Cryptocurrency exchanges

Major exchanges

• Binance
• Huobi
• Coinbase
• FTX Trading (bankruptcy in 2022)
• Kraken
• Zaif
• AscendEX
• Garantex
• CoinEx
• Bittrex

Remember that some cryptocurrency exchanges do not serve individuals from Russia and the CIS countries. You can get up-to-date information about services on the website of each of the exchanges.

Cryptobanks

Main article: Crypto banks

2024

Binance lost 13% of the crypto exchange market in a year, but retained its leadership

Binance lost approximately 13% of the global cryptocurrency spot trading market for the year, but managed to maintain its leadership with a value of about 40%. Such indicators are reflected in the study of the crypto company 0xscope, the results of which were published on October 21, 2024.

Statistics cover the period from October 9, 2023 to October 9, 2024. A total of 22 centralized exchanges (CEX) are considered: Binance,, OKX, Bybit Bitget,, MEXC Global Gate.io,,, Crypto.com Huobi KuCoin, Upbit,, Coinbase Bitrue, LBank,,, Kraken BitMEX CoinEx,, BtcTurk Bitstamp Pro, bitFlyer, Gemini, Binance US and Coin. During the specified period, their total volume of spot trade amounted to $14.6 trillion.

Binance remains the leader of the sector under consideration with a volume of $5.78 trillion, but the platform's share for the year decreased from 52.5% to 39.5%. Against this background, some other players have strengthened their position. In particular, a significant increase was shown by the Bybit platform: this exchange rose from 7th place in 2023 from a share of 3.2% to 2nd position in 2024 with a final result of 8.51%. The OKX closes the top three, which strengthened its position from 5.4% to 6.38% in a year. In addition, the top five players include Upbit, which dropped from 2nd place in 2023 (6.8% share) to 4th line in 2024 (5.77%), as well as Coinbase, which moved from 3rd place (5.8%) to 5th (5.68%).

The study notes that the downtrend of Binance has been observed for about two years (by October 2024). So, in October 2022, the share of this cryptocurrency exchange was at the level of 62%, but by November 2023 the figure decreased to 30%, after which it began to gradually increase. For most of the first half of 2024, the value exceeded 40%.^[1]

US imposed sanctions against crypto service Cryptex operating in Russia

On September 26, 2024, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department announced the imposition of sanctions against the Cryptex crypto service operating in Russia. The measures are said to be aimed at protecting national security and the integrity of the U.S. financial system. Read more here

Hackers stole $235 million from India's largest crypto exchange

In mid-July 2024, it became known that hackers stole $235 million from the largest India cryptoexchanges in WazirX, based in Mumbai. Cyvers, which handles the issues, cyber security found "multiple suspicious transactions" involving a Safe Multisig wallet using. Ethereum All transactions were conducted through a cryptomixer, Tornado Cash a decentralized protocol for private transactions. Representatives of the exchange confirmed the incident, but did not disclose the exact amount of damage. More. here

Bybit beats Coinbase to become world's second-largest crypto exchange

At the end of June 2024, the Bybit cryptocurrency exchange came in second in the world in terms of trading volume, beating Coinbase. Significant growth was achieved due to the active attraction of customers of the bankrupt FTX platform, as well as users from Europe and Russia. Read more here.

$3 million was withdrawn from Kraken crypto exchange due to a critical hole

At the end of June 2024, the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange reported that an unnamed fraudster acting as a security researcher on the exchange took advantage of a critical zero-day vulnerability to steal 3m worth of digital assets. dollars Kraken security director Nick Percoco said the fraudster took advantage of an error that "allowed him to artificially inflate his balance on our platform." More. here

Russia accounted for 27% of traffic at the largest crypto exchanges

In May 2024, traffic on cryptocurrency exchanges decreased by 4% compared to the previous month, while spot trading volumes decreased by 20%. Russia accounted for up to 27% of traffic at the largest crypto exchanges, as stated in the review of the Wu Blockchain resource, published on June 11, 2024.

The maximum share of Russian traffic in May 2024 was recorded on the Bybit exchange - approximately 27%. At Bitfinex, this figure was 22%. In OKX, Russia accounted for approximately 9% of traffic. At the Deribit site, specializing in cryptocurrency derivatives, the share of visits from Russia was 15%, and another 10% was provided by users from Uzbekistan. In addition, significant Russian traffic is observed on MEXC and HTX crypto exchanges (formerly Huobi) - 10% and 14%, respectively.

Russia accounted for up to 27% of traffic at the largest crypto exchanges

The review says that spot trading in May 2024 amounted to about $1.23 trillion. For comparison, a month earlier this value was estimated at $1.54 trillion. Trading volumes fell least by Crypto.com (minus 3% compared to April 2024, HTX (minus 4%) and Mexc (minus 10%). The largest decline was noted at Upbit (minus 40%), Bitget (minus 39%) and Gate (minus 21%).

In May 2024, the largest increase in traffic compared to the previous month was demonstrated by Bitget crypto exchanges (plus 47%), Deribit (plus 20%) and OKX (plus 12%). The most significant decrease was recorded in Crypto.com (minus 29%), HTX (minus 28%) and Mexc (minus 24%).

It is also said that futures trading in May 2024 decreased by about 11%. At the same time, in terms of the growth of trading volumes by derivatives, the MEXC exchange showed the maximum positive dynamics - plus 21%. The most significant drop was noted in Bitget (minus 21%) and Deribit (minus 14%).^[2]

The OKH crypto exchange was hacked via SMS. Users urgently withdrew $1 billion from there

In early June 2024, it became known about the hacking of a cryptocurrency exchange with expanded financial services of OKH. Attackers were able to gain unauthorized access to two user accounts and steal significant amounts of funds. Read more here.

The Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin was hacked. She was stolen $305 million

In early June 2024, the Bitcoin DMM, one of the largest, was hacked. cryptoexchanges Japan The incident led to the theft of 4502.9, bitcoin the estimated value of which exceeds $305 million. Unauthorized access revealed serious vulnerabilities in the security infrastructure of the exchange. More. here

Searches were carried out at the office of the Beribit crypto exchange in Moscow City

On March 29, 2024, searches were carried out at the office of the Beribit cryptocurrency exchange in Moscow City. According to the results of the measures, law enforcement agencies seized equipment and equipment from the company. Read more here.

FTX crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

On March 28, 2024, Manhattan federal court sentenced the founder and former head of the collapsed cryptoexchanges FTX Sam Bankman-Fried. He received 25 years in prison for fraud, conspiracy to launder money and a number of other crimes. More. here

The turnover of cryptocurrency exchanges exceeded the turnover of stock exchanges and can reach $800 billion per day

The estimated revenue of all crypto exchanges, as of March 2024, is about 50-60 billion dollars per year with a very high margin. This segment cannot be ignored due to the huge size and influence.

Trading turnover on the spot market of the WTO time is in the range of $120-300 billion, and on the derivatives market $250-600 billion per day.

For comparison, according to Spydell Finance, the trade turnover at all European exchanges is $30-35 billion, the Japanese exchange is $30-40 billion, and the American exchanges are $300-500 billion.

The popular Bitforex exchange was hacked. $56 million was stolen from her clients

On February 26, 2024, a blockchain specialist under the pseudonym ZachXBT reported a hack and suspicious activity on the popular cryptocurrency exchange Bitforex. It is estimated that attackers could have stolen more than $56 million. Read more here.

Coinbase: Buying cryptocurrency on the exchange is more like collecting toys than investing

Coinbase said buying cryptocurrency on the exchange is more like collecting Beanie Babies than investing in stocks or bonds. The exchange compares tokens to plush toys, opposing regulation.

William Savitt, Coinbase's attorney, told U.S. District Judge Catherine Polk Failla in January 2024 that exchange-traded tokens are not securities subject to SEC jurisdiction because buyers do not acquire any rights as a result of a purchase, as happens with stocks or bonds.

Courts disagree on whether digital tokens are securities.

2023

Russia accounts for 19% of the traffic of the world's largest crypto exchanges

By the end of 2023, Russia accounted for up to 19% of the traffic of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges. This is evidenced by the data of the Wu Blockchain edition of journalist Colin Wu, published on January 10, 2023.

It is estimated that users from Russia took first place in the number of visits to the Bybit platforms (19% of traffic), MEXC (12%) and HTX (former Huobi, 11%).

It is also noted that in December 2023, traffic on cryptocurrency exchanges increased by 21% compared to the previous month. The highest performance was demonstrated by Mexc (45%), Bybit (38%) and Gate (34%). The top three weakest included Huobi (-80%), BitMart (-17%) and Bitget (8%).

Spot trading volumes, according to Wu Blockchain estimates, rose 27.4%. The most noticeable growth was shown by Gate.io (65%), Crypto.com (50%) and Bybit (44%). The weakest dynamics are in BitMart (-24%), Bitget (-12%) and Upbit (-1%).

Futures trading was up 22.3% by the end of 2023. The leaders in terms of growth in trading volumes were Crypto.com (46%), Bidget (42%) and Binance (26%). Weak indicators were recorded in Mexc (-13%), Huobi (-5%) and Kutoin (14%).

In December 2023, the Binance cryptocurrency platform announced that from January 31, 2024 it would stop supporting the Russian ruble, they would not be able to trade in P2P mode, that is, make transactions between users. After that, some of the customers switched to other platforms. Thus, an increase in new Russian users was recorded by Bybit, HTX, KuCoin and Gate.io.

Meanwhile, as of the beginning of January 2024, it is Binance that remains the world's largest crypto exchange with a daily trading volume of $18.22 billion. This is followed by the UEEx and BIKA sites with indicators of approximately $9.6 billion and $4.45 billion, respectively. Such figures are provided by the statistical service Statista.^[3]

India blocks the work of the largest crypto exchanges

On December 28, 2023, the financial intelligence unit of India (part of the Ministry of Finance) announced a decision to block the operation of the nine largest crypto exchanges in the country. Such venues do not comply with India's anti-money laundering law, authorities said in a statement. Read more here.

Bittrex Exchange Closure

On November 20, 2023, the once largest US cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex announced a complete curtailment of its activities. All trading operations stop on December 4, 2023: after this date, users will only be able to withdraw their own funds. Read more here.

Crypto exchanges cooperate with Russian arbitration managers in bankruptcy of insolvent debtors

On November 20, 2023, it became known that foreign cryptocurrency exchanges cooperate with Russian arbitration managers in the bankruptcy of insolvent debtors. These are, in particular, the Dubai site Bybit, the European Bitstamp, the Singapore Bitrue, the American Gate.io, as well as OKX, registered in the Seychelles. Read more here.

The popular crypto platform Poloniex was hacked. $114 million stolen

On November 10, 2023, the popular cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex, owned by Tron founder Justin Sun, reported a hacker attack. The attackers managed to steal assets worth more than $100 million. Read more here.

Binance's share of the cryptocurrency market for the year fell from 74% to 50%

The share of trading volumes on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange decreased from 74% in December 2022 to 50% in October 2023. At the same time, the state of the CEO of the Changpeng Zhao platform has sharply decreased. This is stated in the study, the results of which were published on October 28, 2023. Read more here.

FTX bribed officials in China, created fraudulent reports and laundered money

On October 11, 2023, the trial of Sam Bankman-Freedom, founder and CEO of FTX, revealed new details about the shenanigans of this bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange. It turned out that the company bribed officials in China, laundered money and falsified the reporting documentation. Read more here.

Binance sells all Russian assets of CommEx

Crypto exchange Binance on September 27, 2023 announced the sale of its business in Russia to CommEX. An agreement on this has already been reached and the process of migrating all Binance assets to the new platform has been launched. Read more here.

Bittrex bankruptcy

In May 2023, the large crypto exchange Bittrex filed for bankruptcy. This happened a few weeks after the American authorities accused the site of unregistered activities as an exchange, brokerage and clearing agency. Read more here.

Bappebti exchange launch

In mid-July 2023, the Indonesian Commodity Futures Trade Supervision Agency (CFTRA) announced the launch of the national cryptocurrency exchange Bappebti as part of the financial sector reform. Read more here.

Bittrex Exchange Bankruptcy

Crypto exchange Bittrex filed for bankruptcy on May 8, 2023. In April of this year, the company was forced to withdraw from the American market under pressure from regulators.

239 crypto exchanges closed in the world

From 2020 to the end of February 2023, 239 cryptocurrency exchanges were closed in the world. The main reasons for curtailing projects are financial difficulties, pressure from regulators, hacker attacks and fraudulent actions of owners. Such data in early March 2023 were cited by the Russian service for analytics of cryptocurrency assets "SHARD."

According to his calculations, in the first two months of 2023 alone, 15 crypto exchanges were closed. The most quantitative negative for the crypto industry was 2021. As noted in the study, 86 projects were closed within 12 months. From part, this is due to the fact that in 2021, a regulatory ban on the use of cryptocurrency was introduced in China. In particular, it was because of this that large Bit-Z and C2CX closed.

In 2022, the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange and the investment company Alameda Research pulled a series of bankruptcies. Immediately after the closure, FTX left the market or declared bankruptcy such large companies as BlockFi, and the financial well-being of FTX and Alameda, among other things, was affected by their connection with the previously bankrupt 3 Arrows Capital and Voyager Digital.

Some sites have not survived a hacker attack or fraud by their own employees. Thus, the Chinese cryptocurrency exchange Noo closed in 2021 after its assets were stolen by one of its top managers.

In the same 2021, the collapse of the large Turkish crypto exchange Todex occurred, which in fact turned out to be a financial pyramid. In August 2022, its founder Fatih Ozer was detained in Albania. Now, according to Turkish laws, he faces more than 40 thousand years in prison.

According to forecasts of analysts of the SHARD service, the number of large international sites will continue to decrease over time, and the entire industry is prone to consolidation and enlargement.^[4]

Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange hacked with SMS attack

On February 17, 2023, the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange reported a cyber attack targeting one of its employees. An unknown attacker stole Coinbase employee login credentials in an attempt to gain remote access to the company's IT infrastructure. Read more here.

Arrest warrant for owner of one of South Korea's largest crypto exchanges Bithumb Kang John Hyun

The prosecutor's office of the Southern District of Seoul at the end of January 2023 issued an arrest warrant for the actual owner of one of South Korea's largest crypto exchanges Bithumb Kang John Hyun, accusing him of manipulating the share prices of several affiliated companies, according to the local newspaper Infomax.

Bithumb is South Korea's second largest crypto exchange after Upbit, founded in 2014. The daily trading volume on the platform is $0.5 billion. The exchange has experienced several incidents of theft of crypto assets as a result of hacker attacks and the actions of internal employees. In 2020, several police raids with searches took place in her offices. Despite such events, Bithumb remains among the leaders in cryptocurrency trading paired with Korean won.

Permits for the arrest of Hen, 41, and two other people linked to Bithumb were issued as part of an investigation into fraudulent transactions, embezzlement and misappropriation of funds by crypto exchange executives, it said.

Hen is accused of playing a key role in manipulating share prices of subsidiaries Bithumb, Bucket Studio and Inviogen. According to the publication, Bucket Studio is the largest shareholder of Inviogen, which in turn is the largest shareholder of Vident, which has the largest stake in Bithumb (34.2%).

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini cuts 10% of state amid deep industry crisis

On January 23, 2023 the Americancryptocurrency exchange , Gemini reported a 10% staff cut. The news highlights the cryptocurrency difficulties the industry has faced since the theft of the exchange. FTX More here.

The arrest of a Russian co-owner of the Bitzlato crypto exchange in the case of the use of the crypto exchange by criminals

On January 18, 2023, it became known about the detention of 40-year-old Russian Anatoly Legkodymov. He, according to the US Department of Justice, is the main owner and top manager of the Bitzlato cryptocurrency exchange. Read more here.

Trillions of crypto exchanges are their own manipulations to influence the cryptocurrency exchange rate

Analysts at Cornell and Tsinghua universities in January 2023 said that the annual turnover of trillions of dollars at the main unregulated crypto exchanges by 54.3% is a "washing trade" operation, for regulated crypto exchanges a possible estimate of their share is up to 3%.

Also, according to the authors of the study, "selling an asset to yourself" to manipulate the crypt is 77.5% of the analyzed transactions.

2022

Hackers stole a record $3.8 billion from crypto exchanges

In 2022, cybercriminals stole approximately $3.8 billion from cryptocurrency exchanges, a record amount in the history of the market. Such data in early February 2023 was published by the analytical company Chainalysis.

It is noted that in 2019, the volume of thefts from crypto exchanges was about $0.5 billion. The attackers stole about the same amount of money in 2020. In 2021, the amount rose more than six times - to $3.3 billion, and in 2022 it approached $4 billion. Most of the money in 2022, hackers stole October - $775.7 million in 32 separate attacks. A surge in malicious activity was also recorded in March, when the volume of thefts amounted to $732.4 million.

Researchers say many attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges in 2022 were initiated from North Korean territory. In particular, cybercriminals from the North Korean Lazarus Group and other groups in this country are involved in the theft of cryptocurrency in the amount of $1.7 billion in 2022. Moreover, the bulk of these funds ($1.1 billion) were obtained as a result of hacks of decentralized financial services DeFi.

In general, DeFi protocols in 2022 accounted for 82.1% of all cryptocurrency stolen by hackers: about $3.1 billion. For comparison: in 2021, the share of DeFi attacks in monetary terms was 73.3%. It is noted that attackers especially often attack firewall bridge systems - services that allow users to transfer their cryptocurrency from one blockchain to another. Of the $3.1 billion stolen in 2022 from DeFi platforms, 64% came from firewall bridge protocols. Researchers say there is no sign that hacking cryptocurrency exchanges will decline in 2023.

However, over time, we hope that the number of hacker attacks will decrease not only because it will become more difficult to steal funds, but also because it will be more difficult for attackers to launder and cash out money, Chainalysis experts say.[5]

The suicide of a top manager of the Bithumb crypto exchange in Korea

At the end of December 2022, the vice president of the shareholder of the crypto exchange Bithumb Pak committed suicide. He was suspected of embezzlement of funds from a company that owns a crypto exchange, as well as manipulation. They wanted to plant him, but he rushed from the roof of a house in Seoul.

Almost 90% of all bitcoins are outside crypto exchanges

Almost 90% of all bitcoins as of December 2022 are outside crypto exchanges. This is the maximum outflow over the past three years amid a confidence crisis following the bankruptcy of the FTX exchange.

Godfather Android Trojan attacks banks, cryptocurrency exchanges and e-wallets

December 21, 2022 Group-IB announced that it had recorded activity - attacking bank Androidtrojan Godfather users of financial services. More. here

Deception of VIP customers through Telegram chats

On December 6, 2022, the corporation Microsoft revealed information a new type of cyber attack targeting VIP customers. cryptocurrency exchanges Attackers carry out carefully planned attacks using the popular Telegram messenger for this.

Crypto exchanges typically charge fees to cover transaction costs, particularly in the process of withdrawing funds from accounts. For investment funds and traders, this can turn into significant costs. It is this topic that cybercriminals exploit to find victims and steal funds.

Microsoft describes the scheme of one of these attacks (DEV-0139), which was recorded on October 19, 2022. Criminals who are well versed in the cryptocurrency industry have joined a number of Telegram channels that are used to ensure communication between VIP customers and exchanges. Then, choosing a potential victim, the scammers invited her to their own Telegram channel, where they asked to leave a review on the structure of commissions for cryptocurrency exchange platforms. To do this, it was proposed to study the Excel file with information about the OKX, Huobi and Binance exchanges.

After loading and opening a table called "OKX Binance & Huobi VIP fee comparision.xls" with embedded macro commands, a PNG file was uploaded to the victim's computer to extract a dynamically connected library (DLL), a legitimate Windows executable file and a backdoor with XOR encryption. Thus, attackers were able to gain remote access to the infected system through the back door.

According to Volexity, North Korean hackers from the Lazarus group, operating since at least 2009, may be behind the new attacks. It is believed that the group is responsible for high-profile, cyber attacks including the hacking of Sony Pictures in 2014 and the distribution of ransomware WannaCry in 2017.^[6]

Services on the darknet for the release of assets of Russians blocked on foreign crypto exchanges

By December 2022, the number of offers of services for the release of assets of Russian investors blocked on foreign crypto exchanges Binance, Kraken, Huobi, KuCoin is growing on the dark web. This is possible, for example, through the withdrawal of funds to an unblocked account, re-registration of accounts with the reset of the KYC condition. But services can be expensive, 35-85% of the value of assets, and are often fraud.

Crypto exchange BlockFi filed for bankruptcy

On November 28, 2022 the American cryptocurrency , the exchange, BlockFi which worked closely with the bankrupt crypto exchange, FTX filed for bankruptcy. More. here

About 2 million customers suffered from the actions of the AAX crypto exchange, including from Russia and the CIS countries

The AAX crypto exchange, which on November 13, 2022 stopped all operations, including trading and withdrawal, and also promised to restore the site in 7-10 days, by November 27 deleted its official channel to Youtube and account in (Facebook prohibited in the territory). Russia Ben Kaselin, vice president of the Hong Kong crypto exchange AAH, left the company. About 2 million customers suffered from the actions of AAX, including from Russia and the CIS countries.

Termination of payments to Gemini Trust

In November 2022, during the cryptocurrency exchange crisis, the Gemini Trust, founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, announced that its product for investors would stop payments.

The collapse of the FTX exchange and the interest of the US authorities in this to strengthen the regulation of the crypto industry

In November 2022, the bankruptcy of one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, FTX, took place. At the time of filing for bankruptcy, the hole in the budget ranged from $8 to 9 billion.

It would seem that the clients of the exchange became victims of the usual fraudulent scheme. But the collapse of FTX was hardly a surprise for US government agencies: after all, the organization's leadership had long been on a short leg with representatives of the American authorities.

In the months before the collapse, FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried spoke frequently with regulators in Washington. The FTX's close connection with lawmakers is also indicated by the fact that the bankruptcy application was filed under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code, which allows for protection from creditors during the reorganization.

Where did the money go?

In today's world, disappearing with billions of dollars on your hands without risk to life is extremely problematic. To do this, at least patrons in the highest echelons of power are needed, who will be able to ensure a safe departure, noted the Rybar telegram channel.

So who turned out to be the most likely beneficiary of FTX bankruptcy to be the patron saint of its owners? Here it is worth carefully looking at the personalities of the persons involved in the scandalous bankruptcy.

Thus, the partner of the executive director of FTX is Caroline Ellison, who heads the Alameda Research structure affiliated with the bankrupt exchange. Her father was previously the boss of Gary Gensler - the current chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In turn, Gensler was personally appointed by US President Joe Biden.

Such connections explain well how the SEC accidentally did not notice the impending crypto-banking. And the overly soft reaction of US government agencies to what happened directly hints at the consistency of actions to collapse the FTX.

Why do US authorities need FTX bankruptcy?

The high-profile collapse of the exchange with the disappearance of the funds of many customers is the ideal reason for proposals for strict control of the cryptocurrency sphere.

And they have already appeared: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has stated the need for careful regulation of the entire industry. And the US government has already begun to consider the possibility of such measures in accordance with the decree of President Joe Biden. Under the guise of FTX bankruptcy, the public is actually imposed on the need for large-scale control over the crypto market.

And this is a fundamental condition for the implementation of the already planned course for the wider spread of cryptocurrency and its full integration with the traditional financial market.

Cryptocurrency options exchange Deribit lost $28 million in hacking

Deribit, a bitcoin options exchange, lost $28 million in the hack. The company announced this on November 3, 2022 on its official Twitter account. Also, the exchange suspended the withdrawal of funds. Read more here.

Trading volume on cryptocurrency exchanges fell sharply in October

The volume of trading on cryptocurrency exchanges in October 2022 decreased to a minimum over the past year. Compared to last November, it fell almost three times, according to Cryptocompare.

Hackers stole $0.5 billion of Binance cryptocurrency The exchange stopped work

In early October 2022, hackers attacked one of the blockchain networks of the world's largest crypto exchange Binance and stole tokens worth $568 million, but were able to withdraw not the entire amount. Read more here.

Roskomnadzor blocked the site of the OKX crypto exchange

On October 5, 2022, it became known about the blocking of the OKX crypto exchange website. Roskomnadzor took the appropriate measures by decision of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. Read more here.

Three crypto exchanges to develop blockchain infrastructure in Busan

Over the past two weeks, three major cryptoexchanges -, and Binance FTX - Huobi have signed Busan memoranda of understanding with the city government aimed at developing the blockchain infrastructure in. This was announced South Korea on September 16, 2022 by Huobi Global representatives. More. here

Thailand-licensed exchange Zipmex suspends withdrawals

In July 2022, it was announced that Thailand plans to tighten the regulation of cryptocurrencies, writes Bloomberg. The Securities and Exchange Commission intends to introduce amendments that will include stricter qualifications for the management and licensing of cryptocurrency custodians.

The proposal comes just after the country's licensed exchange Zipmex (Thailand) Ltd. suspended withdrawals.

Bitstamp crypto exchange bans Russians from withdrawing assets

As it became known in early May 2022, the Bitstamp crypto exchange began to block trading or entering cryptocurrency, as well as withdrawing assets. Read more here.

US Treasury Department sanctions against Garantex exchange founded by Russian

In April 2022 U.S. Treasury Department , it imposed sanctions on the darknet marketplace, Hydra but also against the one cryptocurrency exchange Garantex founded by a Russian who died the year before under mysterious circumstances. More. here

The first case of embezzlement of assets of a cryptocurrency exchange was opened in Russia

On March 22, 2022, it became known about the initiation in Russia of the first criminal case on the embezzlement of assets of the cryptocurrency exchange. Details told the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Irina Wolf. Read more here.

Crypto exchange KLAYswap lost $1.9 million in clever supply chain hack

On February 15, 2022, it became known that malefactors they stole about $1.9 million the South Korean cryptocurrency from the platform KLAYswap using a cunning BGP breaking protocol server to infrastructure in one of its suppliers. More. here

US authorities seize about $3.6 billion in Bitcoin stolen during the break-in of the Bitfinex exchange

In February 2022, US authorities seized about $3.6 billion in Bitcoin stolen during a break-in at Bitfinex in 2016 - the largest financial arrest in history - and arrested two people, the Justice Department said.

Russian Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, were detained on February 8 in the morning, the Justice Department said in a statement. The two allegedly conspired to launder 119,754 Bitcoin stolen after hacking into Bitfinex systems.

Bitfinex is an exchange associated with the world's largest stablecoin Tether. At the time of the hack, the volume of stolen cryptocurrency was estimated at about $71 million. The total value of the stolen Bitcoin for February 2022 is about $4.5 billion.

The US Internal Revenue Service gained access to files with the keys to the hackers' wallet. At the same time, hackers did not seek security - the keys lay in one text file in the cloud storage.

2021

Hackers robbed AscendEX exchange for $77.7

The cryptocurrency exchange AscendEX, based in Singapore, in December 2021 announced that its hot wallets Ethereum, Polygon and Binance Smart Chain were hacked by hackers, and the investigation is still ongoing. Read more here.

Central Bank of the Russian Federation begins to block transfers to crypto exchanges

In mid-September 2021, the Bank of Russia announced the blocking of payments in favor of crypto exchanges and crypto exchanges. The regulator decided to take measures to protect consumers from "emotional" purchases of cryptocurrencies.

We are working with the banking system so that it slows down payments in favor of exchange offices and crypto exchanges, enclosing opportunities for emotional purchases of this kind of products, "said Sergei Shvetsov, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

According to him, the Central Bank can explain to citizens that this is a high risk, since this is not protected by the regulator in any way, and the storage of cryptocurrencies itself is associated with a number of risks. The first deputy chairman of the Central Bank explained that in the field of cryptocurrencies "there is a high probability that as a high-tech financial pyramid this can all fall apart to zero." Shvetsov added that from the point of view of the financial regulator, the cryptocurrency market is a large minefield.

The Central Bank, among other measures, issued recommendations on which transfers to crypto exchanges should be evaluated in terms of anti-legalization measures. In addition, the regulator is working on legislative initiatives that would more clearly prohibit the use of cryptocurrency and provide for responsibility for this, both administrative and criminal.

The Central Bank is trying to protect the most vulnerable part of the population, which becomes a victim of financial pyramids, said Vadim Pogosyan, director of business development at Alfa Asset Management (Europe). According to him, a large number of pyramids have appeared that promise retail investors sky-high revenues from investments in cryptocurrency. As a result, this money simply dissolves, it is almost impossible to return it, he added.

The head of Bitnalog, Dmitry Machikhin, in a conversation with Kommersant, expressed the opinion that the Central Bank, by its actions, can quite consciously achieve that "the country's budget will not receive taxes from trading in crypto assets, and traders will find" other harbors "for themselves^[7]

Exchange leaders in terms of trading volume

The volume of trading on popular crypto exchanges in July 2021 fell by 32% compared to June and amounted to $651.2 billion. The leader in terms of trading volume is traditionally Binance.

2020

North Korean hackers stole about $300 million in digital assets from Singapore's KuCoin exchange

On February 21, 2022, it became known that hackers used peeling chains in an attempt to minimize suspicions from exchange employees.

In 2020, the group stole digital assets worth about $300 million (at the current exchange rate) from the Singapore KuCoin exchange. According to experts, the cyber attack used a number of sophisticated hacking methods and money laundering methods, including a professional mixing service and the use of new DeFi platforms in an attempt to confuse traces. Read more here.

CryptoCore group stole more than $200 million from cryptocurrency exchanges

On June 26, 2020, it became known that the cybercriminal group CryptoCore (also known as Crypto-gang, Dangerous Password and Leery Turtle) stole about $200 million from cryptocurrency online exchanges in Japan, the United States and other countries. According to the head of the research group at ClearSky, Ora Blatt, the group has been operating since 2018 and allegedly carries out attacks from Eastern Europe, in particular from Ukraine, Russia or Romania. The criminals have already carried out five successful attacks and are targeting 10-20 more cryptocurrency exchanges at the end of June 2020.

As experts noted, some malicious CryptoCore campaigns were previously recorded in separate reports, in which the group was identified under the names Dangerous Password and Leery Turtle. However, malicious campaigns turned out to be much more extensive and widespread than originally thought.

Despite the fact that the group has been operating for almost two and a half years, attackers have been using the same tactics all this time with few changes in attacks. All attacks begin with a stage of information collection, during which criminals collect the necessary data about the management of the exchange, IT staff and other employees.

The first phishing attacks are always aimed at personal email accounts, not corporate ones, as they are most often less secure and may contain business information. However, CryptoCore operators eventually switch to targeted business accounts.

Spear-phishing attacks are usually carried out by posing as a high-ranking employee of the target company or another organization with connections to the target employee, the experts explained.

The ultimate goal is to inject malware ON on computer an employee or manager and gain access to the manager's account. Using passwords these passwords, criminals can gain access to accounts and wallets, disable systems two-factor authentication and transfer funds^[8]

Cryptocurrency market begins its recovery in China

On April 1, 2020 BitZ , the company announced that liquidity problems in traditional financial markets provoked an increase in demand for. cryptocurrencies the Chinese Cryptocurrency exchanges were especially active. BitZ,,, Huobi OKEx Binance has a large influx of investor funds and a high volume of trading in major cryptocurrencies. Against this background, the course bitcoin briefly crossed the $6,900 mark and approached $7,000. More. here

Chinese crypto exchange BitZ enters the Russian market

On January 21, 2020, the crypto exchange from Hong Kong BitZ TAdviser announced that it was opening its representative office in. St. Petersburg The opening of the representative office Russia in was preceded by the preparatory work of the team for six months. Investments Russian in the project at the first stage amounted to about $5 million. More. here

2018

Damage from targeted attacks on crypto exchanges in almost 2 years reached $882 million

On October 17, 2018, it became known that Group-IB estimated the damage from targeted attacks on crypto exchanges in 2017 and the first 9 months of 2018 at $882 million. According to Group-IB experts, during this period at least 14 crypto exchanges were hacked and 5 of them were attacked by the North Korean hacker group Lazarus, including the Japanese exchange Coincheck, which lost $534 million.

These data are given in the annual report Hi-Tech Crime Trends 2018, presented by Dmitry Volkov. One of the blocks of the report is devoted to analyzing the activities of hackers and fraudsters in the crypto industry.

In most cases, when attacking crypto exchanges, hackers use traditional tools and schemes such as targeted phishing, social engineering, downloading malware, deface the site. As a result of one successful attack, hackers can steal tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency with minimal risk of being caught, since anonymity in conducting transactions allows attackers to withdraw funds safely enough.

The main vector of penetration into corporate networks of crypto exchanges is targeted phishing. For example, attackers send fake resumes with the theme "Engineering Manager for Crypto Currency job" and a document in the Investment Proposal.doc attachment that hides the malware.

Since 2017, the North Korean group Lazarus has attacked at least 5 crypto exchanges: Yapizon, Coinis, YouBit, Bithumb, Coinckeck. After infection, hackers conducted reconnaissance of the local network to find computers or servers on which they worked with private wallets of crypto exchanges.

In 2017, we warned that hackers who can professionally carry out a targeted attack had another goal - crypto exchanges. Large marketplaces have suffered at the hands of organized hacker groups over the past few years, some of which filed for bankruptcy after the hack. For example, Bitcurex, YouBit, Bitgrail. In early 2018, the attention of hackers to crypto exchanges only increased, so we expect groups such as Silence, MoneyTaker and Cobalt to carry out several successful hacks of crypto exchanges. Dmitry Volkov, technical di⁠rektor of Group-IB

Hackers cause significant damage to ICO projects: they attack the foundations, members of the community, the platforms themselves. In 2017, more than 10% of all attracted investments were stolen, and 80% of projects did not fulfill their obligations to investors and disappeared after fundraising.

Despite pessimistic forecasts, funding for ICO projects increased in 2018: in the first half of 2018 alone, ICO projects raised almost $14 billion - twice as much as in the whole of 2017 ($5.5 billion) - according to a study by CVA and PwC. Thus, as a result of one successful attack, attackers have the opportunity to steal significantly more funds.

In 2018, projects conducting a closed round of ICOs were attacked. For example, the TON (Telegram Open Network) project was subjected to a phishing attack, as a result of which the attackers managed to steal about $35 thousand in Ethereum. A flurry of DDoS attacks, an avalanche of messages to Telegram and Slack channels, spam on the mailing list, as a rule, occurs precisely on the day of the start of token sales as part of the ICO.

In October 2018, phishing remains the most popular tool for attacks on ICO: it accounts for about 56% of stolen funds. In the midst of "cryptocurrency fever," everyone seeks to buy tokens as quickly as possible (often they are sold at a big discount) and does not pay attention to such trifles as replaced domains. A large phishing group steals about $1 million a month.

Phishing attacks on ICO projects are not always carried out to steal money. In 2018, several cases of theft of databases of investors participating in the ICO were recorded. Such information can subsequently be sold on shadow hacker forums or used for blackmail. A relatively common scheme of fraud in the ICO market was the theft of the White Paper project and the presentation of an identical idea under its own brand. Fraudsters create a landing under the next brand and with the next team, but with a stolen description, and announce the ICO.

For private investors working with cryptocurrencies, phishing and malware will remain the main threat for October 2018.

In 2019, crypto exchanges will be another target for the most aggressive hacker groups attacking banks. The number of targeted attacks on crypto exchanges will increase. Fraudulent phishing schemes using crypto brands will become more complicated. The level of preparation for phishing attacks will also grow, automation of phishing and the use of ready-made phishing kits (Phishing-kits), in particular for attacks on ICO, will become increasingly widespread. The largest mining pools in the world can be the target of not only cybercriminals, but also pro-state attackers. With some preparation, this could allow them to take control of 51% of the mining capacity and take over cryptocurrency management.

Cryptocurrencies in a tailspin: exchanges lose customers

There is a sharp decline in interest in cryptocurrencies around the world, Bloomberg reported on October 11, 2018. Uncertainty in the traditional stock market has spread to this area, plus the decline in cryptocurrency quotes, which began after the Bitcoin exchange rate reached a peak value of $20 thousand in December 2017, affects.

According to venture capital firm Tribe Capital, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange has been hit particularly hard, with the Coinbase number of regular players on the platform down 80% since December 2017. Bitcoin fell 60% over the same period. More. here

Hackers stole $60 million from Zaif exchange

In September 2018, the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Zaif  was attacked by hackers who managed to steal about $60 million as a result of the attack. Read more here.

Cryptocurrency worth $500 million stolen from Japanese exchange Coincheck

At the end of January 2018, the largest theft in history took place. cryptocurrencies It happened on the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, Coincheck from which more than $500 million was stolen. 260 thousand users suffered from the theft. Coincheck announced its intentions to return about 90% of the funds from its equity. More. here

2017: Top 10 cryptocurrency exchanges by daily volume of transactions

Top 10 cryptocurrency exchanges in terms of the volume of transactions per day on the 30.01.2017.

1. Poloniex - $14,731,826; converting altcoins to and from Bitcoin
2. Kraken - $6,750,684; mainly the conversion of bitcoin into fiat currencies:

• 64% – EUR
• USD – 13,26%

3. OKCoin.cn - $5,413,820; conversion of altcoins to CNY, Chinese yuan
4. Huobi - $5,256,440; conversion of altcoins to CNY, Chinese yuan
5. Bitfinex - $4,278,149; advantage, conversion cryptocurrencies to USD - 90.36%
6. CoinsBank - $4,083,979; conversion of cryptocurrencies (BTC and LTC) into fiat currencies:

• USD – 42,24%
• EUR – 35,09%
• GBP – 15,32%

7. GDAX - $3,904,107

• USD – 87%
• GBP – 9,76%

8. HitBTC - $3,198,455; converting altcoins to Bitcoin
9. BTCC - $2,935,952; converting BTC and LTC to CNY
10. BTC-E - $2,916,705; conversion of altcoins into fiat currencies

• USD – 75,64%
• including in RUR (Russian ruble) - 5.92%.

At the same time, the volume of trading in Russian rubles is $172,755. However, the cost of BTC in BTC\RUR conversions is $1.90 higher with respect to BTC\USD conversions.

Since January 24, 2017, China's biggest cryptocurrency exchanges BTCC, Huobi and OKCoin have imposed a 0.2% commission on bitcoin and Litecoin transactions from each transaction to "curb speculation" and "prevent volatility" in the nascent digital currency market.

Up to this point, Chinese venues were the only ones that did not charge a commission: they earned on margin trade. By the end of 2016, China accounted for 90% to 98% of global bitcoin trade, according to various estimates.

Notes