CipherTrace Reveals $1.4 Billion Worth of Crypto Assets Stolen in the First Five Months of 2020

The world is gradually healing from the compulsory lockdown it was plunged into by the coronavirus pandemic. Businesses are beginning to open, borders are gradually opening and the market value of stocks and cryptocurrencies are hopeful for steady gains onwards.

Several businesses particularly those geared towards blockchain technology experienced quantifiable economic downturns. Some of these downturns are just coming to limelight with the CipherTrace reports released on June 2.

The CipherTrace Report

CipherTrace is a cryptocurrency intelligence platform with the capability of tracing about 800 digital currencies. The platform has algorithms that help monitor thefts and security compliance models in listed assets. With the company’s stride, it is helping to spread a widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies by world governments.

Built for cryptocurrency surveillance, the report released by CipherTrace gives a snapshot of how evil actors preyed on asset holders during the coronavirus lockdown. With losses estimated at about $1.4 Billion, this year may rank second to last year (2019) with a record of $4.5 Billion in crypto losses. The fraud came as a result of the impersonation of legitimate bodies fighting the coronavirus and soliciting funds from the public. 

The implication for blockchain stakeholders

There is a general belief that assets in the form of cryptocurrencies are secure and free of theft. While this may be a newbie’s disposition to the nature of digital assets, there needs to be a clear cut analysis to help all understand what can compromise the safety of crypto assets.

Fraudsters most times capitalize on the lack of knowledge of their victims who part with their assets in ways they can not account for. Falling prey to phishing scams, and Ponzi schemes are some of the common ways people lose their digital assets. We can not declare digital assets invincible but crypto assets will be safe if all investors pay due diligence to extant safety and security precautions.

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