Crime

It’s a red light for those who bought the controversial token inspired by the Netflix mega-series Squid Game, as its developers appear to have cashed out their investments, leaving SQUID’s price to plunge 99.99%.

Behind this year’s giddy markets, evil and tragedies abound. Just in time for Halloween, Forkast.News shakes out the skeletons in crypto’s closet.

China’s telecom giants to bring digital yuan transactions to mobile chatting boxes.

The country sees a rise in the amount of illegal currency transactions across the border while the use of virtual assets makes it almost impossible to track down.

Decentralized finance platform Vee Finance, which is based on the Avalanche blockchain, has suffered from a hack that saw the loss of Ether and Bitcoin tokens worth US$35 million, the lending platform announced on Tuesday. Fast facts Vee Finance suspended the platform’s contracts as well as its deposit and borrow function to protect user assets […]

Scams and fake news have long dogged the crypto world. This week saw two major blockchain companies and a global retailer get swept up by hack rumors or hoaxes.

A Canadian-American citizen, who laundered tens of millions of dollars for cybercriminals including North Korea’s military intelligence agency hackers, has been sentenced to 11 years in prison, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. Fast facts Ghaleb Alaumary, 36, pleaded guilty to money laundering in 2020 and has been asked to pay US$30 million in restitution […]

Eastern Europe is fast emerging as a crypto scamming hub. According to a Chainalysis report, crypto addresses based in Eastern Europe have the second-highest rate of links to illicit addresses, and the region ranks second in terms of the value of cryptocurrencies sent to illicit addresses. Fast facts Eastern Europe has a large cryptocurrency market […]

In a special Q&A, an Antinalysis spokesperson reveals the source of the company’s controversial data and disputes that it’s for criminals. ‘Privacy is a human right.’

The previous version of Antinalysis, which was based on the AMLBot API, was shut down but within a week it has respawned not just on the darknet but also on the clearnet.

The Poly Network hacking saga has finally reached a happy ending with the crypto thieves releasing the last key to the remaining funds of 28,953 Ether and 1,032 Wrapped Bitcoin tokens, worth approximately US$141 million, on Monday. According to Poly Network, the company is in the process of returning full asset control to users, although […]

The Poly Network hackers have returned assets worth around US$427 million, the company announced on Thursday. But hackers accused the company of “incompetency” and are refusing to give back the rest of the loot. Fast facts The hackers had transferred the stolen assets worth over US$600 million in total to mutli-signature wallets controlled by the […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: A darkweb stain is scrubbed away. Solana’s moment in the sun. Alibaba huddles with Tencent.

Money laundering token tracer developed using AMLBot application programming interface was suspended within eight hours of public exposure.

Poly Network wants to hire the hacker who stole over US$600 million worth of tokens from the platform last week — as its chief security advisor, according to a tweet by the company. Fast facts In response to the job offer, the hacker posted a joke on the Ethereum blockchain that was shared in a […]

The hackers claim that trust issues with the Poly Network team are slowing down the complete handover of stolen assets.

Poly Network has confirmed that all its remaining stolen assets on Ethereum, worth around US$269 million, barring US$33 million worth of Tether that was frozen post-attack, have been returned to a multi-signature wallet controlled by itself and the hacker. Fast facts The hacker had returned more than 50% of the assets stolen on the Polygon […]

Poly Network hackers have returned stolen assets worth around US$340 million so far.

Impact of one of the biggest heists in the industry looks set to be mitigated as hackers agree to return funds.

People’s Bank of China vows to keep sector under ‘heavy pressure’ as it pushes digital yuan.

In a special Q&A, Yale-NUS College professor Andrew Bailey says the world’s oldest cryptocurrency has untapped potential to promote liberty, equality and justice around the world.

Tether stablecoins linked to funds funneled to banks in Singapore and elsewhere amid worldwide cryptocurrency crime increase.

A Shanghai procuratorate has held a seminar gathering judges, police, procurators and scholars to discuss how crimes related to cryptocurrency fit into China’s current legal framework. Fast facts The procuratorate said in a post on Monday that there had been confusion as to how to categorize cryptocurrencies. Some consider them data, while others regard them […]

Ban on branded content covers range of financial services and ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes boosted by influencers with young followings.

Law enforcement agencies in several countries have arrested suspected members of a crypto-linked cybercrime group believed to be responsible for laundering more than US$500 million from ransomware attacks.

Crypto-related crime in the US increased an average of over 300% per year from 2017 to 2020with a total of 82,135 cases last year alone.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Bitcoin finds fresh favor in Global South. Why would hackers demand a Bitcoin ransom? Chinese miners eye Yunnan probe.

Four people have been arrested and more than 400 Bitcoin mining machines seized by police in the Malaysian city of George Town.

Blockchain provides greater data transparency and security than ever before, but the technology is not immune to cyber attacks and data breaches.

Millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin paid to ransomware hackers who shut down the main fuel pipeline on the U.S. East Coast last month has been recovered.

Many of Britain’s crypto firms are failing to meet required anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, says the country’s watchdog.

Crypto crime is surging in Asia while Bitcoin is being blamed for splitting up married couples in South Korea.

Police in South Korea have arrested 14 individuals in a cryptocurrency fraud case estimated to have cost 69,000 investors a total of US$3.85 billion, taking the country’s losses to US$5 billion over the past five years.

American consumers have lost an estimated US$80 million in cryptocurrency investments since October 2020, according to new data from the Federal Trade Commission, which calculated that digital currency scams had jumped tenfold year on year.

To improve public trust, South Korea is barring police officers from buying cryptocurrency. Could this presage a broader clampdown on crypto in the country?

Turkish authorities arrested six individuals in connection with the Thodex exchange fraud case.

Taiwan has enacted anti-money laundering regulations for cryptocurrency exchanges effective July 1. What will this mean for Taiwan’s growing crypto scene?

XRP joins Wanchain’s DeFi ventures while Thai mobile bank explores the financial experiment. In Hong Kong, local police bust crypto scammers.

Rising Bitcoin prices have inspired a wave of crypto-related Ponzi schemes, fraudulent giveaways and other scams around the world — especially in China.

Synthetic ID fraud is a new form of identity theft and a fast-growing crime. What is it, and what are the solutions? Rakesh Soni of LoginRadius explains.

Blockchain association leader Perianne Boring explains the controversial rule and how the industry pulled together to force FinCEN to consider public input.

Despite anti-money laundering (AML) laws, many DeFi sites have weak know-your-customer practices. Experts point to BitMEX as a cautionary tale.

As the world relies ever more on cloud servers, security gaps are widening, too. Confidential computing can bolster cyber security, writes Amit Ghosh of R3.

Hedera’s platform will help Hala Systems store evidence of war crimes in Syria and Yemen on the blockchain for future prosecution of those responsible

DeFi’s explosive growth may be the cryptocurrency world’s biggest story in 2020. But is the industry ignoring risks and cybersecurity gaps?

Just in time for Halloween, gather ’round for this blood-curdling crypto news flashback that will have you HODLing a blanket. Beware the death grip on Bitcoin wallets!

The risk of getting scammed is real, but DeFi also offers investors opportunities to earn yields in this pandemic economy, says Two Prime CEO Marc Fleury.

Other top news: Ant Group launches blockchain platform for cross-border trade. China makes Beijing, Hunan and Anhui into special free trade zones.

Social media platforms like Twitter need more advanced technology, like blockchain, to protect user accounts from attacks, says Voice CEO Salah Zalatimo.

Twitter blames “social engineering” for attacks on the accounts of Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Barack Obama. What really happened?

Telecom operators are using blockchain technology for digital identity management, more efficient roaming and combating fraud.