/ Police shut down dark web crypto laundering service linked to FTX hack
An international coalition of law enforcement agencies announced on Wednesday that it had taken down the popular dark web crypto laundering service ChipMixer, seizing more than $46 million in crypto and terabytes of server data. The service, for example, was used last year by the attacker who stole funds from the now failed crypto exchange FTX, as well as by several ransomware groups. “The platform and the criminal content have been seized,” ChipMixer’s website now reads. “The ChipMixer software blocked the blockchain trail of the funds, making it attractive for cybercriminals looking to launder illegal proceeds from criminal activities such as drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, ransomware attacks, and payment card fraud,” Europol wrote in a press release. “Deposited funds would be turned into ‘chips’ (small tokens with equivalent value), which were then mixed together – thereby anonymizing all trails to where the initial funds originated.”
More on TechCrunch• 2023-03-15
/ CEO of crypto media outlet The Block resigns after it's revealed he took tens of millions in loans from Sam Bankman-Fried
The Block is a cryptocurrency-focus media outlet that was originally founded in 2018 by Mike Dudas. In 2020, Michael McCaffrey became CEO of the company, and in 2021 he led a buyout to make the company employee-owned. Dudas says that at the time, he believed "McCaffrey's family was wealthy and loaned him money to buy out [his stake] and the VCs so the team could assume full independent ownership."
More on web3isgreat• 2022-12-10
/ FTX claims it was hacked as more than $600 million is withdrawn
Over $600 million was mysteriously withdrawn from FTX and FTX US late on November 11, despite the company freezing withdrawals. An FTX account administrator wrote on the FTX support Telegram, "FTX has been hacked. FTX apps are malware. Delete them. Chat is open. Don't go on FTX site as it might download Trojans". The message was pinned by FTX General Counsel Ryne Miller. Miller later wrote on Twitter, "Investigating abnormalities with wallet movements related to consolidation of ftx balances across exchanges - unclear facts as other movements not clear. Will share more info as soon as we have it."
More on web3isgreat• 2022-11-12
/ FTX files for bankruptcy, Sam Bankman-Fried resigns
Aaaand there it goes. FTX announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States. Sam Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO. SBF had spoken about trying to raise additional funds. In leaked Slack messages, he had allegedly written that "One could maybe say, if they wanted to be optimistic, that we have a lot theoretically in and/or potentially for the raise". No one was actually saying this.
More on web3isgreat• 2022-11-11
/ US Treasury Sanctioned Tornado Cash
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Ethereum’s “best-known coin mixing service,” Tornado Cash (https://tornado.cash). On August 8, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Tornado Cash Ethereum mixing service. According to the Treasury’s announcement, purported criminals have laundered more than $7 billion worth of cryptocurrency through the service since 2019. The Lazarus Group allegedly laundered $455 million worth of cryptocurrency through Tornado Cash. The Treasury has used money laundering by the Lazarus Group as partial justification for sanctioning other cryptocurrency exchanges, including Blender.io.
More on Darknetlive• 2022-08-10
/ Two Charged for Operating a Cryptocurrency Exchange Business
A federal grand jury returned a 33-count superseding indictment charging two cryptocurrency exchange operators with money laundering and other financial crimes. In March 2021, a grand jury returned a 20-count indictment charging Ian Freeman, Colleen Fordham, Renee Spinella, Andrew Spinella, “Nobody” (formerly Richard Paul), and Aria DiMezzo with an assortment of financial crimes related to the operation of a “virtual currency exchange business in violation of federal anti-money laundering laws and regulations, including those requiring money transmitting businesses to meet registration and reporting requirements.”
More on Darknetlive• 2022-04-28
/ Seized Silk Road Bitcoin to Clear Ross Ulbricht's $183M Debt
Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht will see his $183 million debt wiped out following the seizure of $3 billion in bitcoin connected to an unnamed Silk Road hacker, according to a court filing. In 2015, Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He was also ordered to pay $183 million in restitution, a figure calculated from the total illegal sales on Silk Road using an exchange rate at the time of each transaction. Court documents in 2020 reveal that the Justice Department seized 69,370 bitcoins from a hacker who moved the trove to a private wallet in April 2013.
More on CoinDesk• 2022-04-22
/ Flaw in Rarible NFT market allowed tricky crypto asset transfers
A security flaw in the Rarible NFT (non-fungible token) marketplace allowed threat actors to use a relatively simple trick to steal digital assets and transfer them directly into their wallets. Rarible is a community-centric NFT marketplace that offers up to 50% in royalties, having 2.1 million registered users, hundreds of millions U.S. dollars in annual trading volumes, and support for three blockchains. The dangerous flaw in the marketplace was discovered by analysts at Check Point, who worked with Rarible to implement a fix. However, users who have already fallen victim need to check for and revoke the token approvals they granted via past fraudulent transaction requests.
More on Bleeping Computer• 2022-04-14
/ Florida Darkweb Vendor Forfeits $34 Million in Crypto
A darkweb vendor in Florida forfeited $34 million worth of illicitly earned cryptocurrency. According to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, a judge entered a default judgment in favor of the United States against $34 million* worth of cryptocurrency seized from a darkweb vendor. The forfeiture includes 640.26804512 BTC, 640.2716098 Bitcoin Cash, 640.2715428 Bitcoin Gold, 640.2716043 Bitcoin S.V., and 919.30711258 ETH. According to prosecutors, the forfeiture is “one of the largest cryptocurrency forfeiture actions ever filed by the United States.”
More on Darknetlive• 2022-04-07
/ Cash App notifies 8.2 million US customers about data breach
Cash App is notifying 8.2 million current and former US customers of a data breach after a former employee accessed their account information. Block, Inc., the owner of Cash App, disclosed in a Form 8-K SEC filing that the breach occurred on December 10th, 2021, after a former employee downloaded internal Cash App reports while no longer employed at the company. Block says that the reports included Cash App customers' full names and brokerage account numbers associated with investment activity on Cash App. For some customers, additional information was exposed in the reports, including portfolio values, holdings, and possibly trading activity for one trading day.
More on Bleeping Computer• 2022-04-06
/ Germany Shuts Down Russian Hydra Darknet Market; Seizes $25 Million in Bitcoin
Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), on Tuesday announced the official takedown of Hydra, the world's largest illegal dark web marketplace. "[543] Bitcoins amounting to currently the equivalent of approximately €23 million were seized, which are attributed to the marketplace," the BKA said in a press release. The agency attributed the shutdown of Hydra to an extensive investigation operation conducted by its Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT) in partnership with U.S. law enforcement authorities since August 2021. Launched in 2015, Hydra was a Russian-language dark web marketplace that opened as a competitor to the now-defunct Russian Anonymous Marketplace (aka RAMP), primarily known for its high-traffic narcotics market before expanding their focus to peddle forged documents and stolen credit cards.
More on The Hacker News• 2022-04-05
/ EU Parliament Votes for More Crypto Surveillance
Two European Parliament committees voted in favor of changes to the Transfer of Funds Regulation that target transactions to and from unhosted wallets. The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs voted in favor of amendments to the Transfer of Funds Regulation that “impose a host of new privacy invasions on wallet users,” according to Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer. The amendments are ostensibly aimed at cracking down on money laundering, but critics have voiced their concerns about the effects the amendments will have on privacy. And exchanges are naturally concerned about their ability to do business.
More on Darknetlive• 2022-04-02