Crypto News
Revealed: Australians Losing Millions to Crypto Scammers in 2022
Nearly 4,000 Australians reported using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a payment method to transfer funds to scammers in 2022, marking a significant increase of 162.4% compared to 2021. These crypto transfers resulted in criminals obtaining as much as $148.4 million (AU$221.3 million), according to the latest report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). To put that in perspective, Australians paid out a total of $56.3 million (AU$84 million) in 2021 and $20.5 million (AU$26.5 million) in cryptocurrencies to scammers in 2020.
Overall, Aussies lost a record $2.03 billion (AU$3.1 billion) to various scams in 2022, with investment scams accounting for more than 66% of all financial losses—an increase from 55% in 2021.
Continuing the trend first observed in 2021, cryptocurrencies once again were the most common payment method for investment scams, with criminals receiving $92.37 million (AU$137.6 million) in digital assets in 2022. Bank transfers followed, with a total of $66.46 million (AU$99 million) lost to these scams.
Per the report, the typical victim of an investment scam is a male residing in New South Wales, aged 65 years or above. Another notable observation is that many fraudulent investment schemes emerge when an individual’s new online acquaintance or romantic partner proposes to offer assistance with investing. The report added that scammers may invest a significant amount of time in building a relationship with the victims before discussing their own investing accomplishments.
Commenting on the report, ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said that “scammers evolve quickly and unfortunately, many Australians are losing their life savings.” “We have seen alarming new tactics emerge which make scams incredibly difficult to detect,” said Lowe. “This includes everything from impersonating official phone numbers, email addresses, and websites of legitimate organizations to scam texts that appear in the same conversation thread as genuine messages. This means now more than ever, anyone can fall victim to a scam.”
The report shows a significant increase in Australians using cryptocurrencies to pay scammers. Investment scams accounted for 66% of all financial losses in 2022, which is an increase from 55% in 2021. Cryptocurrencies were the most common payment method for these scams, with criminals receiving $92.37 million (AU$137.6 million) in digital assets in 2022. However, this news is not good for consumers as it means scammers are becoming more sophisticated and Australians are losing more of their life savings to these scams.
#Cryptocurrency #Scams #InvestmentScams #OnlineSafety
You can read more about this topic here: Decrypt: Australians Lost $148M in Crypto to Scammers in 2022
The post Revealed: Australians Losing Millions to Crypto Scammers in 2022 first appeared on Byte Syze Crypto.
Verifying Trustworthiness on the Blockchain: Introducing On-Chain Attestations
Graeme Moore, the Head of Tokenization at the Polymesh Association, is looking to prove identity and reputation on the Web3 blockchain. Known in the financial industry as KYC (Know Your Customer), this trust in a real-life human offers important protection, but is not enough. Decentralized finance (DeFi) needs more than just proof of being human. Steve Dakh, an Ethereum founding member, is building the Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS) which is a primitive for any entity to make attestations on the ledger about anything at all. Attestations are claims about one identity, usually made by another identity, that can be independently verified. Attestations work by making reference to identifiers, such as a legal name, address, or social security number. Combined with zero-knowledge proofs, attestations enable entities to prove facets of identity information without revealing the entire contents. This flexibility enables participants to not only choose which entities they trust, but also how quantitative or qualitative they want this trust to be. On-chain attestations are an important step in Verifying Trustworthiness on the Blockchain and will enable decentralized finance to take off. #OnChainAttestations #DecentralizedFinance #KYC #TrustVerification
You can read more about this topic here: Decrypt: How On-Chain Attestations Unlock Blockchain’s Most Valuable Use Cases
The post Unlock Blockchain’s Most Valuable Use Cases with On-Chain Attestations – Decrypt first appeared on Byte Syze Crypto.
Roughly $3 billion in Bitcoin Options Contracts Set to Expire Today
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading hands for $26,921, according to CoinGecko. The asset has brought the rest of the market with it, with most digital coins and tokens in the green. But with Bitcoin options contracts set to expire, the price of cryptocurrency could dip or swing up even higher, right?
Data from CME Group shows that $9 billion worth of open interest—or unexpired options contracts. And of those, $3 billion will expire today. A Bitcoin options contract is a deal that lets buyers snap up Bitcoin at an agreed-upon price.
Experts believe that it’s unlikely the price of Bitcoin will budge that much. Anders Helseth, head of research at K33, said that “in general, options expiries in crypto don’t affect prices much.” BaroVirtual added that the current data “indicates no clear bullish or bearish sentiment.” He added that it “was likely” Bitcoin would continue to trade between $26,500 and $27,250 in October.
Although the price of Bitcoin has historically been volatile, that looks like it is changing. And it doesn’t look like $3 billion in options contracts will make much of a difference, either.
#Bitcoin #OptionsContracts #CMEGroup #Cryptocurrency #PriceVolatility
You can read more about this topic here: Decrypt: $3 Billion in Bitcoin Options Expire Today—What Will That Do to BTC’s Price?
The post Will the Expiration of $3 Billion in Bitcoin Options Impact BTC Price? first appeared on Byte Syze Crypto.
Crypto News
Unlock the Benefits of Stablecoins with Circle’s SEC Lawsuits Against Binance: Here’s How
Circle, a stablecoin issuer, argued in a court document that tokens pegged to the price of a sovereign currency are not securities. This is in response to the SEC’s lawsuit against Binance for operating illegally in the US and misusing customer funds. Circle’s filing outlines the potential implications of the SEC’s case for stablecoins as a whole, and argues that stablecoins, on their own, do not have the characteristics of investment contracts. The SEC’s opinion on stablecoins is currently being questioned, with representatives and leaders in the crypto space holding different perspectives. #CryptoRegulation #SEC #Stablecoins #Binance
You can read more about this topic here: Decrypt: Stablecoins Aren’t Securities, Says Circle in SEC Lawsuits Against Binance
The post Unlock the Benefits of Stablecoins with Circle’s SEC Lawsuits Against Binance: Here’s How first appeared on Byte Syze Crypto.
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