Blockchain Security Blog
OCC Hits New York Based Bank With First-Ever Enforcement Action for Lack of Crypto AML Compliance
On Cryptocurrency Tracing Companies and Privacy on the Blockchain
I would like to address the issue of the privacy of cryptocurrency transactions, and the…
Crypto && Coffee 020 | Security and Stablecoins
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: We are now 26 days away from the block reward halving. The…
Crypto && Coffee 019 | Thirty-Four Days Until the Halvening
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: BitMEX Research released Mining Incentives (Part 4): The Impact of The Halvening. We are…
Crypto && Coffee 018 | Banque de France Publishes RFP for CBDC
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: We are less than 50 days away from the next block halving…
Crypto && Coffee 017 | Blockchain Managers are Essential Personnel
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: Development on Taproot is progressing. This week a PR opened up on simplifying the code used for VerifyWitnessProgram.…
COVID-19 Update
As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, CipherTrace is focused on the health of our employees and…
Crypto && Coffee 016 | Pull Requests and Volatile Markets
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: A pull-request (PR) that was originally issued in September of 2019 for Bitcoin Core, aimed…
Analysis: How Chinese Nationals Linked to North Korea Laundered Hundreds of Millions of Dollars’ Worth of Stolen Cryptocurrency Through Several Banks and Cryptocurrency Exchanges
CipherTrace has previously reported on North Korea using cybercrime to avert economic sanctions and raise…
Crypto && Coffee 015 | Buy Crypto with Credit
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: Bitcoin Core v0.19.1 has been released. Bitcoin developer Bryan Bishop released python-bitcoinlib v0.11.0, now with segwit examples. Developers…
Crypto && Coffee 014 | Bitcoin Hash Rate Hits All-Time High
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: Bitcoin hash rate is currently at an all-time high. Full metrics here. Ethereum: …
SANCTIONS ALERT: New DRPK Crypto-related Designations
SANCTIONS UPDATE: On March 2, 2020, the following two individuals and their associated digital currency…
OCC Hits New York Based Bank With First-Ever Enforcement Action for Lack of Crypto AML Compliance
On January 30, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued the first…
Crypto && Coffee 013 | FATF Releases the Results of its February Meeting
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: The bitcoin-dev mailing list heated up this week with posts regarding how…
Crypto && Coffee 012 | Lending Protocols Exploited
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: btcdeb (Bitcoin Script Debugger) by Kalle Alm now inherently supports miniscript. The tool now…
Crypto && Coffee 011 | Bitcoin Exceeds 500 Million Transactions
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: On February 5th, 2020, at block height 616064, Bitcoin surpassed 500 million transactions. Ethereum: …
Crypto && Coffee 010 | Mimblewimble Progress Report
Technology Recap: BitcoinCash: Bitcoin ABC v0.20.12 was released. This release includes fixes for multi-wallets and better…
Fighting Human Trafficking by Following the Money
If you travel a lot – especially during January 2020, which was National Slavery and…
Crypto && Coffee 009 | Binance Launches P2P Merchant Program
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: Bitcoin had a stale block on January 26, 2020 at height 614,732.…
Crypto && Coffee 008
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: Pieter Wuille has opened up Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs) 340,341 and 342 for acceptance on the Bitcoin Core…
Crypto Comes of Age: Cryptocurrency Travel Rule Compliance Conference and Hackathon Recap
Some in the cryptocurrency community were caught off guard when the global financial watchdog, the…
Crypto && Coffee 007
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: Constant development has been underway on a potential Bitcoin upgrade proposal to…
Crypto && Coffee 006
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: Luke Dashjr, a Bitcoin Core developer, estimates the total number of Bitcoin nodes…
Crypto && Coffee 005
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: Bitcoin’s hashrate--the measure of the processing power of the Bitcoin network—recently hit an all-time…
Crypto && Coffee 004
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: Pieter Wuille released his analysis of Bech32, now 2 years after it was first used…
Crypto && Coffee 003
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: Pieter Wuille, an engineer at Blockstream and a Bitcoin Core Dev, contributed to an active thread…
ALERT: Tracing extorted bitcoin
CIPHERTRACE GLOBAL ALERT: New Phishing Attack Claims to Have Webcam Video of Victims Performing Embarrassing…
Crypto && Coffee 002
Technology Recap: Ethereum: The upcoming Ethereum Hard Fork (Istanbul) will be taking place this week…
Crypto && Coffee 001
Technology Recap: Bitcoin: Bitcoin Core released upgrade v0.19.0.1 on November 24th. The upgrade provides a few new RPC enhancements,…
Could Cryptocurrency Analytics Tip the Balance in America’s War on Opioids?
At the core of a growing opioid crisis is the deadliest drug in the US—Fentanyl.…
CipherTrace Announces Travel Rule Information Sharing Architecture (TRISA)
Two key regulatory bodies recently rocked the foundation of the crypto economy with new…
SANCTIONS ALERT: Treasury Targets Chinese Drug Kingpins Fueling America’s Deadly Opioid Crisis
SANCTIONS UPDATE: On August 21, 2019, the following individuals and their associated digital currency addresses have…
Everything You Need to Know About NYSDF BitLicense
Since its inception in 2015, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) BitLicense has been…
Cryptocurrency Exchanges Grappling with New FATF Rule Requiring Disclosure of Customer Information
Governments have a new “travel rule” coming your way, and it has nothing to do…
Three Ways to Prevent Exchange Hacks
The recent hack of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, highlights the need for heightened…
Response to FATF Regarding Regulation and Monitoring of Virtual Asset Service Providers
In October 2018, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) amended its Recommendation to clarify how…
CipherTrace Statement on Blockchain Analytics Privacy
In light of recent events regarding the acquisition of blockchain analytics company Neutrino, CipherTrace wants…
CipherTrace Analysis of Paymon, Iran’s Sanction Evading Crypto-Rial
This analysis by CipherTrace looks at Iran’s proposed Crypto-Rial sovereign virtual currency. We conclude that…
ALERT: Crypto Dusting is a New Type of Blockchain Spam that Corrodes Reputations and Impacts Cryptocurrency AML
People use mixers/tumblers as an attempt to preserve privacy when transacting with Bitcoin and other…
Criminal Bitcoin — How Deep is The Dark Side of the Most Widely Traded Cryptocurrency?
Bitcoin and blockchain technologies are sparking innovation in financial technology (FinTech), but they do have…
FinCEN Director Lauds Crypto Innovation While Citing Need to Reign in Bad Actors
Treasury working closely with the IRS for examination Some surprising facts regarding the state of…
CipherTrace Maltego Transform
CipherTrace Integration into Maltego Significantly Expands Bitcoin Forensics Capabilities Maltego is a popular security research…
ALERT: Spike in bitcoin extortion
CIPHERTRACE GLOBAL ALERT: Spike in Extortion Scams Demanding Bitcoin Payment Global Alert, August 3, 2018:…
Q2 Crypto AML Report Summary
Recently released research by CipherTrace has been making the news partly because of some surprising…
Trump Task Force to Fight Crypto Fraud
New Presidential Task Force Aims to Fight Cryptocurrency Fraud With the lure of big returns…
SEC Crypto Czar and CipherTrace CEO at SINET
CipherTrace CEO Leads SINET Panel that Includes New SEC ‘Crypto Czar’ On June 7, 2018,…
GDPR Threatens to Impair Cryptocurrency Crime Investigations
CipherTrace Cryptocurrency Threat Bulletin The European Union's new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) https://www.eugdpr.org), which…
Coinbase’s Response To New York AG’s Request
Coinbase’s Response To New York AG’s Request Reveals Shocking Cost of Compliance In April, New…
Japan Bitcoin Regulation Benefits
REINING IN THE WILD EAST Almost five years ago, an event in Japan rocked people’s…
Ledger Bitcoin Wallet Hacked by 15 Year Old Researcher
Ledger hardware wallets have been thoroughly compromised by a 15-year-old researcher, Rashid Saleem, using very…
First Presidential Cryptocurrency Order Blocks Venezuela’s Petro
Monday, March 19, 2018, President Trump issued the first presidential cryptocurrency order showing that this…
Crypto Innovation is a Cambrian Explosion
Applied Cryptography Innovation is a Cambrian Explosion that will Transform the Next 50 Years of…