Portland criminals are stealing more cryptocurrencies from stock exchanges, and this is driving the growth of a home working industry with services that allow money laundering of coins, according to a new report.
In the first half of the year, more than $760 million in cryptocurrency was stolen from the stock markets – almost three times more than in 2017 as a whole, Cipher Trace stated in its first quarterly report on the subject. Cipher Trace is a blockchain security company based in Menlo Park, California, that works with more than 40 companies and governments to track crypto transactions.
According to some site source, the current market value of the top 100 cryptocurrencies is around 270 billion dollars. Services that launder dirty money are widespread according to Cipher Trace, and some have even advertised through Google AdWords.
"There are so many cryptocurrencies now, and they are worth so much money, and there are so many exchanges around the world where you can get paid out that we have seen not only traditional cyber gangs, but also new criminals taking action in this area," said Chief Executive Officer David Jevans in a telephone interview with Bloomberg. "This general market expansion has created a new generation of cyber criminals that did not exist 15 months ago. "
There are more than 1,600 crypto-coins, and their observation is becoming increasingly difficult -opening a door for criminals. Regulators have stated that many exchanges and startups that issue new coins still do not do enough to verify the identity of customers and ensure that users do not launder stolen funds. Users who buy and sell coins are usually represented by anonymous addresses.
Meanwhile, many stock exchanges -and the constantly re-opening ones -have security gaps. Cryptocurrencies, once stolen, often cannot be returned, let alone traced back to the thieves. "It's much easier than robbing banks," Jevans said.
According to Jevans, regulators worldwide are likely to take action against cryptographic money laundering. While this is likely to be good for investors, some coins may suffer. "There will be small coins that will go out of business because it will be difficult to track transactions," he said.