The value of the number one digital currency, bitcoin, has lately been on a punishing tailspin, falling by approximately 40 percent in 2018 and over 70 percent from the time when it was at the peak in December 2017. Possibly, due to cyber injury and similar acts, this popular digital currency has found itself out of favor with yet another group of users.
The fall out of bitcoin
Going by recent reports, an illicit activity that is usually linked to bitcoin is declining. Now, the cybercrime industry, as well as money laundering activity taking a different way from bitcoin to another, referred to as privacy coins, such as Monero, which is coveted by the underworld for the privacy of transactions. This has lured away those who at one time turned to bitcoin for features like that.
Referring to cryptocurrency usage, the officials at a virtualization-based security firm called Bromium wrote in a recent news briefing that it already according to research as well as other sources that the time of Bitcoin in the criminal sunshine could be declining and giving rise to other forms of virtual currency.
Bromium stated that one of the reasons why the criminals avoided Bitcoin is the transparency of the blockchain technology as well as the increasing number of tools used to detect how these funds are transferred through the bitcoin wallets.
The rise of less common coins – Monero
The document sent along with a news release on a report with the title ‘Into the Web of Profit.’ The report was compiled by Dr. Mike McGuire, a senior lecturer in criminology at Surrey University in Guildford, England.
This report stated that up to about $200 billion was in illegal profits being laundered every year, and since the digital currencies are the principal tool for laundering, criminals have begun to shift to the less common coins like Monero.
Monero’s market cap is currently merely more than 1 percent of all the digital currencies, as compared to bitcoin, which makes up to about 42.9 percent. Nevertheless, three years back, bitcoin was dominating the digital-asset sector, as it accounted for about 86.5 percent of all the currencies, while Monero was merely 0.11 percent.
