证券交易委员会正在扩大其加密货币执法部门。为什么这很重要？因为犯罪遍及加密货币行业。

就在上个月，一名黑客从加密货币交易所Bybit偷走了大约15亿美元，该行业有史以来最大的盗窃。正如该事件所表明的那样，加密犯罪似乎越来越严重，而不是更好。

The Securities and Exchange Commission is scaling back its cryptocurrency enforcement unit. Why does this matter? Because crime pervades the crypto industry.

证券交易委员会正在扩大其加密货币执法部门。为什么这很重要？因为犯罪遍及加密货币行业。

Last month, a hacker stole about $1.5 billion from the crypto exchange Bybit in the biggest theft the industry has ever experienced. As this incident suggests, crypto crime seems to be getting worse, not better.

上个月，一名黑客从加密货币交易所Bybit偷走了该行业有史以来最大的盗窃案中的约15亿美元。正如该事件所表明的那样，加密犯罪似乎越来越严重，而不是更好。

Indeed, crypto crime likely broke records last year. Illicit crypto addresses received an estimated total of $40 billion to as much as $75 billion in 2024.

确实，加密犯罪可能破坏了去年的记录。非法加密货币地址估计在2024年收到了400亿美元，达到750亿美元。

Cryptocurrency is being used to perpetrate crimes that affect all Americans. One of the best examples is ransomware, malicious software that prevents users from accessing their computer files, systems or networks unless they pay a ransom. Crypto is the dominant form of payment demanded in these attacks because it enables cybercriminals to receive money anonymously and quickly transfer their illicit gains overseas.

加密货币被用来犯下影响所有美国人的犯罪。最好的例子之一是勒索软件，恶意软件，可以防止用户访问其计算机文件，系统或网络，除非他们支付赎金。加密是这些攻击中要求的主要付款方式，因为它使网络犯罪分子能够匿名收到钱，并迅速将其非法收益转移到海外。

Ransomware attacks reached an all-time high in 2024, targeting sectors that Americans rely on every day. In February 2024, for example, the insurer UnitedHealth Group experienced an attack that affected hospitals, doctors’ offices, pharmacies and millions of patients across the nation. UnitedHealth paid a ransom of about $22 million in bitcoin.

勒索软件攻击在2024年达到了历史最高的高度，针对美国人每天依赖的部门。例如，在2024年2月，保险公司联合健康集团（UnitedHealth Group）遭受了一场攻击，影响了全国医院，医生办公室，药房和数百万患者。 UnitedHealth支付了约2200万美元的比特币赎金。

Like ransomware attacks, meme coin “rug pulls” can have many victims. A meme coin is a cryptocurrency that is inspired by a celebrity, meme or internet trend. They’re highly volatile, speculative assets that are susceptible to fraud. In a rug pull, insiders buy up a large share of meme coin tokens in advance and then dump them after the price soars, leaving regular investors with tokens that are essentially worthless.

像勒索软件攻击一样，模因硬币“地毯拉力”可能会有许多受害者。模因硬币是一种受名人，模因或互联网趋势的启发的加密货币。它们很容易受到欺诈的影响，投机性的资产高度易变。内部人员提前购买了大量的模因硬币令牌，然后在价格飙升之后将其丢弃，使常规投资者拥有本质上一文不值的代币。

One recent example is the case of Haliey Welch, who gained internet fame as the “Hawk Tuah Girl” when she was featured in a TikTok video that went viral. In December, after parlaying her newfound celebrity into a merchandise line and podcast, she launched a meme coin. The coin’s price initially surged, but its value quickly plummeted by more than 90% after a small group of owners sold off more than 80% of the token’s supply. One investor wrote on social media, “I am a huge fan of Hawk Tuah but you took my life savings.”

Haliey Welch最近的一个例子是Haliey Welch的案例，当她在Tiktok视频中被广播时，她成为了“ Hawk Tuah Girl”的互联网名声。 12月，在将新发现的名人放入商品和播客中后，她推出了模因硬币。硬币的价格最初飙升，但其价值迅速下降了90％以上，因为一小部分业主出售了代币的80％以上的供应。一位投资者在社交媒体上写道：“我是霍克·图阿（Hawk Tuah）的忠实拥护者，但您省下了我的一生。”

While rug pulls dupe multiple investors at a time, many crypto crimes target individual victims. One particularly devastating crypto fraud is known as “pig butchering” or “romance baiting.” These scams involve online criminals luring their victims into fake romances and then stealing their money by inducing them to invest in cryptocurrency.

尽管地毯一次一次拉杜佩（Dupe）的多个投资者，但许多加密犯罪犯罪以个人受害者为目标。一个特别毁灭性的加密欺诈被称为“猪屠宰”或“浪漫诱饵”。这些骗局涉及在线罪犯将受害者引诱伪造浪漫史，然后通过诱使他们投资加密货币来窃取他们的钱。

Many people lose their life savings to these scams. One California victim, Shai Plonski, said he thought he had found the “perfect woman” on Facebook. Plonski and “Sandy” traded messages about their supposedly shared interests in yoga and poetry until Plonski revealed that his business was struggling, at which point Sandy suggested he invest in crypto with her guidance. Plonski eventually put his life savings into what he thought was a cryptocurrency investment and, when he became concerned, found he couldn’t withdraw his funds. He was one of more than 40,000 victims of these scams in the United States.

许多人对这些骗局失去了生命的储蓄。加利福尼亚州的一名受害者Shai Plonski说，他认为他在Facebook上找到了“完美的女人”。普朗斯基（Plonski）和“桑迪（Sandy）”（Sandy）交易了有关他们所谓的瑜伽和诗歌兴趣的信息，直到普朗斯基（Plonski）透露他的业务一直在挣扎，这时桑迪（Sandy）建议他在指导下投资加密货币。普朗斯基最终将自己的一生储蓄投入了他认为是一项加密货币投资，当他感到担忧时，发现他无法撤回他的资金。他是美国这些骗局的40,000多名受害者之一。

Another scam on the rise involves bitcoin ATMs. A scammer persuades a victim to deposit cash into a bitcoin ATM by using a QR code. The ATM then converts the cash to bitcoin that is immediately transferred to the scammer’s digital wallet.

兴起的另一个骗局涉及比特币自动取款机。骗子说服受害者使用QR码将现金存入比特币ATM中。然后，ATM将现金转换为比特币，该比特币立即转移到骗子的数字钱包中。

Seniors are particularly susceptible to bitcoin ATM scams. Beaufort County, S.C., which has a large senior population, reported $3.1 million in losses to crypto scams last year, including several involving bitcoin ATMs. One retired healthcare worker got a call purportedly from the sheriff’s office, informing her that she had missed her jury duty and must post a $7,500 bond to remain free until her court date. She deposited the cash into a bitcoin ATM and lost the money.

老年人特别容易受到比特币ATM骗局的影响。南卡罗来纳州的博福特县（Beaufort County）拥有大量的高年级人口，去年向加密货币骗局报告了310万美元的损失，其中包括一些涉及比特币ATM的损失。一名退休的医疗工作者据称从警长办公室接到电话，通知她她错过了陪审团的职责，必须发表7,500美元的保证金才能保持免费，直到她的开庭日期。她将现金存入了比特币ATM中，并损失了钱。

These are just a few of the ways in which criminals use crypto to harm ordinary Americans. Unfortunately, there are many others, some of which are used to finance terrorism. This is why we should be strengthening our efforts to prevent crypto crime, not weakening them.

这些只是罪犯使用加密货币伤害普通美国人的几种方式。不幸的是，还有许多其他，其中一些用于为恐怖主义提供资金。这就是为什么我们应该加强为防止加密犯罪而不是削弱他们的努力的原因。

The SEC’s new leaders say they don’t want crypto to “be a haven for fraudsters.” Unfortunately, it already is. It’s up to them and other regulators to protect the American people from the crime that pervades this industry.

SEC的新领导人说，他们不希望加密“成为欺诈者的避风港”。不幸的是，已经是。他们和其他监管机构由保护美国人民免受遍及该行业的罪行的侵害。