United States prosecutors have filed a complaint against now-defunct crypto exchange BTC-e and its suspected operator Alexander Vinnik, according to a document filed in the Northern District of California on July 25. Per the filing, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) determined civil penalties for BTC-e and Vinnik last year, who face fines of over $88 million and $12 million, respectively. The filing states outright that BTC-e and Vinnik did not attempt to register with FinCEN, implement Anti-Money Laundering practices, or report suspicious activity generally. Alleged money laundering and lack of regulation The filing also notes that BTC-e and Vinnik …

Cryptocurrency ransomware, botnets and backdoors seem to have replaced cryptocurrency mining malware as the tool of choice for cybercriminals, according to a recent report from computer security firm Skybox Security. In its report dubbed “2019 Vulnerability and Threat Trends: Mid-Year Update,” Skybox reviews software vulnerabilities and newly developed exploits, as well as malware and attacks, among other related issues. Cloud services vulnerabilities are on the rise When it comes to digital currencies, the report notes that in 2018, cryptocurrency mining malware was the most popular tool for cybercriminals. However, following the decline in cryptocurrency values, attackers reportedly turned to ransomware, …

Blockchain cybersecurity company CertiK, which had received an investment from Binance Labs in 2018, has launched its native CertiK Chain blockchain. The CertiK Foundation announced its new release in an official blog post on July 22. In January of this year, CertiK and major crypto exchange Binance had also announced a partnership that would allow the cybersecurity company to audit Binance’s smart contracts to ensure there are no critical vulnerabilities. Smart contracts on CertiK Chain can be developed in the functional programming language DeepSEA, which reportedly guarantees security by means of the code. Additionally, any on-chain smart contracts will reportedly …

Eliyahu Gigi, a 31-year-old from Tel Aviv, has been charged with stealing over $1.7 billion in a variety of cryptocurrencies. Gigi allegedly stole Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Dash (DASH) from users in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Lawyer Yeela Harel of the cyber department in the State Attorney's Office filed charges against Gigi on July 17, according to a report published the same day by Israeli business outlet Globes. Gigi has reportedly been charged with crimes including theft, fraud, and money laundering, among others. According to the report, Harel’s indictment claims that Gigi set up a network of scam …

Tencent Yujian Threat Intelligence Center says that a Ryuk ransomware virus has been spotted in China. The intelligence center released information on the outbreak in a report on July 16. According to the report, Ryuk viruses are a family of malware aimed at infecting government and enterprise machines holding valuable data. According to the report, a Ryuk virus derives from the Hermes virus, with code that is directly modified off of the latter. As noted in the report, Ryuk is the name of a death spirit in the popular manga Death Note. As per its title, Ryuk possesses a notebook …

In the premiere episode of the new Cointelegraph series “Coffee and Crypto,” head of editorial Olivia Capozzalo and head of news Molly Jane Zuckerman discussed the latest news in the cryptocurrency industry. Latest news in the cryptocurrency industry In the video, Capozzalo and Zuckerman discuss United States President Donald Trump criticizing Bitcoin (BTC) and Facebook’s Libra stablecoin, the European Central Bank’s recent statements about Bitcoin, and whether BTC is a currency. Zuckerman also talked about the hack of Japanese exchange Bitpoint, which yesterday published the breakdown of crypto assets stolen in the 3 billion yen (~$27.8 million) hack of its …

On July 12, 2019, Tokyo-headquartered cryptocurrency exchange Bitpoint promptly suspended its services after noticing an error in the outgoing funds transfer system. Soon, an official announcement followed, revealing that the trading platform had lost around 3.5 billion yen (roughly $32 million) as a result of a security breach. The exchange’s administration has managed to find a portion of the missing funds since the initial announcement was published. Nevertheless, the security breach seems to continue the streak of hacks targeting Japan-based exchanges. Details of the hack According to the breakdown of the hack published by Bitpoint’s parent firm, Remixpoint Inc., Bitcoin …

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Bitpoint has discovered over 250 million yen ($2.3 million) in cryptocurrency — part of a $32 million sum that was stolen last week, local English language daily The Mainichi reports on July 14. According to The Mainchi, Bitpoint found the stolen cryptocurrency on overseas exchanges that were using a trading system provided by Bitpoint Japan. Bitpoint told The Mainchi that the recent discovery brings the total sum of lost founds down from 3.5 billion yen ($32 million) to 3.02 billion yen ($28 million). The exchange was initially hacked on July 12. 2.5 billion yen ($23 million) of …

The Ethereum (ETH) smart contract of 0x (ZRX) decentralized exchange (DEX) protocol has been suspended after a vulnerability has been uncovered in its code, the project’s team announced in a Medium post published on July 13. Per the announcement, third-party security researcher samczsun warned the 0x team about the vulnerability in the exchange smart contract and, after evaluating it, the team suspended the exchange’s contract and the AssetProxy contracts. The vulnerability would have allowed an attacker to fill certain orders with invalid signatures. The announcement reassures that one has exploited this vulnerability and no users have lost their funds. The …

Japanese crypto exchange Bitpoint has suspended all services after losing $32 million in a hack involving XRP, Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies. In an official announcement on July 12, Bitpoint revealed that it had lost around 3.5 billion yen (~$32 million) — 2.5 billion yen (~$23 million) of which belonged to customers and 1 billion (~$9.2 million) to the exchange. Bloomberg reports that shares of Bitpoint’s parent firm Remixpoint Inc. shed 19% following news of the incident, and were untraded in Tokyo as of 1:44 p.m. “on a glut of sell orders.” Alongside XRP and Bitcoin, a total five different …

Polish cryptocurrency exchange BitMarket announced its shutdown on its official website on July 8. When trying to access the exchange through its website, users are instead greeted with the following text message in both English and Polish: “Dear Users, We regret to inform you that due to the loss of liquidity, since 08/07/2019, Bitmarket.pl/net was forced to cease its operations. We will inform you about further steps.” Leading cryptocurrency analytics website CoinMarketCap shows that the trading platform volume was relatively low — $850,080 in the past 24 hours. Still, it is unclear how trading is continuing while the exchange is …

Fortress Investment Group is buying bitcoin (BTC) claims from Mt. Gox creditors, according to a report by CoinDesk on July 8. The Japan-based cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in 2014 after losing $473 million worth of bitcoin at the time due to an apparent hack. Bitcoin reportedly experienced a subsequent decline in value, dropping by 36% over the month when this took place. As per the report, Fortress executive Michael Hourigan has sent out a letter to creditors detailing the buyback offer. According an apparent copy of such a letter, Fortress has offered to buy the bitcoin claims …