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Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Crypto criminals and fraudsters stole more than $1.2 bn through cryptocurrency thefts, scams, and fraud in the first quarter of 2019, a report revealed.
Criminals stole more than $356m from exchanges and infrastructure during this period, according to a report by cryptocurrency security firm CipherTrace.
Among these losses, exit scams-which CipherTrace is considering the implosion of QuadrigaCX to be one-robbed cryptocurrency users of nearly $195m.
On top of these numbers, the New York Attorney General's Office revealed what they allege is a fraud involving the loss of $851m by a major cryptocurrency exchange, Bitfinex.
Cyber criminals also developed ingenious new techniques to drain millions more from user accounts and wallets, said the report. These thefts only represent the losses that are visible. CipherTrace estimates the true number of crypto asset losses was much higher.
"Regulatory hole" when it comes to cross-border payments
There has been 46% increase in the number of cross-border payments from US cryptocurrency exchanges over the last two years.
CipherTrace research conducted in Q1 revealed a major hole in the current cryptocurrency regulatory fabric with respect to cross-border payments.
An analysis of 164 million BTC transactions revealed that cross-border payments from US exchanges to offshore exchanges increased from 45% from the twelve months ending Q1 2017 to 66% in the twelve mo...................... To view our full article Click here
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