Coindesk

Americans reported a record $9.3 billion in losses to cryptocurrency-related crimes in 2024, according to a report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). The losses represent a 66% jump from 2023 and highlight the growing use of digital assets in online fraud schemes.The annual IC3 report says nearly 150,000 complaints linked to crypto, with investment fraud leading the way. In these schemes, scammers often pretend to offer high returns on fake cryptocurrency platforms, coaxing victims to transfer funds that are then siphoned away.The FBI also spotlighted “pig butchering” scams, where fraudsters build online relationships before pushing fake crypto investments. Crypto investment schemes led to $5.8 billion in losses, while the second-largest category by losses...

By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)Bitcoin’s (BTC) status as a haven in the context of broader financial markets may be up for debate, but within crypto it’s hardly questionable. Cryptocurrency prices have fallen across the board over the last 24 hours, yet bets on BTC’s dominance keep growing.The market’s sell-off comes amid profit-taking and conflicting messages from the Trump administration over its trade war with China.Those comments cooled a rally that started after President Donald Trump signaled he would not remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and suggested a softer stance on trade with China. That helped the price of bitcoin to approach $95,000 before it dropped back to $92,200.The pullback followed comments from Treasury Secretary Scott...

Russia's finance ministry and central bank are set to unveil a crypto exchange for "highly-qualified" investors, news agency Interfax reported on Wednesday.The exchange will "legalize crypto assets and bring crypto operations out of the shadows," Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said during a ministry board meeting, according to the report. "Naturally, this will not happen domestically, but as part of the operations permitted under the experimental legal regime," Siluanov said.The Central Bank of Russia proposed allow crypto trading within a pilot known as the experimental legal regime (ELR) in March. This would apply to highly qualified investors, a new investor category for individuals whose investments exceed 100 million rubles ($1.2 million) or an annual income exceeding 50 million rubles ($600,000).The absence...

KiloEX, the decentralized exchange (DEX) hit by a $7 million attack earlier this month, has revealed its resolution plans for affected users.Users whose positions remained open during the platform suspension will be compensated for the difference on increased losses or decreased profits, KiloEX said on Thursday.Compensation will only be calculated up to the point the platform resumes, so users are advised to close their positions as soon as possible thereafter.The KiloEx attacker, using a wallet funded by crypto laundering service Tornado Cash, appeared to exploit a vulnerability in the platform's price oracle system.Source link

ZKsync said $5 million worth of tokens stolen during an admin wallet hack last week have been returned and the case is now considered resolved.The layer-2 blockchain protocol saw a hacker compromise its admin wallet, leading to the theft of unclaimed tokens from the ZKsync airdrop.In a post on X, the project said the hacker cooperated with the team and returned the funds within the “safe harbor” deadline — a grace period commonly offered in security incidents to incentivize returns without legal consequence. The cooperation means the hacker took a 10% bounty.The tokens are now in custody of the ZKsync Security Council and a governance process will determine what to do with them. A final investigation report is being prepared...