Fraud and hacking in the crypto world

by Arthur · September 30, 2022

By Sam Msiska, Benzinga

Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein –News live– Chain starvation

Cryptocurrencies have turned many norms around the world. From finance and banking to e-commerce, it seems there is no industry where cryptocurrencies have not made their presence felt.

The massive public interest in these digital assets really began in 2017. Crypto mania took off that year Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) witnessed an unprecedented boom. Several companies offering various cryptocurrency solutions such as MEXC Global and TaxBit Inc. have emerged since the start of the craze.

While many industries were disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the crypto industry didn’t experience a dent – instead, it soared even higher. Cryptocurrencies flourished as more people became interested in decentralized currencies as a safe haven amid global economic tension.

Since then, the cryptocurrency market’s total value has reached over 1 trillion dollars, having reached 3 trillion dollars in November 2021 and now competing with the market value of multinational conglomerates such as Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL).

Table of Contents

Crypto scams and hacks are on the rise

However, risks persist amid the perceived optimism. The crypto world is experiencing an increasing number of attacks and continues to attract more fraudsters. Fraudsters stole more than $14 billion in 2021, with losses from cryptocrime increasing by 80% compared to 2020, according to a report by blockchain research group Chainalysis.

Crypto scams are an increasingly common method for fraudsters to get people’s money. More than 46,000 people have filed crypto-related scam cases with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from January 2021 to March, according to a report issued by the agency. The median loss reported from these schemes is a substantial $2,600.

Ever since cryptocurrencies started gaining popularity, the internet has been flooded with scams involving giving fake gifts. Group-IB, a Singapore-based cyber security firm, reports a significant fivefold increase in domains offering fake crypto gifts, including via YouTube streaming sites in the first quarter of 2022.

In the first six months of the year, experts at Group-IB have identified more than 2,000 domains being used as fake crypto campaign sites. The number of fake pages promoting fake giveaways increased sharply from 583 in the first quarter to over 1,500 in the second quarter.

Hackers have also targeted crypto exchanges and blockchain platforms to steal large amounts of valuable digital currencies. At least 46 crypto exchanges and blockchain platforms have reported losses of over $2 billion since 2012 due to security breaches in their system.

Just a few months ago, hackers infiltrated blockchain gaming platform Ronin Network and made off with more than 600 million dollars value of digital currencies. Blockchain-based platform Poly Network fell victim to a similar attack late last year when attackers stole over $620 million of its users’ assets.

Worldwide crackdown on crypto scams and hacks

The US Treasury Department has called for other federal organizations to expand and increase the crackdown on crypto fraud and hacks.

In the UK, experts have warned that crypto scams could get worse as the cost of living rises.

“We are concerned that in the current economic conditions people may be tempted to invest in bogus investments,” so Nausicaa Delfas, interim chief executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Securing blockchain ecosystems with smart contract auditing

With so much money at stake and blockchain protocols becoming more complex, smart contract auditing firms such as Chain starvation increasingly important as a necessity in a rather unregulated space. Smart contract auditing is a systematic method of manually and automatically reviewing the structured code of a smart contract to find errors.

A smart contract audit is a useful tool for assessing business operations and ensuring that the code is accurate and reflects the use case. The auditor will conduct a comprehensive review of the code base for smart contracts and make recommendations on how to fix possible errors. Smart contract auditing has many benefits, including ensuring security, preventing vulnerabilities, and securing user assets.

Chainsulting says they can perform smart contract audits for Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), Aptos, Binance Smart Chain and many more. The company also says that they deliver audit solutions using German technology and security standards, which rank first in the world in terms of crypto friendliness.

Chain-loading audits comprise several stages. First, the code goes through automated vulnerability tests where security analysis tools such as Mythril, Slither and Oyente are used to detect security vulnerabilities. The code is then manually checked for weaknesses before the overall functionality of the code and business logic is double-checked. If any critical issues are detected, the team makes recommendations on how to resolve them.

Chainsulting has completed over 300 notable smart contract security audits since its inception in 2017.

Chainsulting is a professional software development company, founded in 2017 and based in Germany. They show ways, opportunities, risks and offer comprehensive web3 solutions. Their services include web3 development, security and consulting. Chainsulting conducts code audits on market-leading blockchains such as Solana, Tezos, Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain and Polygon to reduce risk and create trust and transparency in the vibrant crypto community. They have also reviewed and secured the smart contracts of 1Inch, POA Network, Unicrypt, LUKSO among a number of other top DeFi projects. Chainsulting currently secures 100 billion dollars in user funds locked in multiple DeFi protocols. The team behind the leading audit firm relies on their robust technical knowledge in the web3 sector to deliver top class smart contract audit solutions tailored to their clients’ evolving business needs.

This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice.