The professionalisation and mass adoption of blockchain technology and digital assets, hinge critically on the industry’s compliance and the enforcement of property rights. This was the focus of a panel discussion at the recent London Blockchain Conference 2024.
The panel brought together leading experts in the field to tackle the challenges, methodologies, and opportunities for the legally compliant restitution of lost or stolen digital assets:
- Marcin Zarakowski (CEO of Token Recovery)
- Federico Paesano (Training and Investigation Lead at Crystal Intelligence)
- Lex Fisun (CEO at GlobalLedger.io)
- Roman Bieda (Head of Investigations at Token Recovery)
How people lose their crypto assets – and how to recover them
A key focus of the panel was exactly how people, businesses and governments lose the coins and aim to recover them. The panel identified the top reasons as:
- Phishing;
- Address hijacking;
- Romance scams.
In these scams, fraudsters infiltrate a victim’s personal life to convince them to send digital assets or to blackmail them later. ‘It can happen to anyone,’ said Paesano, a former investigator with the Italian financial police and now the Training and Investigation Lead at Crystal Intelligence, a company specialising in blockchain intelligence and compliance solutions for financial institutions, governments, and regulators.
While it is remarkably common for people to be scammed out of their assets, recovering those assets is far harder, the group noted. Paesano noted that one of the biggest issues is that law enforcement agencies lack the expertise and technical know-how to recover digital assets.
Despite this hurdle, he encouraged people to still report the crime to the police as it was impossible to begin the recovery process unless the funds had been reported as stolen. ‘The main goal of law enforcement is finding the perpetrator, not recovering the assets, so analytics companies can step in and help recover the assets while law enforcement deals with the perpetrator,’ he said.
Token Recovery is here to help
One company which specialises in the recovery of stolen digital assets is Token Recovery. Token Recovery is committed to bringing compliance, accountability, and a solution to the industry for lost or stolen digital assets.
As a member of the Crypto Valley Association, one of the oldest and most mature organisations grouping companies in the blockchain and digital asset, and the Global Blockchain Business Council, the largest organisation in the field, Token Recovery will begin by providing its solutions for recovering lost/stolen digital assets to the association members.
‘The current landscape for recovering lost or stolen blockchain-based assets is fraught with difficulties, which is often used by criminals and scammers. By bringing compliance and safety into the digital asset industry, Token Recovery helps to fulfil the blockchain’s promise of a fully realised digital economy, where fast peer-to-peer payments are possible, and assets of all kinds can be securely and efficiently tokenised,’ said Zarakowski.
The importance of Digital Asset Recovery
Without effective mechanisms for the recovery of lost or stolen digital assets, the enforcement of property rights will remain elusive. Part of the BSV Blockchain’s stewardship delivers on the concept of Digital Asset Recovery, a protocol that aligns blockchain technology with existing legal frameworks for asset protection.
This initiative enables the recovery or freezing of digital assets in cases of loss, theft, or if they require ownership or transfer. This is essential in establishing a regulatory-compliant network and framework for digital assets, as well as for enforcement and compliance with existing property laws.
