Only 19% of criminal money passes through bitcoin
Date: 2023-06-28 Author: Karina Ziganova Categories: BUSINESS
Cybercriminals are less and less likely to turn to Bitcoin (BTC) as the main tool for moving illegal funds - they prefer to return to fiat or choose other cryptocurrencies. This is stated in the TRM Labs report.
"Cash and even older forms of financing, such as hawala (the transfer of money without physically moving it), remain the main means of financing illegal activities and money laundering," the study notes.
According to the study, the amount of illegal money in bitcoins has decreased significantly over the past seven years. BTC's share of illicit transactions has plummeted from 97% in 2016 to just 19% in 2022. In total, about $2 billion in cryptocurrency was stolen last year as a result of attacks on cross-chain bridges. However, only a small fraction of the stolen money was in BTC.
Although BTC was once the "premier cryptocurrency for terrorist financing," it had given way to Tron (TRX) by 2022. Last year, the share of this cryptocurrency in illegal activities was 92%. Moreover, in 2022, the use of Tether (USDT) among TRM Labs-tracked terrorist funding organizations increased by 240%.
Where did the stolen money go?
Last year, scammers stole at least $7.8 billion through Ponzi schemes. At the same time, more than $9 billion in cryptocurrency was sent to addresses associated with various fraudulent schemes. In addition, DeFi protocol exploits enriched attackers by $3.7 billion.
Of that money, about $1.5 billion went to darknet markets, mostly to buy drugs. On Russian platforms, bitcoin remained the main cryptocurrency (80%), while on American platforms - Monero. Websites offering pornographic material received at least $3.32 million in 2022.
More than $1 billion of the stolen money went to North Korea
According to the UN Security Council, last year alone, North Korea stole a record amount in cryptocurrency - more than $1 billion, compared to a year earlier, Pyongyang stole $630 million in cryptocurrency
The US authorities believe that the North Korean regime covers half of the spending on missile weapons precisely due to the theft of cryptocurrencies. At the same time, North Korea can be helped by other countries, as the US government tries to understand how "such a country manages to be so inventive in this space."
