Cybercrime on the Ethereum Blockchain

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Lars Hornuf - , Chair of Business Administration, esp Finance and Financial Technology, Munich Society for the Promotion of Economic Research - CESifo GmbH (Author)
  • Paul P. Momtaz - , Munich Society for the Promotion of Economic Research - CESifo GmbH, Technical University of Munich, Syracuse University (Author)
  • Rachel J. Nam - , University of Lugano (Author)
  • Ye Yuan - , Technical University of Munich (Author)

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

Original languageEnglish
Article number107419
JournalJournal of Banking and Finance
Volume175
Early online date8 Mar 2025
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 8 Mar 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

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

Keywords