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Bitcoin and criminals: the amount of cryptocurrencies used for criminal purposes reached $20.1 billion

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cryptocurrency for criminals

Bitcoin and criminals news. The illegal use of cryptocurrencies reached a record $20.1 billion in 2022, as transactions involving companies subject to U.S. sanctions rose sharply. This is stated in a study by Chainalysis, the data of which are cited by Reuters.

Cryptocurrency for criminals has become a great tool. The amount mentioned only considers actions registered on the blockchain, and excludes off-network crimes, which include fraudulent accounting by crypto businesses.

The study says that despite a drop in total transactions, the number of transactions related to illegal activity increased for the second year in a row. Also, the number of transactions associated with sub-sanctioned organizations has increased by more than 100,000 times, accounting for 44% of illegal activity in 2022. By the way, such news also hinders the growth of Bitcoin.

Also, the report indicates that funds received by the Garantex exchange, which was sanctioned in April, accounted for “most of the illegal volume in 2022.” Chainalysis analysts believe that much of this activity is because “probably Russian users are using the Russian exchange. At the same time, wallets are considered illegal if they are linked to a company that has fallen under sanctions.

As for stolen funds, they rose 7 percent last year. but the volume of other illegal transactions – including those related to fraud, ransomware, terrorist financing and human trafficking – declined.

“One reason for that may be the downturn in the marketplace. We have found in the past that cryptocurrency fraud, for example, generates less revenue during a bear market,” the study notes.

Last year, the monthly volume of cryptocurrencies entering the mixers also hit record highs. According to Chainalysis, the figure was $51.8 million last April, double the figure from last year. However, only 10% of the capital sent from criminal wallets is laundered through mixers. Centralized exchanges, DeFi smart contracts, and malicious wallets proved to be the main providers of capital to mixers.

We previously covered FTX reports that it has regained access to $5 billion.

Cryptocurrency

Shiba Inu (SHIB) Team With Crucial Warning to Its Community

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TL;DR

  • Shibarium’s LUCIE issued a warning to the Shiba Inu community about fraud, advising caution with suspicious links offering unexpected rewards.
  • Despite potential scams, SHIB’s value increased by 18% weekly amid effective token burns and Shibarium’s advancements.

Shibarium’s Marketing Strategist, using the X handle LUCIE, advised the Shiba Inu community to be utterly careful when clicking suspicious links from prominent individuals or entities “announcing unexpected rewards.”

The SHIB official alerted that those links most probably come from hacked accounts, saying people should refrain from connecting their wallets to dubious websites.

Last month, LUCIE warned the community to beware of potential scams related to SHEboshi NFTs. The digital art was a huge success with all 20,000 collectibles sold out in less than three hours after the conclusion of the second phase of the minting process.

Shiba Inu is among the most trending cryptocurrencies due to its volatile price and huge number of holders, which might explain why scammers frequently target the community.

Currently, SHIB trades at approximately $0.0000321, an 18% increase on a weekly scale. Its rise could be attributed to the successful execution of the burning mechanism and the advancement of the layer-2 blockchain solution Shibarium.

As CryptoPotato reported today, the burn rate skyrocketed by 1,200%, resulting in over 50 million tokens destroyed. For its part, Shibarium blasted through another huge milestone at the start of March, surpassing 400 million in terms of total transactions.

Those willing to learn more about the layer-2 scaling solution and how it aims to elevate Shiba Inu above its rivals, please take a look at our dedicated video below:

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Rockstar Co-Founder and All-star Line Up Join Advisory Board to Take Metacade into Post Beta Orbit

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[PRESS RELEASE – London, United Kingdom, March 28th, 2024]

Metacade, the revolutionary Web3 gaming platform, prepares to streak out of beta with a slew of ground-breaking initiatives that will redefine the way blockchain games are developed.

CEO, Russell Bennett, forecasts a series of landmark announcements across Q2 and Q3, 2024. Commencing with the appointment of an advisory board. Jamie King, Dan Hibell, Elly Bradbury, and Anders Christiansen combine premium Web2-Web3 commercial nous to spearhead Metacade’s expansion across Talent, Product, Utility, and Engagement.

As blockchain games gear up to embrace one billion players, Metacade will mobilize advancements in game development. Fostering stronger bonds between games and experienced Web3 players, through immersive tournaments designed to improve gameplay.

During beta, Metacade experienced high demand for this innovative approach. “Over 60 partners joined the Metacade ecosystem in a few months. It’s evidence that games and gamers seek deeper connection,” notes newly appointed advisor Jamie King, co-founder of Rockstar Games. “Metacade’s commitment to transform tournaments into a multi-asset environment adds substantial value, offering hyper utility for holders and gamers alike. It’s a big vision, focused beyond a single cycle and I’m looking forward to guiding it.”

Proflic angel investor and Web 3 guild expert, Dan Hibell adds, “For Web3 gaming to reach mainstream adoption we have to address accessibility and usability. Gamers don’t want to pay outrageous prices for an item or wait for a node validator to process a transaction before getting their seasonal cosmetic item. Metacade exists to help builders improve these Web3 issues, the infrastructure use case is needed industry-wide.”

Metacade’s test-play tournament model is already proving successful, attracting a fast-growing community of seasoned Web3 gamers chasing rewards for early-stage feedback. “Community is the most under-valued business asset,” says former Director, Columbia Tristar and seasoned Web3 marketing advisor, Elly Bradbury. “Die-hard communities are built on value add experiences, where belonging is about believing. Metacade has invested in all the right early-stage community layers, building a super fan OG culture showing all the hallmarks of explosive brand growth.”

Next stage platform developments draw on partner insights. “Metacade is already booming,” said Bennett. “We have a thriving partner ecosystem with shared values. It’s clear our best shot at backing winners is to innovate frictionless blockchain infrastructure so that our partners can do what they do best; create and innovate.”

To meet this expansion, Metacade’s team will be strategically shaped by leading Web3 recruiter and business development expert, Anders Christiansen. With a proven track record, Christiansen has facilitated 100+ c-suite placements across the industry through his previous business Priority Crypto.

“Metacade’s novel business plan will depend on forward-thinking people with multi-disciplined experience. I’m excited to bring those leading minds to Metacade.”

About METACADE:

Metacade is a seamless Web3 Gaming platform connecting developers and players through plug-and-play community initiatives. Providing an unfair advantage through early access, dev-player collaborations, and financial rewards.

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Vitalik Explains Ethereum’s Next Steps After Dencun Upgrade

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Blobs have officially come to Ethereum through its latest “Dencun” hard fork, making it far cheaper to transact on the network’s layer 2 (L2) blockchains. So what’s next?

In a blog post published on Thursday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined how he expects Ethereum to scale for mass adoption, emphasizing a shift in developmental focus to L2s.

Vitalik’s View On Ethereum Layer 2s

According to Vitalik, the newly implemented EIP 4844 (aka “blobs”) marked a “zero to one” milestone for Ethereum scaling, after which all remaining scaling improvements will be “incremental” by comparison.

The upgrade creates dedicated data availability space – or “blobspace” – on Ethereum’s base layer where layer 2 networks can post batched transactions for a much lower cost than previously allowed. Networks poised to benefit from the upgrade include Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism, among others

With blobs in effect, one of Ethereum’s next goals may be to implement “data availability sampling,” a more efficient method for verifying blobs that could help greatly increase the network’s blobspace. These could allow blobs to process roughly 1.33 megabytes of data per second.

“From here on, data availability sampling can be introduced and blob count can be increased behind the scenes, all without any involvement from users or applications,” wrote Vitalik.

The next scaling goals, he claimed, will be to increase blob capacity and improve on existing L2s, both of which carry minimal need for a hard fork.

To improve L2s, the developer recommends reducing transaction sizes using data compression, using L1s for security more sparingly, and scaling rollups internally. He also pushed for a true shift towards decentralization with L2s whose code can only be modified by security councils under rare circumstances.

Ethereum’s Next Ten Years

With blobs released and rising adoption of L2s underway, Vitalik stressed that developers must begin developing protocols that meet the standards of the current decade – not the last.

“We no longer have any excuse,” he wrote. “Today, we have all the tools we’ll need, and indeed most of the tools we’ll ever have, to build applications that are simultaneously cypherpunk and user-friendly. And so we should go out and do it.”

Vitalik is still a proponent of developing more advanced features on Ethereum’s base layer, enabling more simplicity and reducing bug risk on layer 2 networks.

In recent weeks, Vitalik has proposed multiple ways to help decentralize Ethereum staking away from large staking providers. These include creating new, more accessible tiers of staking through “rainbow staking,” and imposing harsher financial penalties on staking whales.

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