Cryptocurrency-related crimes have slowed down in 2020, but some sectors within the crypto industry have become a new hotbed for criminal activity, a new report says. Citing major crypto analytics firm CipherTrace, Reuters reported on Nov. 10 that total losses from crypto thefts, hacks and fraud dropped from $4.4 billion in 2019 to $1.8 billion over the first 10 months of 2020. CipherTrace CEO Dave Jevans said that the general decline of criminal activity in the crypto industry is a result of increased security measures: “What we have seen is that exchanges and other cryptocurrency players have implemented more security …

A report published by blockchain forensics firm CipherTrace has detailed significant disruptions to the clandestine darknet marketplace sector following a spate of exit scams during recent months. Despite opportunities for new marketplaces to capture the users of the now-defunct platforms, CipherTrace notes the absence of a single platform dominating Western volume. It estimates that the Russian-focussed Hydra market is now the largest worldwide. Hydra is estimated to have generated more than $1.2 billion in revenue between June 2019 and July 2020 despite exclusively servicing the Eastern European region. While darknet marketplaces have historically been dominated by a small number of …

The United States faces a growing threat of transnational cybercrime, particularly against its financial system. In what may be the largest prosecution of its kind in U.S. history, the U.S. Department of Justice has charged Texas tech billionaire Bob Brockman in a 39-count indictment with evading $2 billion in taxes. The businessman used encrypted devices and code words to conceal his wire fraud, tax fraud and money laundering within a network of offshore entities and bank accounts. As the CEO of Reynolds and Reynolds Co., Brockman contributed 6.4% to the United States’ current annual deficit of $3.1 trillion — more …

Paxful, a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency marketplace, has successfully defended against a number of serious threats, including 220,000 bot attacks and a variety of social engineering ploys — all in the span of two months. During the same time period, hackers managed to steal around $200 million worth of cryptocurrency from the KuCoin exchange, and another unconnected attack saw $5.4 million stolen from Eterbase. Paxful said that its alleged attackers attempted to use automated bots to brute force their way into accounts belonging to the project's users: “Bots, which are reported to generate about a quarter of global Web traffic, are de …

In the aftermath of criminal charges against BitMEX, the crypto community is debating whether the decentralized finance sector is also set to face the wrath of regulators. On Oct 1, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced charges against three BitMEX executives for violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) due to the exchange’s allegedly weak anti-money laundering and know-your-customer (KYC) policies. DeFi protocols, including Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs) have made a virtue of having minimal AML and KYC procedurs. However many now wonder if DEXs are also obliged to comply with the BSA, even though most projects seek to decentralize ownership …

Two offices of the United States Department of the Treasury have issued advisories on ransomware payouts, which they say pose a threat to national security. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, reminded cryptocurrency processing companies of their duty to file suspicious activity reports when they have a reason to suspect that their services are being engaged for such payouts to sanctioned individuals: “Among these entities are digital forensics and incident response (DFIR) companies and cyber insurance companies (CICs). Some DFIR companies and CICs, as well as some MSBs that offer CVCs [convertible virtual currency], facilitate ransomware payments to cybercriminals, …

Rossen Iossifov, a 53-year-old Bulgarian national and owner of the ‘RG Coins’ cryptocurrency exchange, has been convicted of operating a multi-million dollar money laundering ring as part of a transnational auction fraud scheme. Following a two-week trial Iossifov was found guilty by a federal jury in Frankfort, Kentucky, of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit racketeering. The Kentucky resident will face sentencing on Jan. 12, 2021. The jury found that at least 900 U.S. citizens were conned in a scheme that saw Iossifov’s Romania-based accomplices post advertisements on popular auction platforms like eBay and Craigslist for high-value …

Blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis has found that darknet markets exert a disproportionate presence in Eastern Europe’s crypto sector. In an excerpt from Chainalysis’ 2020 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report, the firm asserts that Eastern Europe is responsible for “more global darknet market activity than any other region,” with the anonymous free market Hydra comprising the region’s sixth-largest crypto service. Regional shares of global darknet market transfer volume: Chainalysis The report estimates that Hydra generated more than $1.2 billion in crypto revenue between June 2019 and July 2020. The platform is among the world’s largest darknet marketplaces despite solely servicing the Eastern …

The United States Internal Revenue Service has offered a bounty of up to $625,000 to anyone who can break purportedly untraceable privacy coins such as Monero (XMR) as well as trace transactions on Bitcoin’s (BTC) Lightning Network. The official proposal, published last week, says the IRS will accept submissions in the form of working prototypes until Sept. 16. If accepted, applicants will receive an initial payment of $500,000. This grant will allow applicants to develop their prototype into a working concept over the next eight months. Once the pilot test is completed and approved by the government, a further $125,000 …

Financial institutions worldwide have reported 134,500 suspicious transactions concerning virtual currencies in the past two years — but that’s just the tip of the iceberg according to a report published by blockchain forensics firm CipherTrace. The report says the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has seen a major increase in suspicious transaction reports from institutions since publishing its May 2019 Advisory on Illicit Activity Involving Convertible Virtual Currency (CVC). Despite this, CipherTrace asserts that many financial institutions have developed inadequate “home-grown” systems for identifying cryptocurrency-related accounts and transactions, that simply use lists of the names of crypto exchanges and virtual …

Hackers took over one of the Twitter accounts linked to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and posted messages asking his followers to make crypto donations. According to a report from news outlet India Today, Modi's Twitter account narendramodi_in, which is associated with his personal website and mobile app, was targeted by a group of hackers operating under the alias ‘John Wick.’ Several Tweets were posted on Sept. 2 telling the prime minister’s 2.5 million followers to ”donate generously to PM National Relief Fund for Covid-19.” At least two wallet addresses for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) were visible for some …

The Federal Bureau of Investigation executed a search warrant against a 16-year-old Massachusetts resident in connection with the massive Twitter breach. According to a New York Times report, on Sept. 1, authorities raided the home of a 16-year-old boy who may have played an “equal, if not more significant role” in the infamous July 15 hack, which resulted in millions of followers of high-profile Twitter accounts being falsely offered 2-for-1 “giveaways“ for any Bitcoin (BTC) sent. The investigation revealed that he may have posed as a Twitter employee or contractor to fool legitimate ones into entering their login credentials to …