Cryptocurrency-related fraud and theft are probable to abound in the post-COVID-19 world, according to a new report past cybersecurity and antivirus provider Kaspersky Lab.

Securelist, Kaspersky'southward cyberthreat research arm, published a report on cyberthreats to financial organizations, forecasting some specific types of financial attacks that are likely to surge in 2021.

Securelist has predicted that a wave of poverty fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic will inevitably lead to "more people resorting to offense including cybercrime." That could also hateful a rise in crimes related to Bitcoin (BTC).

According to Kaspersky's inquiry arm, Bitcoin is likely to exist the most attractive asset for cybercrime considering it is the most pop digital asset. The report reads:

"We might run across certain economies crashing and local currencies plummeting, which would make Bitcoin theft a lot more attractive. We should await more than fraud, targeting mostly BTC, due to this cryptocurrency beingness the most popular one."

Securelist's researchers also suggested that online perpetrators could switch to more than privacy-focused digital assets similar Monero (XMR). According to the company, this switch would happen due to the increasing "technical capabilities of monitoring, deanonymization and seizing of BTC." Securelist's report reads:

" We should expect cybercriminals to switch to transit cryptocurrencies for charging victims. There is a reason to believe they might switch to other privacy-enhanced currencies, such every bit Monero, to apply these first as a transition currency and then convert the funds to whatever other cryptocurrency of option including BTC."

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, crypto-related crimes slowed significantly in 2020, though some crypto sectors, like decentralized finance, accept become new hotbeds for criminal activeness. According to a study by virtual private network firm Atlas VPN, crypto- and blockchain-related hacks are probable to go along declining in 2021.