Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have existed for more than a decade, but it was not until a few years ago when they really increased their value to very high figures. During the pandemic was when we saw a substantial increase in the value of most cryptocurrencies and although less money is generated today, it is still a very active market. He biggest hacker Bitcoin is in USA and was arrested after carrying out hundreds of hacks around the world and now he is accused of having worked with the Russian mafia from his home in Alicante.
Although cryptocurrencies have been considered safe digital assets, we have already seen a large number of hacks and thefts to prove that this is not the case. For years we have seen how they have been carried out Bitcoin thefts and other cryptocurrencies by cybercriminals. These have occurred on exchange platforms such as Binance and even in video games such as Axie Infinity.
USA’s biggest Bitcoin hacker was laundering money for the Russian mafia
There are many cases and crimes around this sector, but if we have to highlight the biggest cybercriminals, there is one that is located in USAterritory. The hacker Denys Katana, a cryptocurrency specialist and of Ukrainian nationality, was in charge of advise Russian mafia leaders. The hacker, together with 4 of these members of the Russian mafia, would be in charge of carrying out a series of robberies from several banking entities worth about 5 million euros.
Now Denys Katana, Maxim Khakimov, Alexey Shirokov, Mikhail Zhizhin and Nikolay Mitryurev have been charged with their criminal offenses and the Money laundering. The investigations into this event were carried out by the Money Laundering Group of the Provincial Brigade of the Judicial Police of Alicante. As we had indicated at the beginning, Denys lived in Alicante and in the same way, the Russian mafia operated there. These were dedicated to the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoinwhich were converted into fiat money or fiduciary money that would later be used by the mafia.
In 2021 he was sentenced to 4 years in prison and now faces crimes with the Russian mafia
This network of criminals use this method to invest and obtain greater profits, something that was possible thanks to the support of Denys Katana. The hacker who lived in USA has been the author of hundreds of hacks to banks around the world and had a wallet of about 5,000 Bitcoin. To give us an idea and taking into account the current price, this would be equivalent to owning around 140 million euros in Bitcoin, almost nothing.
He already had previous criminal offenses and was sentenced to 4 years in prison in 2021. Now he must face this new investigation carried out from Benidorm, where he is considered the “Russian mafia network advisor“. The USAauthorities have not indicated whether this large amount of cryptocurrencies have been seized, although it would not surprise us. Let us remember that with the new regulations, USA aims to have a absolute control of cryptocurrencies and their transactions. The European Union has already implemented a law that will force companies and exchanges to provide information about their clients.
