Today bullish the crypto company run by A former NY president buys coindesk MasterCard partners with an AI company To track down crypto fraud and Chris Januski of blockchain intelligence Company trm Labs breaks down which Crypto crimes were most popular in [Music] 2023 welcome to cnbc's crypto world I'm Kate Rooney digital currency prices Rising to start this week with Bitcoin Jumping back above $37,000 by noon Eastern it was around the $35,000 level On Friday ether was at $1,900 at the end Of last week but now it is back above $2,000 and the world token the Cryptocurrency issued by the Sam Alman Backed identity platform worldcoin swung Wildly all weekend after Alman was Ousted from his CEO role at open AI this Morning worldcoin traded at $231 cents Down around 5 a half% from the day Before it's according to data from coin Market cap let's talk about some of the Top stories a crypto company run by the Former New York Stock Exchange president Tom Farley just bought coindesk bullish Took to X this morning to announce it Acquired the crypto Focus news outlet From digital currency group or dcg as It's also known bullish noted that Coindesk will operate as an independent Subsidiary and retain editorial Independence bullish added that its
Plans to invest in coindesk's global Expansion and the growth of the company In a statement Farley who is now the CEO Of bullish wrote quote with its claimed Editorial coverage Premier Events and Market leading data and indices coindesk Continues to shape the global crypto and Blockchain ecosystem he added the Bullish will immediately inject Capital Into several of coindesk's growth Initiatives which will help the launch Of new Services events and products Wall Street Journal reported that bullish Bought 100% of coindesk in an all cash Deal financial terms of the deal were Not disclosed dcg which is the parent Company of coindesk reportedly acquired That company in 2016 for $500,000 now the Wall Street Journal Reported earlier this month that bullish Is also one of three firms trying to buy What's left of FTX the winner could Relaunch The Exchange after its expected Exit from bankruptcy next year next Fidelity is joining the race for a spot Ether ETF CBOE markets filed a proposal With the SEC on Friday which would Launch the Fidelity ethereum Fund the Move follows black Rock's own proposed Spot ether ETF which it put before the SEC in an S1 last week both firms are Also waiting to hear whether they're Going to get the green light for a spot Bitcoin ETF the SEC just delayed a
Decision on Franklin Templeton and Global X spot ETF proposals until next Year last up MasterCard is turning to AI To Tamp down on crypto fraud schemes the Payments giant told CNBC exclusively That it's partnering with feedi a Platform that aims to combat moneya Laundering and financial crimes using Artificial intelligence fedai will work Alongside mastercard's Cipher Trace Armada platform which helps Banks Monitor transactions from more than 6,000 crypto exchanges to check for Fraud moneya laundering and more feed ey Says around 40% of scam transactions Exit directly from a bank account to a Crypto exchange the company's CEO also Told CNBC that the new partnership will Quote increase fraud detection by Protecting unwary customers but will Also detect potential money laundering Activity and mule accounts which are Accounts that scammers use to launder Stolen Funds all right let's stick with fraud For our main story crypto world's Jordan Smith spoke with Chris januski the head Of global investigations for trm labs The two discussed the most popular scams For 2023 and how the firm is helping law Enforcement crack down on crypto Criminals so as we head into the end of The year I'm calling on you to check in On on the state of crypto crime trm
Reported around 9 billion was sent to Fraud schemes in 2022 and over at chain Analysis they they reported that crypto Crime was down about 65% at the mid-year Mark this year um but now that we're Closing out 2023 what's trm seeing in Terms of how active crypto criminals are And importantly um are the size of the Crimes that do still happen are they are Those still getting Bigger yeah first of all thanks for Having me I appreciate uh being here Today um yeah we do still see I think an Increase in some uh specific crimes uh Continue to grow but we're also seeing Kind of a grow in the scope of different Typ of crimes that are being impacted by Crypto and also we're seeing that the Growth of crypto from not just focused On bitcoin but it branching out to Multiple different change I think the Biggest change that we've seen is the Shift from Bitcoin Centric to Tron and The stable currency stable coin on Tron Uh for a handful of reasons and we'll Anticipate that'll probably continue to Grow within the next Year yeah one of the things I'm curious About is I think in 2021 and 2022 so Many many new investors were getting Into crypto that uh it may have seemed Easier to maybe um get somebody to buy Into a particular scam or fraud um now That the crypto Market's sort of dried
Up and only the biggest enthusiasts are Are still sort of in the market and Really paying attention has it become Harder to convince people to to buy into These scams or is it is it getting Easier as people are looking for ways to To make Money I think one of the drivers is Still just that fear of missing out that F there are the real stories of people That were early adopters of Bitcoin and Just became millionaires not soon after And so when this new coin comes out this New token uh we've seen it time and time Again people kind of like yeah I know Maybe I shouldn't but just what if it is What if you know this $2,000 or whatever Turns into just a high rate of return And unfortunately the kind of growth in Pig butchering has really fueled the Scam market so maybe it's somebody that Like didn't necessarily look and seek Out cryptocurrency as an investment but They were um approached unsolicited kind Of gotten this relationship put a little Bit of money in they saw these kind of Fake returns and thought like well I'm Getting 100% return for a very short Period of time maybe I should just dump In more money and unfortunately it just Keeps going so then they think they have This money they want to try and get it Out we' see the perpetrators say yeah You can get it out you just need to pay
The taxes UPF front and so then they may Like borrow money against something else And try as a Las ditch effort to pay the Taxes to get back those false returns And we see that growing over and over Again which is really unfortunate Because um you know this is impacting Real people's lives yeah we've seen a Bunch of high-profile fraud cases this Year and and you mentioned Pig Butchering trm actually helped the doj Stop a $112 million crypto scam focused On Pig butchering can you can you first Explain what pig butchering is what that Entails for people who are unfamiliar And and also talk to me about what the Dialogue is like with law enforcement And are they becoming more Savvy in Dealing with these crimes as you help Them yeah Pig butchering is pretty Unique name and it goes to kind of the Thought process of that if you were Raising pigs you wouldn't butcher them Very early in their life you would kind Of fatten them up and go for the Long Haul and get the most return that you Can out of them and that's kind of the Approach they take in these scams they Approach people and maybe right up front They don't ask for money but then as They build trust build dis relationship And then oh by the way I'm invest in This whatever or I can get you a return But because we're friends I'll get you
In I don't normally get everybody else In uh and then kind of get the most out Of them that they can the downside for These cases that it impacts so many People and they can become pretty Complex pretty quickly so at trm Labs What we try to do is help our law Enforcement Partners unpack that Complexity so it might be somebody in That impacted that local la enforcement Is investigating and maybe they lost $200,000 which is substantial but in the Grand scheme of all the massive scams That are going on is maybe not that Substantial but very quickly we will see That often it touches on other victims Across the globe um who are losing other Their substantial amounts of money and Then we see that what was maybe a $200,000 scam quickly becomes a Multi-million dollar scam like we saw With the Department of Justice and their Seizure for over a hundred millions of Dollars I think law enforcement is very Much aware of the problem uh you seen Agencies like FBI Secret Service really Focused on trying to make an impact in This threat uh we see the react task Force out of California backed by Aon West that's focused from a state and Local approach to try and help victims And I think what the encouraging thing Is that the leaders of these agencies See this as like a long-term investment
And so they're investing in working with Companies like trm trying to get the Public private Partnerships to try and See if we can work on these threats Together together but I think another Thing that's inspiring too is that uh US Law enforcement is also looking to build Up Partners around the world saw Recently that like Secret Service was in Ukraine uh IRS as well trying to build Up um foreign law enforcement so they Can also try and combat this threat Together I think another thing that's Unique about crypto that makes it um Better to try and Tackle these threats Is that websites like chain abuse where Normal people like you and I can go and Submit our stories and hopefully prevent Other people from investing and losing Out but also law enforcement could take That information to build up their case Identify more victims that might be Outside their jurisdiction that they Originally were not aware of um and try And put together these bigger cases that Can hopefully result in hundreds of Millions of dollars of seizures like the Doj recently did turning ahead to 2024 We're starting to see more activity in The crypto Market thanks to excitement For ETFs or hopes that the worst of the Crypto winter is sort of behind us um Investor interest is is perhaps picking Up for next year so knowing that is is
Trm expecting crime to pick back up in 2024 or what are the trends that you're Watching right Now yeah it's hard to say kind of Predict but I think that one thing we Found is that uh criminals illicit Actors they can be pretty um resourceful And they can adapt over time we've seen It recently with like Hamas with their Fundraising campaign where initially They had an account at a us-based Exchange and they pivoted to off um an Un hosted address and then just recently This year they said they were no longer Going to accept Bitcoin because they Thought it was too dangerous for their Donors does that mean that they would Stop soliciting for donations probably Not no uh but it's interesting to kind Of watch this um flow so we do expect it To kind of stick around we do see uh More and more kind of like crimes Touching on it such as like kidnappings Or potential other violent crimes Uh but again you know I think that that Silver lining is if not for a public Trail to follow that a lot of these Crimes might otherwise go um without Some type of Resolution all right that's it for Crypto world today we'll be back again Tomorrow with a lot more we'll see you [Music] Then
