- Chainalysis uncovers 372 wallets profiting from money laundering
- In total, these addresses earned $158.3 million
Analytical blockchain company Chainalysis warnedthat hackers have a new way to use their illegally obtained cryptocurrencies. The firm said that mining pools could be the new mixers for cybercriminals.
According to a report from Chainalysis, 372 wallets were found that were used to hold exchange deposits. They profited from both mining and laundering. In general, since 2018, about $158 million has been received by these addresses.
“Mining pools can be an important money laundering strategy for many participants in ransomware programs.”, writes Chainalysis.
This method of money laundering has been gaining popularity since 2018. There is a noticeable trend that ransomware-related wallets are sending more and more funds to mining pools.
As an example, Chainalsysis cites a deposit wallet on a popular crypto exchange. The address received large sums from “extortion incidents” and mining pools. Of the $94.2 million sent to this deposit address, $19.1 million came from ransom addresses and $14.1 million from mining pools.
While funds have always been sent to the exchange via intermediary wallets, Chainalysis has found instances where a wallet receiving ransom funds directly transferred them to a mining pool wallet, which then sent the coins to the exchange. This may indicate that the wallets used for ransom and the wallets associated with mining belong to the same owner, who uses mining as a way to launder criminal funds.