Crypto currency miners wreck African economies

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Crypto currency

from MARIA MACHARIA in Nairobi, Kenya
Kenya Bureau
NAIROBI, (CAJ News) – AFRICA’S leading economies- Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa- are the worst affected by a sharp increase in crypto currency mining.

Kenya is the main target.

In the third quarter of this year, Kaspersky researchers have reported an overall growth of over 230 percent in crypto miner variants compared to the same period last year.

The number is three times more than in the third quarter of 2021 and now exceeds 150 000.

Of all corporate users that were affected by crypto miners in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META)region, 8,7 percent were from Kenya, 7,9 percent from South Africa and 3,6 percent from Nigeria.

Of all consumers that were affected in the META, 11,7 percent ere from Kenya, 9,5 percent from South Africa and 3,8 percent from Nigeria.

Monero (XMR) is the most popular crypto currency for malicious mining.

Nonetheless, with the beginning of the “crypto winter of 2022”, when the value of crypto currencies dropped significantly, the crypto currency industry is facing a liquidity crisis.

Despite that, criminal activity targeting cryptocurrency industry does not seem to be slowing down, according to Kaspersky’s new research paper.

Crypto currency mining is seen as a painstaking and costly process but a very rewarding one at the same time, hence it attracts cyber criminals’ interest.

– CAJ News

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