The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has seized the largest haul of cryptocurrency from an illegal network involved in selling narcotics through the dark web. According to the Department of Justice (DoJ), in a statement released on January 26, the amount totaling $150 million in digital assets was confiscated from an operation run by an Indian national identified as Banmeet Singh. Singh pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to commit money laundering.  His guilty plea marked the culmination of an inves ..read more

Between 2014, and 2016, crypto investors lost an estimated $4 billion in a fraudulent OneCoin Ponzi scheme, which was orchestrated by convicted fraudster Ruja Ignatova.  To this day, the scheme is known as “one of the biggest scams in history.” Authorities exposed the scheme in 2017, leading to the arrest of several key individuals involved. Ignatova, however, who is known as ‘Cryptoqueen’ is still on the run.  However, the OneCoin drama continues to this day. Notably, a woman who was a victim of the scam, Jennifer McAdam, said she is receiving death threats after writing a book dubb ..read more

Cryptocurrencies have revolutionized the financial landscape, offering unprecedented benefits such as decentralized transactions and borderless payments.  However, this digital revolution comes with a darker side as cryptocurrencies have become a formidable tool on the dark web, enabling illicit activities such as the buying and selling of illegal goods and services, posing challenges for law enforcement agencies worldwide. To stop dark web crypto crime, investigators from the top five US federal agencies teamed up to launch a new task force, according to a June 20 press release by U.S. I ..read more

The European Union (EU) is taking measures that will make it harder for criminals to avoid anti-money laundering regulations by using cryptocurrencies. The scope of the regulations was expanded on May 16 to include crypto asset transfers after the Council decided it was time for an update to the rules governing the information that must accompany the transfer of cash. This assures that finances are open on crypto exchanges with digital assets and provides the EU with a strong framework that conforms with the most rigorous global requirements on the exchange of digital currencies, guaranteeing ..read more

A major coordinated operation by Europol and nine countries has resulted in the shutdown of the illegal dark web marketplace “Monopoly Market” and the arrest of 288 suspects involved in buying or selling drugs on the dark web. The operation, codenamed SpecTor, saw the seizure of over EUR 50.8 million (USD $55.69 million) in cash and cryptocurrencies, 850 kg of drugs, and 117 firearms, as per the official press release published on May 2. The move was composed of a series of separate complementary actions in Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the Unit ..read more

As soon as it was discovered that the Bitcoin white paper was integrated into Apple’s macOS operating systems, self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto Dr. Craig Wright accused the tech giant of breaching copyright laws. Indeed, on April 6, Wright turned to Twitter to respond to a message which stated that Apple might be infringing upon copyright. The tweet also asked for the computer scientist’s view on the matter after it came to light earlier this week that the Bitcoin white paper is buried deep inside new MacBooks; White said, “Yes.”  Yes — Dr Craig S Wright (@Dr_CSWright) April 6, 202 ..read more

After the prolonged manhunt for Do Kwon, who was reportedly hiding in Serbia, the police in the neighboring country of Montenegro have arrested the co-founder and former CEO of the disgraced company Terraform Labs, according to the Montenegrin Minister of Interior. As it happens, “the Montenegrin police has apprehended an individual believed to be one of the most-wanted fugitives, a South Korean national Do Kwon, the co-founder and CEO of Terraform Labs based in Singapore,” the Montenegrin Minister of Interior Filip Adzic said on his Twitter profile on March 23. According to Adzic: “The forme ..read more

Initial DEX Offering (IDO) platform Poolz has made public the steps it has taken to lessen the impact of a recent security breach that occurred on its platform after prompt action taken by its team limited the extent of the damage and avoided the spread of contagion. Notably, a hacker was successful on March 15 in compromising the token contract used in the POOLZ vesting system for $390,000 as tokens intended for public buyers were stolen and put up for sale.  In the Face of Adversity, the Poolz team promptly reacted, and within two hours, the token was removed from circulation and could ..read more

After the wife of John Bigatton, a well-known Australian promoter of the now-defunct BitConnect Coin (BCC) project and an alleged Ponzi scheme, reportedly died by suicide, multiple theories have arisen as to whether this was necessarily true because her body was never found. Indeed, the current theories floating among the family, as well as BitConnect victims, suggest that Madeline Bigatton, who vanished off the cliffs of Australia, could’ve been murdered by her husband or even that the couple might’ve faked Madeline’s death, according to a CoinDesk podcast ‘Crypto Crooks‘ streamed on January ..read more

A little over one year after countless cryptocurrency investors fell victim to the crypto scam that used the name of the popular Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) show to trick people into investing in SQUID token, a cryptocurrency that, in fact, had no connection to the show.  Interestingly, a journalist’s investigation has delivered new evidence as to the whereabouts of the scam’s originators. As it happens, the debut of the famous Korean Netflix show Squid Game in 2021 proved a perfect opportunity for scammers to create an efficient cryptocurrency scam that has cost its victims an aggregated $16 ..read more