Earlier this month, Ugandan socialite Zari Hassan had several of her social media accounts hacked. Interestingly, the cyber criminals asked for a ransom payment in bitcoin (BTC) from Hassan so that she could regain access to her account.

The Zari Hassan Hack

Image by instagram.com/zarithebosslady/

Zari Hassan is a popular Ugandan celebrity with millions of followers on social media. A few weeks ago, however, her Instagram and Facebook accounts were reportedly hacked.

Her attackers’ goal was to extort money from her, given that they had enough information about the kind of lifestyle she lives. They demanded $4,000 in bitcoin (BTC) to be sent to them as a ransom to release access to the account.

Hassan was able to retrieve access to her accounts but it is unclear whether she paid the ransom or whether the compromised social media platforms enabled her to re-access her accounts.

Hassan is among a number of several female celebrities who have had their accounts hacked in the past few months.

Keep Your Online Accounts Safe

There are lessons to be learned from this. For one, we need to take caution in securing our online accounts on social media. Things such as frequent password changes, allowing two-factor authentication, making use of privacy settings as well as limiting app permissions should not be taken for granted. We need to make use of them to keep our accounts as secure as possible.

Furthermore, for those of us that hold cryptocurrencies, we need to ensure we keep our cryptocurrency wallets and trading accounts safe and secure. Hackers have been increasingly targeting cryptocurrency users due to the irreversibility and relative anonymity of cryptocurrency transactions.

In a bid to identify tax evaders, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) is actively working towards identifying and tracking various transactions carried out by cryptocurrency traders. The agency’s main agenda is to identify those making money from their cryptocurrency transactions and ensures that these people pay the appropriate tax.

SARS is Going After Crypto Traders

The agenda was made known why the agency’s director, Mark Kingon, during an Institute of Internal Auditors conference held in the Sandton, according to IOL. Mark Kingon said:

“The most important thing is identifying individual trading actively because it’s easy to say cryptocurrency gains must be deductible, but there are also those who lose. Identifying the traders will make the process of tax deduction easy and straightforward.”

He added that “being able to identify transactions on the blockchain will also help greatly towards identifying corrupt government official moving stolen money, drug dealers, kidnappers and the likes.”

Public Blockchain Makes Tracking Bitcoin Transactions Possible

The tracking of cryptocurrency transactions is made possible due to the transparent nature of the blockchain. The public ledger design of the blockchain is in such a way that every transaction on a public blockchain can be read by a third-party. As a result of this transparency, it becomes possible to track any transactions once the starting point is located.

Several methods for identifying the real-world identities of bitcoin holders have been developed over the years. Chain analysis, linking IP addresses to bitcoin transactions, and wallet address clustering are three of the most popular bitcoin de-anonymisation methods currently being applied by law enforcement agencies and tax authorities.

In South Africa, cryptocurrencies are not recognised as a payment method or currency. Therefore they are not classified under the income tax or capital gain act. Instead, cryptocurrencies are being classified as assets of an intangible nature.

Therefore, it becomes crucial for citizens and residents of the country engaging in cryptocurrency trading, to ensure that a proper filing of their profit and loss trading cryptocurrency is included in their taxable income report.

SARS confirms that it now has a fully functioning procedure for identifying non-complying traders and any trader found guilty of tax evasion will face the full wrath of the law.

A distribution agreement was reached between Virtual Crypto and a South Africa-based third-party company to commence the sales of Virtual Crypto’s products in Africa.

According to the Exclusive Distribution Agreement distribution signed by Virtual Crypto Technologies, Inc. and South Africa-based Virtual Crypto SA Ltd., Virtual Crypto will start to sell its software and hardware products for the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies via point-of-sales systems, ATMs, tablets, PCs and mobile devices in Africa.

Territories in the Distribution Agreement cover sixteen African countries, including South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana, according to a company press release.

Virtual Crypto’s Push into Africa

“Cryptocurrency is increasingly popular in the Southern African Region, which is a strong emerging market. Cryptocurrency provides investors and businesses with an opportunity to diversify their portfolio. In addition, Virtual Crypto’s solutions offer businesses and consumers a secure payment alternative with real-time availability and broad accessibility,” Alon Dayan, CEO of Virtual Crypto said.

The main goal of Virtual Crypto is to make cryptocurrency day-to-day transactions easier and more common by providing easy access to cryptocurrencies through its array of currency-agnostic solutions.

“We felt that by creating a solution that was both platform and cryptocurrency agnostic, the masses can employ the advantages of utilizing cryptocurrency for all of their needs. While we’ve already demonstrated success in our solutions in other markets, we believe the advantages will be even greater in locations, such as the developing countries within Southern Africa, where local economies experience volatility,” added.

What Does This Mean for Local Investors?

Virtual Crypto’s products such as point-of-sale systems, ATMs, tablets, PCs and mobile devices will be available for integration by various SMEs to accept payment for goods and services provided. 

Not only could this move potentially boost Virtual Crypto’s stock price, but if all goes according to plan, Africans will find it easier to purchase cryptocurrencies and reap the benefits of being able to easily access decentralised digital currencies.