Binance, a major crypto exchange, has prevented $2.4 billion in potential losses from fraud since January. The company announced this on Tuesday. It cited its risk management as key to protecting over 1 million users from scams. The exchange stopped suspected fraud-related funds from leaving the platform. This protected 1.2 million users globally from January to July. Binance uses a "powerful risk engine" for this task. The system combines AI and manual reviews. It monitors all transactions in real-time. This allows quick detection of suspicious activity across Binance's services. "We can spot fishy transactions fast," a Binance spokesperson said. The system covers all areas, including P2P trading and crypto withdrawals. The flagging process targets the withdrawal stage. That's when "criminals try to sneak victims' funds past our security," the company explained. Withdrawals linked to suspected scams made up 45% of prevented losses. That's over $1.1 billion this year alone. Rohit Wad, Binance's CTO, boasted about their tech. "We've built killer tools to protect our users 24/7," he said. The exchange uses various measures across eight risk levels. By July 31, Binance had recovered or frozen over $73 million in stolen funds. This surpasses the $55 million secured in all of 2023. Recovered funds are up 40% in just seven months. The exchange has also helped users recover lost assets. About 80% of these were from external hacks and theft. Wad urged investors to stay sharp. "Users play the biggest role in keeping their assets safe," he said. He advised staying informed and using strong security practices.

The SEC has slapped NovaTech and its top brass with charges. The allegation? A whopping $650 million crypto fraud. NovaTech's scheme was a doozy. It promised safe investments in crypto and forex markets. Over 200,000 investors worldwide fell for it. The company's leaders, Cynthia and Eddy Petion, are in deep trouble. They allegedly siphoned off millions for themselves. But the Petions weren't alone. The SEC also charged six promoters. These included Martin Zizi and Dapilinu Dunbar. NovaTech operated from 2019 to 2023. It was structured as a multi-level marketing scheme. Investors were told their money would be used in crypto and forex trading. Cynthia Petion made big promises. She guaranteed profits from day one. The reality was far less rosy. Most funds went to pay earlier investors and promoters. Only a small amount was actually traded. The scheme hit the Haitian-American community hard. Many investors couldn't withdraw their funds when NovaTech collapsed. Eric Werner, Director of the SEC's Fort Worth Regional Office, didn't mince words. He said NovaTech "caused untold losses to tens of thousands of victims around the world." Werner emphasized the SEC's commitment. They're going after both the masterminds and the promoters. No one's getting off easy in this case. The SEC's action sends a clear message. Crypto frauds, no matter how sophisticated, won't fly under the radar. The watchdog is keeping its eyes peeled. Not everyone thinks it is really for good, as some old-school cryptofans still see regulations as evil force on the market, yet wide crypto adoption is impossible without entities like SEC involved.

Bug bounty platform Immunefi has revealed shocking data about BNB Chain. Since its launch in September 2020, the blockchain has lost nearly $1.7 billion in crypto assets. Immunefi's research shows hundreds of fraud and security incidents on BNB Chain. The total loss stands at a whopping $1.64 billion. Hacks account for $1.27 billion across 168 incidents. Fraud makes up the remaining $368 million over 228 incidents. Four major incidents contributed to most of the losses. We are talking about attacks on BNB Chain itself, Venus Protocol, Qubit Finance, and Uranium Finance. The platform has become a hotbed for rug pulls, some experts say, and it is hard to accuse them in exaggeration. It has over twice as much fraud as Ethereum, the leading smart contract platform. "Despite efforts to maintain security, a surprising number of users attempt fraudulent activities in the form of rug pulls on the network," Immunefi notes. BNB Chain took its biggest hits in 2021 and 2022. Yes, those were the truly dark ages. Bad actors drained $911 million from the protocol during this period. Things improved slightly in 2023, with losses dropping to $165 million. However, rug pulls continue to plague the project. They accounted for 44% of total losses on BNB Chain in 2023. In comparison, Ethereum's rug pull losses were just 1.7% in the same year. For those not in the know, rug pulls are a nasty piece of work. Scammers create a fake project to lure in investors. Then they pull the rug out, draining as much money as possible. Though this technology is not new, and there a massive warnings about it all over the crypto world, hundreds and even thousands of rookie investors keep falling for it every year. The crypto world is a wild ride, and BNB Chain's story is no exception. Despite its troubles, the native token BNB is holding steady. It's trading at $532, up 1.68% in the last 24 hours.

Floki Inu, a well-known memecoin project, has issued a warning about unauthorized tokens. These tokens falsely claim association with the Floki brand. And they have appeared on Solana and Base blockchains, trying to steal money in a rather untraditional way. The project's official X account alerted followers to the scam. Floki Inu emphasized that genuine FLOKI tokens exist only on two networks. These are BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum. To aid users, Floki listed its legitimate contract addresses. On Ethereum, it's "0xcf0c122c6b73ff809c693db761e7baebe62b6a2e". On BNB Smart Chain, it's "0xfb5b838b6cfeedc2873ab27866079ac55363d37e". The project urged community members to verify token information. This should be done through official channels only. Such caution helps prevent falling victim to frauds. Despite these security challenges, Floki Inu continues to expand its ecosystem. A key development is the FLOKI Name Service on BNB Chain mainnet. This service enables users to register decentralized domain names with the .floki extension. The service uses Space ID architecture. This allows interoperability with numerous decentralized applications. These include popular platforms like Trust Wallet and PancakeSwap. Floki Inu has reached a milestone of over 417,400 holders on BNB Chain. To celebrate, it launched a rewards program. Holders can now claim a percentage of interest rewards. In March, the project unveiled its 2024 roadmap. It includes several new features and utility-focused initiatives. One plan involves regulated digital banking accounts. Users will be able to create and fund bank accounts using FLOKI tokens. The roadmap outlines a partnership with a licensed fintech firm. This will enable digital bank accounts with Swift payments and SEPA IBAN capabilities. The service will expand across Canada, Spain, Dominica, Australia, and the UAE. In January, Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a cautionary note. It warned about the "Floki Staking Program" and "TokenFi Staking Program". The SFC stated these products offer staking services with high promised returns. However, they lack authorization for public sale in Hong Kong.

Cryptocurrency hacks and fraud escalated in the second quarter of 2024. Losses nearly doubled compared to the same period last year. Immunefi, a crypto bug bounty platform, reported $509 million in losses. This marks a 91% increase from Q2 2023. May 2024 saw record-breaking losses of $107 million. June losses decreased to $78 million across 12 incidents. This represents a 27% drop from June 2023's $107 million. DMM Bitcoin, a Japanese centralized exchange, suffered the largest loss. Hackers stole $305 million. The exchange has since implemented customer reimbursement measures. Other significant exploits targeted BtcTurk, Hedgey, Lykke, Gala Games, and SonneFinance. These attacks resulted in combined losses of $164.2 million. Centralized crypto financial institutions bore the brunt of successful attacks. They accounted for two-thirds of all incidents. Grace Dees, a cybersecurity analyst at Resonance Security, explained the trend to Decrypt. "CEFi entities often manage larger pools of assets compared to DeFi platforms. This makes them more lucrative targets," she said. Dees highlighted the vulnerability of centralized systems. "This centralization can create single points of failure," she noted. Regulatory scrutiny has forced DeFi platforms to enhance security. This may have made them less attractive targets, according to Dees. Ethereum emerged as the most exploited blockchain. It accounted for 44.4% of attacks. BNB chain followed at 25%, with Arbitrum at 5.6%. Jonah Michaels from Immunefi explained Ethereum's vulnerability. "Ethereum is the main hub for DeFi activity and currently has the highest amount of funds locked within its ecosystem," he said. Ethereum's connection to privacy chains facilitates quick laundering of stolen funds. This makes it an attractive target for hackers. Only 5% of stolen funds were recovered in Q2 2024. This amounted to $26,736,000 across four specific situations. The crypto industry faces ongoing security challenges. As the market evolves, so do the tactics of malicious actors.