Chainalysis has published some figures on the criminal activity that has been registered in different blockchains, and the first data indicates that, so far, at least 20 billion dollars have been detected as a result of criminal activities.
The report indicates that these figures are not final, because as more transactions associated with the crime continue to be identified, this number will surely grow. The explanation for this may be due to the actions of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which is attached to the Department of the Treasury in the United States.
Crimes such as Ransomware, scams among other illegal acts associated with cryptocurrencies, it has been more closely monitored during 2022. However, the growth of criminal activity registered in the Blockchain grew from 0.12% for 2021 to 0.24% for 2022. It is imperative to highlight that since 2019 no more than one percentage point is recorded in cybercrimes associated with cryptocurrencies. For 2019, Chainalysis shows that criminal activity reached 1.9%.
These figures turn out to be so because in the Chainalysis study, it is noted that data that demonstrates income in cryptocurrencies from crime is taken into accountAn example of this is cryptocurrency project scams. In this sense, OFAC sanctioned entities associated with illegal activities, which included the crypto exchange Garantex, Hydra and Tornado Cash. These three companies grouped together 44% of the volume of illegal transactions throughout 2022.
Despite these efforts, cybercrime associated with the theft of funds increased by 7%, while all other crimes decreased. One of the reasons attributed to the decline in scam cases is precisely the bear market, from Chainalysis they consider that being in the presence of a declining market makes it hardly credible for users to fall for promises of high returns.
In this estimate that Chainalysis makes, has not considered the amount of transactions of centralized services that collapsed in 2022that although they are accused of fraud, the data is still not conclusive and for this reason they have been excluded.
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