Crypto crime just hit an all-time high of $14 billion (2024)

FAQs

What is the biggest scandal in crypto? ›

What are the biggest cryptocurrency scams in history? Some of the biggest crypto scams in history include the OneCoin scam (estimated $25 billion in losses), the BitConnect scam (approximately $4 billion in losses), and the Bitclub Network scam (up to $722 million in losses).

Mt. Gox remains the greatest cryptocurrency robbery in history, with over 850k Bitcoin stolen between 2011 and 2014. Mt. Gox claimed that a fault that caused the loss is due to an underlying bug in Bitcoin, known as transaction malleability.

Through 2021, Bitcoin reigned supreme as the cryptocurrency of choice among cybercriminals, likely due to its high liquidity. But that's changed over the last two years, with stablecoins now accounting for the majority of all illicit transaction volume.

As we revealed in last year's Crypto Crime Report, 2022 was the biggest year ever for crypto theft with $3.7 billion stolen. In 2023, however, funds stolen decreased by approximately 54.3% to $1.7 billion, though the number of individual hacking incidents actually grew, from 219 in 2022 to 231 in 2023.

Penthouse to prison: Sam Bankman-Fried's journey from crypto king to convicted conman. On Thursday morning in Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan will deliver his decision on how many years Sam Bankman-Fried will spend in prison. The FTX founder was convicted in November of all seven criminal counts against him ...

Ilya Lichtenstein admitted to the hack at a hearing in federal court in Washington, D.C., saying that in 2016 he broke into crypto exchange Bitfinex's network and stole bitcoin that is now worth billions of dollars. He was in court to plead guilty to conspiring to launder money from the heist.

Key findings. A higher percentage of cryptocurrency investors have lost money than made it. 38% of Americans who've held a form of the currency say they've sold it for less than when they bought it, versus 28% who say they made a profit. Only 13% say they broke even.

Chinese companies sell the chemical ingredients used to make fentanyl to drug cartels and they get paid in crypto. The drug cartels and the traffickers sell their deadly drugs in the darkest marketplaces, and they get paid in crypto to the tune of about one and a half billion dollars in 2022.

What is the most secret crypto? ›

Monero (XMR)

It utilizes innovative cryptographic techniques to safeguard transactions and protect the privacy of its users. Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies, Monero uses ring signatures, stealth addresses, and confidential transactions to obfuscate the sender, recipient, and transaction amount.

You can face federal criminal charges for various acts using cryptocurrency, so it is essential to speak to an experienced federal criminal defense attorney when facing criminal allegations related to cryptocurrency.

From years of various seizures and confiscations, the U.S. government has become one of the world's largest holders of Bitcoin, with its 200k bitcoin worth more than $5 billion.

Every time a Bitcoin is transferred, the transaction is recorded in the blockchain. So if the FBI has access to the blockchain, they can track who owns which Bitcoins and when they were transferred.

Getting that stolen crypto back is nearly impossible. The value of all existing cryptocurrency is $2.33 trillion, according to Bankrate. Cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, is a digital currency created using encryption algorithms, Oswego State University of New York says.

Changpeng Zhao, aka CZ, the founder of the most popular crypto trading platform, Binance, pleaded guilty to money-laundering charges as part of a $4 billion settlement. “2023 was a bad year for grifters and a good year for builders,” says Faryar Shirzad, the chief policy officer for Coinbase.

Three Arrows Capital (3AC)

Three Arrows Capital (3AC) caused a ruckus when it announced that it had fallen into liquidation. This massive crypto fund was the largest in the market at the time of its failure. The failure was caused by several issues, including a steady decline in crypto prices during the bear market.