The cryptocurrencies’ potential to facilitate money laundering and financing illicit activities has long informed Bitcoin-insecure politicians’ hawkish postures on crypto regulation. With the release by the Department of Justice (DoJ) of an indictment of twelve Russian intelligence officers last Friday, which includes a count of an alleged conspiracy to launder money ‘through cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin,’ statesmen of this bent have procured a powerful supplement to their rhetorical toolkit – a formally recorded instance of a Bitcoin-backed interference into a vital sector of domestic affairs. The only consideration that makes the news look somewhat less haunting for the future of …

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) released an indictment on July 13 charging twelve Russian nationals with committing federal crimes — funded by cryptocurrencies — with the aim of “interfering” in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. According to the DoJ’s announcement, Russian officials from two units of the Russian government’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) used cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) — which they allegedly mined and obtained by “other means” — to fuel efforts to hack into computer networks associated with the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and U.S. elections-related state boards and technology companies. A grand jury in the …

Self-styled “decentralized” exchange platform Bancor pledged to tackle cybercrime threats to cryptocurrency entities in a blog post July 12 as it resumed operations following a $12 mln hack this week. Summarizing the platform’s future plans in the post, co-founder Guy Benartzi also announced that Bancor’s internal tools that helped tracked its hacked funds would be made available to a wider audience. This move will form a precursor to a major crime-fighting initiative which Benartzi hopes will result in contribution of “resources and capabilities to fight criminals together.” The initiative, described as a “coalition of crypto defenders,” will involve the platform …

On July 9, the decentralized crypto platform Bancor was compromised. The hackers managed to drain over $23 million worth of crypto, part of which has allegedly already been converted into fiat via the instant exchange service Changelly. While the Bancor team is collaborating with other industry players to track the stolen funds, the recent security breach shows how decentralized platforms deal with security breaches, even though some community members have started to question whether Bancor can be considered a decentralized service at all. What is Bancor? Bancor was launched in June 2017 after one of the most successful Initial Coin …

Decentralized cryptocurrency platform Bancor, which experienced a “security breach” July 9, has told Cointelegraph that it expects to come back online within 24 hours. Bancor halted operations this Monday due to an investigation of a “security breach,” which involved more than $12 million. The platform confirmed the breach on its Twitter account, saying that “no user wallets were compromised.” The cybercriminals reportedly exchanged some of the tokens through conversion service Changelly. Sources familiar with the matter told Cointelegraph that the stolen tokens included Bancor’s native token BNT, about 25,000 Ethereum (ETH) ($12.2 million), and 300,000 Pundi X (NPXS) ($1,200). While …

Decentralized cryptocurrency platform Bancor halted operations Monday, July 9, as it investigates what it calls a “security breach,” reportedly involving over $12 mln. A Twitter post confirmed the breach and Bancor’s halted operations, which the platform says is specifically to allow investigative work prior to a full statement being released “shortly.” “This morning (CEST) Bancor experienced a security breach. No user wallets were compromised,” the tweet reads, continuing: “To complete the investigation, we have moved to maintenance and will be releasing a more detailed report shortly. We look forward to being back online as soon as possible.” As of press …

On June 12, the state of Michigan introduced a bill imposing criminal penalties for manipulating data on blockchains in order to commit fraud. This is the first attempt in the world to legally protect data stored on distributed ledger technology (DLT) — for entering false information into the blocks or changing the blocks themselves, up to 14 years of imprisonment can be faced. The deliberate introduction of false data does not raise questions — here the signs of unlawful actions become visible to all the members of the network and do not call for any comment. But with the change …

A new attack on Bitcoin users which gains control of Windows clipboard to swap out addresses is already monitoring 2.3 million targets, sources reported June 30. The malware, part of a family of threats known as “clipboard hijackers,” secretly gains control of memory, running in the background to ensure users do not notice its presence. It then replaces the Bitcoin address that the user has copied into the clipboard with the address of the attacker, which the user later unknowingly pastes and sends their coins to. “Unless a user double-checks the pasted address, they will have no idea that this …

On June 19, Bithumb, South Korea’s number one crypto exchange, was hacked. The attackers stole cryptocurrencies worth $30 million, making it one of the largest heists of the year so far. While the exchange has already promised to compensate its users, the damage has been done: yet again, it has become evident that even the biggest players cannot guarantee total safety. Indeed, the crypto world hasn’t been the same since the Mt. Gox collapse. Still, it comes down to how these attacks are handled in the aftermath: while some go MIA or start diffusing the responsibility, others choose to rebuild …

A Singapore-based IT security company offers a potential blockchain-based solution to help protect individual crypto users and block the use of stolen cryptocurrencies on crypto wallets and exchanges. Sentinel Protocol allows security experts and organizations to collect, share and analyse comprehensive threat intelligence data on its blockchain platform. The information about hacks, scams, and fraud is stored on the decentralized Threat Reputation Database (TRDB). As previously reported by Cointelegraph, hackers have recently stolen $30 million worth of cryptocurrencies from Bithumb, South Korea's leading cryptocurrency exchange. Patrick Kim, the founder of Sentinel Protocol, who previously worked at F5 Networks and Palo …

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has today confirmed it will reimburse users affected by the theft of 35 bln won (about $30 mln) from its hot wallet two days ago, in an official announcement today, June 21. At the time of the hack, Bithumb was ranked sixth largest crypto exchange by trade volumes globally, but has now dropped to tenth place following news of the high-profile incident. Bithumb today says there will be “no damage” to its customers as a consequence of the theft, emphasizing its strict separation of customer and company assets, the latter of which it says are …

South Korea’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb is scrambling to protect users funds after a large scale hack. Initial reports from the Yonhap new agency indicate that over $30 million worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen during a cyber attack on June 19. Cointelegraph Japan was informed that the hot wallet was hacked during the night and cryptocurrency stolen included Ripple. Once the exchange was made aware of the attack, it froze deposit and withdrawal services. Bithumb has already assured customers affected by the hack will be compensated for their losses. “We checked that some of cryptocurrencies valued about $30 million was …