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For years, the cryptocurrency economy has been rife with black market sales, theft, ransomware, and money laundering.In that economy, virtually every transaction is permanent and immutable on the blockchain. But new evidence suggests that years of progress in tracking blockchains and cracking down on the illicit underworld may be having an effect. We have fewer options to monetize our earnings than we have in the last decade.
so Part of the annual crime report Money laundering-focused crypto-tracking firm Chainalysis, which went public today, points to new integrations of cash-out services for crypto criminals in the past year. Only 915 services were used in 2022, the lowest since 2012, and the latest sign that the number of these services has been steadily declining since 2018. Real Dollar, Euro and Yen Trading in Cryptocurrencies: We found that just five cryptocurrency exchanges currently process nearly 68% of all black market cashouts.
In fact, Chainalysis confirmed that just 542 cryptocurrency deposit addresses received more than half of the total $6.3 billion in illicit funds tracked against those cashout services in 2022. four Address received $1.1 billion of these funds.
The so-called off-ramp of cryptocurrency crime has narrowed significantly as governments continue to crack down on crypto money laundering, with signs of further crackdowns, Chainalysis study shows Kim Grauer, the director in charge, said. We see some of these deposit addresses moving over $100 million in illicit funds and still functioning despite being very transparent and easily verifiable with blockchain analysis. “It’s shocking,” Grauer said.
On the other hand, it is not clear whether the total volume of cryptocurrency crime will increase or decrease in 2022. Criminal Use of Cryptocurrencies Increases Despite the sharp drop in cryptocurrency exchange rates last year. But those numbers include a surge in illegal trading on licensed cryptocurrency exchanges. This may have less to do with rising crime than the U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) increasingly imposing sanctions on key players in the crypto underground. For example, OFAC last April Licensed Galantexis a Russia-based exchange that claims to have laundered more than $100 million in criminal proceeds, including ransomware payments. The year before, it licensed two other Russian exchanges, shateks and souks, has since gone out of business. And just last week, OFAC licensed another exchange, Bitzlato, and the Department of Justice. Russia Founder Anatoly Legkodimov Prosecuted, Takes His Business Offline.
