BTC
I would like to address the issue of the privacy of cryptocurrency transactions, and the role of cryptocurrency tracing companies in helping the world of crypto become safer, more widespread, and more legitimate, while still preserving the privacy of individuals. There have been opinions expressed on Twitter and Reddit that cryptocurrency tracing companies are violating…
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CipherTrace has previously reported on North Korea using cybercrime to avert economic sanctions and raise hard cash to fund its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) development. For example, in August 2017, we revealed details of a then unreleased UN research report to the Security Council that showed how North Korean state actors had, over a…
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SANCTIONS UPDATE: On March 2, 2020, the following two individuals and their associated digital currency addresses have been added to OFAC’s SDN List. The two Chinese nationals were involved in laundering stolen cryptocurrency from a 2018 cryptocurrency exchange hack and are associated with the Lazarus Group—a North Korean state-sponsored malicious cyber group. LI, Jiadong (Chinese Simplified: 李家东)…
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On January 30, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued the first cryptocurrency-related enforcement action against a U.S. bank—M.Y. Safra Bank (MYSB), which is headquartered in New York City. The enforcement action consisted of a cease and desist order that was wholly focused on deficient anti-money laundering (AML) practices for compliance and…
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People use mixers/tumblers as an attempt to preserve privacy when transacting with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by obfuscating their money trail. These services typically do not require Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, and they are primarily used to anonymize fund transfers between services. This might lead to the logical conclusion that mixers are almost exclusively…
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CIPHERTRACE GLOBAL ALERT: Spike in Extortion Scams Demanding Bitcoin Payment Global Alert, August 3, 2018: Online extortion attempts have increased dramatically through July 2018. One flavor, in particular, is not new; it is an adaptation of previous phishing attacks used to perpetrate online extortion. What’s new is the massive scale at which the criminals are…
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New Presidential Task Force Aims to Fight Cryptocurrency Fraud With the lure of big returns attracting investors—and scammers—to cryptocurrencies, the White House has taken action to protect consumers. President Trump recently signed an executive order creating a new task force that will pay particular attention to financial crimes such as digital currency fraud, money laundering…
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Coinbase’s Response To New York AG’s Request Reveals Shocking Cost of Compliance In April, New York Attorney General’s office announced that it’s looking into thirteen major exchanges, including Coinbase, Gemini Trust, and Bitfinex. Cryptocurrency exchanges have notoriously been subject to robberies, trading capacity problems, and other glitches. Then in February, some Coinbase users began to…
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REINING IN THE WILD EAST Almost five years ago, an event in Japan rocked people’s trust in Bitcoin. Customers of Mt. Gox lost 650,000 bitcoins (worth about $437 million at the time, or $8.5 billion at today’s price), which ultimately shuttered the exchange. That now-infamous implosion was not an isolated incident. Japan has a long…
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