Crypto Hacks Are on Track to Eclipse $1 Billion in Lost Funds This Year

Crypto security and intelligence firm CipherTrace has published its Q1 2019 Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering Report, revealing that exchange platforms all over the world have lost nearly $400 million as a result of hacks and thefts.Hacks Are Making BankAccording to the firm, the report is based on an analysis of 164 million Bitcoin-based transactions.It paints a particularly bleak picture of asset security, revealing that in 2019 so far, thefts incurred as a result of crypto hacks have amounted to $356 million.The company believes the number could very well hit $1.2 billion by the end of the year at this pace.Its Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering Report for Q3 2018 revealed that hackers were able to steal $927 million from exchanges and other crypto platforms within the first nine months of the year.The report also contained a forecast of $1 billion in crypto asset thefts before the turn of the year, and if the Q1 2019 report is anything to go by, numbers should be eclipsing that estimate much sooner than December.Monitoring ChallengesAdditionally, CipherTrace’s report reveals that there has been a 46 percent uptick in cross-border payments from U.S. exchanges to offshore platforms from Q1 2017 to Q1 2019.The firm’s researchers suggest that this could signal an oversight difficulty with regulators, as payments that are being made overseas “fall off the radar of U.S. authorities.”Regulations Are ComingThe report predic...