The average transaction fee used to transact on the Bitcoin network has dropped below $1 and returned to levels that hadn’t been since seen April. In 25 days, the average transaction fee dropped by 95%.

The mysterious Ethereum transactions that baffled the cryptocurrency community last week for including millions of dollars worth of gas fees could be a part of a blackmailing scheme, according to researchers.

The owner of cryptocurrency exchange CoinFlux has pleaded guilty to laundering $1.8 million worth of bitcoin.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Bitcoin’s Average Transaction Fees Drop Below $1, Returning to April Levels
• Mysterious Ethereum Transactions With Millions in Gas Fees Could be Blackmail
• CoinFlux’s Owner Pleads Guilty to Laundering $1.8 Million in Bitcoin

At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $9,081.37 (-3.68%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $2.65 bn. As for ether (ETH), it is trading at $223.59 (-5.37%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $864.57 million. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index is currently tracking at 2,990.72 (-3.94%).

Bitcoin’s Average Transaction Fees Drop Below $1, Returning to April Levels

The average transaction fee being paid to move BTC on the network has dropped back to levels it was seeing in April, at little over $0.7. These levels are down from a significant spike seen last month, when users were paying up to $6.6 on average to move BTC on-chain.

According to available data, transaction fees have dropped by nearly 90% in only 25 days, as the last time they were at current levels was back in April. Some experts have revealed they believe transaction fees went up because of the halving event seen in May.

Transaction fees increase when there’s heavy usage of the network and demand for block space increases, as users compete for their transactions to be included in the next blocks. The highest level they’ve gotten to was above $55 in December 2017, when bitcoin was trading at its all-time high near $20,000.

Mysterious Ethereum Transactions With Millions in Gas Fees Could be Blackmail

Mysterious Ethereum transactions paying millions in gas fees sent by an address on the ETH blockchain have baffled the cryptocurrency community last week, with speculators believing it was either an attempt to launder money or a malfunctioning trading bot.

According to Chinese news outlet, Chainnews, blockchain analysis firm PeckShield have revealed their research shows the transactions could be deliberately spending millions in gas fees to blackmail a cryptocurrency exchange.

The report speculates an unnamed cryptocurrency exchange has been compromised in a phishing attack, but notes the hackers that gained control are not able to simply withdraw the funds to their wallets, because of a multi-signature security setting.

Instead, they are reportedly only able to move funds to addresses whitelisted by the exchange with the access they have. To try and blackmail the trading platform, they are spending millions in gas fees to pressure the exchange into paying them a ransom before they could burn all of its funds, the report claims.

CoinFlux’s Owner Pleads Guilty to Laundering $1.8 Million in Bitcoin

The owner of the CoinFlux cryptocurrency exchange had pled guilty to laundering over $1.8 million worth of bitcoin. Vlad-Călin Nistor and 14 other defendants, including the owner of a car wash, have pled guilty for their roles in a multi-million-dollar scheme that was used to defraud U.S. residents.

According to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the defendants were involved in a racketeering conspiracy and online auction fraud, and managed to defraud U.S. residents out of millions by selling goods that did not exist. The scheme was reportedly started in 2013 and was coordinated by Romanian car wash owner Bodgan-Stefan Popescu.

Popescu received bitcoin thanks to the scheme, and then moved it to Nistor, which laundered the funds using the cryptocurrency exchange he owned, CoinFlux, and deposited fiat currency into bank accounts under the names of employees and family members.

 Assistant Director Michael D’Ambrosio, U.S. Secret Service, Office of Investigations, said in the statement:

“Through the use of digital currencies and trans-border organizational strategies, this criminal syndicate believed they were beyond the reach of law enforcement.”

Nistor was arrested in December 2018 and extradited to the U.S. The defendants are awaiting sentencing.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

Build your project with CoinDesk Data

Terms | Privacy

13 Charles II St, SW1Y 4QU

London, UK

This email may include advertisements by third parties. None of the advertised or promoted products and services have been verified or approved by us and this email is not any endorsement by us of the third party or of their products or services.