Slovakia

Crypto’s rising popularity in Slovakia

• zdnet: Slovak cryptocurrency exchange ETERBASE discloses $5.4 million hack – September 2020
  ETERBASE, a Bratislava-based cryptocurrency exchange, disclosed this week a security breach. The exchange said hackers breached its internal network and stole cryptocurrency funds worth $5.4 million. The incident, which was disclosed on Thursday, involved the theft of various cryptocurrencies from the company’s hot wallets. Hot wallets are cryptocurrency accounts that are actively connected to the internet and which ETERBASE was using to power its inter- and intra-currency exchange operations. Funds were stolen from six hot wallets, storing Bitcoin, Ether, ALGO, Ripple, Tezos, and TRON assets. In a series of messages posted on its Telegram channel, the company said it detected the attack but could not stop it from taking place.
  
  
• Cointelegraph: As Private Seed Funds Dry Up, European Blockchain Firms Seek Public… – July 2020
  A Slovak blockchain startup serves as the chief example of pandemic venture capital developments in central and eastern Europe (CEE), in a new report from Reuters on July 31. In the former Eastern bloc — where venture funding hit close to $1.6 billion in 2019 — uncertainty during the COVID-19 crisis has hit the start-up sector hard, particularly when it comes to early-stage deals. Alftins, a Slovak startup that is developing an online platform to trade digital assets, has recently secured funding from publicly-funded venture firm Crowdberry. The latter had earlier missed out on a version of the deal in fall of last year, but was reportedly able to secure better terms this time round.
  
  
• Finextra: Slovak crypto platform raises €1m – July 2020
  AltFINS, a Slovakia-based trading platform for digital assets has announced the completion of a funding round in which it raised over €1m. The financing was led by local asset manager CB Investment Management and underlines the rising attraction of crypto trading infrastucture among institutional investors in Europe.