Hackers Stole $1.7B Worth Of Crypto Last Year - Cryptocurrency AML Report

[eternalgloom]

I've seen a couple of articles pop up with the headline that you see in my title. According to a report by Cyphertrace, 1.7 billion USD worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in 2018.
The report explicitly mentions that many countries are ramping up their KYC requirements and in the report Lightning Network is added to the 'top 10 cryptocurrency threats'.



Full report: https://ciphertrace.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/crypto_aml_report_2018q4.pdf

Seems like we could soon see regulations implemented that make it illegal to send/receive cryptocurrency anonymously. At least, that's the sort of feeling I'm getting after reading the entire report.
Most countries are looking to implement forced compliance by 2020 at the very latest.



Articles about this report:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/donnafuscaldo/2019/01/31/hackers-stole-1-7b-worth-of-crypto-last-year/#4c01809590a0
https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/hackers-total-loot-for-2018-1-7-b-in-crypto-ciphertrace-says/

Don't quote the entire OP with images when you reply

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[dothebeats]

I've seen a couple of articles pop up with the headline that you see in my title. According to a report by Cyphertrace, 1.7 billion USD worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in 2018.
The report explicitly mentions that many countries are ramping up their KYC requirements..

This is what will happen in the coming days; crypto-exchanges asking for more invasive and in-depth KYC requirements in compliance with their governments' orders. It already started here in the Philippines when a local exchange asked for details like source of funds and other in-depth stuff regarding a user's capability to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies which to me is just scary. Decentralized exchanges could be the way to go, but I'm pretty sure that even such platforms would be invaded by the governments' regulations and laws.

..and in the report Lightning Network is added to the 'top 10 cryptocurrency threats'.

Seems like we could soon see regulations implemented that make it illegal to send/receive cryptocurrency anonymously. At least, that's the sort of feeling I'm getting after reading the entire report.
Most countries are looking to implement forced compliance by 2020 at the very latest.

Day by day, it seems like cryptocurrencies are slowly being stripped off of its identity. Governments wanting to remove the anonymity aspect of crypto for it to be totally transparent is not a good thing. Off-chain scaling is a solution proposed to give the main 'highway' of transactions breathing room, albeit the main 'highway' not really being congested at all times. LN could go, but bitcoin's anonymity shouldn't (not that I'm against LN, but apparently bitcoin is fine without it.)

[DooMAD]

I've seen a couple of articles pop up with the headline that you see in my title. According to a report by Cyphertrace, 1.7 billion USD worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in 2018.
The report explicitly mentions that many countries are ramping up their KYC requirements..

This is what will happen in the coming days; crypto-exchanges asking for more invasive and in-depth KYC requirements in compliance with their governments' orders. It already started here in the Philippines when a local exchange asked for details like source of funds and other in-depth stuff regarding a user's capability to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies which to me is just scary. Decentralized exchanges could be the way to go, but I'm pretty sure that even such platforms would be invaded by the governments' regulations and laws.

It's possible that our rate of technological advancement will remain ahead of the legislative curve.  I suspect users will naturally take the path of least resistance.  If KYC becomes burdensome for enough users, someone will likely find a way around it with some newfangled technical wizardry.  In the same way that it's difficult for authorities to prevent file-sharing of copyright material because the methods of transmission constantly evolve, the same will likely apply with crypto.

Personally, I see centralised exchanges as an interim throwback to traditional finance, rather than the way in which crypto was intended to be used.  Perhaps my views are extreme, but I think it's a waste of time caring about the user experience degrading when they rely on custodian services like that.  It's a weak link and weak links should degrade.  It's not how this stuff was designed to work.  We should instead focus on what can be done better.  Plus, as a bonus, there will naturally be less thefts once people move away from centralised exchanges.

[Sigmas55]

Seems like we could soon see regulations implemented that make it illegal to send/receive cryptocurrency anonymously.

I agree that regulations are on the way, but i question governments' ability to control anonymous dealings of cryptocurrencies, if they can, they would've done it already

[Slow death]

Seems like we could soon see regulations implemented that make it illegal to send/receive cryptocurrency anonymously. At least, that's the sort of feeling I'm getting after reading the entire report.
Most countries are looking to implement forced compliance by 2020 at the very latest.

so that countries regularize bitcoin, they will do not accept anonymous coins and that means that all exchanges will be regulated and inspected and can not accept coins anonymous. This is something expected, I believe that the bitcoin wallets will be the next victims of the regulations and the governments will be very hard with the exchanges and the wallets. there are issues of:

if someone dies while having bitcoins in an exchange or in a wallet, how do we determine your beneficiary?

we will have to see how the regulators will deal with this type of question

[teejayrichard2]

this is really sad as the hacking done by these hackers has discouraged so many investors. I sincerely hope the year 2019 will be better with stronger securtiy to prevent these hacks

[DooMAD]

this is really sad as the hacking done by these hackers has discouraged so many investors. I sincerely hope the year 2019 will be better with stronger securtiy to prevent these hacks

Once investors understand that you take the crypto and store it in a wallet where only you control the private keys, they'll have reason to be more confident.  Further to that, they should also start considering the advantages of being users rather than merely investors.  There are numerous benefits provided by Bitcoin which have nothing to do with selling it for more of your national currency.  Those who just speculate are kinda missing the point.

[1Referee]

if someone dies while having bitcoins in an exchange or in a wallet, how do we determine your beneficiary?

we will have to see how the regulators will deal with this type of question

It will be interesting to see how Fidelity and other legacy institutions offering services as custodian will deal with the situation, and what happens there will eventually be the new norm for existing crypto services to follow. We're at the very beginning of how this space slowly but surely will be trapped in a cage of regulations people won't be going to like.

Exchanges as they are right now are a joke. They do the best they can to ask for all sorts of documents, pictures, etc, and continue to reject them till you give up on the funds. Imagine how many people have gone through that already and gave up on their funds. It's free money for exchanges they otherwise wouldn't have. Another reason to not use unregulated shithole exchanges.

[Groucho]

Yeah crypto theft has been an extreme serious issue over the past and present year very high profile incidents such as YouTuber Ian Balina who had 2 million dollars of assets stolen during his stream. The latest high profile theft seems to be from the guy that owned and ran his exchange Quadriga from a goddamn laptop go figure. Gerald Cotten's body never left India cremated and he died of Crohn’s disease while working in a charitable venture over in India helping with an orphanage. They reckon he could have gotten a fake death certificate and I think the gentleman certainly has a face a plastic surgeon could only love for the right price The amount of exchange funds not accessible is in excess of $190 million apparently the laptop is heavily encrypted. This doesn't help the crypto industry and I'm sure people that held assets on the exchange won't be covered if the worst comes to the worst.