins Inc. agreed to buy Meritor Inc. for $2.58 billion to gain axle and brake technology for hybrid-electric and plug-in vehicle technology.

Cummins will pay $36.50 in cash for each Meritor share, the companies said in a statement Tuesday, 48% above Meritor’s last closing price. That comes to $2.58 billion based on the latest data available for the number of Meritor shares outstanding. The companies valued the deal at about $3.7 billion, including assumed debt and net acquired cash.

Cummins will gain Meritor’s electric drive technology for commercial trucks and other vehicles, which is becoming a focal point as fleet customers look to lower fueling costs and meet ever-increasing environmental regulations.

“Climate change is the existential crisis of our time and this acquisition accelerates our ability to address it,” Cummins Chief Executive Officer Tom Linebarger said in the statement. “Our customers need economically viable decarbonized solutions.”

The Columbus, Indiana-based company plans to pay for the acquisition with cash on its balance sheet and debt. The deal, expected to close by year-end, will add immediately to adjusted per-share earnings and should generate annual pretax synergies of about $130 million within three years of closing.

Meritor created its Blue Horizon brand in 2018, which includes electric, hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell technology for trucks, vans, tractors and other commercial vehicles.

Under Cummins ownership, the combined company should be able to accelerate investment in clean propulsion, Baird Equity Research analyst Luke Junk said in a note to investors.

Meritor shares surged 46% to $35.14 at 9:54 a.m. in New York, while Cummins rose less than 1% to $220.03.

(Updates with details of deal beginning in first paragraph)

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(Bloomberg) —

The U.K.’s financial watchdog raised concerns about a Peter Thiel-backed cryptocurrency trading platform controlling a U.K.-authorized firm, saying it has powers to strip the business of its registration if it found that the company or its ownership were unsuitable.

Austria’s Bitpanda — valued at around $4 billion — announced its purchase of U.K. firm Trustology Ltd. on Tuesday. But the Financial Conduct Authority, which granted the firm a license under its anti-money laundering rules in October, responded it can suspend or cancel the registration if it uncovered concerns about its ownership.

“Both Bitpanda and Trustology are confident that no issues with the acquisition will arise,” Bitpanda said in a statement. “We have a good working relationship with the FCA who was informed of that transaction well in advance and the FCA statement was in accordance with Bitpanda’s expectations.”

Bitpanda said that the acquisition was the first ever purchase of an FCA-registered cryptoasset firm

The regulator has issued frequent warnings about the risks in crypto, saying in 2021 that investors “should be prepared to lose all their money.” 

Meanwhile, it’s taken a tough line on new registrations for cryptoasset firms. It has until March 31 to sign off on dozens of firms with temporary permissions, with the companies potentially forced to stop trading without the full approvals.

Vienna-headquartered Bitpanda counts Thiel’s Valar Ventures and billionaire financier Alan Howard among its largest investors. The firm offers retail trading in crypto, equity derivatives and commodities.

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(Bloomberg) — Walmart Inc. is expanding its partnership with live-shopping platform Talkshoplive, adding regularly scheduled content in a bid to entice more customers to buy products through online videos. 

The programming schedule through March includes shows on makeup, dog food and toys, the companies said in a statement Tuesday. That builds on February content about baby products and Black-founded brands, as well as four live shows during the holiday season with celebrities including Drew Barrymore and Rachael Ray. The videos appear on Walmart’s website.  

“The success of our initial launch has proven Talkshoplive as the partner to give Walmart’s customers live, shoppable content,” Casey Schlaybaugh, vice president of brand at the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer. 

With the expanded programming deal, Walmart is extending its foray into so-called streaming e-commerce, which intertwines video, social media and celebrities to prod consumers into making purchases. It’s a sign that live selling, already popular in Asia, is gaining ground in the U.S. 

“Every brand and retailer is now looking at what their livestream shopping strategy should be,” Bryan Moore, co-founder and chief executive officer of Talkshoplive, said. 

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(Bloomberg) — The European Union is working to give its new anti-money-laundering watchdog oversight of cryptocurrency firms due to concerns that they’re used to process illicit funds, according to people familiar with the matter. 

The European Commission and other authorities are negotiating the remit and design of the body, which is expected to start operations in 2024 and be fully functional two years later. A group of states led by Germany is seeking to make the inclusion of cryptocurrency firms more explicit, said an EU diplomat briefed on the discussions. The people asked not to be named as the details aren’t public.

The EU is setting up the new authority after a series of scandals in recent years showed the bloc’s patchwork of regulations left it open to flows of dirty cash. The $2 trillion market for cryptocurrencies has boomed as companies and investors look to reap returns, yet it’s also opened a new front for law enforcement as widespread anonymity attracts criminals and rogue nations.

The German-led group includes Spain, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg and The Netherlands. They want the EU watchdog’s remit to cover the riskiest cross-border entities among banks, financial institutions and crypto assets service providers, the EU diplomat said. The Commission’s proposal, published in July, only makes oblique reference to “virtual assets.” 

Read More: EU’s Dirty Money Watchdog May Not Cover Enough Firms, ECB Says

The Commission declined to comment.

The proposed changes have yet to be formally discussed among EU member states, meaning it isn’t yet clear how broadly it will be supported or how crypto firms will ultimately be treated, said the officials. The European Parliament will have a say in the final text.

“It is key that the scope of the new EU authority explicitly includes crypto-assets, given that this is one of the fields more prone to money laundering activities,” said Luis Garicano, one of the leading EU lawmakers for the proposal.

The fight against money laundering in the EU is currently the responsibility of national authorities across the bloc, which means they sometimes lack information about events outside their borders and raises the risk that they aren’t sufficiently independent.

The vulnerability of Europe’s financial system to illicit funds was on display over the last decade. Danske Bank A/S’s Baltic operations were allegedly used to launder Russian money, and Deutsche Bank AG and other lenders have also been faulted for weak controls. In 2018, the U.S. Treasury named Latvia’s ABLV Bank AS as a primary money laundering concern over allegedly corrupt funds flowing through it from Russia and Ukraine, as well as for links to North Korea’s weapons program.

The U.S. Justice Department this month named a veteran cybersecurity prosecutor to lead a new team dedicated to investigating and prosecuting illicit cryptocurrency schemes carried out by cyber criminals and nation states including North Korea and Iran.

Read More: DOJ Amps Up Crypto Scrutiny, Naming Head of Enforcement Team

Illicit transactions jumped almost 80% to $14 billion, an all-time high, in 2021, according to block-chain analytics firm Chainalysis. Still, crime made up a much smaller share of total crypto transaction volume, which increased drastically last year, the firm said.

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(Bloomberg) — Blockchain.com is leasing a 22,000-square-foot (2,044-square-meter) office in Miami’s Wynwood arts district, close to Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, in the latest sign of crypto industry expansion in the Florida city.

The company will eventually employ about 300 people in the building formerly known as Cube Wynwd, which will become the Blockchain.com Building. Blockchain.com will occupy the seventh and eighth floors. 

Blockchain.com moved its Americas headquarters to Miami from New York last year, and had been in a temporary space in nearby Brickell. The move has coincided with a large increase in head count at the company, which was valued at $5.2 billion in a 2021 fundraising. 

The pandemic era work-from-anywhere movement has made South Florida a popular destination for crypto jobs, as well as some high-profile tech and finance firms. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has actively courted such jobs, and Blockchain.com Chief Executive Officer Peter Smith attributed the move in part to the mayor’s recruitment. 

Other companies bringing jobs to South Florida include MoonPay, a PayPal for digital currencies, and crypto exchange FTX, which acquired the naming rights for the Miami Heat’s basketball arena.

“Miami is a place where crypto is just really flourishing, and there’s a huge amount of interest really across the board,” Smith said by phone. 

Wynwood, which was originally popular for its street murals, has become a major hub of bars, restaurants and now tech offices. Once mostly warehouses, it became known for its art studios and galleries until the latest phase of development started pricing out many of them. Venture capital companies Founders Fund and Atomic recently set up shop at the Wynwood Annex across the street from the Blockchain.com building. 

The 100,000-square-foot Blockchain.com Building was purchased last year by Tricera Capital and Lndmrk Development. Tricera co-founder Ben Mandell said they bought the property in April 2021 to tap into the growing demand. Other tenants include financial technology firm Kushki and Shaolin Capital Management.

Some new arrivals to Miami are seeking completed offices that are move-in ready for a fast transition, Mandell said. 

“There was more demand coming into Miami, sustainable office demand, because these executives were buying homes here and moving here for many reasons,” he said.

(Updates with other tenants in eighth paragraph. An earlier version of this story corrected the spelling of Founders Fund.)

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(Bloomberg) — Africa’s biggest fund manager lost a Labour Court case that may compel it to pay bonuses to executives that were withheld on instruction from the then finance minister amid a governance scandal. The Public Investment Corp., which oversees 2.34 trillion rand ($154 billion) in assets, was ordered in a Feb. 18 ruling by …

Court Says Mboweni’s Top Africa Fund Manager Bonus Block Invalid Read More »

(Bloomberg) — The need to finance more environmental projects in Africa is driving two entrepreneurs to start the first exchange dedicated to green bonds. The Green Exchange, to be based in Ghana’s capital Accra, aims to enable companies to issue billions in green bonds and for investors to trade the debt in a secondary market, …

Fintech Entrepreneurs Aim to Spur Green Bond Issuance in Africa Read More »

(Bloomberg) — U.S. Bancorp is doubling down on its growing digital-banking operations by partnering with Microsoft Corp. to improve offerings over the internet and on mobile apps.

The multiyear partnership is meant to help business customers more easily generate invoices and handle payments, the Minneapolis-based lender said in a statement. Microsoft’s Azure cloud-computing business will become U.S. Bancorp’s primary cloud provider, though the bank said it will continue to rely on other firms as well. Terms weren’t disclosed.

Banks are boosting spending on digital capabilities to better compete against industry rivals and financial-technology firms encroaching on their territory. The Covid-19 pandemic added urgency to that effort by speeding up a digital transition among bank customers that was already underway. U.S. Bancorp said in the statement that 81% of its consumer transactions in 2021 were done online or using its app, compared with 70% in 2019.

“More and more financial services will get built into other experiences” to expand customer acquisition and reach, Dilip Venkatachari, U.S. Bancorp’s global chief information & technology officer, said in an interview. “We think this is a critical part of our next journey.”

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(Bloomberg) — Mukesh Ambani’s conglomerate is bringing together a consortium aiming to outbid entertainment giants Amazon.com Inc., Walt Disney Co. and Sony Group Corp. for the telecast rights to the Indian Premier League — a prize that could be worth $5 billion or more in the cricket-crazy nation of almost 1.4 billion people.

Helmed by Asia’s richest man, Reliance Industries Ltd. and its television partner Viacom Inc. are in talks to include James Murdoch-founded Lupa Systems LLC as well as Comcast Corp. in the consortium, according to people familiar with the development who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private. Bids are likely to exceed 400 billion rupees ($5.3 billion), the people said. 

Amazon will join the bidding war as it looks to spruce up its sports offerings for Amazon Prime, two of the people said. Walt Disney, which secured the event’s telecast rights through 2022 with the acquisition of Star, will be in the fray while Sony is expected to bid with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. pending regulatory clearances on their proposed merger, two other people said. 

Deliberations are ongoing and details may change. The bids will be submitted to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which will allocate the rights for five years starting 2023. A winner is likely to be announced around end-March or early April.

Sony “will evaluate bidding for both broadcast and digital rights for the upcoming IPL,” said a spokesperson for its Indian unit. Zee declined to comment. Representatives for Reliance, Comcast, Lupa, Amazon and Disney didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment. Reuters reported on Sunday that Reliance and Amazon were among those looking to bid for the broadcast rights.

Cult Event

The fight for the Indian Premier League or IPL — a cult event that’s considered the Super Bowl of cricket — spotlights the jostle among streaming platforms to win eyeballs in the largest consumer market that’s open to foreign firms. Last year’s edition of the IPL brought in 380 million viewers and whoever wins telecast rights will likely win millions of new subscribers in a highly competitive market that’s seen the likes of Netflix Inc. struggle.

Addition of two new teams has “increased the number of the matches to 74 and longevity of playtime offers better monetization prospects for the next five years in the IPL,” said Ramsai Panchapakesan, senior vice president at Zenith, a media buying agency under the Publicis Group He added that he expects the winning bidder to comfortably recover most of the investment. IPL now has 10 league teams that compete in the tournament.

Disney kicked off its Disney+ OTT service in India in March 2020 at the start of the IPL season, seeing it as an “opportune moment” to launch. Retaining the IPL rights are crucial to consolidate its market share in India.

Sony and Zee will be vying to bolster their SonyLIV OTT service and television channels respectively. Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt. signed a definitive pact in December to buy 50.86% equity in Zee Entertainment and is awaiting regulatory approvals. The merger, once closed, will pave the way for a joint IPL bid by Sony and Zee.

Reliance is looking to stream the tournament on its digital platforms, and other partners may join the consortium later, one of the people said. 

The IPL is a shorter version of the game, played in stadiums with tens of thousands of fans. The games feature merchandise and a carnival atmosphere, unlike the traditional, more staid format of cricket that runs over five days, and players break for tea.

(Updates with a sector expert’s comments in the seventh paragraph.)

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