The Daily: Husbands Blackmailed for Bitcoin, Blockchain This and That

Scammers are threatening to reveal cheating husbands to their wives and asking for bitcoin ransom – check the details in this edition of The Daily. A porn streaming website now rewards its users with tokens, and hair sprays are sold for BTC and BCH. Also, find out what Brits think about blockchain and learn about the latest incarnations of the technology.

Also read: Binance Launches in Liechtenstein, ZB.com Opens Office in Malta

Scammers Threaten Cheating Husbands, Ask for Bitcoin

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has recently issued a warning about new scams involving cryptocurrency: fraudsters have been sending letters threatening to reveal cheating husbands to their wives and relatives unless they are paid thousands of dollars in bitcoin (BTC). The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) says there’s been a significant increase in the number of extortion attempts of this kind.

A variety of scenarios have been reported but the scammers usually accuse people of cheating and visiting porn sites, and claim to possess other compromising information as well. Threats like “I know about the secret you are keeping from your wife” and “I installed malware on the adult video site” are often part of the correspondence.

People’s personal data like names, usernames, or passwords is included to intimidate the targeted individuals. In most cases, the recipient is instructed to pay a ransom in bitcoin. The Bureau asks victims to reach out to the local FBI office and file a complaint with the IC3 at www.ic3.gov, providing any relevant information including the extortion email and the BTC address.

Porn Site Rewards Viewers with Tokens

Speaking about earthly temptations, a leading adult website now wants to reward its users with cryptocurrency. Tube8, a subsidiary of Pornhub, one of the largest platforms in the genre which boasts over 150 million page visits a month, is now moving onto the blockchain. The porn streaming service told Hard Fork it is tokenizing itself through a partnership with Vice Industry Token (VIT). According to the report, the deal will allow users to earn VIT tokens while enjoying the Tube8 videos.

The transformation is scheduled to take place by the end of the year, promising to turn Tube8 into the very first major adult platform to pay its users for their activity in cryptos. By doing so, Pornhub, which is already accepting payments in verge, tron and zencash, is truly spearheading crypto adoption and blockchain implementation in the adult industry, taking advantage of the anonymity provided by cryptocurrencies, which is important for its customers.

Something for the Ladies: Buy Hairspray with Bitcoin

Thinking about finding new intersections between beauty and technology, beyond formula or packaging, R+Co, the beauty collective founded by stylists Howard McLaren, Thom Priano, and Garren, is now incorporating bitcoin core (BTC) and bitcoin cash (BCH) payments into its business, The Cut reports. The team thinks it’s a logical next step.

Once you decide to pay for your hairspray with any of these leading cryptocurrencies, “The Culture of Hairdressing” promises a simple online checkout experience. After providing billing and shipping information, ladies will be prompted to choose a payment method and they can opt to spend cryptocurrency instead of reaching for the credit card. Selecting the bitcoin option will transfer them to Bitpay where they need to complete the purchase within 15 minutes. Excited about the new service, R+Co’s president Dan Langer said:

Blockchain technology is going to be one of the future disruptors in the beauty industry. It will allow consumers the ability to leverage their data and purchase behavior in all kinds of new shopping ways… from reviews to rewards to product benefits. In order to stay at the forefront of this emerging thinking we wanted to integrate components of it while still in its early stages – like paying with Bitcoin – and learn with it as it evolves.

Blockchain This, Blockchain That

Bitcoin payments – that’s fine, but “blockchain” is not something everyone accepts without prejudice. Almost half of Brits, for example, wouldn’t trust an organization using it, new research from IP EXPO Europe has discovered. The authors have found that over a third of British people (35%) would not trust a company employing the technology to keep their information secure. The main reason for their mistrust is not knowing what blockchain really is.

Another 11% of the respondents in the poll conducted by One Pulse, who believe they know what blockchain is, would also not trust an organization that’s using it. Both figures represent almost half of UK citizens. Add to that the 28% who say they wouldn’t trust a firm using any technology they don’t understand and you’ll realize how important it is for businesses to ensure they don’t confuse their customers while trying to improve their technical capabilities or simply riding the wave of the crypto craze.

Nevertheless, the blockchain mania goes on and this week produced a number of examples. We learned that Italian insurance companies are testing a blockchain-based solution to resolve disputes involving car-liability claims, Wyoming farmers want to use the distributed ledger technology to track what their cattle eats and then brand their beef as superior, blockchain-proof probably, and the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation has developed a blockchain platform to improve electronic invoicing… What? Oh, and “China’s first blockchain social network is the brainchild of a 24-year-old female poker player,” mainstream media informed us.

Realizing the importance of blockchain education, Hong Kong authorities have granted $20 million USD to several local universities that are expected to use the funds to finance the research and development of blockchain-based payments systems. And in the Philippines, one of the oldest universities, Ateneo de Manila, is partnering with a healthcare service provider to set up a research laboratory powered by blockchain. All this is happening after Turkey’s Bahçe?ehir University inaugurated the country’s first blockchain innovation center. Yes, a lot of education is needed when it comes to blockchain.

What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits? Tell us in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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