The share of bitcoin in the criminal circulation of cryptocurrencies fell from 97% in 2016 to 19% in 2022, follows from research TRM Labs.
According to analysts, the bear market of last year did not lead to a decrease in dollar volumes of criminal activity associated with cryptocurrencies:
- at least $7.8 billion was invested in Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes;
- $1.5 billion was the turnover of darknet marketplaces specializing in the drug trade;
- losses from hacks and exploits reached $3.7 billion (the largest amount in a year in history).
“One of the possible reasons for this stability is a qualitative leap from the dominance of bitcoin to a new multi-chain reality that has created additional threats,” the researchers noted.
For example, in 2022, only attacks on cross-chain bridges brought cybercriminals $2 billion, experts emphasized.
“Criminals are also increasingly relying on traversing networks or moving funds across various blockchains as part of their money laundering strategies to hide the source and destination of illegally obtained proceeds,” the analysts said.
In 2016, two-thirds of the losses from hacks were accounted for by the first cryptocurrency, six years later, the indicator is dominated by the Ethereum (68%) and Binance Smart Chain (19%) ecosystems.
At the beginning of the period under review, Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency used to finance terrorism. By 2022, it was almost completely replaced by assets on Tron (92%). The USDT stablecoin from Tether is mainly used.
According to a study by TRM Labs, of the $1.5 billion spent last year on illegal online drug trading platforms, 80% came from Russian-language sites. Most of them supported only bitcoin, with no choice in favor of privacy coins. Western darknet marketplaces for the most part offered payments in Monero (XMR).
Analysts recorded cases in 2022 of the use of the first cryptocurrency in corruption (cases with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Freed and Chinese intelligence officers) and to pay for contract killings (in the US and Italy).
Recall that in June, the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow seized 1,032.1 BTC from the former head of the investigation department for the Tverskoy District, Marat Tambiev, who was accused of taking bribes from members of the Infraud Organization hacker group.
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Cryplogger Newsletters: Keep your finger on the pulse of the bitcoin industry!
The share of bitcoin in the criminal circulation of cryptocurrencies fell from 97% in 2016 to 19% in 2022, follows from research TRM Labs.
According to analysts, the bear market of last year did not lead to a decrease in dollar volumes of criminal activity associated with cryptocurrencies:
- at least $7.8 billion was invested in Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes;
- $1.5 billion was the turnover of darknet marketplaces specializing in the drug trade;
- losses from hacks and exploits reached $3.7 billion (the largest amount in a year in history).
“One of the possible reasons for this stability is a qualitative leap from the dominance of bitcoin to a new multi-chain reality that has created additional threats,” the researchers noted.
For example, in 2022, only attacks on cross-chain bridges brought cybercriminals $2 billion, experts emphasized.
“Criminals are also increasingly relying on traversing networks or moving funds across various blockchains as part of their money laundering strategies to hide the source and destination of illegally obtained proceeds,” the analysts said.
In 2016, two-thirds of the losses from hacks were accounted for by the first cryptocurrency, six years later, the indicator is dominated by the Ethereum (68%) and Binance Smart Chain (19%) ecosystems.
At the beginning of the period under review, Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency used to finance terrorism. By 2022, it was almost completely replaced by assets on Tron (92%). The USDT stablecoin from Tether is mainly used.
According to a study by TRM Labs, of the $1.5 billion spent last year on illegal online drug trading platforms, 80% came from Russian-language sites. Most of them supported only bitcoin, with no choice in favor of privacy coins. Western darknet marketplaces for the most part offered payments in Monero (XMR).
Analysts recorded cases in 2022 of the use of the first cryptocurrency in corruption (cases with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Freed and Chinese intelligence officers) and to pay for contract killings (in the US and Italy).
Recall that in June, the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow seized 1,032.1 BTC from the former head of the investigation department for the Tverskoy District, Marat Tambiev, who was accused of taking bribes from members of the Infraud Organization hacker group.
Found a mistake in the text? Select it and press CTRL+ENTER
Cryplogger Newsletters: Keep your finger on the pulse of the bitcoin industry!