In 2024, cryptocurrency addresses linked to criminals received USD 40 billion, marking another extremely prosperous year for wrongdoers worldwide.
According to Chainalysis’s annual report, this is not an exact amount and will likely increase over time as new details about past crimes emerge, potentially reaching USD 51 billion.
It is also important to note that this estimate excludes funds from non-crypto-native crimes such as drug sales and money laundering. The 2023 figure was USD 46.01 billion, so if Chainalysis’s projections are accurate, there will be a substantial increase in raw numbers, even though the figure has decreased significantly in percentage terms.
The ratio of crime volume to industry volume was 0.61% in 2023. However, after several spot ETFs were approved in 2024, many large institutions and wealthy investors entered the market, increasing overall volume and reducing the ratio to just 0.14%. Finally, it appears that hackers are shifting their focus from Bitcoin to stablecoins.
Although there are tens of thousands of different cryptocurrencies, most threat actors still demand payment in Bitcoin when a ransomware attack (or something similar) occurs. Four years ago, Bitcoin accounted for about 70% of all illegal transactions; in 2024, that number dropped to 20%.
Stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency whose value is based on fiat money rather than fluctuating sharply like that of regular cryptocurrency, entered the market at the same time and now hold about 63%.
In 10% of cases, Monero was used, according to Chainalysis. A well-known cryptocurrency with a focus on privacy, Monero is also mined by the notorious cryptojacker XMRig.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump boosted the market value of each cryptocurrency by announcing on social media the names of five digital assets he plans to include in a new US strategic reserve.
According to a post on Truth Social, an executive order from Trump in January 2025 will establish a stockpile of various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, Solana, and Cardano. The specific names of the currencies have not yet been disclosed.