Russian hackers account for most 2021 ransomware schemes, U.S. says

Reported by: Reuters Payment-seeking software made by Russian hackers was used in three quarters of all the ransomware schemes reported to a U.S. financial crime agency in the second half of 2021, a Treasury Department analysis released on Tuesday showed. In analysis issued in response to the increase in number and severity of ransomware attacks […]

ACAMS: Crypto scams targeting seniors are on the rise, but so are efforts to prevent them

Reported by: Tad Simons Technology Journalist/Thomson Reuters At the 21st Annual Anti-Money Laundering & Anti-Financial Crime Conference, held by the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), Rebecca Kiethley, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) fraud specialist, explained that people over 70 years of age control 75% of the wealth in America, and over the […]

US commodities chief thinks most cryptocurrencies are securities

Reported by: Scott Nover Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is widely considered a commodity. A federal court ruling in 2018 gave the CFTC regulatory authority by designating bitcoin as such.  But CFTC chairman Rostin Behnam and SEC chairman Gary Gensler agree that’s the exception rather than the rule. Despite grey areas including the cryptocurrency ether, […]

Mastercard launches crypto scheme for banks

Reported by: Temitayo Jaiyeola Mastercard has announced the launch of Crypto SourceTM, a programme to enable financial institutions offer crypto services to their customers. According to the payment platform, it has partnered with regulated and licensed crypto custody providers, to afford its partner financial institutions gain access to a comprehensive suite of buy, hold and […]

BNB Chain Tops Crypto Scams and Rug Pull List: Research

Reported by: Martin Young On Oct. 27, Solidus Labs announced the launch of a real-time on-chain Threat Intelligence tool. It has been touted as a first-of-its-kind approach to the retroactive methods of dealing with crypto scams. Additionally, the firm also released its findings on the growing number of crypto scams and rug pulls. The report […]

Danske Bank braced for money-laundering fines of $2bn

Reported by: Richard Milne, Nordic and Baltic Correspondent Danske Bank believes it will cost about $2bn in fines to resolve one of the largest money-laundering scandals on record as it nears a solution with US and Danish authorities. Denmark’s biggest bank said on Thursday that it would take an additional charge of DKr14bn ($1.9bn), taking the total […]

United Kingdom banks hate crypto, and that’s bad news for everyone

Reported by: Ian Taylor In 2018, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) wrote to the heads of the country’s biggest high street banks to emphasize the importance of due diligence when dealing with crypto businesses. That seems to have led to widespread high-risk ratings and bans on crypto-related banking, impacting both crypto businesses hoping […]