The number of bitcoins on the wallets of exchanges has sharply decreased

The amount of BTC in wallets of cryptocurrency exchanges fell to the lowest level since the fall of 2018. At the same time, the dollar value of BTC stored on exchanges has doubled over the past six months.

According to Glassnode, as of yesterday, about 2.62 million BTC was held in exchange addresses - just under 14.2% of the total amount of bitcoins in circulation. The number of BTC on the wallets of exchanges has been declining since February 2020 after reaching a record value of 2.95 million BTC.

Although the amount of BTC on exchange addresses has dropped more than 10% in the past six months, the dollar value of these bitcoins has skyrocketed over the same period. Despite a serious drop in Tumbler in mid-March, bitcoin managed to recover and today it is trading around $ 11,700. Since the value of BTC has increased by more than 240% since March, the absolute value of bitcoins stored in wallets of exchanges has more than doubled since March. Overall interest in BTC trading has declined in recent months - the average daily trading volume has dropped from a peak in mid-March of $ 60 billion to just $ 22 billion today. This could indicate that as a result of the prevailing bull market, BTC holders are on a wait-and-see basis instead of trading.

Switzerland conducted the first bitcoin transaction under the AML rules

Three Swiss cryptocurrency companies have announced the successful completion of the first automated bitcoin transaction to meet anti-money laundering (AML) requirements.

The experiment involved Crypto Finance AG and 21 Analytics from Zug, as well as Geneva-based Mt Pelerin. On Thursday night, they demonstrated in action a new transaction tool that was used to transfer $ 23 worth of bitcoins. At the same time, the requirements set by the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) and the Swiss regulator were met.

Last year, the FATF introduced requirements for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), which now, like banks, must collect information about the sender and recipient of a transaction for payments above $ 1,000. Since the entry into force of these requirements, VASPs were forced to add manual information, but recent experience shows that the collection of the necessary information can be done automatically.

“The translation was fully automated. Until that time, the FINMA-regulated Swiss VASP had to manually create the accompanying documentation and transfer it with each transaction, ”said Lucas Betshart, CEO of 21 Analytics.

During the demo, the transaction was transferred between Crypto Finance and Mt Pelerin systems. This involved 21 Analytics' AI regulatory technology solution and OpenVASP and TRP to meet customer communication requirements. In addition, the accompanying information has been formatted in accordance with the industry standard IVMS101.

Former head of security at Uber paid hackers $ 100,000 in bitcoins

The San Francisco District Court has indicted former Uber chief security officer Joseph Sullivan for covering up a hack that leaked data to 57 million of the company's drivers and users.

The hacker attack took place in October 2016. Hackers gained access to the names, email addresses and phone numbers of 50 million passengers and about 7 million drivers.

However, the company did not report the incident to authorities. According to the investigation, instead, Sullivan paid the hackers $ 100,000 in bitcoins and agreed with them about non-disclosure. The money was paid to the hackers as part of the Bug Bounty program. The incident became known a year later - after the dismissal of Sullivan and the change of the head of Uber.

Subsequently, the burglars were arrested and they pleaded guilty. The prosecutor's office noted that hackers attacked other tech companies after the incident with Uber.

The incident became known a year later

A spokesman for Sullivan said that without the latter's efforts, "it is likely that those responsible for the incident would never have been identified." He added that Sullivan acted with the approval of Uber's legal department and the charges against him were not substantiated.

Law enforcers insist that Sullivan's actions can be regarded as obstruction of justice and concealment of the crime.
If found guilty, Sullivan faces up to eight years in prison.