OKCoin was featured on CCTV Finance, calling for crackdown on crimes using Bitcoin

It was the hottest summer, but the sudden outbreak of the "WannaCry" virus plunged the world into a severe winter of information leakage.

It is understood that the "WannaCry" virus will scan the TCP 445 port on the computer, spread in a way similar to a worm virus, attack the host and encrypt the files stored on the host, and then demand a ransom in the form of Bitcoin, with the ransom amount ranging from 300 to 600 US dollars. So far, "WannaCry" has caused at least 150 countries to be attacked by cyber attacks, affecting the financial, energy, medical and other industries, causing serious crisis management problems.

As to why ransomware has a special liking for Bitcoin, people from OKCoin said that hackers are attracted by the globalization, decentralization and anonymity of Bitcoin when it comes to payment and transfers.

On the 14th, a variant of the WannaCry virus, WannaCry 2.0, was discovered, spreading at an even faster rate and with greater destructive power. On the 18th, CCTV interviewed Xu Mingxing, the founder of the OKCoin Bitcoin trading platform, regarding this phenomenon.

The interview introduced: "Xu Mingxing, the founder of OKCoin Bitcoin trading platform. He started trading Bitcoin in 2013 and witnessed more and more people joining the ranks of Bitcoin investment. From 2013 to 2017, within four years, their platform has grown from more than 100,000 users to the current 1 million users."

Xu Mingxing said: "In the entire Chinese region, we estimate that the number of Bitcoin users may increase from hundreds of thousands to millions. As for foreign countries, the number of Bitcoin users in the US and European markets has increased significantly."

Regarding hackers' demands for Bitcoin as ransom, Xu Mingxing gave the following response: "Bitcoin itself is an objective and neutral virtual commodity. It is being used by hackers for illegal purposes such as extortion. I think this is something that the Bitcoin industry and global regulatory and law enforcement agencies need to crack down on."

On the day when WannaCry swept the world, the price of Bitcoin in China broke through the RMB 10,000 mark. In the overseas Bitcoin market, the price of Bitcoin soared.

According to the London gold market, the recent gold price is $1,258 per ounce. The price of Bitcoin has recently soared to $1,840, 46% higher than the price of one ounce of gold. So far, more than 15 million Bitcoins have been mined worldwide. Calculated at $1,840 per coin, the total value of Bitcoin has exceeded $27 billion.

The factors driving the price increase are related to the friendly attitude of some countries and regions towards Bitcoin. The US state of New Hampshire introduced a loose policy on Bitcoin this year; the European Court of Justice ruled in 2015 that transactions of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies will be exempt from value-added tax; the German Ministry of Finance issued a statement in 2013 stating that Bitcoin is a financial instrument under the German banking regulations; the Belgian Ministry of Finance officially announced that all virtual currency transactions in the country will be exempt from value-added tax.

"Since Bitcoin entered the mainstream in 2013, countries around the world have regulated it to varying degrees. The United States has included Bitcoin in the category of securities and commodities," said Xu Mingxing.

Therefore, some netizens took the WannaCry virus out of context and called it the Bitcoin virus, which is wrong. The virus spread by exploiting the dangerous vulnerability "Eternal Blue" leaked by the NSA (National Security Agency), and its negative impact cannot be completely "blamed" on Bitcoin. Here, people related to OKCoin call for us to look at the value of Bitcoin and its underlying technology blockchain objectively, rather than "demonizing" it.

As Xu Mingxing said in the interview, combating criminals using Bitcoin to carry out illegal activities requires the cooperation and severe crackdown of the Bitcoin industry and global regulatory and law enforcement agencies. OKCoin also solemnly promises that it will resolutely resist illegal and criminal activities, further standardize the anti-money laundering system, and maintain the healthy and sustainable development of the Bitcoin market.