Illicit crypto transactions reached all-time highs in 2022: Report
Setting aside the criminal probes into failed crypto companies like FTX, Celsius, Three Arrows Capital, Terraform Labs, and others, 2022 set the record for illegal on-chain transactions, as reported by Cointelegraph.
According to Cointelegraph, the total cryptocurrency value received by unauthorised addresses last year was $20.1 billion, per a Chainalysis report from January 12.
Cointelegraph further noted that the figures aren’t final because the analysts continue to discover new addresses linked to criminal activity, which causes the measure of illicit transaction volume to grow over time.
Additionally, it excludes money obtained from non-crypto crimes like drug trafficking and money held in the accounts of the aforementioned failed businesses, which are currently the subject of investigations in numerous jurisdictions around the world, Cointelegraph underlined.
Currently, the total value of $20.1 billion slightly exceeds the equivalent figure from 2021 ($18 billion) by 10%. Even so, it still sets a record and surpasses the $8 billion benchmark for 2020 by a wide margin (by 60%), Cointelegraph further noted.
Due to scale limitations, transaction volumes related to sanctions increased so sharply that they weren’t even able to be displayed on the graphs. Chainalysis places the 10% million thresholds for this growth.
(With insights from Cointelegraph)
