After conducting an event study, blockchain security company CertiK dubbed Arbix Finance’s alleged theft of user cash a “rug pull.” Arbix Finance is a yield-farming system that uses the Binance Smart Chain. The events follow a recent study by the Library of Congress, the de facto national library of the United States, and the research library for the U.S. Congress, which lists dozens of countries that have now explicitly or tacitly forbid the use of cryptocurrencies.
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In the most recent suspected fraud, 10 million ARBX tokens were “minted,” or confirmed, to eight addresses, including 4.5 million to a single address. This raised suspicions about the yield-farming project Arbix, a technology that works by locking bitcoin in return for interest. CertiK, a blockchain security company later, the tokens “dumped.”
According to CertiK, $10 million in customer deposits were made to unverified pools, where an actor afterward withdrew the money. A threat actor transferred money to the Ethereum blockchain via AnySwap USDT, according to CertiK’s analysis tool.
CertiK concluded that the behavior was a rug pull, in which the administrators aggressively sell a false crypto token, gather user payments, and then flee with the total amount.
Do Not Engage in Project Interaction
When the problem first happened, CertiK tweeted, “The discovered smart contracts contain privileged functionality. DO NOT engage in project interaction!”
Furthermore, according to Connie Lam, leader of CertiK’s Incident Response Team, other “exchanges can help disincentivize future attacks by blacklisting [the Ethereum address 0x4714A26e4E2e1334C80575332EC9eB043B61a2C4] and any associated with it, making it more difficult for the attacker to wash their funds or cash them out.”
According to a blog post by Christopher Boyd, lead malware intelligence analyst at the company Malwarebytes, “it’s highly possible there’s more to come [here].” “Further investigation is necessary, and it’s possible that one advantage of this service having been audited is that it may aid in identifying those responsible. The project proprietors can also show up at the last minute to offer an explanation.”
Boyd cites earlier reports that claimed CertiK had audited Arbix and given the project approval in November, giving the initiative credibility at the time.
On social media, “there are a lot of individuals who are upset about this one,” claims Boyd. “A few links that were sent out and claimed to be “help” or “support” from Arbix really led to Telegram links have been observed. We advise being extremely cautious when using any links offered as support because there is no way to verify them.”
According to CertiK’s Lam, “the decentralized structure of blockchain implies any anonymous bad actor can build a business that was designed from the beginning to be a rug pull or exit scam.”
Report on Crypto-Crime
The incident is a part of a wave of crypto crimes that have grown more serious recently.
In 2021, scammers made over $14 billion in cryptocurrencies, according to a recent analysis from Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics company. Theft and con games were major contributors to the 79% increase in losses associated with crypto crimes. According to the research, scams accounted for $7.8 billion in crypto assets in 2021, of which $2.8 billion came from rug pulls. According to Chainalysis, theft, in which bitcoin projects, frequently using open-source software, were hacked, was not far behind. According to reports, token theft increased 516% year over year to $3.2 billion in value, with 72% of the stolen tokens coming from Defi protocols.
According to the paper, decentralized finance, which relies on peer-to-peer smart contracts across decentralized applications, or DApps, rather than on traditional middlemen, was a significant factor in the losses.
Approximately $94 billion was locked in DApps at the time of writing, according to Defi Pulse, which keeps track of linked assets.
The cybersecurity industry is concerned about the security level of Defi transactions due to their rapid expansion, as certain projects rush to market as a result of the increase in investment.
A hacker known as “Mr. White Hat” famously broke into the Poly Network platform in 2021 and stole more than $600 million in cryptocurrencies. The threat actor promptly repaid all of the money in the ensuing days. The cryptocurrency initiative apparently offered the hacker a position as a security consultant and gave them a reward for finding security issues. Security professionals argue that the return was not as admirable as it first appears and that the hacker probably struggled to launder the money (see: Poly Network Hacker Reportedly Returns Most of the Stolen Funds).
Report from the Library of Congress
The volatility of cryptocurrencies as well as market and security dangers have been identified by governments all over the world as the main reasons for enacting extensive regulations.
Recent research from the Library of Congress claims that in 2018, the number of countries outlawing cryptocurrency increased.
According to the research, a nation either openly or indirectly forbids assets. Bans on cryptocurrency exchanges and banks or other financial organizations that engage in cryptocurrencies are examples of implicit bans. The research also examines how tax laws, rules against money laundering, and laws against the financing of terrorism are applied to cryptocurrencies.
According to the researchers, “the number of nations discovered to have imposed cryptocurrency prohibitions has climbed dramatically since the release of the 2018 report.” According to the survey, 42 countries and nine jurisdictions have implicit bans on cryptocurrency. These figures were eight and fifteen, respectively, three years ago.
The researchers note that “equally, the application of tax regulations, AML/CFT legislation… has expanded rapidly.” By November 2021, comparable legislation was in effect in 103 jurisdictions, including all EU members except Bulgaria. Only 33 jurisdictions were discovered to regulate cryptocurrencies in this way in 2018, and only five of those applied both tax and AML/CFT regulations.
The following nations have explicit bans on cryptocurrency: China, Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, Oman, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Bangladesh.
An Attestation of Value
According to Michael Fasanello, a blockchain security specialist, the countries that have strict regulations on crypto assets are often those that have strong control over their citizens.
“Contrast this with North America, for example, where institutional and retail investors have not been curtailed from venturing into the blockchain and crypto ecosystems, and it’s a true testament of the value of these technologies to a free society,” says Fasanello, who has held various positions within the U.S. Justice and Treasury departments, including for Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
According to Fasanello, who presently serves as the director of training and regulatory relations for the company Blockchain Intelligence Group, more international jurisdictions will decide whether to allow the usage of crypto-assets in 2022. He claims that 2021 was, in contrast, “very much a year of fence-sitting.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a vocal opponent of cryptocurrencies, has continued to express worry about their widespread use, citing volatility and security issues (see: Senators Urge Treasury Department to Address Crypto Brokers).
Gary Gensler, the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, has also stated that the agency expects Congress would provide it additional authority to oversee cryptocurrencies. Gensler referred to the cryptocurrency exchanges as the “Wild West” and “full of deception” (see: SEC to Monitor Illicit Activity on Defi Platforms).
