Fortnite is an online video game developed by ‘Epic Games’ & was released in July 2017. It reportedly has above 125 million players all over the world. Epic Games has more than $15 billion worth in its latest funding round in October 2018.
Now fans can now buy the blockbuster online video game using Monero (XMR) crypto. However, Bitcoin due to its privacy concerns is not yet accepted. Retail Row the merchandise store of Fortnite started supporting crypto payments service GloBee, that allows retailers to accept Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC) and Ripple (XRP). Whereas, the only digital currency supported by the store is XMR, i.e., Monero. Customers can also make payments through other means such as credit cards as well as PayPal, conventional payment methods.
American teens polled for Fortnite in 2018, according to which they prefer to receive V-bucks & crypto over gift cards, cash as gifts. Riccardo Spagni who developed Monero shared the news on Twitter: “Too cool: The Fortnite merch store lets you pay in Monero, so now you can purchase that sweet Durrr Burger onesie without friends/family/coworkers judging you.”
According to a report published in October 2018, Malwarebytes, a cybersecurity firm discovered that scammers were making use of malware targeting the Bitcoin (BTC) wallet addresses of Fortnite gamers. “Con artists” were purportedly sneaking malicious data theft code into downloads which guaranteed “free” season six Fortnite Android versions amongst bogus cheats, wallhacks, and aimbots.
US Targets Privacy Coins as Crypto Malware Rises
According to an investigation, free V-bucks also concealed malicious packages of code. Malwarebytes also found deceptive links promoted through scammers’ YouTube channels. The deceptive links redirected users to downloads that concealed malware.
Monero and Zcash both digital currencies are preferred among crypto users since they prioritize privacy. They provide a high level of anonymity of users and the transactions made by them. However, the US Department of Homeland Security announced that could soon be changing. The department is in the process of developing a monitoring framework to track Zcash and Monero transactions with the help of blockchain-based forensic analytics program. This move by US Government is an effort to track cryptocurrencies so that they are not used to enable money-laundering, terror financing & tax evasion.
Palo Alto Networks, security company found that approx. 5% of XMR was mined maliciously through crypto jacking. It is believed that a total of $175 million Monero mined maliciously. Apart from this, check on Monero news today, and know the latest XMR news.
