The United States also imposed sanctions last year on cryptocurrency mixing services Blender and Tornado Cash, which it said were being used by hackers, including from North Korea, to launder billions of dollars from their cybercrime.
The volume of stolen crypto funds increased 7% last year, but that of other illicit crypto transactions, such as those related to scams, ransomware, terrorist financing and human trafficking, decreased.
Chainalysis said its $20.1 billion estimate only includes activity recorded on the blockchain and excludes “off-chain” crimes such as fraudulent accounting by crypto companies.
The figure also excludes when cryptocurrencies are the proceeds of non-cryptocurrency crimes, such as when cryptocurrency is used as a means of payment in drug trafficking, Chainalysis said.