Finance

Wrong Covid test results in China

Published

2 years ago

December 2, 2022

BEIJING — Local frustration with Covid controls in China has increasingly targeted virus testing requirements and the big business they’ve fueled.

Trending on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, on Tuesday morning was the hashtag: “If virus testing chaos never stops, the pandemic may never end,” according to CNBC’s translation of the Chinese.

The hashtag was referring to the headline of a now-deleted opinion piece from a publication overseen by People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s newspaper. The article listed several instances of allegedly forged virus test results this year across the country, including in Shanghai and Beijing.

The article warned that false reporting of nucleic acid test results could end up spreading the virus further, lead to even more rounds of testing — and lockdowns for months on end.

That same media outlet on Monday published an article, still online, about more than 30 virus testing companies in China all controlled by the same shareholder — which has been repeatedly fined.

Last week, Lanzhou city health authorities blamed one of those companies for reporting some positive virus test results as negative.

U.S. Amb. to China says China’s lockdowns constrain U.S. officials from doing their jobs

It’s not clear to what extent there may be fraud, or whether the sheer volume of tests made it difficult to process them accurately.

In the U.S., a surge of pop-up virus testing stations raised concerns of fraud as well as identity theft.

On Tuesday, a Chinese official said at a press conference the cities of Beijing, Hefei and Shijiazhuang, among others, found problems with some virus testing firms and punished them. Criminal investigations into some institutions and individuals have also been made, the official added.

Over the last month, several large cities across mainland China reported a surge in infections, prompting renewed lockdowns. Students and groups of people held public demonstrations over the weekend to protest the Covid controls, a policy which has persisted for nearly three years.

Restrictions grew tighter this year as authorities sought to track and contain the more contagious Omicron variant. The capital city of Beijing, Shanghai and many parts of the country have mandated regular virus testing for months — to travel or enter public venues such as a supermarket.

Beijing city authorities said Wednesday that people staying mostly at home won’t need to test regularly, following a similar announcement in parts of Guangzhou city earlier in the week.

Virus testing: a big business

CNBC selected 15 publicly listed Chinese Covid testing companies and found that they reported a total revenue of 86.58 billion yuan ($12.2 billion) in the first three quarters of the year, according to data from Wind Information.

Not all their revenue necessarily comes from testing. But their business saw big gains this year through the end of September.

Seven of the companies reported revenue nearly doubled or more during that time from a year ago — one even saw revenue nearly quadruple, the data showed. Three of those companies had listed on the mainland market since the pandemic began in early 2020.

Last week, the Shanghai Stock Exchange cancelled its review of a virus testing company’s proposed IPO.

In the first half of the year, 237 virus testing-related businesses registered in China — up by 51.9% from a year ago, according to Qichacha, a Chinese business database.

Testing just a 15-minute walk away

Until earlier this year, virus testing was primarily conducted by hospitals and negative results were not needed to enter public venues in certain cities.

Analysts had said regular testing could help authorities curb infections more quickly.

But after the Shanghai lockdown in early April, many cities including Beijing began to set up more neighborhood kiosks for PCR virus testing — polymerase chain reaction tests which are highly accurate and fairly simple to process.

At least in Beijing, the stations frequently display the logos of companies handling the testing, with no upfront fee for people getting tested.

In May, the central government promoted the idea that in large cities, a Covid testing station should be within 15 minutes’ walking distance. Beijing city reiterated those plans on Wednesday.

As China navigates a path toward reopening, state media have put more emphasis on local adherence to the latest version of the health authority’s Covid policy and subsequent measures released in November. Neither stipulates whether or how virus testing stations should be deployed.

Reports /TrainViral/

Crypto

Bitcoin’s Recovery – the Downturn Is Over

Published

5 months ago

July 16, 2024

The market is currently in a news-driven environment where the prices of cryptocurrencies have been determined by news agenda rather than fundamentals.

Bitfinex analysts have warned crypto investors to be cautious as bitcoin’s (BTC) recovery over the weekend is not a sign that its correction is over; the asset could witness more bloodshed in the near term.

In the latest Bitfinex Alpha report, experts deemed the market’s reaction this week critical, especially as supply alleviated over the weekend could return when traditional markets open.

“No Man’s Land”

Since Saturday, bitcoin has risen almost 10% from $57,600 to $63,000, closing last week in the green. The asset has surged above the 125-day range low of $60,200, which it broke through earlier this month after news of the German government’s massive BTC selling hit the market.

Market sentiment began to improve after reports that wallets linked to the German government were almost empty. However, the positive sentiment may not be sustained for long as the BTC the German authorities moved to trading desks and exchanges are yet to be sold.

While the supply from Germany appears to have been factored into bitcoin’s market price, Bitfinex analysts believe the end of selling pressure depends on how the involved trading desks execute their trades in the coming days.

Although the shift in sentiment underscores the market’s capacity to integrate new information and adjust expectations quickly, analysts think the market’s reaction over the first two trading days of the week cannot be overlooked for two reasons.

First, the low support level in the $60,200 range has now become a potential resistance line. Second, trading patterns over the past three months suggest that weekends are usually favorable for markets, especially on Saturdays when supply pressure seems to subside.

“We are now in no man’s land until we get clear resolution above or below this level,” the analysts said.

A News-Driven Environment

Besides the potential resistance level and three-month weekend trading pattern, the market is currently in a news-driven environment, where the prices of cryptocurrencies have been determined by news agendas rather than fundamentals.

Since selling pressure concerns are not yet completely obsolete due to upcoming Mt Gox creditor distributions, Bitfinex analysts expect such headlines to continue to have some impact on price movements. As such, the analysts urged investors to exercise caution in their trading strategies.

Reports /Trainviral/

Crypto

Bitcoin ETFs Saw $300M in Daily Net Inflows

Published

5 months ago

July 16, 2024

BlackRock’s IBIT led with $117.25 million in inflows on July 15, also being the most traded Bitcoin ETF.

The US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a daily net inflow of $301 million on July 15th. This extended their winning streak to seven consecutive days amidst a broader market recovery.

None of the ETFs recorded outflows for the day.

Bitcoin ETFs Rake in $16.11B in Net Inflows Since Jan

According to the data compiled by SoSoValue, BlackRock’s IBIT, the top spot Bitcoin ETF by net asset value, recorded the largest net inflows of the day at $117.25 million. IBIT was also the most actively traded Bitcoin ETF on Monday, with a volume of $1.24 billion. Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB came in close behind with net inflows of $117.19 million.

Fidelity’s FBTC experienced net inflows of $36.15 million on Monday, while Bitwise’s BITB saw $15.24 million in inflows. VanEck’s HODL, Invesco and Galaxy Digital’s BTCO, and Franklin Templeton’s EZBC funds also recorded net inflows. Meanwhile, Grayscale’s GBTC and other ETFs, such as Valkyrie’s BRRR, WisdomTree’s BTCW, and Hashdex’s DEFI, registered no flows for the day.

A total of $2.26 billion was traded on Monday. The trading volume for these ETFs was less than in March when it exceeded $8 billion on some days. Meanwhile, these funds have collectively attracted $16.11 billion in net inflow since their January launch.

What’s Next For Bitcoin?

Earlier this month, bitcoin’s price decline was mainly due to fears of massive selling pressure from Mt. Gox and the German government’s BTC sales.

But the assassination attempt on pro-crypto former US President and presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump at Saturday’s rally seemed to spark a recovery in the world’s largest digital asset, and experts are bullish on the asset’s price trajectory going forward. Bitcoin surged more than 9% over the past week and was currently trading slightly below $64,000.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt discussed bitcoin’s price outlook, suggesting a potential major rally. He referred to a pattern he terms “Hump->Slump->Bump->Dump->Pump” and highlighted that the July 5 double top attempt was a bear trap, confirmed by the July 13 close. He sees a likely continued upward trend but warned that a close below $56,000 would negate this bullish view.

“Bitcoin $BTC could be unfolding its often-repeated Hump…Slump…Bump…Dump…Pump chart construction. Jul 5 attempt at the double top was a bear trap, confirmed by Jul 13 close. Most likely scenario now is that bears are trapped. Close below $56k negates this interpretation”

Reports /Trainviral/

Crypto

LI.FI DeFi Platform Exploited, Over $8M Lost

Published

5 months ago

July 16, 2024

PeckShield alert reveals LI.FI’s protocol vulnerability is similar to a March 2022 attack, with the same bug recurring.

The decentralized finance (DeFi) platform LI.FI protocol has suffered an exploit amounting to over $8 million.

Cyvers Alerts reported detecting suspicious transactions within the LI.FI cross-chain transaction aggregator.

LI.FI Issues Warning After $8 Million Exploit

LI.FI confirmed the breach in a statement on July 16 via X: “Please do not interact with any http://LI.FI powered applications for now! We’re investigating a potential exploit.” The team clarified that users who did not set infinite approval are not at risk, emphasizing that only those who manually set infinite approvals seem to be affected.

According to Cyvers Alerts, more than $8 million in user funds have been stolen, with the majority being stablecoins. According to on-chain data, the hacker’s wallet holds 1,715 Ether (ETH) valued at $5.8 million and USDC, USDT, and DAI stablecoins.

Cyvers Alerts advised users to revoke relevant authorizations immediately, noting that the attacker is actively converting USDC and USDT into ETH.

Crypto security firm Decurity provided insights into the exploit, stating that it involves the LI.FI bridge. “The root cause is a possibility of an arbitrary call with user-controlled data via depositToGasZipERC20() in GasZipFacet, which was deployed 5 days ago,” Decurity explained on X.

“In general, the risks behind routers, cross-chain swaps, etc. are about token approvals. Raw native assets like (unwrapped) ETH are safe from these kinds of hacks b/c they don’t have approvals as an option. Most users & wallets also no longer do “infinite approvals” which gives a smart contract total control on removing any amount of their tokens. It’s important to understand which tokens you’re approving to which contracts.

This dashboard looks for all transactions of a user that intersects Lifi. Not all of these transactions indicate risk- but you can see how, broadly, integrations & layers of tech (like how Metamask bridge uses Lifi on BSC) can complicate how users do or don’t put their assets at risk. Revoke Cash is the most well known approval manager app.

But it’s also good security practice to simply rotate your address. New addresses start with 0 approvals, so starting fresh by moving your tokens to a fresh address is another good security practice.” – commented Carlos Mercado, Data Scientist at Flipside Crypto.

Recent Exploit Mirrors March 2022 Attack

Further analysis by PeckShield alert revealed that the vulnerability is similar to a previous attack on LI.FI’s protocol that occurred on March 20, 2022. That incident saw a bad actor exploit LI.FI’s smart contract, specifically the swapping feature, before bridging.

The attacker manipulated the system to call token contracts directly within their contract’s context, making users who had given infinite approval vulnerable. This exploit resulted in the theft of approximately 205 ETH from 29 wallets, affecting tokens such as USDC, MATIC, RPL, GNO, USDT, MVI, AUDIO, AAVE, JRT, and DAI.

“The bug is basically the same. Are we learning anything from the past lesson(s)?” PeckShield Alert said in a July 16 X post.

Following the 2022 incident, LI.FI disabled all swap methods in its smart contract and worked on developing a fix to prevent future vulnerabilities. However, the recurrence of a similar exploit raises concerns about the platform’s security measures and whether adequate steps were taken to address the vulnerabilities identified in the previous breach.

LI.FI is a liquidity aggregation protocol that allows users to trade across various blockchains, venues, and bridges.

Reports /Trainviral/