cybercriminals laundered about $8.6 billion worth of crypto in 2021, according to a report by Chainanalysis. This amount represents an increase of 30% compared to the previous year, and the company has reached this conclusion through the tracking of transactions related to online criminal activity in different cryptocurrency blockchains. This tracking included surveillance of addresses related to activities such as darknet marketplace sales, online scams, cryptocurrency platform hacks, and ransomware attacks.
In most cases, cybercriminal groups sent funds to centralized cryptocurrency markets, and from there converted the stolen funds into real-world legal tender. Furthermore, 47% of stolen cryptocurrencies were laundered through conventional exchanges, the preferred method of doing so.
After this system, the preferred one was the decentralized finance platforms, or DeFi, in which its users can convert funds into other cryptocurrencies through various blockchains quite easily. It is estimated that 17% of all funds stolen last year were laundered through this system. In 2020, it was used for whitening only 2%.
Cybercriminal gangs dedicated to ransomware preferred to use underground cryptocurrency markets for this purpose. For their part, dark web market administrators used cryptocurrency mixing services, while hacker groups opted for DeFi protocols. On the other hand, money laundering of virtual currencies continues to be concentrated, for a few years, in a few services, which can be a positive sign, because it gives law enforcement officers more facilities to act on this type of operation. .
Overall, cybercriminals they have laundered the equivalent of 33 billion dollars in cryptocurrencies since 2017, and most of the total, over time, has ended up in centralized markets.
