The cryptocurrency market never closes, and the industry itself is growing faster than ever. This means there’s more breaking news, and more vital information emerging than ever before. This Week in Crypto is Covesting’s weekly news recap aimed at providing the most complete coverage across the cryptosphere.

Bitcoin Glyph Discovered in iOS 12 iPhone Update

IPhone users eager to update to the newest version of Apple’s mobile operating system iOS 12, were met with a surprise: two separate Bitcoin “glyphs” were added in the update.

Glyphs are part of the new Shortcuts app. Thanks to iOS 12, users can create shortcuts and assign them symbols called glyphs. For example, one could create a Safari web browser link that when activated visits a cryptocurrency exchange, prompted by the command “Hey Siri, please check the price of Bitcoin.”

Over $540 Million in Crypto Stolen in Japan during First Half of 2018

According to a report from Japan’s National Police Agency, over $540 million in cryptocurrency has been stolen during the first six months of the calendar year.

The staggering figure should not be too surprising, considering that the largest cryptocurrency exchange hack ever recorded happened in Q1 2018. Back in January, Coincheck was hacked for over $500 million in cryptocurrencies - primarily the NEM token. The rest of the hacks were attributed to other exchanges, with a fraction of the total figure involving theft from individual investors.

MyEtherWallet Experiences More Attack Attempts than Fortune 500 Banks

MyEtherWallet works with Segasec, a leading cyber security and anti-phishing firm, to protect the popular Ethereum-based cryptocurrency wallet from attempted attacks.

According to data from Segasec, MyEtherWallet experiences as many as 30-40 hack attempts each week, which is more than Fortune 500 banks. Segasec CEO and co-founder Glad Schulman says that MyEtherWallet is among the “top companies getting hit in the crypto world.”

Survey Says Twice as Many Men Invest in Crypto as Women

Findings from a new survey conducted by the Goldman Sachs-backed Circle suggests that twice as many men are invested in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin compared to their female counterparts.

It is worth noting that the survey only took into account respondents who identified as “aggressive investors” which could have skewed the data to favor male investors. Men demonstrate increased aggression driven by the primary male sex hormone testosterone, causing them to be far more aggressive than members of the opposite sex.

Cryptocurrency Related Lawsuits Triple Since Last Year

A new report from legal analytics firm Lex Machina, the number of cases involving cryptocurrencies or blockchain has grown from 15 in 2017, to 45 so far this year, representing a 300% year-over-year increase only nine months into 2018. However, one-third of those cases can be attributed to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s crackdown on fraudulent crypto projects and unregistered securities.

Lawsuits range from scorn investors suing projects for losses they experienced when the crypto bubble popped, to multi-million dollar lawsuits such as Michael Terpin’s case against AT&T, claiming the telecom firm’s negligence resulted in $24 million in cryptocurrencies being stolen in an apparent sim-swap scheme.