- A new report has found cryptocurrency crimes increased across 2021, with US$14 billion (A19.5 billion) going to illecit addresses
- Chainalysis reports illegal addresses received more than $14 billion (A$19.5 billion) in crypto, up from $7.8 billion in losses across 2020
- But, the report argues the rise in losses is to be expected given the 567 per cent increase in the amount of people buying crypto in the last year
- All up, Chainalysis says the total transaction volumes of all of the cryptocurrencies it tracked grew to $15.8 trillion in 2021
A new report has found cryptocurrency crimes increased across 2021, with $14 billion (A$19.5 billion) going to illicit addresses.
Illicit addresses are wallets linked to illegal activities including ransomware, Ponzi schemes, and frauds.
Chainalysis reports illicit addresses received more than $14 billion (A19.5 billion) in crypto, up from $7.8 billion in losses across 2020.
The biggest crime within the crypto community were scams, with scamming revenue up 82 per cent in 2021 to $7.8 billion (A$10 billion) worth of cryptocurrency stolen from victims.
Additionally, Decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms provided the biggest risk for users, with a 1330 per cent increase in the amount of crypto being stolen using DeFi platforms.
However, the report argues the rise in losses is to be expected given the massive increase in the number of people using crypto.
It reported a 567 per cent increase in the number of people buying and trading cryptocurrencies in the last year.
Specifically, the total transaction volumes of all of the cryptocurrencies it tracked grew to $15.8 trillion (A$22 trillion) in 2021.
Given the number of transactions, illegal addresses represented just 0.15 per cent of the total transactional volumes across the year – down from 0.34 per cent in 2020.
The report argues action by the FBI and Commodity Futures Trading Commission over the last two years show law enforcement is getting better at stopping crypto scams.