{"id":72847,"date":"2023-01-20T14:14:26","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T12:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=72847"},"modified":"2025-09-09T10:40:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T07:40:43","slug":"chainalysis-reports-a-substantial-fall-in-ransomware-operators-bitcoin-revenues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/chainalysis-reports-a-substantial-fall-in-ransomware-operators-bitcoin-revenues\/","title":{"rendered":"Chainalysis reports a substantial fall in ransomware operators’ bitcoin revenues"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2022, ransomware operators’ revenues from extortion fell by 40% \u2014 to $456.8 million, though this does not signify a decline in the overall number of attacks. The information is contained in Chainalysis’s fresh report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2021, hackers received a record $766 million in ransom payments for data decryption.<\/p>\n

\"Chainalysis
Total amount obtained by attackers through ransomware from 2017 to 2022. Data: Chainalysis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 48.3% of cases last year, ransomware operators withdrew funds via centralized exchanges \u2014 up from 39.3% in 2021.<\/p>\n

\"Chainalysis
Distribution of funds leaving ransomware operators’ wallets between 2018 and 2022. Data: Chainalysis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During 2022, including sanctioned Tornado Cash<\/a>, the use of mixers rose from 11.6% to 15% in 2022.<\/p>\n

At the same time, ransomware operators’ transactions on high-risk crypto exchanges fell from 10.9% to 6.7%.<\/p>\n

Chainalysis notes that many companies, out of necessity, tightened cybersecurity measures, turned to risk insurance, and became less willing to pay ransoms.<\/p>\n

\"Chainalysis
Data: Chainalysis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Advances in blockchain analytics tools that allow tracing illicit transactions almost in real time did not help criminals.<\/p>\n

Analysts indicated that one reason for the drop in ransomware operators’ revenues could be the active countermeasures against this threat by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC):<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cGiven the potential sanctions, there is an additional threat of legal consequences for paying [the hackers].\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Fortinet, meanwhile, recorded a sharp rise in the number of unique ransomware strains. At the same time, many malware variants are being developed by the same criminals.<\/p>\n

Chainalysis noted that the actual figures for ransomware revenues are likely much higher, as not every attacker-controlled cryptocurrency address is identified.<\/p>\n

In July 2022, the number of ransomware attacks fell by 23%<\/a> amid the drop in Bitcoin’s price.<\/p>\n

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

In 2022, ransomware operators’ revenues from extortion fell by 40% \u2014 to $456.8 million, though this does not signify a decline in the overall number of attacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72848,"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":[274,1154,167],"class_list":["post-72847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-chainalysis","tag-crimes","tag-research"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"22","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72847","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=72847"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72849,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72847\/revisions\/72849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}