Derek Ross calls Nostr “the foundation of a more open internet.” For him, bitcoyer, which does not use Nostr, lacks points. Looking at his feed, you will find Twitter Vibes from the early 2010s. “Microblog” was in use at the time. But what Ross is looking for in the future because of this innovative communication platform good Beyond food images, travel updates, and “good morning” messages. He is a co-founder of the Grow Nostr Initiative, deploys developer relationships for Soapbox.pub, and is one of the most prolific posters (and Zappers!) on social media.

There are quips about Nostr and Bitcoin (orange pills and purple pills). “Purple pills help orange tablets fall off. ”

In the aftermath of the Btchel Bitcoin Conference in Helsinki, Finland, we sat for breakfast and meditated on the post-meeting of Max. Ross’ passion for Nostol shines. Purple passion is a perfect complement to the orange that complements it. (At the exact same breakfast table, Ross had just convinced Swiss Cantonbern MP Samuel Kurman to return to Nostor.) In fact, he asked Marti Marmi, a Finnish developer, one of the first to communicate directly with Satoshi.

“Bitcoin is money freedom. Nostr is all other freedom.”

–

JB: “Purple pills help orange tablets go down.” Please tell me this statement and why you say it so often.

Derek Ross: I think I got it from Camellia in that era, but everyone is saying it now. I first posted it on February 24, 2023, and have been repeated many times since.

The idea is that Nostr, the purple pill, is the ideal companion for Bitcoin, orange medicine. I asked Marti on stage yesterday. And it’s true: even you can’t I have it If you don’t have freedom of communication, then money is free. Think about it – if I can’t communicate freely with you, how am I supposed to pay you? Nostr naturally complements Bitcoin.

JB: If you’re right, the Venn diagrams for Nostr and Bitcoin should not be completely duplicated…or at least all Is Bitcoiner available in Nostr? Why is Nostr not bigger than that?

Derek Ross: Well, it’s still a bit buggy and sometimes difficult to manage, but many good apps with a good user interface make it very easy.

But yes, all bitcoiners Should It will be NOSTR. People will hate me by saying this, but that means that not everyone in Bitcoin is here for the right reasons. They do not have the right mind. They are here not for freedom, but for green candles, for personal vanity and wealth, for the few candles. If you understand decentralized money, why not get decentralized communication?

One of the reasons Twitter and other platforms keep people up is that they built this massive audience and crowd over there. In Nostr, there is no algorithm that will help you (or catch you). Now you need to relear how to get engaged from your audience. But what? We at Bitcoiner are all about proof of work. You’ve built that audience once, you can do it again.

But I get it: it’s hard for some people to leave it.

JB: But you could do both, as did Lynn Alden.

Derek Ross: Lynn is a great example! She sometimes publishes very different things on Twitter and Nostr, and Nostr-Lyn is much more personal and reflective. On Twitter, she shares something macroeconomic and she is all professional. It’s a beautiful combination.

Another reason why Nostr is feeling very slow and Zaps is stagnant is that Bitcoin is in a bull market despite the technology currently being there. In the bull market, everyone wants to join Bitcoin’s Twitter. Nostr and Bitcoin are opposites here. Nostr is in the bear market when Bitcoin is in the bull market.

JB: Tell us about your background, how did you get into Nostr?

I’m not really a programmer… well, to the average person, I morningHowever, I think I’m only a system administrator. Manages systems and applications. I don’t create a full-fledged application. But now, thanks to the atmosphere coding, I am: By creating my first Nostr business, Nostr Plebs, I was able to make my building dream come true with Bitcoin. I was the first person to build a Nostrol business and I can put things together.

I first learned about Nostr from a Jack Dorsey tweet in December 2022 and called on developers to see how to fix social media.

I continued posting, zapping and building, and somehow I was invited to the Baltic Honey Badger in 2023. I used Nostr to crowdfund my travel expenses. fundamentally, If you’re hoping the community will go to me and talk about Nostr, zap this post. I’ve never been to Europe but I always wanted to go, so it was exciting. (The title of that lecture? You guessed it: “The purple pills help the orange tablets fall off.”)

Nostr has completely changed its use of social media. Amethyst is the first app to open in the morning.

JB: Are you worried that Jack Dorsey bankrolls developers and provides most of the funding for this space? A problem of centralization?

No, Jack understands the importance of what Nostr is doing. Over time, it may become large enough and there may be other ways to raise funds and monetize them.

But if you think about it, it’s making good use of Jack’s money.

Ripple Warns Investors Of Rising XRP Scams

On July 23, Garlinghouse took to X social media to raise the alarm on a sharp rise in XRP scams, urging investors and community members to stay alert. According to the Ripple CEO, scammers are capitalizing on market momentum and community excitement to ramp up impersonation schemes, particularly targeting unsuspecting XRP holders.

One of the most notable developments flagged by Garlinghouse is a recent surge in fraudulent activity on YouTube, where scammers have taken over existing channels, rebranded them to resemble recognized Ripple accounts, and begun promoting misleading content that impersonates the crypto company and its executives.

In its official X account, the Ripple team stressed that these YouTube accounts are legitimate and do not belong to the crypto firm, despite appearing convincing. In many cases, the usernames have been altered to mimic the company’s official handles, often making it difficult for unsuspecting users to identify the deception.

These scam videos frequently promise giveaways, rewards, or investment multipliers, usually asking users and investors to send XRP in exchange for a larger return. Garlinghouse has emphasized that neither he nor Ripple will ever request XRP from anyone under any circumstances. 

To combat the growing threat of skyrocketing crypto scams, Ripple is actively and aggressively reporting these fraudulent accounts and encouraging its community to do the same. The company has reiterated that its official channels remain the only trusted sources of communication and provides a direct reminder to always verify account handles and links before engaging. Notably, Garlinghouse concluded his post with an important reminder to stay vigilant against avoidable losses. He warned that “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” 

Ripple Alert Highlights Broader Threat Amid Market Recovery

Beyond the immediate focus on the YouTube impersonation scams, Garlinghouse’s report touches on a broader trend of escalating crypto fraud that tends to spike during periods of market recovery or growing optimism. This pattern, described by the Ripple CEO as “like clockwork,” suggests that malicious actors closely monitor community sentiment and time their campaigns to exploit emotional and financial excitement.

In a broader context, the rise in XRP scams has coincided with the recent surge in the altcoin’s price to above $3.6. Additionally, they come after bullish news like Ripple’s growing regulatory clarity and legal win against the US SEC. As the XRP price inches closer to ATH levels and gains more momentum, bad actors are leveraging this wave of optimism to cast a wider net, targeting investors through sophisticated scams and fraudulent schemes.

Bitcoin climbed past $122,000 this week, marking its fourth straight month of gains. It even touched $123,000 Monday before dipping slightly.

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Prices like these put the crypto asset well beyond what many everyday earners can afford. According to the Social Security Administration, the average yearly salary in the US is $66,600. That means a single coin now costs nearly twice what a typical worker makes in a full year.

Bitcoin Prices Soar Past Records

Based on reports from top crypto channel Altcoin Daily, high‑net‑worth individuals are being urged to act fast. The platform tweeted that millionaires should consider buying at least 1 BTC now, while it’s still within reach.

This warning follows a popular post from El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele, who pointed out that not all millionaires will be able to pick up a whole Bitcoin. With just 21 million BTC ever to exist and over 50 million millionaires worldwide, grabbing even 0.5 BTC would be out of reach if everyone tried.

If you’re already a millionaire you need to buy 1 whole Bitcoin before it gets to expensive for you.

— Altcoin Daily (@AltcoinDaily) July 13, 2025

Supply Crunch And Demand Rising

According to Bloomberg Terminal data, traders are already thinking in terms of “millions per coin.” That shift reflects growing expectations that Bitcoin will surge into seven‑figure territory.

United States President Donald Trump’s second son, Eric Trump, recently said that half a Bitcoin will be a huge amount of money soon and predicted the crypto could hit $1 million in the mid‑term. Those comments add to a chorus of bullish voices.

Millionaires Feel The Squeeze

Based on analysis from Binance co‑founder Changpeng Zhao, the $1 million mark isn’t far off. He told investors that it could happen in this bull cycle. Brandon Green of BTC Inc. agreed, forecasting a similar timeframe for liftoff. If those estimates hold, owning less than a coin may soon feel like holding pocket change.

Big Names Project Massive Gains

Ark Invest has put a $1.5 million base‑case target on Bitcoin by 2030, with a $2.4 million bull case riding on more institutional and nation‑state buying.

That study credits a supply squeeze and wider adoption as key drivers. Meanwhile, Michael Saylor, who chairs Strategy, has set his sights even higher. He raised his forecast to $13 million per coin by 2045, citing rapid regulatory clarity and fast‑tracking corporate investment.

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Bold Forecasts Paint A High Stakes Picture

Some of these price targets may sound lofty. Yet they reflect a simple math problem: shrinking supply meets growing demand. Fractional ownership allows small investors to chip in over time, but the sense of urgency is hard to ignore.

For now, Bitcoin’s rally is rewriting affordability rules, and the window for easy access may be closing.

Featured image from Meta, chart from TradingView

A new wave of cyberattacks shows the DPRK is exploiting the crypto industry’s recruitment funnel, using fake LinkedIn job offers, deep‑fake Zoom calls, and backdoored interview files to access Web3 developers’ wallets and repositories.

With seasoned developer talent already thinning and open‑source protocols increasingly reliant on individual contributors, the stakes have never been higher.

North Korean hackers developer infiltration

On 18 June , cybersecurity firm Huntress reported a campaign attributed to BlueNoroff, a notorious Lazarus Group subgroup targeting a developer at a major Web3 foundation.

The ruse began with a polished recruiter pitch on LinkedIn, followed by what appeared to be a Zoom interview with a senior executive. In reality, the video feed was a deep‑fake, and the “technical‑assessment” file the candidate was asked to run, `zoom_sdk_support.scpt`, deployed cross‑platform malware dubbed BeaverTail that can harvest seed phrases, crypto‑wallets, and GitHub credentials.

These tactics represent a sharp escalation. “In this new campaign, the threat‑actor group is using three front companies in the crypto consulting industry … to spread malware via ‘job‑interview lures,’” researchers at Silent Push wrote in April, referring to companies such as BlockNovas, SoftGlide, and Angeloper. All three maintained U.S. corporate registrations and LinkedIn job posts that easily passed HR sniff tests.

The FBI seized the BlockNovas domain in April . By then, multiple developers had reportedly sat through fake Zoom calls where they were urged to install custom apps or run scripts. Many complied.

These aren’t simple smash‑and‑grab scams but part of a well‑funded, state‑directed campaign. Since 2017, North Korean hacking groups have stolen over $1.5 billion in crypto, including the $620 million Ronin/Axie Infinity hack.

The stolen assets are routinely funneled through mixers such as Tornado Cash and Sinbad, laundering Pyongyang’s take and ultimately bankrolling its weapons programme, according to the U.S. Treasury.

“For years, North Korea has exploited global remote IT contracting and crypto ecosystems to evade U.S. sanctions and bankroll its weapons programs,” said Sue J. Bai of the DoJ’s National Security Division. On 16 June, her office announced the seizure of $7.74 million in crypto tied to the fake‑IT‑worker scheme.

Crypto developer focus

The targets are carefully selected. The open‑source nature of crypto protocols means that a single engineer, often pseudonymous and globally distributed, may hold commit privileges to critical infrastructure, from smart contracts to bridge protocols.

Electric Capital’s most recent publicly available Developer Report counted about 39,148 new active crypto developers, with total developers down roughly 7% year‑on‑year. Industry analysts say the supply of seasoned maintainers has only tightened, making each compromised developer disproportionately dangerous.

That imbalance is why the hiring pipeline itself has become a cybersecurity battleground. Once a front‑company recruiter gets past HR, engineers, eager for stability in a bearish market, may not spot the red flags in time. In several cases, the attackers even used Calendly links and Google Meet invites that silently redirected victims to attacker‑controlled Zoom look‑alike domains.

The malware stack is advanced and modular. Huntress and Unit 42 have catalogued BeaverTail, InvisibleFerret, and OtterCookie variants, all compiled with the Qt framework for cross‑platform compatibility. Once installed, the tools scrape browser extensions such as MetaMask and Phantom, exfiltrate `wallet.dat` files, and search for terms like “mnemonic” or “seed” in plaintext files.

Yet despite the technical sophistication, law‑enforcement pressure is mounting. The FBI’s domain seizures, the DoJ’s financial forfeitures, and Treasury sanctions on mixers have begun to raise the cost of doing business for Pyongyang’s hackers. The regime, however, remains adaptive.

Each new shell company, recruiter persona, or malware payload arrives wrapped in more convincing packaging. Thanks to generative‑AI tools, even the fake executives in live calls now look and move credibly. DeFi’s trustless systems still rely on a surprisingly small and vulnerable circle of trusted human maintainers.

North Korean crypto target onslaught

Recent CryptoSlate coverage paints a broader canvas of Pyongyang’s crypto onslaught. One year-end analysis found that North Korea-linked groups siphoned $1.34 billion from 47 hacks in 2024, which was a total of 61 % of all crypto stolen that year.

A big slice of that tally came from the $305 million breach of Japan’s DMM Bitcoin, which the FBI says started when a TraderTraitor operative posed as a LinkedIn recruiter and slipped a malicious “coding test” to a Ginco wallet engineer.

The same playbook escalated this February when the bureau attributed a record $1.5 billion Bybit exploit to Lazarus, noting the thieves had already laundered 100,000 ETH through THORChain within days.

North Korean operatives are impersonating venture capitalists, recruiters, and remote IT workers, using AI-generated profiles and deep-fake interviews, to earn salaries, exfiltrate source code, and extort firms in what Microsoft researchers call a “triple-threat” scheme.

In a world where jobs can be remote, trust is digital, and software runs the money, the subsequent state‑sponsored breach may begin not with an exploit but with a handshake.

Mentioned in this article

After a huge 18% jump yesterday, the sector is still in the green, climbing another 1.3% in the past 24 hours and bringing the total market cap to $57.3 billion.

With another major bull run possibly around the corner, investors are beginning to focus on meme coins that have real communities, strong narratives, and room to grow.

Here are three meme coins that are already gaining traction — and could be worth watching closely.

Brett ($BRETT): The Reigning Meme King of Base

Brett is turning heads as the flagship meme coin of Coinbase’s Layer 2 chain, Base. He’s also a cousin to the popular Pepe ($PEPE) meme coin, both having been inspired by Max Furie’s iconic webcomic Boy’s Club.

Over the last week, Brett went from being the 11th largest meme token globally to the ninth, and is now well on its way to flipping Bonk ($BONK), which claims a similar market cap.

In the past week alone, $BRETT has spiked 63%, now trading around $0.053. This puts it at a price level not seen since early February, highlighting Brett’s resurgence and resilience.

A climbing relative strength index of 60 suggests there’s little headroom left in this rally, but Brett has likely consolidated its gains and gained strong ground ahead of the next meme coin surge.

MIND of Pepe ($MIND): Where Meme Coins Meet Artificial Intelligence

MIND of Pepe ($MIND) blends AI functionality with Pepe’s appeal. Unlike its inspiration, it provides holders access to an advanced AI-powered crypto oracle and social media bot that provides unparalleled utility to holders.

Holding $MIND grants users access to tools like live market predictions, market sentiment tracking, and trading strategies — all powered by AI.

Since its debut, the project has secured more than $8 million in early investment from backers bullish on the intersection of crypto and AI. Investors can also stake $MIND for yields of up to 273% APY, adding a lucrative passive income stream to its long-term upside.

As artificial intelligence reshapes the tech world, MIND of Pepe is the meme coin of the future — combining entertainment and utility with innovation.

Stay connected with MIND of Pepe on X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram.

Official Trump ($TRUMP): A High-Stakes Wager on the Pro-Crypto President

Launched just days before Donald Trump stepped back into the political spotlight, $TRUMP wasted no time becoming the top meme coin on Solana, with a valuation surging past $2 billion.

The token is more than just satire — it’s widely seen as a political bet. Trump’s campaign has taken a notably crypto-friendly stance, contrasting sharply with the Biden administration’s stricter regulatory approach.

Backing $TRUMP, in essence, is a wager on his potential to bring clarity and support to the crypto sector if he returns to office. His recent announcement of tariffs on foreign goods has also sent ripples through the financial markets, adding another layer of intrigue to his economic plans.

Like all meme tokens, $TRUMP carries risk — but for those bullish on crypto’s political future, it could be a bold way to align with a movement aiming to put digital assets front and center in Washington.

During its overnight rally, the token hit $13.41, a level not seen since March. It currently trades at $12.27, up 33% in 24 hours and 64% over the week.

A relative strength index (RSI) of 73 signals strong buying momentum — and while it’s entering overbought territory, any pro-crypto news or positive macro shift could easily ignite the next leg of an explosive rally.

The post 3 Meme Coins That Just Flipped Bullish – You’re Not Too Late appeared first on Cryptonews.

Crypto pundit Investments CEO has provided a bullish case for the Dogecoin price, XRP, and Solana amid this market downtrend. He revealed his price targets for these cryptos, with each target marking a new all-time high (ATH) for them. 

Dogecoin Price To Hit $1, XRP To $6 And Solana To $1,000

In an X post, Investments CEO predicted that the Dogecoin price will hit $1, while XRP and Solana will reach $6 and $1,000, respectively. These targets would mark a new ATH for the Dogecoin price, XRP, and Solana, whose current highs are $0.74, $3.3, and $294, respectively. Meanwhile, the analyst also predicted that the Bitcoin price would hit $150,000, which would also be a new all-time high for the flagship crypto.

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Based on these price targets, the crypto pundit asserted that market participants aren’t bullish enough. The Dogecoin price, XRP, and Solana reaching these targets undoubtedly provide a bullish outlook for the crypto market, which is currently witnessing a significant crash due to economic uncertainty. 

The Dogecoin price has been one of the major caps that has taken the most hit, with a decline of over 25% in the last seven days. Meanwhile, XRP and Solana have declined over 22% and 17% respectively.

It is worth mentioning that besides this crypto pundit, some other crypto analysts have also predicted that the Dogecoin price could soon reach the much-anticipated psychological $1 level. One of them is Master Kenobi, who highlighted similarities between the current DOGE price action and that of 2017. 

Based on the similarities, the crypto analyst predicted that the Dogecoin price could witness a 6x increase from its current level and rally to as high as $1.25 soon enough. He added that DOGE could peak sometime in mid-April or May. 

Crypto analysts have also made bullish cases for XRP and Solana. Crypto analyst Dark Defender predicted that the XRP price could rally to $8 soon enough. The analyst is also confident that XRP can reach $18 in this market cycle. 

Meanwhile, crypto analyst Ali Martinez predicted that Solana could reach $350, while Van Eck stated that SOL could reach $500 by year-end. 

What Next For These Coins Amid Downtrend

In the meantime, crypto analysts have provided insights into what needs to happen for the Dogecoin price, XRP, and Solana to maintain their bullish outlook. In an X post, crypto analyst Kevin Capital stated that in the short term, DOGE needs to get back above $0.28 to see more upside. If that doesn’t happen, he remarked that the foremost meme coin is in danger of retesting the lows and maybe dropping to as low as $0.19. 

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For XRP, crypto analyst Egrag Crypto stated that the crypto needs to close above the 21 EMA at $2.67. He added that a close above $2.81 is essential for bullish momentum. Crypto analyst CasiTrades also suggested that XRP needs to reclaim $2.90 as a rejection at this level could lead to drop to $1.88 or $1.53. 

For Solana, Ali Martinez stated that SOL needs to hold above the support at $196 to maintain the bullish projection of $350 for the crypto.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from Tradingview.com