Threat actors were able to scam, hack, and defraud their way to obtaining over $41 billion from victims last year, with the total expected to surpass $51 billion in the near future, as reported by Chainalysis.
The blockchain analysis firm conducted a thorough investigation into illicit on-chain activity in the previous year, focusing on specific categories such as stolen funds, darknet markets, and ransomware, excluding non-crypto-native crimes like drug trafficking.
Although the initial estimate for 2024 indicates a lower amount of funds received by illicit cryptocurrency addresses compared to the previous year, Chainalysis predicts that the figure will increase by approximately 25% as more addresses linked to criminal activity are identified.
The majority of the illicit funds were associated with categories like “illicit actor-org,” “scam,” “darknet market,” “stolen funds,” “sanctioned jurisdiction,” and “sanctioned entity.”
While Bitcoin has seen a decrease in popularity among cybercriminals in recent years, stablecoins accounted for 63% of illicit activity in 2024. However, Bitcoin still remains prevalent in certain types of crypto-related crimes, such as ransomware and darknet market sales, according to Chainalysis. It’s worth noting that the report does not cover Monero, a leading privacy coin favored by cybercriminals.
One significant finding from the report was the increase in stolen funds, reaching $2.2 billion annually, with North Korea reportedly responsible for $1.3 billion (61%) of the total amount stolen.
Scammers continued to operate with impunity in 2024, while ransomware actors generated hundreds of millions of dollars. Darknet markets received $2 billion, slightly lower than the previous year, and illicit flows from fraud shops decreased by over half to $220 million.
The report highlighted that various illicit actors, including transnational organized crime groups, are increasingly using cryptocurrency for traditional crime types like drug trafficking, gambling, intellectual property theft, money laundering, human and wildlife trafficking, and violent crime. Some criminal networks are also leveraging crypto to facilitate polycrime, involving multiple crime types.
Despite the prevalence of cryptocurrency in illicit activities, the report emphasized that the vast majority of cryptocurrency transactions are legitimate. Historically, the volume of crypto transactions associated with illicit activity has never exceeded 1%, with the figure for 2024 currently at 0.14%.
Overall, the findings from Chainalysis underscore the ongoing challenges posed by illicit activities in the crypto space and the need for continued vigilance and regulation to combat financial crime.