Navigating the new frontier of cryptocurrency futures

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Navigating the new frontier of cryptocurrency futures
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Imagine a world where you could bet on the digital currencies of the future without actually holding any coins in your hands. That’s exactly what’s happening in the world of Cryptocurrency Futures. It’s like taking a shortcut through the maze of buying and storing digital tokens, bypassing the complexities, yet still getting a piece of the action.

By trading in futures, you’re essentially speculating on the price of cryptocurrencies going up or down, without the fuss of managing a digital wallet. But it’s not all smooth sailing; cryptocurrency futures come with their own set of waves to ride and winds to navigate.

Understanding the basics of cryptocurrency futures and their market dynamics

Let’s talk about the basics. In the heart of this financial adventure, Cryptocurrency Futures represent contracts to buy or sell digital currency at a predetermined price on a specific date in the future. While traditional traders might wrinkle their brows, those familiar with the ebb and flow of cryptocurrency understand its allure.

The market operates much like its traditional counterparts – relentless, 24/7 trading across a network of computers, without a physical home. This is trading jazzed up with the high note of blockchain technology.

Analyzing the risk and rewards associated with crypto futures for individual investors

Dealing with cryptocurrency futures is not for the faint-hearted. You might liken it to surfing; you have to respect the ocean’s power – the market’s volatility, in this case – or risk getting wiped out. But with risk comes the potential for reward.

A smart trader, like a good surfer, knows when to ride the wave and when to sit one out. The crypto space can offer lucrative opportunities, but it demands an understanding of the tides of digital currency and a firm grasp of the financial surfboard of risk management strategies.

Strategies for incorporating cryptocurrency futures into a diversified investment portfolio

For those looking to diversify, cryptocurrency futures could be a noteworthy addition to your investment mix. But think of it as seasoning with strong spices; a little can profoundly impact the entire meal, or your portfolio in this case.

It’s about finding the balance, understanding your financial taste buds, and knowing how much heat you can handle. A sprinkle of cryptocurrency futures might just be the zing you’re looking for, complementing traditional assets such as stocks and bonds to potentially stabilize returns and hedge against inflation.

Global economic shifts and their ripple effects on investments

Our world is a financial tapestry, where a tug on one thread can unravel or tighten the pattern of global markets. Economic shifts, whether due to policy changes, geopolitical events, or the impact of an innovation, can send shockwaves through your investments.

Picture this: a new policy rolls out across the Atlantic, and suddenly, the coffee beans you’ve invested in are either golden or losing their aroma. Such is the nature of our interconnected economies, where the wings of a butterfly (or in our case, the clicking of a trader’s mouse) can indeed cause a hurricane across global markets.

The relationship between environmental policies and energy investments

In the world of investment today, green is more than just a colour; it’s a directive. Environmental policies are reshaping the energy sector, bringing both challenges and opportunities. Investors are increasingly placing bets on companies that align with a sustainable future.

Renewable energy sources like solar and wind are gaining ground, while traditional fossil fuels see a more speculative horizon. Each new regulation could tilt the scales in favour or against your green investments. It’s a new kind of gold rush, but this time, it’s green, and it’s powered by policies aiming to sustain not just economies, but our very planet.

  1. How Altcoins Influence The World of Crypto
  2. ETH Exchange Rate Expectations for 2023-2025
  3. Outdated Wallets Threatening Billions in Crypto Assets
  4. What is Blockchain Gaming and its Play-to-Earn Model?
  5. Blockforia: An Analysis of Prominent Cryptocurrency Exchange

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Galaxy S24 Ultra to produce better 10x zoom shots than S23 Ultra

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Galaxy S24 Ultra to produce better 10x zoom shots than S23 Ultra
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Samsung will introduce a new telephoto zoom camera on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which launches tomorrow. It is a 50MP unit with 5x optical zoom, a massively different solution than the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 10MP unit with 10x optical zoom. Despite a drop in optical magnification, the new camera is rumored to produce better pictures. A reliable tipster may have just confirmed that.

Galaxy S24 Ultra to bring a massive zoom camera upgrade

Leaked official promo materials for the Galaxy S24 series have shown that Samsung touts the Ultra to feature a Qual Tele System with optical quality. While the phone has 3x and 5x optical zoom cameras, it also claims optical zoom quality at 2x and 10x magnification. The former is a crop from the 200MP main camera while the latter is from the 50MP 5x camera.

However, there are concerns about whether the Galaxy S24 Ultra can match the 10x zoom quality of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which has a dedicated 10x zoom camera. A recent X post from noted tipster Ice Universe addresses these concerns. They claim the new model surpasses its predecessor in output quality when capturing photos at 10x magnification. It holds up well in low-light conditions too.

“The new 5x sensor of the Galaxy S24 Ultra is generally stronger than the three-year-old 10x sensor,” the tipster said. “When the light is weak, the photos taken by the S24U’s 10x are very smooth and clean, while the S23U’s 10x is full of noise.” If true, the telephoto camera change from Samsung will prove to be a major upgrade on the upcoming Ultra flagship.

Rumors say the new camera also allows you to record 8K videos at 5x zoom. Older models can record 8K videos only with their main camera. All of this comes without affecting the existing 100x hybrid zoom, which Samsung calls Space Zoom. The Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ only feature a 3x zoom camera, though. So, you get optical zoom quality at 2x and 3x, while Space Zoom goes up to 30x magnification.

The new Samsung flagships will use AI to improve the camera performance

Samsung has built AI into the Galaxy S24’s system. You will find AI tools everywhere, including the cameras. Leaks suggest the new flagships will use AI to improve the camera performance and picture quality across various shooting conditions such as low-light environments. It won’t be long before we get to experience these upgrades hands-on. The Galaxy S24 trio will go official tomorrow, January 17.


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X, formerly Twitter, secures its 15th money-transmitter license, paving the way for new payment features

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X, formerly Twitter, secures its 15th money-transmitter license, paving the way for new payment features
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X (formerly Twitter) has been flying under the radar for a while now, with the occasional blip on the news scope, like when it gave verified businesses a price cut or forgot to cough up millions in bonuses (oops, it happens). However, now it seems the social media platform is inching closer to bringing Elon Musk’s dream of it becoming the “everything app” to life.According to Reuters, X has secured a money-transmitter license from Utah, marking the 15th US state to give the green light as the company delves into the possibility of offering payment features. This license allows X to operate like PayPal’s Venmo, facilitating money transfers and potentially allowing users to send money to one another.

Since taking over Twitter in October 2022, Musk has been on a mission to reshape the platform into an “everything app,” akin to the popular Chinese app WeChat. WeChat not only allows users to send messages but also enables functions like hailing a taxi and making payments to merchants.

In line with Musk’s vision, X snagged its initial state money-transmitter license in New Hampshire back in June 2023. The approval streak continued with nods from Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, and Michigan.

X is still awaiting approval from several other states, including California, New York, and Texas. The end goal is to snag licenses from all 50 states, giving X the green light to offer money transactions to users nationwide. “We want money on X to flow as freely as information and conversation,” once X’s CEO, Linda Yoccarino, said.

Dipping its toes into payments might be X’s way of spicing things up beyond just digital ads, especially after taking a hit under Musk’s reign. Some bigwig advertisers, Apple included, hit the pause button or bid farewell to the platform. Why? Well, Musk agreeing with an X user spouting off an antisemitic conspiracy theory last year might have had something to do with it.

After the transition from Twitter to X under Musk’s ownership, a slew of changes has rolled out, bringing in a bunch of new features. In the first year post-Musk takeover, we saw longer post lengths, the inclusion of video and audio calls, the launch of various new premium subscriptions, and a whole lot more.


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Ivanti Patches Connect Secure Zero-day Flaws Under Attack

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Ivanti Patches Connect Secure Zero-day Flaws Under Attack
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Ivanti has warned users of two zero-day vulnerabilities in its Connect Secure and Policy Secure gateways that have already attracted hackers’ attention. The firm confirmed active exploitation of the flaws to target a small number of customers. Since Ivanti has released appropriate mitigation, users must ensure protecting their systems by applying the mitigation until the patches arrive.

Ivanti Connect Secure Zero-Day Flaws

As disclosed through a recent advisory, Ivanti addressed two severe zero-day flaws affecting its Connect Secure and Policy Secure gateways.

Specifically, the two vulnerabilities include the following.

  • CVE-2024-21887 (CVSS 9.1): A command injection vulnerability in the web components of the two Ivanti products. Exploiting the flaw merely required an authenticated adversary o send maliciously crafted requests to execute arbitrary commands on the target appliance.
  • CVE-2023-46805 (CVSS 8.2): An authentication bypass affecting the web components of Ivanti’s ICS and Policy Secure gateways. A remote attacker could exploit the flaw to bypass control checks and access restricted resources.

Mitigation Released – Patches to Arrive Soon!

Ivanti confirmed that both vulnerabilities affect all supported versions – Version 9.x and 22.x. While the firm is yet to release stable patches for the flaws, they have released mitigation to protect vulnerable systems meanwhile.

The vulnerabilities first caught the attention of security researchers from Volexity, who observed the two flaws exploited in a chained manner. The threat actor behind the exploit, as reported, attempted to implant backdoor on the software. Volexity’s blog post shares details about these findings.

Though Ivanti has released the mitigations to prevent the exploit, Volexity explained that applying the mitigation “doesn’t remedy a past or ongoing compromise.” Nonetheless, applying the mitigations is still important to prevent a future exploit, especially for the yet safe but vulnerable devices.

The researchers also advise the users to run thorough security analyses for possible breach signs. Besides, for compromised cases, Volexity recommends rebuilding the ICS VPN appliance, resetting stored credentials and other data, and gathering logs and system snapshots for appropriate analyses. Moreover, organizations should also check for potential lateral movement on the network to detect any other compromised systems.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.


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“I’ll miss him so much” Facebook scam uses BBC branding to lure victims

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“I’ll miss him so much” Facebook scam uses BBC branding to lure victims
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Facebook scams are a constant nuisance and vary from like-farming to scams that can cost you some serious money. The latest one we found is a bit morbid.

Recently, I’ve seen quite a few posts on my timeline that looked like this:

I can't believe he's gone. I'll miss him so much

Without going into details the post says:

“I can’t believe he’s gone. I’ll miss him so much”

In all the posts I’ve seen, one of my Facebook friends was tagged. When I noticed that happen to two friends that do not know each other, the post did what it was intended to do, trigger my curiosity.

When you follow the posted link, which is a Facebook permalink to a post made by what is probably a compromised account, you’ll see a fake BBC news item about a fatal road accident. The permalink of any post on Facebook is hidden under its time stamp and can be used to share content on or outside of Facebook.

This post features a slightly different text: “I can’t believe this, I’m going to miss him so much”

I can’t believe this, I’m going to miss him so much above a fake BBC news item about a fatal road accident

The BBC news logo in the picture and the BBCNEWS part of the URL are obviously intended to gain your trust, and suggest that it’s safe to play the video.

In reality you will be redirected to the link displayed directly below the movie. We found several variations of that URL. All composed like this “BBCNEWS-{6 characters}.OMH4.XYZ”

Clicking the play button takes you through several redirects, very likely to perform fingerprinting, where sites gather information about your browser, your location, and other sites you’ve visited. The scammers do this to make sure you are redirected to a site that is likely to generate the most profit from people fitting your profile.

During my testing, I was not logged in on Facebook and surfing from a Dutch IP address, I ended up at polo[.]thegadgetguru[.]club which was unreachable at the time of writing. However, our archives show it’s a known source of pop-ups and has been for at least two years. These pop-ups can lead visitors to potentially unwanted programs, adware, and fraudulent sites.

It’s very likely that changing my IP address to a different location with a VPN and logging in to Facebook will change the outcome of the redirects, but I’m pretty sure none of them will be up to any good.

How to avoid Facebook scams

In this case I was able to spot the scam because it made me suspicious that two unrelated friends might be tagged in a similar post. But there are some other pointers to help you spot Facebook scams.

  • Scrutinize URLs closely. Not every scam campaign is sophisticated or difficult to spot. Start with the URL – if it’s obviously not for the website in question then step away.
  • Reach out to friends and family outside of Facebook or Instagram. If you’re not sure if a message is from the person it says it’s from, give them a call or send them a text message to check they really did send it.
  • Be wary of “free” stuff. Sure, free things are nice—but they shouldn’t cost you anything, and that includes your personal details or a small amount of money that you must pay first. If you see a giveaway doing the rounds on Facebook, go to that company’s official webpage to verify it, or give them a call.
  • Update your browser regularly. This keeps new vulnerabilities at bay, and is another layer of protection you can depend on.
  • Change your login credentials if you think your account may be compromised. And if you’ve used the same password on other sites, change them.
  • Install browser protection, like Malwarebytes Browser Guard, which can alert you to scams and other nasties in the browser.
  • If you’ve decided you’ve had it with Facebook you may like this post on how to deactivate or delete your Facebook account.

Report any posts you may find that are suspicious, scammy, illegal, or downright harmful to other Facebook users’ wellbeing. You can find this feature by clicking in the upper right hand corner of the Facebook post in question and picking either “Report post” or “Report photo”.

We don’t just report on threats—we remove them

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your devices by downloading Malwarebytes today.


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OnePlus 12 & OnePlus 12R pre-order perks revealed

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OnePlus 12 & OnePlus 12R pre-order perks revealed
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The global variant of the OnePlus 12 is right at our doorstep. The phone will become official on January 23, after launching in China last month. That being said, the OnePlus 12 pre-order perks have been revealed, at least for the EU.

The OnePlus 12 & OnePlus 12R will come with interesting pre-order perks

This information comes from OnePlus directly, as the information has been shared on a number of OnePlus websites in the EU. It seems like the users in the EU will get a different perk depending on the model of the phone they order.

The OnePlus 12 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, which is the most powerful unit. It will bring you the Bang & Olufsen Beocom Portal headphones free of charge. Those headphones were priced at over $500/€500 when launched in 2022. They are not far from that price tag at the moment.

If you opt to get the more affordable OnePlus 12 model, the one with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, you’ll also get a nice perk. OnePlus will throw in a free pair of the OnePlus Buds Pro 2. Some people prefer truly wireless earbuds either way.

If you’re interested in the OnePlus 12R, don’t fret

Those of you who are planning to get the OnePlus 12R, don’t fret. Any OnePlus 12R device that you pre-order in Europe will get you a free pair of OnePlus Buds Pro 2 too.

Do note that this offer will be limited to 48 hours, it seems. Well… at least when it comes to Bang & Olufsen headphones. We’re not sure about the earbuds, but the same rule could apply.

Another thing worth noting is that the offer may not be available in every market. OnePlus’ Croatia website, for example, doesn’t have the same offer on the table at the moment.

The launch event will kick off on January 23, at 3 PM CET / 2 PM BST / 9 AM EST / 6 AM PST, in case you’re interested.


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New Galaxy S24 leak details AI features, reveals more info

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New Galaxy S24 leak details AI features, reveals more info
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A day before the official unveiling, Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series has been subject to another major leak. Coming courtesy of reliable leakster Evan Blass, we have marketing materials highlighting some of the new features and upgrades the phones will bring to the table. Unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence (AI) is in the thick of everything.

New leak confirms Galaxy S24 AI features

Over the past few months, we have seen hundreds of leaks about the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra. The leaks suggest that AI will be an integral part of the new Samsung flagships. The company’s official teasers have been focused on the on-device AI capabilities—collectively called Galaxy AI—of the phones.

Circle to search is one of the new AI tools Samsung has developed for the Galaxy S24 series. It lets you make an internet search for anything on the screen by simply drawing a circle around it. Text, photo, or video, the tool works for whatever is displayed on the screen. You can even tap on a specific part of the selected content to pinpoint your search.

Next up, Samsung has integrated AI into its note-taking app, Samsung Notes. Dubbed Note Assist, the tool can summarize notes to highlight key points. It can even format notes for a cleaner presentation. If the note is in a foreign language, the Galaxy S24’s new AI tool can translate it.

Speaking about translation, the upcoming Samsung flagships will introduce a groundbreaking AI feature that breaks language barriers when talking over the phone. The phones can translate audio calls in real-time. If the other party is speaking in a foreign language, Live Translate will translate the audio to your language as they speak. It can even translate your response back to the original language.

The latest Galaxy S24 leak also highlights improved Nightography and other camera features. Leaks suggest the Ultra model can now record 8K videos at 5X zoom. The device gets an Aluminum frame too, while the other two models feature an enhanced Armor Aluminum frame. The entire lineup gets a display brightness boost, going up to 2,600 nits from 1,750 nits.

AI will be all over the new Samsung flagships

These are just a few of the new on-device mobile AI features Samsung will introduce tomorrow. With the room for hardware upgrades shrinking, the company is focusing on improving the Galaxy experience with AI. We will see if it has some more tricks up its sleeves that haven’t hit the Leakland yet. The Galaxy S24 launch event kicks off at 10 AM PT or 6 PM GMT. You can live stream the event on YouTube or Samsung.com.


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Apple might split its App Store in two to comply with EU regulations

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Apple might split its App Store in two to comply with EU regulations
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Since the European Union introduced the Digital Market Act (DMA), designed to address concerns regarding the influence of big tech companies, the latter are scrambling to figure out how to play by the rules. Whether they have cracked the code or not, the DMA is kicking in come March, so they have got to shake things up or face some hefty fines.Apple, one of the companies required to comply with the DMA, has not spilled the beans on exactly how it plans to follow the rules. However, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman , a reputable Apple insider, the Cupertino tech giant is looking at splitting its App Store into two versions—one for the EU and another for the US and the rest of the world.

If you are living in the EU, here is the scoop: you will be able to grab apps from places other than the App Store, pay for services using outside payment processors, and enjoy a smoother connection between first-party and third-party apps and features.

The tech giant pulled out all the stops, trying different tricks to convince the EU that its App Store does not need to play by the DMA rules. It even went with the claim that it is running not one but five App Stores. But it seems like the EU is not buying it and is all set to lay down the law on Apple.

Just the other day, Margrethe Vestager, the bigwig at the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age, had a sit-down with Apple’s head honcho Tim Cook. Reportedly, they were discussing the ongoing saga of whether Apple should give the green light to third-party alternatives to the App Store.

As mentioned earlier, Apple is keeping its plans under wraps, but stay tuned because we will probably get the lowdown in the weeks leading up to the March deadline. Odds are Apple will drop a new software update to make things tick with the App Store and any sideloading changes. Until then, and even after, if you are not in the EU, the App Store remains your go-to for installing apps on your iPhone.

Down the road, Apple might be feeling a bit lighter in the wallet due to the slowdown in cash flow from the App Store in Europe and the rise of new players who can tap into more of the iPhone’s tech. And guess what? The EU is just the kickoff. Japan is also working on a new law that would make it mandatory for Apple to allow sideloading on iOS.

It would not be surprising if other countries hop on the bandwagon, all aiming to eventually crack open the App Store, no matter where you are.


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Hackers Abuse GitHub to Host Malicious Infrastructure

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Hackers Abuse GitHub to Host Malicious Infrastructure
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GitHub has become a major platform that cybercriminals use for various attack methods such as payload delivery, dead drop resolution (DDR), C2 (Command and Control) and exfiltration. T

This is because GitHub is considered legitimate traffic, which threat actors can leverage to blend in with other legitimate network traffic.

However, cyberattacks are expected to increase, and there are high possibilities of new third-party risk vectors. This requires advanced detection methods and many other things to mitigate them.

In addition, organizations are advised to invest resources in understanding the abuse of Github and code repositories, which might provide more insights into the attacks.

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Compounding the problem are zero-day vulnerabilities like the MOVEit SQLi, Zimbra XSS, and 300+ such vulnerabilities that get discovered each month. Delays in fixing these vulnerabilities lead to compliance issues, these delay can be minimized with a unique feature on AppTrana that helps you to get “Zero vulnerability report” within 72 hours.

Technical Analysis

According to the report shared with Cyber Security News, almost all threat actors use GitHub to evade detection, reduce costs, and reduce operational overhead. However, the primary infrastructure schemes have been changed to payload delivery, DDR, full C2, and exfiltration.

Breakdown of abused GitHub services (Source: RecordedFuture)

Among these, Payload delivery is the most prevalent scheme due to its simple implementation. Though this offers a great deal of benefits, there is a disadvantage to threat actors in using GitHub for payload delivery. The risks include unintended exposure, operational insight leakage, and many others.

Dead Drop Resolving is the second most common technique that uses the GitHub platform. DDR has a minimal risk of data removal from the platform, providing a great place for placing malicious files since GitHub-like platforms have challenges detecting files behind posted addresses or strings without further context.

Command and Control has also been found to be increasing with GitHub platforms but full implementation of C2 in GitHub is uncommon and are performed only by APTs. The reason behind is speculated to be functional constraints in using GitHub’s services.

As for exfiltration, it is also less common when compared to the other methods. This might be due to size and storage limitations, effective alternatives, cost issues, and detectability issues. 

Apart from these major usages, there are several other cases where GitHub is used for hosting phishing operations, fallback channels, infection vector serving, and many others. To date, there have been no effective solutions for mitigating the abuse of the GitHub platform.

This void space must be filled with detection strategies, usage patterns, log availability, and others.

With the increase in abuse of GitHub, network defenders need to allocate more resources to fight against this usage.

A complete report about this abuse has been published, which provides detailed information on infrastructure schemes, specific use cases of Github, and other information.

Looking for cost-effective penetration testing services? Try Kelltron’s to assess and evaluate the security posture of digital systems – Free Demo.


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Google denies YouTube slowdowns are linked to its ad blocker detection efforts

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Google denies YouTube slowdowns are linked to its ad blocker detection efforts
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Google has been in the middle of another controversy this week, as Reddit exploded with reports claiming that YouTube has started slowing video buffer with ad-block enabled.

We assumed that Google has decided to ramp up its efforts to prevent YouTube users from using ad-blockers, which seriously affects the platform monetization model.

YouTube reiterated numerous times in the past that ad-blockers not only go against its terms of service, but they also affect content creators’ earnings. Given YouTube’s stance on the matter, many assumed that the recent video slowdowns were linked with the use of ad blockers.

However, Google recently denied these reports without really offering any reasons for these video slowdowns, most likely because YouTube is not the culprit in this case. 

In a short statement for AndroidCentral, YouTube says that “recent reports users experiencing loading delays on YouTube are unrelated to our ad blocker detection efforts. Our help center offers troubleshooting tips for users experiencing issues.”

Interestingly enough, the latest versions of Adblock and Adblock Plus (5.17) seem to be the only ones that are causing performance problems, at least according to uBlock Origin developer Raymond Hill.


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