Intro
Coveware’s Global Ransomware Marketplace report of the first quarter of 2019 shows that Bitcoin (BTC) continues to account for the majority percentage of crypto-denominated ransomware payments.
The report which is based on aggregated ransomware data from cases tackled by Coveware’s Incident Response Team was published on the 15th of April. The report shows that in the first quarter of the year 2019, ransomware’s landscape witnessed a sharp growth in the medium ransom demanded by threat actors.
According to the report, the average sum — required in replacement for the ostensible delivery of a decryptor tool that can help victims recover data after a ransomware attack —witnessed an increase of 89% from an average $6,733 in the 4th quarter of the year 2018 to $12,762 in opening quarter of the year 2019.
According to the report, 98% of these payments paid in cryptocurrency, were payable through bitcoin.
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Coveware’s report also notes that because threat actors face almost no difficulty in the use of mixing services to exchange bitcoin for privacy-focused cryptos such as monero (XMR) or dash (DASH), they, therefore, have little or no need to move away from bitcoin to other coins.
Data by Coveware also shows that only 2% of ransomware’s payments are made using privacy coins. And these usages mostly occur later in the process as threat actors attempt to modify the transfer of their ill-gotten funds once the payment has been received.
DSHBTC: Daily
The recent increase in the price of Bitcoin (BTC) against major privacy coins may hint on the crypto giant being used for ransomware payments, coupled with its general popularity in the mainstream.
The above DSHBTC triggered a double bullish accumulation pattern on 29 Mar ’19 for a 24.04% price increase in favor of the DASH. A bearish engulfing candle pattern signaled on 02 Apr ’19 served as mother bar for a bearish accumulation pattern to be formed on 03 Apr ’19. From that point forward, the Bitcoin price has continued to grow stronger.
DSHBTC: H4
A breakdown of double bullish accumulation on 15 April ’19 03:00 from the 4-hour chart set the tone for a major part of the bearish hidden divergence pattern on 20 April ’19 03:00. On 21 April ’19 07:00 the pair signaled a double bearish accumulation pattern leading to 8.65% gain of BTC.
The price decline comes to an end through a price breakout of double bearish accumulation on 24 April ’19 15:00 in combination with a double bullish accumulation on the following day.
XMRBTC: Daily
Following a similar path as Dash, Monero lost its gains to BTC following a double bearish accumulation pattern triggered on 04 April ’19. The trend continued south by triggering continuous bearish accumulation patterns on April 08 and 12 ’19.
XMRBTC: H1
The price of Monero (XMR) slumped against Bitcoin following a bearish hidden divergence pattern triggered in combination with a breakdown of bullish accumulation on April 21 ’19 01:00. The bearish trend continued by firing up more bearish signals on April 22, and a break of critical bullish support on April 23.
A recent breakout of bearish accumulation on April 24, like a butterfly effect, may be the starting point for a bullish trend recovery.
ZECBTC: Daily
Zcash also gave up its gains to the BTC, following a bearish hidden divergence pattern signaled in combination with a bearish accumulation pattern on April 03 ’19. Subsequent bearish accumulation patterns on April 16 and 22 drove the pair further south by about 17.0%.
ZECBTC: H1
The bearish trend from a 1-hour chart perspective was initiated by a breakdown of bullish accumulation on April 23 ’19 11:00, bringing the price to a low of roughly 7.6%. After the price decline, a bullish regular divergence pattern was triggered in combination with a breakout of bearish accumulation on April 24 ’19 13:00 leading to the recoil of price to the upside.
(DSHBTC) Bitcoin Major Resistance Zones
4-Hour
0.024035, 0.023912, 0.023239
Daily
0.027715, 0.0290, 0.024467, 0.023539
(DSHBTC) Bitcoin Major Support Zones
4-Hour
0.020750,
Daily
0.023593
(XMRBTC) Bitcoin Major Resistance Zones
1-Hour
0.013189, 0.013072, 0.012406
Daily
0.014237, 0.013753, 0.013627, 0.013440
(XMRBTC) Bitcoin Major Support Zones
1-Hour
0.012040
Daily
0.012939
(ZECBTC) Bitcoin Major Resistance Zones
1-Hour
0.012602
Daily
0.015023, 0.01530, 0.01360, 0.013062
(ZECBTC) Bitcoin Major Support Zones
1-Hour
0.011539
Daily
0.011539
Conclusion
Though it’s expected that privacy coins would have been a most preferred choice for the dark web, the analysis above reveals that Bitcoin is a preferred choice. We can surmise that this is due to a steadily increasing exchange rate between altcoins in general.
