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In 2022, the global crypto market reported a loss of more than $3.8 billion due to crypto hacking and related thefts by hackers. Chainalysis, a US-based blockchain analytics firm, published a report claiming that 2022 will be the biggest year ever for crypto hacking worldwide. It went on to say that North Korean-linked hackers drove much of last year crypto hacking activity, smashing their own yearly record for cryptocurrency theft. According to Reuters, North Korean-related accounts have been valued at a loss of millions of dollars. However, this did not stop the country hackers from stealing an estimated $1.7 billion in several hacks in 2022. According to the Chainalysis report, Korean hackers "stole an estimated $1.7 billion in cryptocurrency across multiple hacks attributed to them." North Korea-linked hackers, such as those in the cybercriminal syndicate Lazarus Group, have been the most prolific cryptocurrency hackers in recent years, according to the report. Many experts believe that the stolen cryptocurrencies and money are being used by the North Korean government to "fund its nuclear weapons programmes." Last year, US authorities seized approximately $30 million in stolen funds from North Korean hackers. Chainalysis stated that crypto hacking will become more difficult and less fruitful with each passing year. The last year saw a "ebb and flow" of cryptocurrency hacking activity. However, massive increases in crypto hacking theft were reported in March and October. Approximately $775.7 million was stolen in 32 separate attacks during the month of October, while $732.4 million was stolen in March. In terms of crypto thefts, November 2022 ranked third with $531.9 million. Since 2021, decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols have been the primary target of crypto hackers. This will only get worse in 2022. According to Chainalysis, DeFi protocols were the target of 82.1 percent of all cryptocurrency thefts committed by hackers. This is up from 73.3 percent in 2021. According to the report, cross-chain bridge protocols accounted for 64% of the $3.1 billion in stolen crypto from DeFi. Cross-chain bridge protocols allow users to transfer their cryptocurrency from one blockchain to another. North Korean hackers stole approximately $1.1 billion in DeFi protocol hacks. Many of the stolen assets are sent to other DeFi protocols that are not listed on centralised exchanges by these hackers. They do this in order to convert or swap their stolen assets for more liquid assets. According to Chainalysis, last year was one of the worst years for cryptocurrency in terms of illegal transactions totaling more than $20.1 billion.

Bitcoin (BTC), the world oldest and most popular cryptocurrency, fell below $23,000 early Tuesday morning. Ethereum (ETH), on the other hand, has remained stable around $1,500. Other popular altcoins, such as Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), and Solana (SOL), were mostly in the reds. With a 24-hour gain of more than 11%, the MINA token remained the top gainer. BitDAO (BIT) was the biggest loser, falling more than 17% in a 24-hour period. At the time of writing, the global crypto market cap was $1.04 trillion, a 3.25 percent drop in a 24-hour period. Bitcoin price todayAccording to CoinMarketCap, the price of bitcoin was $22,859.43 after a 3.69 percent drop in the previous 24 hours. BTC was trading at Rs 19.51 lakhs on the Indian exchange WazirX. Ethereum price todayAt the time of writing, the price of ETH was $1,568.30, representing a 4.34 percent 24-hour loss. According to WazirX, the current price of Ethereum in India is Rs 1.34 lakhs. Dogecoin price todayAccording to CoinMarketCap data, DOGE gained 1.91 percent in a 24-hour period and is currently trading at $0.09127. According to WazirX, the Dogecoin price in India is Rs 7.70. Litecoin price todayLitecoin gained 0.79 percent in a 24-hour period. It was trading at $95.79 at the time of writing. In India, the price of LTC was Rs 7,650.01. Ripple price todayThe price of XRP was $0.3923 after a 5.28 percent drop in the previous 24 hours. Ripple current price is Rs 33.48, according to WazirX. Solana price todaySolana was trading at $24.02, down 5.73 percent in 24 hours. According to WazirX, the SOL price in India was Rs 2,050.18.

FTX declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to meet customer withdrawal requests. SBF was later charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the US Department of Justice for his involvement in the entire saga (DOJ). Since then, the crypto community has been waiting for a decision in the case. The FTX collapse was one of the most shocking events in cryptocurrency history. FTX, founded by ex-CEO Samuel Bankman-Fried (SBF), was the world second-largest centralised cryptocurrency exchange, handling user funds worth billions of dollars. SBF was later charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the US Department of Justice for his involvement in the entire saga (DOJ). Since then, the cryptocommuniFTX exchange has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to meet customer withdrawal requests. SBF was later charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the US Department of Justice for his involvement in the entire saga (DOJ). Since then, the crypto community has been waiting for a decision in the case. Ty has been waiting for the case outcome with bated breath. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of investors are closely following the court proceedings, wondering if they will ever see their money again. Fortunately, prosecutors on the case and FTX restructuring team were able to seize/recover a substantial amount of funds associated with the exchange and its founder, SBF. Here a look at some of the seized/recovered funds and what they mean for ill-fated crypto exchange investors. Robinhood shares seized Federal prosecutors revealed that they seized more than $698 million in funds linked to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried between January 1 and January 20. These findings were made public as part of a court filing submitted by US Attorney Damian Williams on January 20. The majority of the seized funds were made up of Robinhood stock; 55.3 million shares in total, worth approximately $525 million at current prices. These shares were held by Emergent Fidelity Technologies, an Antigua-based shell company founded by SBF and FTX co-founder Gary Wang. Prosecutors also seized $100 million and $50 million in accounts held by Silvergate Bank and Farmington State Bank, respectively. These accounts allegedly belonged to FTX Digital Markets, FTX Bahamas-based subsidiary. The restructuring team recovers $5.5 billion Another encouraging development was the announcement by FTX restructuring team that they were able to recover $5.5 billion in cash, crypto holdings, and other assets. These details were revealed by FTX lead attorney Adam Landis during a court hearing in Delaware on January 11. Almost $3.5 billion of the recovered funds, according to Landis, were crypto assets, including $268 million in BTC, $245 million in stablecoins, and $42 million in Dogecoin. The lawyers also stated that $1.2 billion in FTX crypto assets were held at other cryptocurrency exchanges. According to the restructuring team, these crypto assets can be easily converted to cash. However, the size of the holdings was so large that if sold on the open market, they could have an impact on prices. FTX is given the green light to divest regional operations and other subsidiaries On January 13, a judge overseeing the FTX proceedings granted permission to the restructuring team to sell some of its subsidiaries and regional arms. FTX Japan and FTX Europe are among them, as are the equities trading platform Embed Technologies and the derivatives exchange LedgerX LLC. The court appointed Perella Weinberg, an investment bank, to oversee the sale process. It also set bid deadlines for Embed, LedgerX, and the other two FTX arms of January 18, January 25, and February 1, respectively. Perella, according to Kevin Cofsky, a partner, had received bids from nearly 120 interested parties. The sale of these assets is expected to bring a sizable sum of money back into FTX coffers. Will it, however, be sufficient to cover customer debt? According to estimates, over nine million FTX customers owe between $1 billion and $10 billion in total. If these estimates are correct, the recovered/seized amounts do not even come close to the total amount owed. However, it has only been a few months since FTX declared bankruptcy. As a result, there is always the possibility of additional recoveries in the months ahead. Furthermore, the sale of FTX subsidiaries and regional arms could generate significant funds. However, it is unknown how much money the sales will generate. The only certainty is that FTX debtors will have to wait several years before any funds are returned. We can only wait and watch until then.

Cryptocurrency has emerged as a sector that has begun to attract investments from a large group of female investors from all over the world. According to a new report from eToro, cryptocurrency is the second most widely held financial asset by women, trailing only cash. Women crypto holdings increased from 29 percent to 34 percent in the last two quarters of 2022 — between July and December. During the same time period, male crypto investments increased by 1%. As part of its Retail Investor Beat survey, the Israeli online brokerage platform recruited 10,000 participants from thirteen different countries. "Crypto is succeeding where traditional financial markets have sometimes failed," according to CoinTelegraph, citing an eToro report. The increased participation of women in the crypto sector has recently been highlighted and acknowledged by Indian exchanges CoinSwitch Kuber and WazirX. According to CoinSwitch, women users from India accounted for 8% of total transactions last year. According to WazirX findings, Indian women prefer blue chip tokens, which are perceived to have higher long-term value and better liquidity. Despite the fact that cryptocurrencies have not been in the best of health in recent months, the sector has seen a significant number of new entrants. Despite the industry major turbulence, overall crypto holdings increased from 36% to 39% last year on a quarter-by-quarter basis. Retail investors, like women investors, are flocking to the crypto bandwagon. Retail investors aged 35 to 54 increased their crypto holdings by 10% last year. In the case of eToro, it acquired options trading platform Gatsby in August in order to expand its presence and crypto services in the United States. The transaction was completed for $50 million (approximately Rs. 400 crore) in cash and common stock. eToro, headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, began in 2007 as a fintech firm before shifting its focus to the crypto sphere as its business evolved.