Cyber criminals prefer the Ethereum blockchain to commit their crimes as the nature of this platform allows for the development of multiple types of cyber crimes.
so that it recommend a group of American academics and researchers who recently published a report where they explain how Ethereum has gained ground for cybercrime.
Specialists Lars Hornuf, Paul P. Momtaz, Rachel J. Nam and Ye Yuan claim that the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC), underestimates scams related to cryptocurrencies.
The researchers recalled that since 2018, the FTC has documented at least $1.18 billion stolen by cybercriminals, with most of the losses in the blockchains Bitcoin (70%), Tether (10%) and Ethereum (9%). were registered.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, of the $1.18 billion stolen, only $106 million is attributed to Ethereum. A number that is in contrast to the findings of the studies by Hornuf, Momtyaz, Nam and Yuan.
The experts claim that according to their calculations the amount stolen is $1,650 million, almost 16 times more than forecast by the US bureau. According to the research, these funds were transferred to 5,644 wallet addresses linked to cyber criminals.
The investigators’ report was released last weekend. The authors are related to the cryptocurrency ecosystem from different angles.
It should be noted that Lars Hornuf is a professor of finance and an expert in fintech and decentralized finance (DeFi). Paul P. Momtaz is Professor of Corporate Finance at the University of London’s Center for Blockchain Technology. For her part, Rachel J. Nam is an economist and researcher in the Department of Finance at the London School of Economics (LSE) and Ye Yuan is a researcher in new technologies.
Ethereum is “more fascinating” than Bitcoin
According to scientists Ethereum blockchain “brings more intrigue” than that of Bitcoin. This from the point of view of digital forensics. This is because the blockchain, created in 2017 by a team of developers led by Vitalik Buterin, has the ability to host smart contracts.
A smart contract, by definition, is a type of program that can be used to perform a variety of tasks, such as money transfer, asset management and contract processing.
However, these programs can also be misused for evil deeds like theft, hacking and fraud. In general, the nature of these contracts leading to “a broader spectrum of cybercrime” according to the researchers.
This assortment consists of At least 19 crimes have been committed on the Ethereum blockchainsay the specialists. Among them, some well-known in the cryptocurrency community stand out: pyramid schemes, fake giveaways, exploits, and hacks.
There are other crimes such as The carpet handles, Malware, ransomware, phishing and honeypotaccording to the Ethereum Cybercrime Taxonomy created by the researchers.
The researchers noted in their report that the pyramid scheme, also known as Ponzi, is the cybercrime category which has the largest representativeness in the Ethereum network.
Experts argue that this scam, which promises investors high returns with little or no risk, covers 60% of thefts on Ethereum. While fake giveaways account for 18% of stolen funds, exploits 13% and hacks 5%.