Threat actors scammed, hacked and defrauded their way to obtaining at least $41bn from victims last year, with the figure likely to exceed $51bn in time, according to Chainalysis.
The blockchain analysis firm investigated illicit on-chain activity last year, focusing on specific categories like stolen funds, darknet markets and ransomware rather than “non-crypto-native crime” like drug trafficking.
While its initial estimate for 2024 ($40.9bn) shows fewer funds received by illicit cryptocurrency addresses than the previous year ($46.1bn), this figure will likely rise by around 25% once Chainalysis identifies more addresses linked to criminal activity.
The largest sums were tied to the categories of “illicit actor-org,” “scam,” “darknet market,” “stolen funds,” “sanctioned jurisdiction” and “sanctioned entity.”
Read more about on-chain crime: Another Record Year For Ransomware Beckons as Crypto Profits Hit $460m
Over recent years, Bitcoin has become far less popular among cybercriminals. In 2024, the majority (63%) of illicit activity was associated with stablecoins.
However, Bitcoin continues to dominate certain types of crypto-related crime, such as ransomware and darknet market sales, according to Chainalysis. Further, its Crypto Crime Report doesn’t cover leading privacy coin Monero, which is known to be popular with cybercriminals.
North Korea Steals a Fortune
Stolen funds increased by approximately 21% annually to $2.2bn, with North Korea blamed for $1.3bn (61%) of the total amount stolen for the year.
Elsewhere, scammers continued to operate with impunity in 2024 while ransomware actors made hundreds of millions of dollars, the report claimed. Darknet markets received $2bn, down slightly from 2023, and illicit flows from fraud shops were down by slightly more than half at $220m.
“An array of illicit actors, including transnational organized crime groups, are increasingly leveraging cryptocurrency for traditional crime types, such as drug trafficking, gambling, intellectual property theft, money laundering, human and wildlife trafficking, and violent crime,” the report concluded.
“Furthermore, some criminal networks are resorting to crypto to facilitate polycrime, or multiple crime types.”
However, the vast majority of cryptocurrency activity is legitimate. According to the report, the volume of crypto transactions associated with illicit activity has historically never risen above 1%. The figure for 2024 is currently at 0.14%.