ThirtyK, a website focusing on blockchain, just published an article about how companies help law enforcement crack down on crypto crimes. This article’s title is These Are the Sam Spades of the Cryptocurrency Age.
Keypoints from this article:
“The anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies makes them a ripe target for theft, a problem that’s growing in scope and scale as cryptocurrency makes its way into the mainstream. According to Carbon Black, a cybersecurity company, in the first six months of this year there was $1.1 billion in cryptocurrency-related theft. That compares to $1.3 billion for all internet crimes reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2016.”
“Carbon Black estimates there are 12,000 dark web marketplaces hawking more than 34,000 malware products aimed at stealing digital tokens. The biggest target for these hackers: cryptocurrency exchanges. Carbon Black found slightly more than 27 percent of the attacks were on exchanges. Exchanges that enable individuals to buy and sell digital tokens have been a tantalizing target for global hackers. In January, hackers stole $530 million in NEM (XEM) coins from Japanese exchange Coincheck in the largest hack to a cryptocurrency exchange. There have been plenty of others, though. Since 2013 there have been at least 12 breaches of cryptocurrency exchanges.”
“Cryptocurrency detectives have been around for several years, but their role is evolving. When CipherTrace, which provides cryptocurrency anti-money laundering, blockchain forensics and enforcement services, launched in 2015, it focused on helping law enforcement agencies with criminal investigations, largely thefts of bitcoin or ether (ETH), Dave Jevans, the company’s CEO, tells ThirtyK. That relationship is still central in fighting crypto crimes but the scope of attacks has expanded and more individuals are seeking help.”
“Blockchain Intelligence Group is one of the cryptocurrency companies that are helping law enforcement agencies, individuals, exchanges and financial institutions track and locate digital tokens that are stolen or lost. BIG Blockchain Intelligence Group is also seeing a lot of demand from the financial community, says Lance Morginn, the company’s CEO and co-founder. “As traditional banks, ATM networks and exchanges dip their toes into the bitcoin waters, they’ll want to mitigate their risk associated with cryptocurrencies, so they will need many of our company’s services,” he tells ThirtyK. “We’re finding large organizations and even medium-sized ones need these tools.” Some of the services the company offers include its BitRank Verified risk-scoring service that provides cryptocurrency transaction risk scores to help financial-services companies reduce their risk and meet regulatory compliance, and its QLUE platform, which enables financial firms to trace and track cryptocurrency transactions investigate what is going on behind cryptocurrency transactions and identify illicit ones.”
BIG Blockchain Intelligence Group Inc. has developed from the ground up a Blockchain agnostic search and analytics engine allowing RegTech, Law Enforcement & Government Agencies to trace, track and monitor cryptocurrency transactions at a forensic level. Its commercial product, BitRank Verified®, offers a “risk score” for bitcoin wallets allowing banks, exchanges and eCommerce sites to meet traditional regulatory/compliance requirements.
