Illicit addresses received $14 billion over the course of the year, up from $7.8 billion in 2020.
Cryptocurrency-based crime increased by 79 percent in 2021, with total transaction volume across all cryptocurrencies growing to $15.8 trillion in 2021, or a 550 percent increase from 2020, according to data by Chainalysis.
Transactions involving illicit addresses represented just 0.15 percent of cryptocurrency transaction volume in 2021.
«With the growth of legitimate cryptocurrency usage far outstripping the growth of criminal usage, illicit activity’s share of cryptocurrency transaction volume has never been lower,» the blockchain data platform said.
DeFi a Target
A total of $3.2 billion worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in 2021, up 508 percent from 2020. Some $2.2 billion of those funds — 73% of the 2021 total — were stolen from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, the blockchain data platform said in its «2021 Crypto Crime Report.»
The report noted the 912 percent rise in DeFi transaction volume in 2021, and the «incredible returns» on decentralized tokens that have attracted many speculators, as reasons for prevalence of scams in the space.
Chainalysis said that the rise of DeFi is creating new opportunities in crypto crime, in this case via stolen funds and, to a lesser degree, scams. In fact, almost every rug pull tracked by Chainalysis in 2021 involved DeFi projects.
