The two brothers manipulated the ethereum blockchain to divert sums into their accounts last April
The DOJ arrested two siblings, Anton and James Peraire-Bueno, for allegedly stealing $25 million of cryptocurrency in just 12 seconds in April last year.
The MIT graduates are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. If found guilty, they could get up to 20 years for each count.
An innovative crime
The two brothers manipulated the ethereum blockchain to divert sums into their accounts last April.
The brothers, who attended mathematics and computer science courses at MIT, found a weak spot in ethereum. There was a time lag between when a crypto transaction was posted and when it was added to the blockchain.
So, they devised a sophisticated plan to redirect funds from pending transactions to their various shell companies.
The crypto bros’ ability to tamper with the blockchain process is worrisome. It questions the integrity of the advanced tech widely regarded as the unbreakable safety lock for cryptocurrencies.
The crime comes when the Securities and Exchange Commission has allowed Wall Street firms to trade using crypto and is yet to decide if it should approve an ethereum ETF.