Blockchain@UBC August Research Talk - Ryon Shamloo

Blockchain Forensics; DeFi Investigations & Criminal Activity Talk Abstract: In just the past few years, billions of dollars in digital assets have been stolen from unsuspecting investors and protocols alike. Criminal activity within the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) space has been exponentially increasing, this can mainly be attributed to dire macroeconomic conditions and an irrational lack of security considerations. Greed and anonymity are a volatile mixture– the blockchain and DeFi space has allowed these two traits to coincide seamlessly. The ‘wild-west’ analogy of the DeFi space is a broken record by now; however, this is simply the truth. Crypto-Vigilantes have started obtaining notoriety by sensationalizing investigations, exposing criminal, immoral, and devious activity. This is a good start to creating more security focused individuals in the field, yet we still lack the proper educational resources to disseminate to the future generation of blockchain security professionals.