Unknown attackers exploited a Ravencoin vulnerability to mint additional RVN tokens, beyond the 21 billion supply. In total, 44 days worth of mining were added to the total supply, equivalent to 1.5% of all RVN tokens.

Russian courts have issued conflicting rulings on whether cryptocurrencies are deemed property. A package of draft bills was recently introduced to the country’s parliament suggesting cryptocurrencies could be treated as property.

Crypto travel booking platform Travala.com has partnered with travel giant Expedia to add over 700,000 accommodations to its platform, for which users can pay with cryptocurrency.

Sponsored: Win a Tesla Model 3 at BitStarz! All you have to do is collect tickets by wagering, then wait for the draw and hope your name gets picked from the hat – it’s as simple as 1-2-3.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Ravencoin vulnerability allowed attackers to increase total supply by 1.5%
• Russian Courts Make Conflicting Rulings on Whether Cryptos are Property
• Tavala.com Starts Letting Users Book Expedia Hotels Using Crypto
• Sponsored: Win a Tesla Model 3 Worth €45,000 at BitStarz!

At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $9,204.97 (1.39%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $1.90 bn. As for ether (ETH), it is trading at $233.19 (2.74%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $693.43 million. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index is currently tracking at 3,045.67 (2.04%).

Ravencoin vulnerability allowed attackers to increase total supply by 1.5%

Attackers have exploited a vulnerability on Ravencoin to mint additional RVN tokens “beyond the coinbase of 5000 RBN per block,” according to Tron Black, Ravencoin’s lead developer. In a Medium post, Black detailed members of Ravencoin’s CryptoScope team reached out to Ravencoin’s developer team with their findings.

The vulnerability was reportedly caused by a community code submission, and law enforcement has already been notified and working with the Ravencoin team. The vulnerability was exploited to create extra RVN coins beyond their total 21 billion supply.

In total, the equivalent of 44 days worth of mining RVN were minted, or about 1.5% of the cryptocurrency’s total supply. Black suggested the community can either absorb the extra RVN, or shift a halving event 44 days earlier. He wrote:

“Because those RVN were transferred to an exchange and traded, they are mixed with other RVN and therefore any programmatic attempt at burning them, with miner and community backing, would cause irreparable harm to innocent victims.”

Users were encouraged to keep trading to a minimum until a fix is issued. Details of the vulnerability will only be released after a fix is implemented.

Russian Courts Make Conflicting Rulings on Whether Cryptos are Property

Two Russian courts have made conflicting rulings on whether bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies count as property. In one case, according to the press office Telegram channel for the Saint Petersburg courts, two men were convicted for extorting money from an unnamed cryptocurrency OTC trader. The criminals had pretended to be officers of Russia’s law enforcement and counter-terrorism agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB).

After threatening to beat and torture the victim, they forced it to pay them 5 million rubles (over $70,000) in cash, and transfer 99.7 BTC, some DigiByte, and BitShares to wallets they owned –the BTC alone is worth over $900,000. The victim has been handed back the cash, but the court did not rule the crypto should be transferred back.

Under the Russian Civil Code, per the press release, cryptocurrencies have no legal status and cannot be deemed property for the purposes of such a case. Speaking to CoinDesk Mikhail Uspenskiy, a  crypto-savvy lawyer and deputy head of the Chamber of Tax Consultants in Russia, said he believes the decision was a mistake.

Uspenskiy cited various cases in which Russian courts recognized cryptocurrencies as a form of property, including the case of Ilya Tasrkov, who filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and was forced to reveal his crypto holdings so they could be included in his estate.

CoinDesk points out that in June, a package of draft bills was introduced to the country’s parliament suggesting cryptocurrencies could be treated as property. They would, however, also prohibit operations involving crypto using Russia-based infrastructure.

Travala.com Starts Letting Users Book Expedia Hotels Using Crypto

Crypto travel booking platform Travala.com has partnered with Expedia to let its users book over 700,000 accommodations available on the platform using cryptocurrencies. These are being added to the already over 2 million options available on Travala.com.

The move comes through a collaboration of Expedia Partner Solutions, a subsidiary of the travel giant Expedia, which allowed Travala.com to access its Rapid application programming interface, to let it offers its accommodations to its users for cryptoassets.

Alfonso Paredes, Expedia Group’s Senior Vice President, said the company would be looking to scale up Travala.com’s business faster than it did so far, recognizing it’s important to let users choose how they want to pay.

Last year, Travala.com partnered with Booking.com to add over 90,000 accommodations to its platform.

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