In the latest Bitcoin news, we have a piece of analysis by Reuters that focuses on the retrieval rate of lost Bitcoins. If you own a Bitcoin and fall a victim of a theft, there is a little chance that you will ever see your crypto assets again, in fact, a 20% chance according to the analysis.
According to the security experts, only a fraction of these cases ever get reported as victims believe that they are not likely to retrieve stolen cryptocurrency. Reuters also reported that the unique nature of cryptocurrencies has created a double-edged sword where investors don’t expect criminals to be caught after the successful crypto heists.
The report also showed that cybercriminals are turning to crypto more and more, mostly because of the popularity of the assets. According to Patric Wyman who is a supervisory special agent of the anti-money laundering unit at FBI:
“A decentralized currency system like bitcoin or another form of virtual currency is not governed by any entity, suspicious reporting activity, and any anti-money laundering compliance.”
David Jevans, a CEO of the California-based CipherTrace, was also quoted in the Reuters report, showing that about 20% of stolen crypto ever is recovered, even when trading platforms or exchanges are hacked.
One financial research firm called Autonomous NEXT, in partnership with another one called Crypto Aware, estimated that around $1.7 billion worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen between 2012 and the first half of 2018. The data also revealed that over $800 million has already been stolen this year – and 85% of the total crimes are never even reported.
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