Stanford University researchers have come up with a prototype for “reversible transactions” on Ethereum, arguing it could be a solution to reduce the impact of crypto theft. In a Sept. 25 tweet, Stanford University blockchain researcher Kaili Wang shared a run down of the Ethereum-based reversible token idea, noting that at this stage it is not a finished concept but more of a “proposal to provoke discussion and even better solutions from the blockchain community,” noting: “The major hacks we've seen are undeniably thefts with strong evidence. If there was a way to reverse those thefts under such circumstances, our …

A self-styled 23-year-old 'Crypto King' is facing a raft of demands among 140 of his investors as they try to claw back a collective total of $35 million from his company AP Private Equity Limited. According to a Sept. 20 CBC report, creditors are hard at work trying to unravel where all the money they allegedly gave Canadian Aiden Pleterski to make crypto and foreign exchange investments on their behalf ended up. A bankruptcy trustee's report, creditors meeting minutes, court filings, and complaints made to Investigation Counsel PC reveal Pleterski owned 11 vehicles, leased four other luxury cars, regularly flew …

The United States Department of the Treasury will be calling for comments from the public on digital assets, including their views on how regulations may address illicit uses of crypto. In a document set to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury requested public comment on “digital-asset-related illicit finance and national security risks as well as the publicly released action plan to mitigate the risks” related to President Joe Biden’s executive order on crypto from March. The department invited the public to share their thoughts on what regulatory obligations the U.S. government had imposed that were …

South Korean prosecutors have reportedly requested Interpol intervene in their case against Terra co-founder Do Kwon by issuing a 'Red Notice' — suggesting global law enforcement agencies may attempt to find and detain him. According to a Monday report from the Financial Times, the Seoul Southern District prosecutors’ office said it had “begun the procedure” to place Kwon on Interpol’s Red Notice list following steps to revoke the Terra co-founder’s passport while he was in Singapore. Interpol’s website states that a Red Notice requested authorities “locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action,” but the …

Nikhil Wahi, who was arrested for allegedly working with his brother and an associate on a scheme to commit insider trading using crypto, has reportedly entered a guilty plea for wire fraud conspiracy charges. According to a Monday report from Reuters, Wahi admitted to authorities during a virtual hearing that he used confidential information obtained from Coinbase to make profits from trading crypto. Wahi’s brother Ishan worked as a product manager at Coinbase, during which time he allegedly shared information regarding the launch dates of tokens to his brother and an associate, Sameer Ramani. The trio allegedly used the insider …

Avalanche-based lending protocol Nereus Finance has been the victim of a crafty hack that saw a user net $371,000 worth of USD Coin (USDC) using a smart contract exploit. Blockchain cybersecurity firm CertiK was one of the first to detect the exploit on Sept. 6, indicating that the attack impacted liquidity pools on Nereus relating to decentralized exchange Trader Joe and automated market maker Curve Finance. CertiK also suggested that underlying protocols themselves were impacted, however, Curve Finance responded via Twitter on Sept. 7, stating “maybe you meant ‘assets impacted,’ not ‘protocols impacted’. Only @nereusfinance and its assets seem impacted.” …

The legal team for Alexander Vinnik, a Russian national recently extradited to the United States for his alleged role at defunct crypto exchange BTC-e, has reportedly been urging officials to consider a prisoner swap. According to a Monday report from Reuters, a lawyer representing Vinnik called on Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to conduct negotiations with U.S. officials in order to bring the accused Bitcoin (BTC) launderer back to his home country. Russian authorities currently have several U.S. citizens in custody under questionable charges, including basketball star Brittney Griner, educator Marc Hilliard Fogel, and Paul Whelan, a former Marine detained …

Mark Alexander Hopkins, also known by the moniker ‘Doctor Bitcoin’ or their handle Rizzn, has claimed that “transacting Bitcoin p2p is a federal crime” after announcing the sentence in their case to social media followers. In a Sunday Twitter thread, Hopkins said that they were facing between 6 to 15 months at a federal correctional institution in Texas following a guilty plea for allegedly operating a crypto business without the necessary licensing. According to Rizzn, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, used a 2019 interpretation of a law — 18 U.S.C. 1960 — originally enacted in 1992 to …

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, announced enforcement actions against the chief technology officer of crypto exchange Bitkub allegedly using insider information around the purchase of Bitkub Coin (KUB). In a Tuesday announcement, the Thai SEC said it had fined Bitkub CTO Samret Wajanasathian 8,530,383 baht — roughly $234,000 at the time of publication — and intended to bar him from being a director or executive officer at any crypto firm for a year. The financial regulator alleged Wajanasathian purchased roughly $61,000 worth of KUB tokens in advance of an announced deal in which Siam Commercial Bank, or SCB, …

Binance Australia is tightening up its onboarding process for new users as part of a push to protect users it's flagged as most vulnerable to financial crypto crime. The new measures were mentioned in Binance Australia’s June quarter Economic, Social, and Governance (ESG) report on Aug. 29, which noted that the exchange was working on a “stringent and user-focused onboarding experience” aimed at groups with a higher occurrence of financial crime. Speaking with Cointelegraph, Binance Aus CEO Leigh Travers and Zachary Lu from the exchange’s Financial Crime, Risk and Compliance unit, noted the company has been actively working on ways …

The U.S Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a fresh warning for investors in decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, which have been targeted with $1.6 billion in exploits in 2022. In an Aug. 29 public service announcement on the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, the agency said the exploits have caused investors to lose money — advising investors to conduct diligent research about Defi platforms before using them, while also urging platforms to improve monitoring and conduct m rigorous code testing. The law enforcement agency warned that cybercriminals are out in force to take advantage of "investors' increased interest in …

Cryptocurrency risk management firm Elliptic has released a report suggesting that scammers stole more than $100 million worth of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, starting in 2021. In its NFTs and Financial Crime report released on Wednesday, Elliptic said crypto users had been the victims of roughly $100.6 million worth of scams related to NFTs in the 13-month period from July 2021 to July 2022. The firm reported that although the market downturn had caused the value of NFTs to “slump”, scammers stole the most tokens in July 2022 — estimated to be 4,647 assets — and the most value in …