A global Microsoft Windows failure, possibly linked to a CrowdStrike software update, has disrupted critical services worldwide. The WazirX exchange hacker has converted nearly $150 million of altcoins to Ether — a move likely to avoid getting funds frozen or blacklisted. Meanwhile, a fee war is erupting among issuers of United States spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds.
Microsoft Windows data blackout downs major financial firms, causes travel chaos
The Big Tech giant Microsoft is facing a widespread outage of its Windows systems, which has subsequently disrupted various critical services across the globe, including emergency services, banks, airports and broadcasters.
The failure, which began in the late hours of July 18 and continued into the following day, appears to be linked to the cybersecurity software of CrowdStrike, according to a Forbes report. It has left many institutions grappling with severe operational challenges.
In a post on X on July 18 at 11:41 pm UTC, Microsoft 365 Status posted that it was investigating an issue “impacting users ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.”
The banking sector has been one of the hardest hit by this Windows failure. Online banking services have been particularly affected, with customers worldwide reporting issues with logging in and performing transactions.
Nonetheless the crypto community has wasted no time in jumping on the opportunity to make something of the situation.
Since the start of the incident, a flurry of new memecoins related to CrowdStrike, the alleged cause of the Microsoft outage, and the Microsoft “Blue Screen of Death” (BSoD) error screen have been issued on Ethereum and Solana networks.
WazirX hacker funnels $149 million of SHIB, MATIC other altcoins into ETH
The hacker behind the $235 million exploit of cryptocurrency exchange WazirX has converted nearly $150 million of altcoins to Ether — a move likely to avoid getting funds frozen or blacklisted.
The mass conversion of funds to Ether across July 18-19 included $90.2 million worth of Shiba Inu SHIBUSD, $10.2 million in Polygon MATICUSD and nearly $7.5 million in Pepe (PEPE), according to blockchain analytics firm Spot On Chain.
The transfers have now brought the total amount of stolen funds sitting in Ether ETHUSD to $201 million, up from $52 million initially.
“Swapping to Ether quickly can help the hacker secure their funds before any preventative measures are taken by authorities or the issuers of centralized tokens,” blockchain security firm PeckShield told Cointelegraph.
Additional reporting by Felix Ng, Sam Bourgi and Geraint Price.
