Chainalysis has published a first update of its report “2024 Crypto Crime” referring to the first part of the current year. Among the various data examined, it seems that ransomware attacks continue to increase. 

The crypto crimes 2024 by Chainalysis: illicit transactions decrease but ransomware attacks increase 

Chainalysis, on-chain analysis platform, has published the Part 1 of its report “2024 Crypto Crime”, referring to the first half of this current year.

Part 1 of our mid-year #cryptocrime update is here! Illicit on-chain activity dropped by nearly 20% YTD, but stolen fund activity is surging and ransomware payments are breaking records. Read our blog for a detailed analysis. https://t.co/WRGG91mpFP

— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) August 15, 2024

“The first part of our mid-year update on #cryptocrime is here! Illicit activity on the chain has dropped by almost 20% in the last year, but stolen funds activity is on the rise and ransomware payments are breaking records. Read our blog for a detailed analysis.”

The analysis showed that while on one hand the flow of cryptocurrency funds to legitimate services has reached the highest levels since 2021, on the other hand, illicit activity seems to have decreased. 

In fact, it has been calculated that such aggregated illicit activity has decreased by 19.6%, going from 20.9 billion dollars to 16.7 billion dollars.

To disrupt this good news, however, the ransomware, which is an exception to the general decline. 

In practice, last year, cumulative ransomware payments were about 449.1 million dollars until the end of June 2023. This year, however, researchers recorded a total of 459.8 million dollars in ransoms paid, establishing that 2024 will be the worst year ever recorded.

The crypto crimes 2024 by Chainalysis: the resurgence of hacking activity and the return to Bitcoin (BTC)

Following the analysis by Chainalysis on crypto crimes 2024, it seems that hacking activity is on the rise, compared to the decline recorded between 2023 and 2022. 

In practice, for this first part of 2024, the cumulative value stolen has already reached 1.58 billion dollars, about 84.4% more compared to the value stolen in the same period last year. 

In this regard, the report points out that this value can be increased also thanks to the increase in asset prices. 

Above all, it is precisely the increase in the value of Bitcoin that raises the total value, given that it represented 40% of the transaction volume associated with the post-hack movement of the stolen funds. 

This means that cryptocurrency thieves are “going back to basics,” targeting centralized crypto-exchanges rather than DeFi. 

The chapter 2023 on money laundering

Last February 2024, Chainalysis had published the chapter on money laundering, from its Crypto Crime Report 2023. 

In practice, from what had emerged, it seems that in 2023 22.3 billion dollars were laundered, almost 30% less compared to 2022. 

Even in that case, Chainalysis stated that, overall, centralized crypto-exchanges remain the main destination for funds sent from illicit addresses, with 62%. 

At the same time, however, the share of illicit funds destined for DeFi protocols had nevertheless risen in 2023, exactly to 13%.