Major reports were issued this month on cyber-criminal activity.
A report from Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics software
provider, found that sophisticated hacks were on the rise and that
most could be traced to two professional criminal
groups. Together, these two groups reportedly stole $1
billion, with an average of $90 million stolen per hack. The
Chainalysis report also describes a significant increase in darknet
market activity (with transaction volume surpassing $600 million
despite falling cryptocurrency prices), and a surge in Ethereum
scams related to phishing, Ponzi schemes and ICO exit scams.
According to a recent report by CipherTrace, criminals stole or
scammed $1.7 billion in cryptocurrency in 2018 – 3.6 times
the amount in 2017. The CipherTrace report breaks down the process
through which these funds are laundered and identifies services and
tools that the cryptocurrency launderers use. The report also lists
what CipherTrace believes to be the top
