The use and implementation of cryptocurrencies has been increasing sharply over the last few years, as crypto cruises into the mainstream. But with the spread of new currencies, comes the rise of illicit uses and misuse.
CoinJournal analysed a report by Chainalysis to ascertain how widespread crypto crime is, which types are most prevalent and which years lost the highest amount of money to crypto criminals.
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Crypto scams grew 82% in 2021 to $7.8 billion
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72% of $3.2 billion in stolen funds were swiped from DeFi protocols
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Scams as a percentage of total crypto transaction volume fell 66%
And how bad is crypto really, when compared to fraud in the trad-fi space? Is it all hyperbole, or do the naysayers have a point – is crypto really a cesspool for the bad-intentioned?
Crypto Crime Trends for 2022
Let us not beat around the bush here. The numbers here are pretty frightening, with crypto-based crime hitting $14 billion in 2021 according to the survey – that’s an (un)healthy increase from $7.8 billion in 2020.
But if we want to compare this to the trad-fi sector, we need to strip some categories out. Terrorism financing, the equivalent of darknet material and many of the other categories are simply too broad to quantify in the fiat world. I think we can all agree that the US dollar isn’t so pristine that it’s immune to being used for buying drugs, paying for stolen goods and myriad other clandestine activities which the above categories cover.
What we…
