Cryptocurrency crimes decreased by almost 40% in 2023. Chainalysis warns that these numbers could increase.
Chainalysis warns that these numbers could increase
Scams linked to cryptocurrencies They were reduced by almost 40% in 2023, according to the latest annual study by Chainalysis. The value received by illicit cryptocurrency addresses totaled $24.2 billion, a significant drop from the all-time high of $39.6 billion in 2022.
Of this amount, $14.9 billion, representing 61.5% of the volume of illicit transactions, are related to sanctioned entities. Likewise, the stolen volume is 1,000 million above the amount recorded in 2021, 23,200 million dollars, although it is still very far from returning to the 2018 lows (4,600 million dollars).
However, Chainalysis warns that these numbers could increase. “Within a year, these totals will almost certainly be higher, as we identify more illicit addresses and incorporate their historical activity into our estimates. For example, when we published our Crypto Crime Report last year, we estimated a volume of illicit transactions worth $20.6 billion by 2022,” they explain.
According to these experts, much of that growth came from the identification of “previously unknown and highly active” addresses hosted by sanctioned services, as well as “our addition of transaction volume associated with services in sanctioned jurisdictions to our illicit totals.”
Another key reason why the 2022 total is much higher, besides the identification of new illicit addresses, is FTX.
Chainalysis notes that it quantifies the $8.7 billion in creditor claims in its 2022 figures. “Typically, we only include measurable on-chain activity in our estimates of illicit activity. In the case of FTX, it is impossible to only use data from the chain to measure the extent of fraudulent activity, as there is no way to isolate illegitimate movements of user funds. If courts convict in similar ongoing cases, we plan to also include their activity in our data on illicit transactions in the future,” they have indicated.
Source: Ambito
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