Surging Cryptocurrency Crimes, Lost by 5 Trillion Won by September More Than Double Last Year
Concerns about cryptocurrency crimes have risen as the nation's largest cryptocurrency exchange has caused billions of KRW in cryptocurrency leakage.
In fact, the global cumulative damage caused by theft and fraud by the large cryptocurrency crimes exceeded KRW 5 trillion by September.
According to the blockchain forensic ciphertrace report, cryptocurrency crimes amounted to $ 4.4 billion by September this year, 150% of the total damage of $ 1.7 billion last year. That's over.
Total crime damage in the third quarter of 2019 totaled $ 15.5 million. This is the smallest quarterly cryptocurrency damage in the last two years, but the total damages have increased significantly due to large crimes earlier this year.
In particular, 65% of the world's top 120 cryptocurrency exchanges said they were vulnerable to providing information to customers.
"The 150% increase in the amount of cryptocurrency crime shows that criminals are adjusting to the big goal of big profits," said Dave Evans, Chief Executive Officer, Reuters. We are chasing where we are, targeted attacks are much more profitable. ”
Cypertrace pointed out that two major fraud and theft incidents this year were the main reason for the large increase in damages. PlusToken, a multi-level scam case, stole $ 2.9 billion from investors and members for Ponzi fraud.
Another was the sudden death of CEO Gerald Cotton, CEO of Quadriga CX, a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange.
Evans said that even without two major accidents, criminal activity is steadily increasing each year and is not expected to change overnight. He even added that exchanges and investigative authorities often don't even report crimes under $ 5 million because they focus on corporate or organized crime. The type of cryptocurrency crime is also shifting from outright theft to insider leaks or fraud.
On the other hand, Doomu, the cryptocurrency exchange upbit operator, said on August 27 that 342,000 Ethereums were sent to an unknown wallet to confirm its authenticity. Ethereum sent to anonymous accounts is estimated to be about 58 billion won, which is the largest amount of cryptocurrency leakage incurred in Korea.
Upbit acknowledges that an abnormal transaction has occurred, and it is not confirmed whether it is an external hack or insider crime. Upbit reported the theft to the National Police Agency and the Korea Internet Security Agency (KISA). The company has announced that 342,000 Ethereums sent to unknown wallets will be covered by upbit assets to ensure no damage to member assets.