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Ransomware Payments Fell 35% in 2024 as More Victims Refuse to Pay: Chainalysis

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5 месяцев ago

5 февраля, 2025

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The ransomware business took a hit in 2024, with payments falling 35% year-over-year, according to a new report from Chainalysis.

Though the number of ransomware attacks increased in 2024, ransomware gangs made less money, pulling in $814 million compared to 2023’s record-high sum of $1.25 billion. The blockchain analytics firm attributes the decline to a variety of factors, including an uptick in law enforcement actions and sanctions, as well as a growing refusal by victims to pay their attackers.

Last year, less than half of all recorded ransomware attacks resulted in victim payments. Jacqueline Burns Koven, Chainalysis’ head of cyber threat intelligence, told CoinDesk that part of the non-payment trend can be attributed to a growing distrust that complying with attackers’ demands will actually result in victims’ stolen data being deleted from the attacker’s possession.

In February 2024, American insurance company United Healthcare paid a $22 million ransom to Russian ransomware gang BlackCat after one of its subsidiaries was breached and patient data exposed. But BlackCat imploded shortly after the ransom was paid, and the data United Healthcare had paid to protect was leaked. Similarly, the takedown of another Russian ransomware gang, LockBit, by U.S. and U.K. law enforcement in early 2024 also revealed that the group did not actually delete victims’ data as promised.

“What it illuminated is that payment of a ransom is no guarantee of data deletion,” Koven said.

Koven added that, even if ransomware victims wanted to pay, their hands are often tied by international sanctions.

“There’s been a spate of sanctions against different ransomware groups and for some entities, it’s outside of their risk threshold to be willing to pay them because it constitutes sanctions risk,” Koven said.

Chainalysis’ report points to one other reason for decreased payments in 2024 – victims are wising up. Lizzie Cookson, senior director of incident response at Coveware, a ransomware incident response firm, told Chainalysis that, due to improved cyber hygiene, many victims are now better able to resist attackers’ demands.

“They may ultimately determine that a decryption tool is their best option and negotiate to reduce the final payment, but more often, they find that restoring from recent backups is the faster and more cost-effective path,” Cookson said in the report.

Challenges to cashing-out

Chainalysis’ report also suggests that ransomware attackers are also struggling with cashing-out their ill-gotten gains. The firm found a “substantial decline” in the use of crypto mixers in 2024, which the report attributed to the “disruptive impact of sanctions and law enforcement actions, such as those against Chipmixer, Tornado Cash, and Sinbad.”

Last year, more ransomware actors simply held their funds in personal wallets, according to the report.

“Curiously, ransomware operators, a primarily financially motivated group, are abstaining from cashing out more than ever,» it said. «We attribute this largely to increased caution and uncertainty amid what is probably perceived as law enforcement’s unpredictable and decisive actions targeting individuals and services participating in or facilitating ransomware laundering, resulting in insecurity among threat actors about where they can safely put their funds.»

Looking forward

Despite the clear impact of law enforcement’s crackdown on ransomware gangs last year, Koven stressed that it’s too early to say whether the downward trend is here to stay.

“I think it is premature to be celebrating, because all the factors are there for it to reverse in 2025, for those large attacks — the big game hunting — to resume,” Koven said.

You can read the full report here on Chainalysis’ blog.

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American Bitcoin, Backed by Eric and Donald Trump Jr, Pulls In $220M to Accumulate BTC

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2 часа ago

1 июля, 2025

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American Bitcoin Corp, a Miami-based mining company majority owned by Hut 8 (HUT) and backed by the Trump family, has raised $220 million from accredited investors, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The raise topped its target of $200 million, and it also accepted about $10 million worth of bitcoin (BTC) in lieu of cash, the filing details. The placement netted roughly $215 million after fees. The firm sold 11,002,954 Class A shares in total.

The fresh capital will be used add bitcoin to the firm’s treasury and upgrade its fleet of mining machines.

The sons of U.S. President Donald Trump, Eric and Donald Trump Jr, owned American Data Center, which merged with American Bitcoin. According to earlier reports, American Bitcoin is 80% owned by Hut 8, with the Trump brothers owning 20%.

In May, the firm announced it is vying a public listing by merging with Gryphon Digital Mining (GRYP). Hut 8’s share are down 0.86% in pre-market trading at $18.44.

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Bitcoin Miner IREN Hits 50 EH/s Midyear Hashrate Target, Eyes AI Expansion

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2 часа ago

1 июля, 2025

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Australian bitcoin (BTC) miner IREN (IREN) said it reached its midyear hashrate target of 50 exahashes per second (EH/s) installed self-mining capacity.

The growth from 31 EH/s at the end of last year is anchored by IREN’s 750MW site in Childress, Texas, the company formerly known as formerly Iris Energy, said in an announcement on Tuesday.

Sydney-based IREN’s attention is now on Horizon 1, a 50MW AI data center at Childress, which it says it set for delivery in the fourth quarter.

Hashrate is a measurement of the computing power behind the Bitcoin network. The higher a company’s hashrate, the higher its chances of mining new BTC and receiving the rewards that come with it. Rival CleanSpark (CLSK) also reached the milestone of 50 EH/s last month.

«With 50 EH/s of mining expansion complete, we’re now turning to our next frontier, leveraging the same execution discipline to scale AI infrastructure across high-growth compute markets,» co-founder Daniel Roberts said in the statement.

IREN’s Nasdaq-listed shares closed over 4% higher at $14.57 on Monday. They were recently 4.12% lower in pre-market trading.

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Strategy’s Perpetual Preferred Stocks May Be Front Running S&P 500 Inclusion

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2 часа ago

1 июля, 2025

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Disclaimer: The analyst who wrote this article has shares in Strategy (MSTR)

Strategy’s (MSTR) perpetual preferred shares may be anticipating the bitcoin-accumulation company’s inclusion in the S&P 500 index after the largest cryptocurrency posted a record-high monthly close at a price some analysts calculate lifted quarterly earnings to a level that qualifies it for the U.S. equity benchmark.

That may not be the only reason for their popularity, however. The stocks all offer yields above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 4.25%-4.5% at levels that may be enough to attract investor interest, especially given President Donald Trump’s calls for U.S. interest rates to be lowered.

While the official announcement regarding S&P 500 inclusion is not due until September. Still, on Monday, MSTR rose 5%, pushing the stock above $400, its highest since May 22. More notable gains came from the perpetual preferred shares, STRK, which climbed 15% and STRF, which added 7.5%. The STRD shares rose 3%.

Bitcoin BTC ended June at $107,750, a level that translates into a positive earnings impact of about $11 billion for Tyson Corner, Virgina-based Strategy, and boosts earnings per share to around $39.50, according to MSTR analyst Jeff Walton. That’s enough for it to post a net positive figure from the most recent four quarters, the last barrier it faced to be added to the S&P 500.

Shares often rise when they join, or are expected to join, the benchmark because membership opens up greater demand from institutions who are not allowed to invest in companies that haven’t made the cut.

STRK’s advance pushed the price to $121 with an effective yield of 6.6%. Since its Feb. 6 launch, STRK has delivered a 42% return, outperforming both bitcoin’s 11% jump and the S&P 500’s 2%. The figures exclude dividend payments associated with these products. STRF now offers an effective yield of 8.8% and STRD 11.1%.

Altogether, these developments raise the question of whether recent market moves represent front running ahead of a possible inclusion of MSTR in the S&P 500 alone.