Bitcoin Daily: Bitcoin Trading Tops $11B; Infected Chrome App Steals Crypto

Daily trading volume for bitcoin topped $11 billion on Friday (March 15) — its highest point in almost one year.

Although bitcoin’s price is at nearly half of what it was in November 2018, CoinDesk noted that the boost in trading volume could be a sign investors are still interested in the most popular crypto.

In other news, a security researcher has discovered a phishing scam that tricks victims into downloading a malicious Chrome extension that steals cryptocurrency.

Harry Denley of EtherscamDB found that the extension – NoCoin – was disguised as an app that prevents any covert crypto mining. In fact, it looks almost identical to popular crypto-mining blocker MinerBlock.

Denley showed proof that NoCoin had been downloaded by at least 230 users. Google has since deleted it from the Chrome Web Store, according to The Next Web.

Japan is set to hold its first criminal trial involving cryptocurrency cyber-theft.

CoinDesk reported that an 18-year-old allegedly stole about 15 million yen ($134,340) in the crypto Monacoin. From Aug. 14 to Sept. 1, 2018, he is said to have hacked crypto wallet Monappy via a glitch on its website, sending multiple transfer requests to himself.

“I felt like I’d found a trick no one knows and did it as if I were playing a video game,” the unnamed youth said, according to Japanese police.

And Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin is shutting down after it was unable to recover funds it had lost during a dispute with a former payment services provider.

“In light of the circumstances, we have suffered financial difficulty over a period time to an extent that we are no longer able to support our operation. On 13 March 2019, the court has granted a winding-up order against our company. A provisional liquidator has been appointed and we have to cease operation with immediate effect. Please rest assured that we will assist the liquidation process in order to expedite the realization and redistribution of our assets to the creditors,” Gatecoin wrote on its website.