Reuters reported that the cyber criminals notched jaw-dropping gains worth $20.1 billion in 2022. According to crypto analysts, the 2022 year is memorable because the crypto industry suffered a record number of scams.
In 2022, investors’ nerves were shattered by the lingering bear market and a series of bankruptcies declared by popular crypto platforms. As a result, market participants had to lick their wounds due to huge losses and financial watchdogs found it appropriate to tighten their grip on the protection of consumer rights.
In this context, some crypto firms which are subject to US sanctions sharply dialled up the number of digital transactions. Industry think tank Chainalysis points out that despite a decline in the overall trading volume in the crypto market, shady transactions jumped by 44% or 100K-fold.
Chainalysis turned attention to crypto exchange Garantex as the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on it in April 2022. Besides, the US regulator spotted dubious activities of other crypto services companies such as Blender and Tornado Cash, widely used by hackers for money laundering. According to flash estimates, the revenue from illegal activities could measure billions of dollars.
The total volume of crypto assets stolen increased by 7% in 2022. Besides, analysts note a sharp rise in illicit blockchain transactions, mostly related to ransomware, terrorism funding, and other scams. All in all, the overall turnover of shady crypto transactions in the whole industry swelled to an all-time high of $20.1 billion in 2022. This does not include offline crimes and fraudulent accounting by crypto firms.
