Crypto crime dropped 57% in 2020 but DeFi hacks surged: CipherTrace
Crypto crime rates are dropping despite a massive increase in attacks targeting the DeFi sector, reports security firm CipherTrace. Crimes targeting the virtual currency sector decreased by more than half in 2020 according to blockchain security firm CipherTrace.The firm’s 2020 cryptocurrency crime and anti-money laundering report revealed that losses from cryptocurrency theft, hacks, and fraud fell 57% in 2020 to $1.9 billion, due mainly to improved security systems. The same figure in 2019 hit a record $4.5 billion.CipherTrace said that “massive exit scams” such as the PlusToken Ponzi....
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Ciphertrace, a blockchain analytics company, has announced that crypto-related crimes have moved to the realm of decentralized finance (defi) apps and protocols. Now, the impact these hacks and exploits represent is way bigger than the one classic hacks to centralized exchanges and other scams do, according to their latest “Cryptocurrency Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Report.” Ciphertrace: Crime Moves to Defi Ciphertrace, one of the biggest cryptocurrency crime and blockchain analytics companies, has found that most of the crypto-related crimes have now moved to decentralized....
The recent surge in DeFi makes the industry is an attractive target for hackers. Cryptocurrency-related crimes have slowed down in 2020, but some sectors within the crypto industry have become a new hotbed for criminal activity, a new report says.Citing major crypto analytics firm CipherTrace, Reuters reported on Nov. 10 that total losses from crypto thefts, hacks and fraud dropped from $4.4 billion in 2019 to $1.8 billion over the first 10 months of 2020.CipherTrace CEO Dave Jevans said that the general decline of criminal activity in the crypto industry is a result of increased security....
There is a silver lining from the DeFi hacks as new tech develops to protect the sector: "DeFi will be much safer in 12 months from now.” The rise of decentralized finance, or DeFi, could be paving the way toward a fully decentralized financial ecosystem. Yet, given the innovative nature of DeFi, the sector remains in constant development and is therefore prone to a number of vulnerabilities. Unsurprisingly, one of the biggest challenges currently facing the DeFi sector is security threats. This has become apparent as more DeFi hacks continue to wreak havoc across the crypto community.....
2020 has been the year of DeFi, but not all has gone smoothly with the fledgling financial ecosystem. Unlike in previous years, crypto news in 2020 has not been dominated by major exchange hacks and million dollar Bitcoin thefts. However, there have still been quite a few and most of them have originated from the nascent decentralized finance sector.DeFi has been one of the main drivers of crypto market momentum in 2020 and it stands to reason that the emerging financial landscape has been a magnet for scammers and hackers. Largely unaudited smart contracts coupled with cloned code have....
A rapidly growing crypto market means that hacks and scams are accounting for less overall activity, and their percentage of total usage continues to decline. Illicit cryptocurrency activity in 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 has declined as a percentage of overall crypto activity, according to blockchain forensics firm CipherTrace.The cryptocurrency industry has long held a reputation in some jurisdictions as a haven for illegal activity. However, CipherTrace estimates that illicit activity was between 0.62% and 0.65% of overall cryptocurrency activity in 2020. The firm reported that....