Criminals had $11 billion worth illicit cryptocurrencies in 2021

 

Cryptographic forms of money have made lawbreakers more extravagant and in 2021, crooks held $11 billion worth of assets with known unlawful sources, contrasted with just $3 billion toward the finish of 2020, another report has uncovered.

As of the finish of 2021, taken assets represent 93% of every single lawbreaker total, at $9.8 billion.

Dim Net market reserves are next at $448 million, trailed by tricks at $192 million, extortion shops at $66 million, and ransomware at $30 million, reports Blockchain information organization Chainalysis.

Criminal adjusts likewise vacillated over time, from a low of $6.6 billion in July to a high of $14.8 billion in October.

"The changes are a token of the significance of speed in digital currency examinations, as criminal finances that have been effectively followed on the Blockchain can be sold rapidly," the report referenced.

This year, their has been an enormous drop in criminal adjusts in February because of the US Department of Justice's $3.6 billion capture of Bitcoin taken in the 2016 Bitfinex hack.

"Following that seizure, criminal surpluses at present stand at generally $5 billion as of February 9, 2022," the report noted.

In general, Chainalysis has recognized 4,068 crook whales holding more than $25 billion worth of cryptographic money.

Sound legal basis a must for digital monies like Facebook's Libra: G7

Company News

Facebook's proposed digital currency must have legal and regulatory issues worked out in key economies before it can be put into use, the Group of Seven economies said Thursday.
In a new report on stablecoins -- a type of digital currency backed by reserves assets -- the G7 also urged regulators to coordinate their work to prevent issuers from seeking out the most favorable country from which to operate.
"For stablecoin developers, a sound legal basis in all relevant jurisdictions... is an absolute prerequisite," according to the report from the G7 working group led by Benoit Coeure, a European Central Bank board member.
Facebook's Libra has generated intense scrutiny from officials worldwide who worry about the impact it could have on the financial system.France's Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire is due to hold a news conference to discuss the report's findings.
Digital currencies are ripe for use by terrorist organizations or for money laundering, so developers must have "legal clarity" about "all participants in the stablecoin ecosystem, such as coin holders and issuers," the report said.
They also pose other challenges to the financial system and to banks, if they are adopted widely.
"Ambiguous rights and obligations could make the stablecoin arrangement vulnerable to loss of confidence -- an unacceptable risk, especially in a payment system of potentially global importance," the report said.

 The G7 called said national regulators "must coordinate across agencies, sectors and jurisdictions," to address the risks and "forestall harmful regulatory arbitrage." "These risks, which are of a systemic nature.

Hackers demand six Bitcoins for Telangana, Andhra power portals restoration

International News

Hackers, who attacked websites of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh state power utilities, have demanded six Bitcoins (nearly Rs 20 lakh) as ransom to give description key to restore the sites, police said Friday.

T Srinivas, Director (Projects and IT) of Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL), assuring no data breach said the website of their organisation is open and that of Northern Power Distribution Company Limited is in the process of restoration.

"They (ransomware attackers) demanded six Bitcoins. Normally the attackers leave a link for paying ransom. In this case the websites were restored to normalcy even before they sent the link. We are continuing our investigation," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crimes) KCS Raghu Vir told PTI.The official further said the link which the malware leaves for ransom cannot be traced and previous history of ransomware attacks proved they originated from Central Europe and some African nations.

Srinivas said the websites and systems are managed by TCS and experts from the IT giant have flown in to restore them."Our website is open now. There is no harm to the data. Our servers are secured," he said.

A staff of the Power Distribution Company of Telangana Thursday received a mail from an unknown person and when he inadvertently clicked on it, the virus (ransomware) attack took over the entire system.Along with the Telangana systems, the computer systems of power utilities in Andhra Pradesh also came under the malware attack because they are linked to each other, police had said.

 When contacted, K Vijayanand, Chairman and Managing Director of Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Limited, said experts from TCS were working on restoration of the site and there was no impact on the billing activities for AP utilities.