Illicit crypto addresses pocketed a staggering $40.9 billion worth of digital assets last year, and that number is likely to balloon even further, per a new report from the blockchain data firm Chainalysis.
Chainalysis notes in its annual Crypto Crime Report that 2024’s total is currently less than the $46.1 billion worth of crypto that flowed into illicit addresses in 2023.
The firm also says, however, that 2024’s total volume will likely exceed 2023’s as additional illicit addresses are identified.
“Since 2020, our annual estimates of illicit activity — which include both evidentiary attributions and Chainalysis Signals data — have grown by an average of 25% between annual reporting periods. Assuming a similar growth rate between now and next year’s Crypto Crime Report, our annual totals for 2024 could surpass the $51 billion threshold.”
The illicit total represented 0.14% of the total on-chain transaction volume last year.
Chainalysis notes that stablecoins represent 63% of all illicit transactions, while Bitcoin (BTC) is the top choice of asset for ransomware and darknet market (DNM) sales. The privacy coin Monero (XMR) has also become an “increasingly important” part of DNM sales.
The firm says the online marketplace Huione Guarantee illustrates the “professionalization” of crypto’s illicit ecosystem.
“Huione and all vendors operating on their platform have processed more than $70 billion in crypto transactions since 2021. This platform has provided infrastructure which facilitates the sale of scam technology and processed on-chain transactions for pig butchering and other fraud and scams, addresses reported as stolen funds, sanctioned entities such as the Russian exchange Garantex, fraud shops, child sexual abuse material, and Chinese-language gambling sites and casinos, among others.”
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