Technology

Just weeks after Korean crypto exchange Coinrail lost $40 million through an alleged hack, another in the crypto-mad country — Bithumb — has claimed hackers made off with over $30 million in cryptocurrency.

Coinrail may be one of Koreasmaller exchanges, but Bithumb is far larger. The exchange is one of the worldtop ten ranked based on trading of Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash, and top for newly-launched EOS, according to data from Coinmarketcap.com.

In a now-deleted tweet, Bithumb said today that 35 billion won of tokens — around $31 million — were snatched. It didn&t provide details of the attack, but it did say it will cover any losses for its users.The company has temporarily frozen deposits and trading while it is in the process of &changing our wallet system& following the incident.

Days prior to the hack, Bithumb said on Twitter that it was&transferring all of asset to the cold wallet to build up the security system and upgrade& its database.It isn&t clear whether that move was triggered by the attack — in which case it happened days ago — or whether it might have been a factor that enabled it.

A tweet sent days before Bithumb said it had been hacked

Thereoften uncertainty around alleged hacks, with some in the crypto community claiming an inside job for most incidents. In this case, reports from earlier this month that Bithumb was hit by a 30 billion won tax bill from the Korean government will certainly raise suspicions. Without an independent audit or third-party report into the incident, however, it is hard to know exactly what happened.

That said, one strong takeaway, once again, is that people who buy crypto should store their tokens in their own private wallet (ideally with a hardware key for access) not on an exchange where they could be pinched by an attacker. In this case, Bithumb is big enough to cover the losses, but it isn&t always that way and securely holding tokens avoids potential for trouble.

TechCrunch has learned that the Instagram longer-form video hubthatlaunching tomorrow is called IGTV and it will be part of the Explore tab, according to multiple sources. Instagram has spent the week meeting with online content creators to encourage them to prepare videos closer to 10-minute YouTube vlogs than the 1-minute maximum videos the app allows today.

Instagram is focusing its efforts around web celebrities that made their name on mobile rather than more traditional, old-school publishers and TV studios that might come off too polished and processed. The idea is to let these creators, who have a knack for this style of content and who already have sizeable Instagram audiences, set the norms for what IGTV is about.

Instagram declined to comment on the name IGTV and the video hubhome in appExplore tab. We&ll get more information at the featurelaunch event in San Francisco tomorrow at 9am Pacific.

Following the WSJinitial report that Instagram was working on allowing longer videos, TechCrunch learned much more from sources about the companyplan to build an aggregated destination for watching this content akin to Snapchat Discover. The videos will be full-screen, vertically oriented, and can have a resolution up to 4K. Users will be greeted with collection of Popular recent videos, and the option to Continue Watching clips they didn&t finish.

The videos aren&t meant to compete with Netflix Originals or HBO-quality content. Instead, they&ll be the kind of things you might see on YouTube rather than the short, off-the-cuff social media clips Instagram has hosted to date. Videos will offer a link-out option so creators can drive traffic to their other social presences, websites, or ecommerce stores. Instagram is planning to offer direct monetization, potentially including advertising revenue shares, but hasn&t finalized how that will work.

We reported that the tentative launch date for the feature was June 20th. A week later, Instagram sent out press invites for an event on June 20th our sources confirm is for IGTV.

Based on its historic growth trajectory that has seen Instagram adding 100 million users every four months, and its announcement of 800 million in September 2017, itquite possible that Instagram will announce ithit 1 billion monthly users tomorrow. That could legitimize IGTV as a place creators want to be for exposure, not just monetization.

IGTV could create a new behavior pattern for users who are bored of their friends& content, or looking for something to watch in between Direct messages. If successful, Instagram might even consider breaking out IGTV into its own mobile app, or building it an app for smart TVs

The launch is important for Facebook because it lacks a popular video destination since its Facebook Watch hub was somewhat of a flop. Facebook today said it would expand Watch to more creators, while also offering new interactive video tools to let them make their own HQ trivia-style game shows. Facebook also launched its Brand Collabs Manager that helps businesses find creators to sponsor. That could help IGTV stars earn money through product placement or sponsored content.

Until now, video consumption in the Facebook family of apps has been largely serendipitous, with users stumbling across clips in their News Feed. IGTV will let it more directly compete with YouTube, where people purposefully come to watch specific videos from their favorite creators. But YouTube was still built in the web era with a focus on horizontal video thatawkward to watch on iPhones or Androids.

With traditional television viewership slipping, Facebooksize and advertiser connections could let it muscle into the lucrative space. But rather than try to port old-school TV shows to phones, IGTV could let creators invent a new vision for television on mobile.

If you needed to pick a bag to have your back in a street fight, you should probably choose ChromeBravo 2.0.

I tested a version of this pack from the companyhigher-end BLCKCHRM line. The BLCKCHRM version of the Bravo 2.0replaces the normal pack1050 denier nylon exterior with a slightly rubbery, Navy-grade material called Hypalon, a full-grain leather back panel and a sleek all-black look. The result is as visually impressive as it is brawny.

Taylor Hatmaker/TechCrunch

To test the Bravo 2.0, I took it on a trip to Los Angeles that required me to fill every available cubic inch of my luggage with necessary gear. For the Bravo 2.0, that meant clothing that didn&t fit in my checked bag, a 13″ MacBook, a Sony RX-100, some medium-size notebooks, two lenses for my Sony A7S II and all of the other weird odds and ends that usually end up in a carry-on.

Over the course of packing, I figured out a few things. For one, since the Bravo 2.0main compartment lacks organization and is a bit hard to see into when opened, it works best if you stuff things into it that you won&t need to access on the go. Another thing I noticed is that beyond its black hole-like interior, the Bravo 2.0pockets don&t have a lot of depth, so they&re better suited for flat and rectangular stuff (mobile battery pack, thin books, magazines, a Kindle or iPad) and can&t expand to hold objects of less standard shapes. The material doesn&t have any give at all, but then again, itbasically indestructible — so no, you can&t have it all.

Taylor Hatmaker/TechCrunch

The Bravo 2.0 also includes one external side pocket that seems intended for a water bottle, though mine wasn&t nearly slender enough to fit, rendering the pocket pretty much useless. For laptop storage, Chrome made an interesting choice with this pack. The design requires you to nestle your computer into a slender, flap-protected slot on the outside of the pack rather than in the innermost tarpaulin-lined compartment next to your back. I have TSA Pre so I didn&t have to do the stressful pulling-laptop-out-while-in-line airport thing, but the other times I needed my laptop that external pocket meant that it wasn&t a hassle. Still, it wasn&t quite as convenient as a side-zip dedicated laptop pocket, which remains my preferred way to stash a laptop.

Though at more than three poundsthe bag itself is way heavier than what I&m used to carrying (theBLCKCHRM version adds some extra weight, though I&m not sure how much), my carry-on electronics and other valuables felt more snug and secure than they have in almost any other pack I&ve traveled with. Impressively, the Bravoweight must have been well-distributed through its fairly wide and flat design because, in spite of my dense packing job, my back never hurt. A screwed-up back is an instant pack disqualifier, but the Bravo 2.0 carried a heavy load admirably.

Taylor Hatmaker/TechCrunch

In my travel, I never used the outside cross-buckles for anything, but they did look cool, so therethat. If you were biking, you could probably get a helmet or whatever else you needed (a jacket or other compressable item) strapped in there if you were willing to fiddle with the little metal hooks, but I wasn&t.

I&m not a fan of velcro securing the main portion of a pack, but the Bravovelcro roll top didn&t drive me crazy, though that feat did require thoughtful packing. The packvelcro closure would be fine unless you really topped out the amount of stuff in the main compartment, in which case you wouldn&t quite be able to seal the velcro unless you want to rock the open rolltop bike messenger look. In the end, you can just repack your situation more carefully and move on with your life.

Taylor Hatmaker/TechCrunch

I&ll admit that at 5′ 4″, ChromeBLCKCHRM Bravo 2.0 was just too much bag for me, though a taller person would probably feel less dwarfed by its width and overall profile. Still, the pack distributed a full loadweight well, kept it secure and ultimately made me look kind of badass, like a tactical ninja turtle or an urban prepper or something.

Ithard to overstate how good-looking this bag is. Like quality leather, the Hypalon breaks in with wear, picking up surface marks that fade into a kind of weathered patina over time. Between that material, the all-black mini Chrome buckle chest strap and central black leather panel, ita very sleek, sexy looking bag. Still, for anyone who digs the Bravo 2.0vibe but is wary of its heavy construction, the regular edition Bravo 2.0 might be a better choice. But if you like your packs fancy, serious and black on black on black, well, you know what to do.

Taylor Hatmaker/TechCrunch

The normal version of the Bravo 2.0 retails for $160 and comes in black, red, navy and green. Theall-blackBLCKCHRM Bravo 2.0 is usually a steep $200, but iton sale right now for $160.

What it is: A stylish, heavy-duty weatherproof rolltop pack with an easy-access laptop sleeve.

What it isn&t: Lightweight or casual.

Read more reviews from TechCrunch Bag Week 2018 here.