The FINANCIAL — Bitcoin has been gaining popularity for past years, but despite this fact it still is cyber criminals’ favorite tool. Bitcoin also has a ransomware variant, known as Ryuk. Ryuk was created in 2018 and it is thought to have stolen $61 million since researchers have compiled and shared information with Binance that could be damaging to the company, which is one of the largest bitcoin exchanges in the world.
Ransomware hackers, who encrypt their victims’ files before demanding bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies to unlock them, began increasingly targeting hospitals and healthcare providers during the coronavirus pandemic, Interpol reported in April, with criminals taking advantage of an influx of remote workers. Now, researchers who say they are concerned by this trend have compiled information that could be damaging to Binance, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges in the world—suggesting the exchange is failing to prevent Ryuk hackers from turning the stolen bitcoin into cash, Forbes reported.
The researchers, who chose to stay anonymous shared with Binance: “Out of the 63 sampled transactions worth round $5,700,000, it was discovered that over $1 million was despatched from the hacking workforce wallets to the Binance exchange platform to cash out their ransom funds. 13 different bitcoin addresses related to Ryuk, containing a complete of $1,064,865, adopted an identical sample. All had been despatched from the hackers’ wallets to a number of different addresses, and finally to Binance, enabling them to cash out their ransom funds.”
Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange that provides a platform for trading various cryptocurrencies. As of January 2018, Binance was the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world in terms of trading volume.
Binance stated that it is their prime precedence to make sure the security of their prospects and the integrity of the broader crypto area. Binance also added that in the case of monitoring illicit exercise on-chain, attribution will not be at all times black and white, the recipient may be utterly unaware of the fraudulent supply of the transaction and the exchange has all kinds of shoppers working on its platform.
Binance’s personal evaluation of the fund flows discovered the Singapore-based bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange Huobi obtained round 400 bitcoin not directly sourced from a mixture of ransomware campaigns with the now defunct exchange BX Thailand additionally receiving some 140 bitcoin from the Ryuk ransomware. In the meantime, Binance this month helped Ukraine authorities take down a gaggle of criminals concerned in a worldwide $42 million ransomware and cash laundering operation, according to Fintech Zoom.
Speaking of cryptocurrencies, Brazilian crypto companies have signed a code of self-regulation that aims to legitimize and to boost adoption of crypto assets in the country. The document was signed under the auspices of Abcripto, the country’s association of cryptocurrency companies, as bitcoin.com reported.
The agreement was signed last week during a live broadcast, registered on a private blockchain-based platform, created by GrowthTech. The company develops accounting solutions distributed to the notary and real estate market, supported by IBM’s cloud services. The main idea behind the code signing is accepting and following a series of operational practices and standards among the members of Brazil’s market, cryptobrowser.iowrote.
Since mid-March, when the first wave of lockdowns began around the world, the price of gold has risen by nearly a third. In that same time period, bitcoin has nearly trebled in value and continues to climb. Its recent price gains have led some to suggest that bitcoin has moved from a speculative asset to a safe-haven asset, with some even describing it as “digital gold”.The cryptocurrency’s finite supply – no more than 21 million bitcoins will ever exist – and lack of ties to any country or institution has helped fortify these parallels with gold and may be why investors are increasingly seeing it as an effective store of value, according to Independent.
Cryptocurrency Total Market Cap Jumped 80% After COVID-19 Crash
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