Crypto Tech News

Devin and a Cognition researcher have built the world's highest-performance GPU lattice siever to factor large cryptographic numbers like RSA 260. This new tool makes the factoring process ten times cheaper than previous methods, significantly advancing computational efficiency.

A security researcher has successfully factored the RSA encryption keys of a 1990s-era Certificate Authority, exposing the severe vulnerabilities of outdated cryptographic methods. This achievement highlights the critical risks associated with legacy encryption systems and underscores the ongoing necessity of enforcing strong, modern key lengths across digital infrastructure.

In a recent security incident, purported white-hat hackers withdrew approximately 4,000 BTC, valued at $320 million, from the Liquid Federation wallet. Blockstream is actively investigating the breach and attempting to communicate with the responsible parties via an on-chain signed message.

An actively exploited sandbox remote code execution vulnerability affecting all Chromium versions has sparked debate after Google paid the ethical researcher a mere $1,000 bug bounty. Commentators argue this payout is drastically undervalued compared to black market rates and the immense internal costs Google saves by relying on external white-hat hackers. The discussion underscores broader frustrations regarding inadequate financial incentives for security researchers compared to the lucrative profits of state-sponsored cybercriminals.

Researchers have successfully factored RSA-260, a 260-digit cryptographic challenge number, by identifying one of its massive prime divisors. This breakthrough marks a significant milestone in computational number theory and highlights the ongoing advancements in integer factorization algorithms and computing power.

Google has published an update on HEIR, a homomorphic encryption compiler that transforms standard programs to operate directly on encrypted data. The official Google Security blog announcement is accompanied by a candid, highly technical companion article that explores the project's progress in depth.

A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of state regulators in their legal battle against Kalshi, affirming that the company must comply with state-level gambling restrictions. The decision reinforces that Congress did not override existing state gambling regulations when amending the Commodity Exchange Act. The complex legal dispute over interstate betting is widely expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Readers debating Nostr's role as an inclusive communication commons highlight a tension between its minimalist protocol design and inherent centralization pressures, arguing that privately owned relays retain censorship power despite the network's ownerless structure. While supporters praise the protocol's accountability and replaceability, critics point out that network effects still favor large infrastructure operators. Furthermore, users express frustration with the platform's current utility, describing an underwhelming experience dominated by cryptocurrency enthusiasts rather than diverse content.

Kaspersky researchers have discovered a new Android malware strain that infects DoFun automotive head units through seemingly legitimate software. Once installed, the malicious firmware serves unauthorized advertisements and recruits the compromised devices into a proxy botnet.

Former OC actor Ben McKenzie has shifted his focus from Hollywood to leading a vocal crusade against the cryptocurrency industry. He has become a prominent critic of digital assets, publicly labeling the crypto market as the largest Ponzi scheme in history.

A recent report reveals that the CIA helped keep Steve Jobs' NeXT Computer financially afloat in the 1980s by purchasing its hardware for agency use. Reader discussions clarify that this was a straightforward procurement rather than a covert backdoor operation, contrasting the news with actual historical CIA covert funding like the secret ownership of the Swiss cryptography firm Crypto AG.

This piece explores the distinct payment infrastructures in the US, China, and Brazil to highlight the technological differences between these major economies. It challenges the common American assumption that global payment systems mirror the domestic model.

Readers reflect on the legacy of the original Quake shareware CD-ROM, debating whether its easily crackable nature was a deliberate marketing strategy. They also praise the unique physical packaging of the shareware release compared to the later retail version. The conversation expands into a broader nostalgia for the 1990s CD-ROM era, recalling the novelty of massive storage capacities, early FMV games, and the rapid pace of software cracking.

Reticulum is a decentralized mesh network that prioritizes privacy by omitting source addresses from transmitted packets across various mediums like LoRa, Bluetooth, and standard internet connections. Although the protocol prevents direct tracking, observers can still potentially estimate a sender's physical location by analyzing the initial network repeaters. Despite its innovative design, the platform is currently struggling to combat a growing influx of spam and automated botnet traffic.

This article provides a foundational overview of zero-knowledge proofs, explicitly focusing on their utility outside of cryptocurrency and blockchain applications. It explores the mechanics of this cryptographic concept and its broader applications in enhancing general data privacy and secure authentication.

Recent analyses confirm that large language models cannot break symmetric cryptography, dispelling concerns about AI compromising modern encryption. Meanwhile, Anthropic is receiving widespread praise for its excellent research contributions to the broader field of cryptanalysis.

Following recent market losses and the restriction of 2x leverage products, retail investors are increasingly turning to high-risk 3x leverage in a desperate bid for outsized returns. This surge in leveraged trading reflects a broader trend of financial nihilism and gambling behavior, especially as US household wealth becomes heavily concentrated in highly valued tech giants. Ultimately, the shift underscores growing economic frustration among everyday investors who view the stock market as their only viable path to financial security.

INTERPOL's African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026 reveals that artificial intelligence now fuels more than half of all cybercrime across the continent. This rapid adoption of AI by cybercriminals has led to a surge in scams that are faster, more convincing, and larger in scale than previous threats.

Despite its industry reputation, FIPS 140-3 certification does not guarantee security, as validated modules have historically shipped with critical vulnerabilities like ROCA and Dual_EC_DRBG. A new analysis examines what the certificate actually attests to, the performance costs of FIPS mode, its disruptive impact on Bitcoin tooling, and where security auditors truly focus their efforts.

The Keyv npm package and eight related dependencies were compromised in an active supply chain attack on August 4, 2026. An attacker injected Mini Shai-Hulud malware into the packages after gaining unauthorized access to the maintainer's GitHub account.

Cloudflare is introducing Cloudflare Wallets to equip AI agents with native web payments and verifiable digital identities. Powered by the x402 protocol, this programmable wallet enables agents to autonomously purchase APIs and content while operating within strict safety guardrails.

A recent bug in the COLDCARD hardware wallet was traced to a flaw where the random.bytes() function executed without throwing errors but failed to produce secure randomness. The specifics of this silent failure were detailed in a revealing commit message, highlighting the hidden dangers of unverified execution in cryptographic code.

Anthropic recently showcased the cryptographic capabilities of its unreleased Claude Mythos model by publishing new cryptanalysis results against the HAWK signature scheme and reduced-round AES. Alongside the technical findings, the company released a blog post detailing the research process behind these breakthroughs. Security researchers are now analyzing these results to understand the growing impact of advanced AI on cybersecurity.

Anthropic researchers have utilized their Claude Mythos Preview model to successfully identify vulnerabilities within cryptographic algorithms. This advancement highlights the emerging role of artificial intelligence in proactively discovering security flaws and strengthening digital encryption standards.

A gray-market relay economy has emerged to provide mainland China with cheap, large-scale access to major AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. This structured network of token resellers relies on fraudulent practices to supply discounted business-to-business API access.

Codeberg has updated its official platform documentation to explicitly ban all cryptocurrency projects. The revised policies formalize the organization's new stance, effectively prohibiting developers from hosting crypto-related repositories on the service.

The rapid expansion of AI infrastructure has driven massive investments in GPU clusters, but the lack of a mature secondary market leaves their used value highly uncertain. This valuation risk is highlighted by xAI's recent debt agreement, which could force lender Apollo Global Management to assume ownership of the hardware if the company defaults. Consequently, financial backers face the unpredictable prospect of inadvertently entering the GPU rental business.

Jack Dorsey has launched Buzz through Block, a new self-hostable workspace that integrates team chat, AI agents, workflows, and Git hosting. The platform leverages signed Nostr events to provide a decentralized infrastructure for streamlined developer collaboration.

Researchers used an AI auditor to uncover a critical soundness vulnerability in the OpenVM zero-knowledge virtual machine that allowed malicious provers to forge pairing equalities. The flaw stemmed from missing subfield checking and has been patched in the OpenVM 1.6.0 release under CVE-2026-46669. This discovery marks the second installment in an ongoing series detailing AI-driven bug hunting in open-source cryptography.

This retrospective revisits iconic music piracy platforms like Napster and Limewire to explore the unique culture and thrill of early file-sharing. The piece argues that modern streaming services fail to capture the same sense of discovery and community that made these early networks so deeply engaging.