in the red and in the green, the market managed to stay above $175 billion.
The somewhat positive situation was induced by Bitcoin's growth over the month, and its relative stability throughout the past week.
Despite a small price fall on April 26, the coin is currently standing above the $5,400 level of resistance.
Ever since late-2017, this is the first time for Bitcoin to record a three-month winning streak.
Small but steady, the growth prompted the leading cryptocurrency on the market to rise from $4,127 to $5,393, which notes just over 30 percent gains.
Unfortunately, many of the leading altcoins (according to market cap) show poor results on the charts.
Among the top 10 coins, only Bitcoin is with gains during the day, while the rest of them are in the red.
Bitcoin Remains the Main Coin for Crypto Crime
Continuing a longtime trend, Bitcoin is still the favored choice of cryptocurrency when it comes to crypto crime, according to Chainalysis Cofounder Jonathan Levin, speaking on Fortune's 'Balancing the Ledger' show last week.
Levin's firm, which provides blockchain intelligence services, recently discovered that approximately 95 percent of all cryptocurrency crimes involved Bitcoin.
There are thousands of cryptocurrency choices on the market, and some of them gained popularity over the year.
Such examples are privacy-focused coins like Monero. Nevertheless, the new information reveals that cybercriminals still favor Bitcoin over the other digital assets that emerged on the market.
Levin's claims are backed up by some of the recent drug busts around the world, that often mention Bitcoin as the primary means of payment.
These Bitcoin transactions are the main factor that assists the authorities in tracing criminals and their illegal purchases.
More Than $350M in Crypto Stolen in Q1 2019
More than $350 million in cryptocurrency has been stolen in the first three months of 2019, a new report shows.
According to the anti-money laundering report done by crypto analysis firm CipherTrace, the number is expected to rise to more than $1 billion by the end of the year.
One of the thefts included in the $350 million that was stolen this year is the ongoing case with QuadrigaCX, a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange that was involved in the disappearance of $195 million worth of cryptocurrency.
Investigators believe that this was a part of an exit scam carried by the exchange.
The report further shows that there is a significant growth in the number of crypto transactions coming from the U.S. and going to offshore exchanges during 2018.
Overall, CipherTrace believes that the real numbers are much higher than they appear, considering that they represent only the losses from visible thefts and not those that remain to be discovered.
According to them, cybercriminals are developing new and enhanced techniques to steal people's cryptocurrency funds.
UK Darknet Drug Ring Jailed for 30 Years
Last week, multiple members of a U.K. drug trafficking ring were sentenced to over 30 years in prison.
The individuals in the case included: Hassan Jalilian, who was the leader of the group, distributors Michael Bendo and Gohar Manzoor, and Manzoor's wife, Razna Begum.
Jalilian ran the operations from an apartment belonging to his then-girlfriend, Cheryl Scott.
He used the dark web to import drug supply, particularly crystal meth, which was sold in West Yorkshire.
The gang managed the operations on the dark web through cryptocurrencies to avoid detection.
They also sold cocaine and ecstasy, and were running the drug ring for four months back in 2017.
According to news outlets, Jalilian was given a sentence of more than 11 years in prison, Bendo is faced with eight years, while Manzoor was sentenced to seven years.
Manzoor's wife got off with a 12-month community order.
New Type of Crypto Malware Rises in Popularity
A new crypto malware known as Beapy, which was first spotted back in January, is allegedly rising in popularity.
Researchers at Symantec revealed the information to TechCrunch recently after they discovered that the malware infected over 12,000 devices in almost 800 organizations in only three months.
Beapy infects target devices through email, and once it has been clicked it opens a door on the computer, spreading a National Security Agency exploit known as "Eternal Blue" to obtain money from the users.
That goes on to show that the highly classified exploits from the NSA that were stolen two years ago are still used by hackers.
The open-source malware operates in a similar manner to the notorious WannaCry ransomware that was spread internationally back in 2017.
Reportedly, Beapy is not centered on individuals currently-its primary targets are large companies or organizations with many computers.
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That's it for our summary of this week's major crypto news headlines. This is the 44th post in our crypto news series. Catch up on the latest installments here:
