2024 Crypto Crime Mid-Year Update Part 1: Cybercrime Climbs
Contents
Key findings
- Aggregate illicit activity on-chain has dropped by almost 20% year-to-date, demonstrating that legitimate activity is growing more quickly than illicit activity.
- Despite the decline in illicit transactions compared to this time last year, two categories of illicit activity — stolen funds and ransomware — are on the rise. Specifically, stolen funds inflows nearly doubled from $857 million to $1.58 billion, while ransomware inflows rose by approximately 2%, from $449.1 million to $459.8 million.
- The average amount of cryptocurrency stolen per heist increased by almost 80%.
- Part of this is attributable to the rise in the price of bitcoin (BTC), which accounted for 40% of the total transaction volume associated with these heists. Crypto thieves also appear to be returning to their roots by targeting centralized exchanges with greater frequency rather than prioritizing DeFi protocols, which are less popular vehicles for trading BTC.
- Advanced cybercriminals, including IT workers linked …
- Aggregate illicit activity on-chain has dropped by almost 20% year-to-date, demonstrating that legitimate activity is growing more quickly than illicit activity.
- Despite the decline in illicit transactions compared to this time last year, two categories of illicit activity — stolen funds and ransomware — are on the rise. Specifically, stolen funds inflows nearly doubled from $857 million to $1.58 billion, while ransomware inflows rose by approximately 2%, from $449.1 million to $459.8 million.
- The average amount of cryptocurrency stolen per heist increased by almost 80%.
- Part of this is attributable to the rise in the price of bitcoin (BTC), which accounted for 40% of the total transaction volume associated with these heists. Crypto thieves also appear to be returning to their roots by targeting centralized exchanges with greater frequency rather than prioritizing DeFi protocols, which are less popular vehicles for trading BTC.
- Advanced cybercriminals, including IT workers linked …