Cybercrime on the Ethereum Blockchain

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftForschungsartikelBeigetragenBegutachtung

Beitragende

Abstract

We examine how cybercrime impacts victims’ risk-taking and returns. The results from our difference-in-differences analysis of a sample of victim and matched non-victim investors on the Ethereum blockchain are in line with prospect theory and suggest that victims increase their long-term total risk-taking after losing part of their wealth, leading to lower risk-adjusted returns in the post-cybercrime period. Victims’ long-term total risk-taking increases because they increase diversifiable risk due to victims’ post-cybercrime withdrawal from altcoins. At the same time, the reduction in risk-adjusted returns correlates with increased trading activity and churn, due plausibly to managing cybercrime exposure. In the cross-section of Ethereum addresses, we show that the most affluent victims take a systematic approach to restore their pre-cybercrime wealth level, while the least affluent victims turn into gamblers. Finally, a parsimonious forensic model explains a good part of the addresses’ probability of being involved in cybercrime, on both the victim and the cybercriminal side.

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Aufsatznummer107419
Seitenumfang25
FachzeitschriftJournal of Banking and Finance
Jahrgang175 (2025)
Frühes Online-Datum8 März 2025
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - Juni 2025
Peer-Review-StatusJa

Externe IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-0576-7759/work/142239320
unpaywall 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2025.107419
Scopus 105001824259

Schlagworte