While ransomware attacks regularly cripple companies ranging from local hospitals to electronics giant Foxconn, financial firms are a particular concern.
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U.S. Treasury sanctions two Russian men for stealing $17M in crypto
U.S. authorities seized crypto assets stolen through a phishing scheme by two Russian hackers, and imposed sanctions similar to those used against hostile regimes, drug kingpins
Aside from seizing or freezing “all property and interests in property” from sanctioned persons, under the law “U.S. persons generally are prohibited from dealing with them,” according to the OFAC website. The Secret Service also seized millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies and cash allegedly stolen in the sophisticated phishing and spoofing attacks by Russian national Danil Potekhin in 2017 and 2018, which was subsequently laundered by Dmitrii Karasavidi.
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Brian Armstrong didn't think deals with the Secret Service and IRS were "particularly newsworthy." Readers disagreed. (Photo: Techcrunch)First the feds, now the taxman: Coinbase inks $125K deal with IRS
The latest contract has the potential to alienate Coinbase’s exchange users—as some are concerned data about their transactions could be passed on to government agencies
Fresh from infuriating some customers after offering blockchain analytics software to the U.S. Secret Service, Coinbase has inked an even more lucrative deal… with the taxman. Records uploaded to a government website show the crypto company signed a contract with the Internal Revenue Service on July 14 that’s worth at least $125,000.
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Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong didn't think selling analytical software to the Secret Service would cause any waves... (Photo: Steve Jennings/Techcrunch)Coinbase defends $183K contract with the U.S. Secret Service
‘I don’t think it’s particularly newsworthy,’ tweets a dismissive Brian Armstrong
Some of the exchange’s users have expressed concerns about how their data is being used, but Armstrong has shrugged off this criticism, writing: “Whether Coinbase sells blockchain analytics software or not, transactions on public blockchains are still traceable by any number of people out there.”
