DooKey
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2001
- Messages
- 13,559
Europol recently caught the mastermind of the plot to hack over $1B from financial institutions back in 2013. The criminals tricked banks into downloading fake ATM software and this allowed them to empty out the ATMs at will. Once they got the cash they put in in bank accounts and then bought cryptocurrency with the proceeds. Thanks to the efforts of Europol they were able to track all of the transactions in the blockchain and this eventually led to the criminals themselves. Just remember boys and girls that the blockchain shows all and it may be anonymous, but there's still a record of the transaction in the blockchain.
But even though transactions are anonymous, each one is still recorded on a public digital ledger. It’s not that hard to trace any given transaction back to the wallets used to launder money. Indeed, a study published earlier this year found that it’s relatively easy to retroactively track black-market bitcoin transactions to existing public accounts, even when the transactions were conducted several years ago or on sites that no longer exist, like Silk Road.
But even though transactions are anonymous, each one is still recorded on a public digital ledger. It’s not that hard to trace any given transaction back to the wallets used to launder money. Indeed, a study published earlier this year found that it’s relatively easy to retroactively track black-market bitcoin transactions to existing public accounts, even when the transactions were conducted several years ago or on sites that no longer exist, like Silk Road.