Moreover, these thefts have led to a three-fold increase in associated money laundering, according to a report from the US-based cybersecurity company called CipherTrace.
The report showed that in the first six months of 2018 a total of USD 761 million was stolen from digital currency exchanges, compared with about USD 266 million for the whole of 2017. Also, the losses could rise to 1.5 billion in 2018, estimated CipherTrace.
The most recent theft from a cryptocurrency exchange was the USD 32 million in digital currencies stolen from South Korean exchange Bithumb.
The report looks at the global anti-money laundering market and according to CipherTrace CEO, stolen virtual currencies end up being laundered to help criminals hide their true identities and avoid arrest. Concerns about the rising criminal activity in the sector from the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) were also mentioned.
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