News
Hong Kong Counterfeit Money Case Shows Convergence Between Crypto and Real-World Crime – DL News
Shipping to Asia
- Chainalysis’ Chengyi Ong says cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly prevalent in various types of crimes.
- Law enforcement needs more training on cryptocurrencies.
- The physical aspect of cryptocurrency scams and scams alarms authorities.
Another week, another strange crime in Hong Kong involving cryptocurrencies.
In the latest incident, three individuals were arrested for defrauding a businessman of $400,000 in Tether (USDT) at an office in Mong Kok, a densely populated commercial district in Hong Kong.
Police seized more than 11,000 counterfeit notes during the raid, more than the total number of counterfeit notes seized in the entire last year, according to the South China Morning Post.
This case is just the latest to demonstrate how cybercrime is creeping into traditional crime.
Chengyi Ong, Chainalysis’s head of policy for the Asia-Pacific, or APAC, region, said he has seen cryptocurrency implicated in cases ranging from narcotics to fraud and scams to cybercrime.
“Cryptocurrencies will become increasingly prevalent as an element in many different types of crimes,” he said. DL News in an interview.
And while I recognize that progress is being made in educating law enforcement about cryptocurrencies, there is still much work to be done.
“As cryptocurrencies become increasingly common in a variety of crimes, there will be a need to increase awareness of and training on cryptocurrencies across law enforcement agencies,” he said.
Join the community to receive our latest stories and updates
Money from hell
The Hong Kong counterfeiting episode is reminiscent another case in May, when police arrested three employees of a cryptocurrency exchange in the same area, accused of defrauding a customer of $128,000 in a USDT-to-Hong Kong dollar transaction, also in Mong Kok.
The scammers lured the victim by showing them a stack of “hell money,” fake money printed on incense paper used in traditional rituals.
In neither case was it revealed exactly why the victims were exchanging such large sums of money in shady offices in Mong Kok.
This type of exchange is very popular among mainland Chinese who want to get money out of China, which places strict limits on how much can be transferred abroad.
In any case, these incidents highlight the growing convergence between crypto and real-world crime in Hong Kong. As hacks, scams, and frauds continue to proliferate, the physical dimension of crypto crime is becoming more pronounced.
Two weeks ago, two women were arrested for kidnap a small child and demanding a ransom of $660,000 in USDT.
In another case, a 55-year-old investor was kidnapped in Sheung Shui after her attackers used a stun gun on her husband.
Brutal accident
A particularly brutal incident occurred in March, when a 19-year-old cryptocurrency trader was lured to a hotel in Hung Hom and beaten with baseball bats for his $23,000 in cryptocurrency earnings.
Similar incidents have been reported elsewhere.
In the Philippines, two Chinese businessmen were kidnapped last month, their captors demanding $2 million in USDT. Tragically, both victims were found dead near Manila.
These violent crimes stand in stark contrast to more typical online scams, highlighting the urgent need for law enforcement to adapt.
“The investment must be made on two fronts: on the one hand, to raise the starting base and, on the other, to develop in-depth skills.”
— Chengyi Ong, Chain Analysis
Law enforcement officials in the APAC region themselves seem to agree. Chainalysis recently examined law enforcement officials, revealing that significant knowledge gaps in cryptography remain.
A total of 42% admitted to having a low level of understanding of the asset class. Two-thirds believe cryptocurrency is primarily used by criminals.
Globally, over 90% of law enforcement agencies agree that more resources should be devoted to investigating cryptocurrency-related cases.
Capacities must keep pace through concerted and well-directed investments, Ong said.
She advocates a two-pronged approach.
“Investment must be made on two fronts, both to improve the baseline and to develop in-depth capabilities,” Ong said.
Callan Quinn, DL News Hong Kong correspondent covering the cryptocurrency industry in Asia. Got a tip? Contact the author at callan@dlnews.com.
News
Cryptocurrency Price August 1: Bitcoin Dips Below $65K; Solana, XRP Down Up To 8%
Major cryptocurrencies fell in Thursday trading following the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep its key interest rate unchanged. Overnight, the U.S. Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate at 5.25-5.5% for the eighth consecutive time, as expected, while also signaling the possibility of a rate cut at its next meeting in September. The unanimous decision by the Federal Open Market Committee reflects a continued wait-and-see approach as it monitors inflation trends.
CoinSwitch Markets Desk said: “Bitcoin has fallen below $65,000 after the US Federal Reserve announced it would keep interest rates unchanged. However, with markets now anticipating rate cuts at the next Federal Reserve meeting in September, the outlook for a Bitcoin rally by the end of the year has strengthened.”
Meanwhile, CoinDCX research team said: “The crypto market has plunged after the Fed decision. Tomorrow’s US unemployment rate announcement is expected to induce more volatility, with the ‘actual’ figure coming in higher than the ‘expected’ one, which is positive for cryptocurrencies.”
At 12:21 pm IST, Bitcoin (BTC) was down 3.2% at $64,285, while Ethereum was down nearly 4.5% at $3,313. Meanwhile, the global market cryptocurrency The market capitalization fell 3.6% to around $2.3 trillion in the last 24 hours.
“Bitcoin needs to clear its 200-day EMA at $64,510 to consolidate further. Otherwise, a retest of $62,000 could be in the cards,” said Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus.
Altcoins and meme coins, such as BNB (3%), Solana (8%), XRP (5.7%), Dogecoin (5%), Cardano (4.6%), Avalanche (4.3%), Shiba Inu (3.8%), Polkadot (3.4%), and Chainlink (4%) also saw declines.
The volume of all stablecoins is now $71.64 billion, which is 92.19% of the total cryptocurrency market volume in 24 hours, according to data available on CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 54.99%. BTC volume in the last 24 hours increased by 23.3% to $35.7 billion.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, opinions and views provided by experts are personal. They do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
(You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp Channel)
News
Altcoins WIF, BONK, RUNE, JUP Down 10% While Bitcoin Drops 4%
Altcoins dogwifhat, Bonk, THORChain, and Jupiter have suffered losses of more than 10%, while Bitcoin is down 4% in the last 24 hours.
After a period of relative calm yesterday, July 31, Bitcoin (BTC) price action has seen a drastic change as the cryptocurrency dropped by more than $3,500, bringing its value to $63,300. At the same time, altcoins mirrored this trend, with the total value of liquidated positions rising to nearly $225 million over the course of the day.
Initially, the week started on a positive note for Bitcoin, which reached its highest point since early June, hitting $70,000. However, this peak was short-lived, as it was quickly rejected, leading to a substantial decline, with Bitcoin falling below $65,500.
The cryptocurrency managed to regain some stability, trading comfortably at around $66,800. However, following a Press conference According to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, the value of Bitcoin has fallen again to $64,300, down more than 3% in 24 hours.
BTC Price Chart 24 Hours | Source: crypto.news
The recession coincided with a relationship from the New York Times stating that Iran had called for retaliatory measures against Israel following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, increasing the risk of further conflict in the region.
Meanwhile, on the economic front, the Federal Reserve decided to keep its benchmark interest rates in place, offering little information on a planned September rate cut. Powell also hinted that while no concrete decisions have been made on the September adjustment, there is growing consensus that a rate cut is likely.
Amid Bitcoin’s decline, altcoins have suffered even more significant losses. For example, dogwifhat (Wife) saw a 12.4% drop and (DISGUST) has suffered a 10% drop. Other altcoins such as THORChain (RUNE) also fell by 10%, while Jupiter (JUPITER) and the Ethereum naming service (ENS) decreased by 8% and 9% respectively.
Among the largest-cap cryptocurrencies, the biggest losers are Solana (SOL) with a decrease of 8%, (Exchange rate risk) down 6%, Cardano (ADA) down 4%, and both Ethereum (ETH) and Dogecoin (DOGE) recording a decrease of 4.4%.
Data from CoinGlass indicates that approximately 67,000 traders have been negatively impacted by this increased volatility. BTC positions have seen $61.85 million in liquidations, while ETH positions have faced $61 million. In total, the value of liquidated positions stands at $225.4 million at the time of writing.
News
Riot Platforms Sees 52% Drop in Bitcoin Production in Q2
Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms has released its second-quarter financial results, highlighting a decline in cryptocurrency mined due to the recent halving.
Colorado-based Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Riot platforms revealed its second quarter financial results, highlighting a significant reduction in mined cryptocurrencies attributed to the recent halving event that took place in early April.
The company reported total revenue of $70 million for the quarter ended July 31, a decline of 8.7% compared to the same period in 2023. Riot Platforms attributed the revenue decline primarily to a $9.7 million decrease in engineering revenue, which was partially mitigated by a $6 million increase in Bitcoin extraction income.
During the quarter, the company mined 844 BTC, representing a decline of over 50% from Q2 2023, citing the halving event and increasing network difficulty as major factors behind the decline. Riot Platforms reported a net loss of $84.4 million, or $0.32 per share, missing Zacks Research forecast a loss of $0.16 per share.
Halving increases competitive pressure
The Colorado-based firm said the average cost of mining one BTC in the second quarter, including energy credits, rose to $25,327, a remarkable 341% increase from $5,734 per BTC in the same quarter of 2023. Despite this significant increase in production costs, the firm remains optimistic about maintaining competitiveness through recent deals.
For example, following the Recent acquisition Cryptocurrency firm Block Mining, Riot has increased its distributed hash rate forecast from 31 EH/s to 36 EH/s by the end of 2024, while also increasing its 2025 forecast from 40 EH/s to 56 EH/s.
Riot Platforms Hashrate Growth Projections by 2027 | Source: Riot Platforms
Commenting on the company’s financials, Riot CEO Jason Les said that despite the halving, the mining company still managed to achieve “significant operational growth and execution of our long-term strategy.”
“Despite this reduction in production available to all Bitcoin miners, Riot reported $70 million in revenue for the quarter and maintained strong gross margins in our core Bitcoin mining business.”
Jason Les
Following its Q2 financial report, Riot Platforms shares fell 1.74% to $10.19, according to Google Finance data. Meanwhile, the American miner continues to chase Canadian rival Bitfarms, recently acquiring an additional 10.2 million BITF shares, increasing its stake in Bitfarms to 15.9%.
As previously reported by crypto.news, Riot was the first announced a $950 million takeover bid for Bitfarms in late May, arguing that Bitfarms’ founders were not acting in the best interests of all shareholders. They said their proposal was rejected by Bitfarms’ board without substantive engagement.
In response, Bitfarms She said that Riot’s offer “significantly understates” its growth prospects. Bitfarms subsequently implemented a shareholder rights plan, also known as a “poison pill,” to protect its strategic review process from hostile takeover attempts.
News
Aave Price Increases Following Whales Accumulation and V3.1 Launch
Decentralized finance protocol Aave is seeing a significant spike in whale activity as the market looks to recover from the recent crash that pushed most altcoins into key support areas earlier this week.
July 31, Lookonchain shared details indicating that the whales had aggressively accumulated Aave (AAVE) over the past two days. According to the data, whales have withdrawn over 58,848 AAVE worth $6.47 million from exchanges during this period.
In one instance, whale address 0x9af4 withdrew 11,185 AAVE worth $1.23 million from Binance. Meanwhile, another address moved 21,619 AAVE worth over $2.38 million from the exchange and deposited the tokens into Aave.
These withdrawals follow a previous transfer of 26,044 AAVE from whale address 0xd7c5, amounting to over $2.83 million withdrawn from Binance.
AAVE price has surged over 7% in the past 24 hours amid buy-side pressure from these whales. The DeFi token is currently trading around $111 after jumping over 18% in the past week.
Recently, the price of AAVE increased by over 8% after Aave founder Marc Zeller announced a proposed fee change aimed at adopting a buyback program for AAVE tokens.
Aave v3.1 is available
The total value locked in the Aave protocol currently stands at around $22 billion. According to DeFiLlamaApproximately $19.9 billion is on Aave V3, while the V2 chain still holds approximately $1.9 billion in TVL and V1 approximately $14.6 million.
Aave Labs announced Previously, Aave V3.1 was made available on all networks with active Aave V3 instances.
V3.1 features improvements that are intended to improve the overall security of the DeFi protocol. The Aave DAO governance has approved the v3.1 improvements, which also include operational efficiency and usability for the network.
Meanwhile, Aave Labs recently outlined a ambitious roadmap for the projectwith a 2030 vision for Aave V4, among other developments.
-
Regulation7 months ago
Ripple CTO and Cardano founder clash over XRP’s regulatory challenges ⋆ ZyCrypto
-
Regulation5 months ago
Nancy Pelosi Considers Supporting Republican Crypto Bill FIT21 – London Business News
-
Videos6 months ago
Cryptocurrency News: Bitcoin, ETH ETF, AI Crypto Rally, AKT, TON & MORE!!
-
Regulation6 months ago
Bitcoin’s future is ‘bleak’ and ripe for regulation, says lead developer
-
News6 months ago
The trader earned $46 million with PEPE after reaching a new ATH
-
Blockchain6 months ago
Solana ranks the fastest blockchain in the world, surpassing Ethereum, Polygon ⋆ ZyCrypto
-
Blockchain6 months ago
Solana Surpasses Ethereum and Polygon as the Fastest Blockchain ⋆ ZyCrypto
-
Regulation6 months ago
🔒 Crypto needs regulation to thrive: Tyler Cowen
-
Videos6 months ago
Who Really CONTROLS THE MARKETS!! Her plans REVEALED!!
-
Videos7 months ago
Kucoin safe?? Exchange REVIEW and beginner’s guide!!
-
Blockchain6 months ago
“Liquid vesting” is an oxymoronic feature of blockchain that allows early investors to sell without waiting
-
Videos6 months ago
Institutions purchasing MEMECOINS?! Everything you need to know!