Around $40 billion worth of illicit crypto transactions took place in 2024

Migliori Bitcoin wallet
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Wit Olszewksi)

• Illegal crrypto transactions could have hit as much as $51 billion in 2024, according to Chainalysis
• With the introduction of ETFs, the ratio of crime-to-industry volume dropped significantly
• Criminals are moving away from BTC and into stablecoins

Cryptocurrency addresses known to be associated with criminals received $40 billion in 2024, marking another hugely successful year for wrong-doers across the world.

The annual report from Chainalysis notes this is not a precise figure, and as time goes by, and new information emerges on previous crimes, it will likely rise – possibly to be closer to $51 billion.

Another important detail is that this estimate does not include money from non-crypto native crime, such as drug dealing, or money laundering.

Stablecoins

The 2023 figure stood at $46.1 billion, so if Chainalysis’ estimates turn out to be true, it will be a significant increase – in raw numbers, as percentage-wise, the figure has dropped significantly.

In 2023, the ratio of crime volume to industry volume was $0.61% – but with the approval of multiple spot ETFs in 2024, many large institutions and investors with big pockets moved into the industry, increasing the overall volume, and thus shrinking the ratio to just 0.14%.

Finally, cybercriminals seem to be moving away from Bitcoin and into stablecoins.

So far, whenever a ransomware attack (or a similar incident) happens, most threat actors would demand payment in Bitcoin, despite there being tens of thousands of different cryptocurrencies. That being said, four years ago around 70% of all criminal transactions were made in Bitcoin, dropping to 20% last year. At the same time, stablecoins moved in (cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to fiat currency and doesn’t fluctuate violently as standard crypto does), now taking up around 63%.

Monero was used in 10% of cases, Chainalysis added. Monero is a popular privacy-oriented coin, which is also mined through the infamous cryptojacker called XMRig.

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Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.