CipherTrace, the US cybersecurity firm states that there is a total of 350% increase in the cryptocurrency theft rate when compared to year 2017.

The value of stolen cryptocurrency will hit $1 billion by the end of the financial year.  About $927 is already stolen by hackers from different crypto exchanges in the first three quarters of 2018.  About $166 million was stolen ever since the second financial quarter.

Hacking is becoming an emerging trend where there are frequent and regular cyber-attacks by technologically savvy hackers who are trying to improve their technological approach to stealing lot more.

CipherTrace 2018 performed a quantitative analysis about the transactions that took place in the top 20 cryptocurrency exchanges at a global level.

CipherTrace 2018 Q3 Cryptocurrency Anti-Money stated that about 97% of the direct transactions of Bitcoin has been from criminal sources that are traceable.  And, these payments were being made from cryptocurrency exchanges that are unregulated.

About 5% of the Bitcoins that were being sent to exchanges that were regulated poorly did originate from fiat currency obtained from criminal sources. The sources of these fiat currencies are undetected.

A significant amount of money has been laundered through these exchanges.  The value of the money laundered thus amounts to 380,000 BTC which is at $2.5 billion in the current day prices. This amounts to a mathematical value of 36 times more of Bitcoin from criminal transactions across cryptocurrency exchanges where the AML is either overlooking or lacking in its executory powers.

The CipherTrace reports have researched in to more than 45 million transactions in the 20 top cryptocurrency exchanges globally from the period from “January 2009,2018 through September 20, 2018.”

The cybersecurity firm stated that the tracks of the criminals has been skillfully hidden.  The likely hood of criminal activity behind the transactions is very obvious; however, it was difficult to track their sources.

Dave Jevans, CEO, CipherTrace stated and implied, “Regulation has a major role to play when it comes to preventing criminal activity.  With regulation it will be possible to impart more trust on the investors seeking to transact in the crypto ecosystem. The opportunities to launder through crypto transactions will be greatly reduced in the forthcoming 18 months because Cryptocurrency AML regulations are being passed globally.”

The study further establishes that regulated exchanges that are governed by Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations show decreased criminal activity at the digital currency exchanges.

The most notable thefts were the, “$530 million worth tokens stolen in Japan from Coincheck and the $195 million tokens stolen from BitGrail.”

Before the coming of the cryptocurrency anti-money laundering laws in full force, criminals are going to launder up the money hacked.  Smaller hacks will continue both at the exchanges and at platforms.