finland - Pwim.Net

Miss Finland: Most Women Stay Away From Bitcoin Because of Its Risk

One of cryptocurrency’s strongest female supporters states that women tend to stay away from Bitcoin due to its high-risk level, hence its low popularity among women.

Miss Universe Finland 2015 winner, Rosa-Maria Ryyti, had argued that Bitcoin’s risk factor has made it more appealing to men, in a twitter discussion on September 5th. Her statement was in response to a query by an analyst Filb Filb, he had asked followers why the Bitcoin community was overwhelmingly male.

“Women are more risk-conscious in general and often go for a ‘slow & steady’ investment strategy,” Ryyti further added that:

“The current general perception of Bitcoin in the MSM makes it even less probable for the average woman (and man) to get involved.”

What statistics say about this gender imbalance

According to available data, about 90% of the Bitcoin community are male.

This issue has often sparked off debates and has led to dedicated structures put in place to increase the massive gender imbalance.

A previous report had stated that one out of every five cryptocurrency holders is a woman, this was revealed in a survey conducted by Bitpanda and GlobalWebIndex. The aim of this survey at the time was to gather and collate data so as to more accurately get the bigger picture of European crypto investors.

Ryyti herself had risen to limelight only recently, participating in the Lightning Torch Bitcoin transaction relay earlier this year.

Image via Shutterstock

Finland Seeking Brokers for Selling $79M Bitcoin Seized from Illegal Drug Market

The Custom authority of Finland has announced that it is looking to hire brokers to sell 1,981 Bitcoins seized from illegal drug dealer networks to convert them into fiat currency. At the time of writing, the bitcoins in question are worth about $79 million and currently are held by Finnish Customs.

Pekka Pylkkanen, the director of finances at the Finnish Customs government agency, talked about the development and said that Finland’s customs authority is looking to sell the Bitcoins via a broker, stating that a broker will ensure a reliable and safe selling of the crypto assets.

According to the report, Finland’s customs authority plans to sign up to three brokers for a two-year deal valued at about €250,000 ($297,000). It could reach as much as €2 million if the government agency seizes more Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. That range takes into account the volatile price movement of cryptocurrencies.

The customs agency confiscated the majority of the seized Bitcoins (1,666 out of 1,981) in 2016 after arresting Finnish drug dealer Douppikauppa.

During that time, the government told authorities that they were prohibited from storing the coins on crypto exchanges and was advised to keep them off digital platforms.

At the time of confiscation, the bitcoins were worth about $860,000, but currently, they are valued at more than $79 million.

In 2018, the customs authority was looking to sell Bitcoins through auction, but the agency did not proceed with the plans because there were concerns that the crypto assets would end back in criminal hands.

Now the price of Bitcoin has skyrocketed, Finland’s customs authority wants to liquidate the seized coins as soon as possible in the coming months.

Direct Seizures and Sales of Cryptos

In recent years, multiple nations have sold crypto-assets seized during criminal investigations, with the US taking the lead in 2020.

In November 2020, the US Department of Justice seized more than $1 billion worth of Bitcoin linked to the Silk Road website’s criminal marketplace.

During that time, the Justice Department moved about 70,000 Bitcoins from an account believed to be linked to the illicit marketplace. Silk Road was an online black market for selling everything from drugs to murderers-for-hire and stolen credit cards.

The US government shut down the online black market in 2013. But the sum mentioned above was the largest amount of cryptocurrency seized to date by the Department of Justice.

In March 2021, the French government also auctioned off €28 million worth of Bitcoins seized from hackers in 2019.

LocalBitcoins Shuts Down After 10 Years

LocalBitcoins, a peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin trading platform located in Finland, has announced that it would be ceasing operations after more than a decade of providing services to its users.

On February 9, LocalBitcoins made the formal announcement that company will be discontinuing its services, citing the challenging market circumstances caused by the protracted bitcoin winter.

LocalBitcoins urged all of its clients to remove their cryptocurrency holdings from the site and instructed them to begin the process of removing Bitcoin (BTC) from the wallet associated with their LocalBitcoins account. According to the notification, customers have the ability to withdraw their cryptocurrency assets from their LocalBitcoins accounts for a period of one year. The company made the following observation: “However, of course, we advise you to continue with withdrawing sooner.”

According to the timeframe for the shutdown, starting on February 9, LocalBitcoins will instantly stop accepting any new registrations. On February 16th, all trading will be halted, and after that date, users will only be allowed to log in to their wallets to withdraw monies from their accounts.

The sudden shutdown of LocalBitcoins comes not long after the United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network named the site as one of the most significant Bitcoin senders to the Russia-connected exchange Bitzlato. The United States authorities have initiated a significant enforcement action against Bitzlato, accusing the company of engaging in money laundering and allegedly assisting in the evasion of sanctions imposed on Russia.

Since October 2022, when we ceased providing Russian user accounts and accounts of users resident in Russia, our records show that there have been almost no transactions between LocalBitcoins and BitZlato. This information is based on the data we have collected.

Blomberg further emphasized that Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering requirements were adhered to by LocalBitcoins in a stringent manner and that the company has been regulated by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority since 2019.

As was noted in the past, Russia was at one time one of the most important markets for LocalBitcoins. As of June 2020, the country had the highest volume of Bitcoin trades on the site. According to statistics provided by Coin Dance, the total trade volumes on LocalBitcoins have been steadily decreasing after hitting an all-time high in December of 2017.

Since February 2021, when they fell below 1,000 BTC for the first time, weekly Bitcoin trade volumes on LocalBitcoins have never recovered to their previous levels. The most recent weekly BTC trade volume that was reported on LocalBitcoins was 283 BTC, which is equivalent to around $6 million. According to statistics provided by CoinGecko, large cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase conduct daily transactions totaling $282 million in digital currency.

Finland Tracks Monero in High-Profile Cybercrime Cas

The ongoing criminal trial of Julius Aleksanteri Kivimäki in Finland has been marked by significant developments involving cryptocurrency tracking. Kivimäki stands accused of hacking into the database of Vastaamo, a private mental health firm, and demanding ransom payments in cryptocurrencies. This high-profile case has brought to light the complexities of dealing with crimes involving digital currencies, especially those designed for privacy.

In October 2022, Kivimäki allegedly demanded a ransom of 40 Bitcoin, approximately 450,000 euros at the time, threatening to release records of over 33,000 patients from Vastaamo. When his demands were not met, Kivimäki reportedly targeted individual patients. The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation has played a pivotal role in tracing the Monero transactions connected to this case, a notable achievement given Monero’s reputation for strong privacy features, including Ring Confidential Transactions and stealth addresses.

Investigators found that Kivimäki received payments in Bitcoin, then transferred these funds to an exchange that did not adhere to Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines. He subsequently converted these funds to Monero and moved them to a dedicated Monero wallet. Interestingly, it appears that the funds were later transferred to Binance, converted back to Bitcoin, and then distributed to various wallets. However, the authorities have maintained confidentiality regarding the specifics of their on-chain analysis.

This case underscores the challenges law enforcement faces in tracking transactions involving privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Monero, which are designed to be untraceable and anonymize users completely. The ability to follow the crypto trail in this instance is significant and might set a precedent for future investigations involving privacy coins.

The case of Julius Aleksanteri Kivimäki highlights the evolving landscape of cybercrime, where digital currencies play a central role, and the ongoing efforts by law enforcement agencies to adapt and respond to these challenges. The implications of this trial extend beyond the immediate case, touching on broader issues of cryptocurrency regulation, privacy, and the balance between individual freedoms and the need for security and law enforcement efficacy.