Cryptocurrency Theft: $1.1 Billion Stolen in Last 6 Months

Evidence continues to mount that cryptocurrency-seeking criminals are no longer bent solely on boosting bitcoins or demanding ransomware or other extortion campaign payoffs only in that virtual currency.

The shift, experts say, is a result of bitcoin’s massive price fluctuations over the past year. Last December, the value of a bitcoin reached an all-time high of $19,891. On Tuesday, however, the value of a bitcoin had dropped to about $6,850 – a decline in value of 10 percent from Friday, which may have been triggered by the hack of South Korean exchange Coinrail early on Sunday (see Coinrail Cryptocurrency Exchange in South Korea Hacked).