The Justice Department was recently able to recover $2.3 million worth of bitcoin (BTC-USD) extorted from Colonial Pipeline, suggesting that digital currency may not always be the best tool for criminals.
“In fact, between 2019 and 2020, the occurrence of crypto use in those scenarios is down about 80%,” he said. “So I think that criminals are getting smarter that crypto is a pretty poor tool for them, and with Colonial we saw that in full force.”
In prior years, cryptocurrency theft had been ballooning. In the first half of 2018, CipherTrace, a firm that aids financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges to combat money laundering, reported that $761 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen from exchanges, representing a 300% increase year over year.
"Law enforcement is honing their investigative skills, and that is very clear from reading the FBI agent's affidavit filed with the District Court to obtain the search warrant," Clegg said.
The hack on Colonial Pipeline last month cut off fuel supplies along the East Coast, leading to panic buying and price surges. Testifying before Congress this week, Colonial CEO Joseph Blount said paying the $4.4 million in ransom was the toughest decision he'd made in his career.
"The good news for individuals is that cryptocurrency transactions on the blockchain leave an audit trail and clues of where the suspicious activity is coming from," Clegg said.
source:https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-is-bad-for-crime-says-crypto-asset-manager-210045513.html
