{"id":56701,"date":"2022-01-27T16:49:18","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T14:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=56701"},"modified":"2025-09-04T07:47:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T04:47:32","slug":"chainalysis-in-2021-cybercriminals-laundered-8-6-billion-in-cryptocurrency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/chainalysis-in-2021-cybercriminals-laundered-8-6-billion-in-cryptocurrency\/","title":{"rendered":"Chainalysis: In 2021, cybercriminals laundered $8.6 billion in cryptocurrency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, cybercriminals laundered $8.6 billion in cryptocurrency \u2014 a figure 30% higher than in 2020, according to data from analytics firm Chainalys\u0456s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Chainalys\u0456s:
Data: Chainalys\u0456s<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The company\u2019s estimates are based on cryptocurrency proceeds obtained from cybercriminal activity, such as dark-web trading or ransomware attacks.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt is harder to measure how much fiat currency obtained from offline crimes \u2014 for example, drug trafficking \u2014 is converted into cryptocurrency for laundering,\u201d noted Chainalys\u0456s.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Analysts say that since 2017 cybercriminals have laundered more than $33 billion in cryptocurrency, with the majority of the funds gradually moving to centralized exchanges.<\/p>\n

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), between $800 billion and $2 trillion in fiat currency is laundered annually \u2014 about 5% of global GDP.<\/p>\n

By comparison, in 2021 money laundering accounted for only 0.05% of total cryptocurrency transaction volume, analysts note.<\/p>\n

Chainalysis also noted that, thanks to the transparency of the blockchain, tracking criminals’ movements in crypto assets is far easier than with fiat money.<\/p>\n

In 2021, there was a rise in money laundering via DeFi protocols. They accounted for 17% of all funds sent from criminals’ wallets. In 2020, the figure was only 2%.<\/p>\n

\"Chainalys\u0456s:
Data: Chainalys\u0456s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For laundering through DeFi protocols, hackers are the primary actors, while scammers send most of the stolen proceeds to centralized exchanges, experts noted.<\/p>\n

As noted by Chainalys\u0456s, in 2021 attackers targeting the cryptocurrency industry stole $14 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Follow ForkLog’s Bitcoin news on our Telegram<\/a> \u2014 cryptocurrency news, prices and analytics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year, cybercriminals laundered $8.6 billion in cryptocurrency \u2014 a figure 30% higher than in 2020, according to data from analytics firm Chainalys\u0456s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[274,1154],"class_list":["post-56701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-chainalysis","tag-crimes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"23","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56703,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56701\/revisions\/56703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}