{"id":85399,"date":"2023-10-05T18:23:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T15:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=85399"},"modified":"2025-09-12T23:03:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T20:03:50","slug":"elliptic-criminals-launder-7bn-through-cross-chain-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/elliptic-criminals-launder-7bn-through-cross-chain-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"Elliptic: criminals launder $7bn through cross-chain solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The volume of illicit crypto assets laundered using <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/what-are-cross-chain-bridges\">cross-chain operations<\/a> reached a record $7bn over the year, according to Elliptic&#8217;s report.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts categorize this criminal activity into three categories:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>decentralized exchanges that enable swapping cryptocurrencies, including within a single blockchain;<\/li>\n<li>cross-chain bridges, through which coins move between networks;<\/li>\n<li>crypto-exchange services that do not comply with <span data-descr=\"Know Your Customer \u2014 know your customer\" class=\"old_tooltip\">KYC<\/span> rules.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In Elliptic&#8217;s first report, &#8220;State of Cross-Chain Crime,&#8221; published in October 2022, analysts counted $4.1bn laundered through these channels. They estimated the figure would reach $6.5bn by the end of 2023.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cHowever, our latest calculations of $7bn show that cross-chain crime is growing faster than forecast,\u201d the analysts noted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In their view, the popularity of laundering funds by this method is linked to:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the shift of criminal activity from Bitcoin to other coins with attractive properties such as privacy (<a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/what-is-monero-xmr\">Monero<\/a>) or stable value (<a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/what-are-stablecoins\">stablecoins<\/a> such as USDT, DAI, etc.);<\/li>\n<li>generating illicit proceeds in tokens other than digital gold, for example as a result of hacks of DeFi protocols;<\/li>\n<li>the absence of verification at cross-chain services, unlike centralized platforms;<\/li>\n<li>a lack of analytic tools that reliably track cross-chain transactions;<\/li>\n<li>enforcement actions against mixers and exchanges that do not comply with KYC rules, prompting the search for alternatives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/AoYtgPojqtZKGztsoZQvtxXPuB3Gu9Nd00FXLDiCb25st07qlgHGk2tFswpjnMp-1aUbmSZ2yg_8YpShCuEZ-xLbi2omF9_Ag9cSfFgNVwdA_q0AfuKc6725shYT4-i9w-qEs20_b-EeTImlDCUgU6o\" alt=\"Elliptic: criminals laundered via cross-chain solutions $7bn\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Month-by-month dynamics of laundered funds through mixers (blue) and cross-chain bridges (red). Data: Elliptic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Only through decentralized exchanges did criminals launder $3.9bn in the 12 months to July 2023. The figure was up 82% from the previous period.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/4vekmblRQFYnxFdHy9QRV2_RvpO7iy5FaVP3DAZq0hrOD19PKtFx5WyJRh-FcH0H-mRa91aldtch0Z4HUHJg0BuvftjZ1QtVDat36n_uJ1qPXkYLAF127c5rfYCK629mazDLnw5g3bmSuhkIHL6T_vM\" alt=\"Elliptic: criminals laundered via cross-chain solutions $7bn\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">State of cross-chain crime by service and origin of funds over the years. Data: Elliptic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By asset provenance, volumes of cross-chain illicit operations rose significantly in the Ponzi-scheme and theft segments.<\/p>\n<p>Linked to the Lazarus Group, the hacker group, $900m \u2014 about one-seventh of the total sum.<\/p>\n<p>From January to August<a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/what-is-web3\"> Web3<\/a>-industry lost about <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/web3-projects-lose-1-25-billion-since-the-start-of-the-year-to-hackers\">$1.25bn<\/a> due to hackers and scammers, according to Immunefi.<\/p>\n<p>September <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/certik-september-sets-2023-high-for-hack-related-losses\">proved to be the costliest<\/a> month of the year, with losses of $329.8m, according to CertiK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The volume of illicit crypto assets laundered using cross-chain operations reached a record $7bn over the year, according to Elliptic&#8217;s report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85400,"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":[1154,1535,1252],"class_list":["post-85399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crimes","tag-elliptic","tag-reports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"35","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85399","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=85399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85401,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85399\/revisions\/85401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}