Bitcoin’s price plummeted by over $1,000 this week, and it’s speculated that the US Department of Justice’s investigation into cryptocurrency manipulation is part of it.
The DoJ is investigating the practice of spoofing, in which traders influence the price of cryptocurrencies by opening fake orders designed to trick others into buying or selling. It is not clear, however, if the sell-off in the cryptocurrency market is directly related to this investigation.
The market bottomed out to a total of $326 billion this week, losing $40 billion in value in a matter of days.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has launched 24 investigations into the cryptocurrency market, based on the seven reports it received from whistleblowers in unauthorized cryptocurrency firms. As reported by the Financial Times, the investigation will “determine whether they might be carrying on regulated activities that require FCA authorization.”
The Securities Commission in Nova Scotia is warning investors that two companies, Orca Alliance and BIOLK are not registered to sell securities in Nova Scotia, which is part of a wider international crackdown on fraudulent ICOs and cryptocurrency-related investment products. In North America, this effort is being coordinated by the North American Securities Administrators Association.
The crackdown on ICOs and other unregistered securities is named Operation Cryptosweep and has resulted in nearly 70 investigations and 25 completed or pending enforcement actions since the beginning of May.
The South African Police Service has started an investigation into an alleged cryptocurrency investment fraud that has affected over 28,000 investors and led to losses of over 1 billion South African Rands (USD 80,000,000).
The police service issued a statement that BitCaw Trading Company otherwise known as BTC Global promised returns of 2% returns per day, 14% per week and 50% per month.
Andrew Caw, who set up BitCaw Trading, said in messages via Facebook on Friday. “BitCaw Trading assists people with buying & selling Bitcoin as well as other Bitcoin related services. We do not manage third-party money or offer any kind of investment,” and BitCaw didn’t set up BTC Global, he said.
Malwarebytes reported this week that a Mac malware has been detected to covertly mine the Monero cryptocurrency, a coin that’s known for its private and untraceable transactions. In the report, it’s claimed that the malware has three components: a dropper that downloads the software; a launcher that installs and launches it; and the miner itself known as XMRig.
It’s unclear how the malware is being dropped into Mac computers – although it’s speculated that Adobe Flash Player installers and torrent sites could be to blame. Malwarebytes also wrote that there doesn’t seem to be “anything complicated” about the miner, and that “everything about this malware suggests simplicity in its execution.”
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