Crypto crime hits record $20 billion in 2022, report says

In 2022, the cryptocurrency industry struggled as risk taking decreased and many crypto businesses went under. Regulators increased requests for more consumer protection as a result of the significant losses suffered by investors.

Despite a decline in total crypto transaction volumes, Chainalysis reported that the value of crypto transactions involving illegal activities increased for the second year in a row.

According to Chainalysis, transactions involving sanctioned organizations grew more than 100,000 times in 2022 and accounted for 44% of all illegal activities in 2017.

Much of 2022's unlawful volume was made up of funds received through the Russian exchange Garantex, which the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned in April. Chainalysis said that the majority of the activity was "likely Russian users utilizing a Russian exchange." Wallets are labeled as "illicit," according to a Chainalysis spokeswoman, if they are a part of an approved company.

An email request for comment from Garantex did not get a response right away.

Additionally, the United States placed sanctions on cryptocurrency mixing services Blender and Tornado Cash last year, alleging that they were being used by hackers, including those from North Korea, to launder billions of dollars in profits from their cybercrimes.

While other illegal cryptocurrency transactions, such as those involving frauds, malware, funding terrorism, and human trafficking, witnessed volume declines last year, the amount of stolen cryptocurrency money increased by 7%.

"The recent market decline might be contributing to this," stated chain analysis. We've discovered in the past, for example, that cryptocurrency scams make less money during weak markets.

According to Chainalysis, the $20.1 billion estimate only accounts for transactions that are visible on blockchains and leaves out "off-chain" crimes like false accounting by cryptocurrency companies.

According to Chainalysis, the statistic does not include instances in which cryptocurrency is used as payment for non-crypto crimes, such as drug trafficking, or when it is the profits of such crimes.

The paper noted that the number for 2021 was raised from $14 billion to $18 billion as additional scams were uncovered. "We have to emphasise that this is a lower bound estimate - our measure of unlawful transaction volume is expected to expand with time," it added.