The European Investment Bank (EIB), a triple-A rated lending institution guaranteed by the European Union (EU), is under attack. in a cheep On June 19, the EU’s long-term lending arm said it was facing a cyberattack that had affected the availability of some of its key websites.
While some of the bank’s sites have become inaccessible, possibly inconveniencing some of its customer base, Bitcoin and Ethereum, two of the world’s largest cryptocurrency networks, have proven immune to cyberattacks and continue to operate with Nearly 100% reliability and uptime.
European Investment Bank under attack
It could not immediately be determined why the EIB was being targeted. However, what is clear is that the lender plays a vital role in the financial infrastructure of the European Union.
The bank is one of the world’s largest multilateral lenders and a leading funder of efforts to combat climate change. In addition, the EIB plays a key role in deploying loans, guarantees and capital for projects related to sustainable development within the European Union.
Specifically, the bank is involved in finance operations that revolve around climate action, channeling more than $82 billion to projects that fight climate change in the last eight years. At the same time, the banking finance platform promotes connectivity and innovation in the area.
Borrowers can have confidence in the financial institution because the budget of the European Union guarantees it. As such, customers enjoy low-risk loans while investors are confident that the bank will not fail.
With the bank now in the crosshairs of hackers, the EIB has acknowledged that the websites eib.org and eif.org have been affected. The eib.org platform provides information on the latest activities and investments of the bank.
Meanwhile, eif.org provides details on the activities and investments of the bank’s fund. It is where users can also learn about the strategy used by the bank when building their portfolios and financing projects.
Bitcoin, Ethereum are resilient
While the bank did not specifically mention the type of attack they were up against, the drawback may be cause for concern. It also points to the fragilities of the traditional financial ecosystem, most of which operate using centralized systems.
These centralized networks are prone to outages and attacks, as currently seen with the EIB. For now, it is not clear if funds have been lost or personal information has been leaked from any of its executives, projects and others.
The EIB attack highlights the advantages that distributed and decentralized networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum have. As regulation evolves in the European Union, Bitcoin and Ethereum remain resilient, processing millions of dollars worth of transactions daily.
Recently, the EU implemented the rules of the Crypto Asset Markets (MiCA). With this, EU member states can regulate the issuance, trading and crypto assets. Under MiCA, the EU offers businesses guidance on licences, KYC and AML requirements, consumer protection rules, and more.
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