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Crypto Crime Report

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Crypto Crime Report

2024 Crypto Crime Mid-year Update Part 2: China-based CSAM and Cybercrime Networks On The Rise, Pig Butchering Scams Remain Lucrative

Sensitive content warning This article will touch on topics of criminal activity that readers may find distressing, including Child Sexual…

Crypto Crime Report

2024 Crypto Crime Mid-year Update Part 1: Cybercrime Climbs as Exchange Thieves and Ransomware Attackers Grow Bolder

Key findings Aggregate illicit activity on-chain has dropped by almost 20% year-to-date, demonstrating that legitimate activity is growing more quickly…

Crypto Crime Report

Assessing Terrorism Financing On-chain is Crucial and Complex

The use of cryptocurrency by terrorist organizations represents a small share of illicit transactions in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, but it…

Crypto Crime Report

Darknet Market Revenues Rise In 2023 As Markets Develop Role Specialization

Darknet markets were one of two categories of crypto crime that saw revenues rise in 2023. In total, darknet markets…

Crypto Crime Report

Money Laundering Activity Spread Across More Service Deposit Addresses in 2023, Plus New Tactics from Lazarus Group

The goal of money laundering is to obscure the criminal origins of funds so that they can be accessed and…

Crypto Crime Report

54% of ERC-20 Tokens Listed on DEXes in 2023 Display Patterns That May Be Suggestive of Pump and Dump Schemes, but Represent just 1.3% of DEX Trading Volume

For most of the research that we publish in our annual Crypto Crime Report, the data tells a clear story.…

Crypto Crime Report

Funds Stolen from Crypto Platforms Fall More Than 50% in 2023, but Hacking Remains a Significant Threat as Number of Incidents Rises

Over the last few years, cryptocurrency hacking has become a pervasive and formidable threat, leading to billions of dollars stolen…

Crypto Crime Report

2024 Crypto Crime Trends: Illicit Activity Down as Scamming and Stolen Funds Fall, But Ransomware and Darknet Markets See Growth

2023 was a year of recovery for cryptocurrency, as the industry rebounded from the scandals, blowups, and price declines of…

Crypto Crime Report

CSAM and Cryptocurrency: On-chain Analysis Suggests CSAM Vendors May Benefit from Privacy Coins like Monero and Other Obfuscation Measures

CSAM (child sexual abuse material) is an understudied part of the crypto crime ecosystem. The industry is broadly aware that…

Crypto Crime Report

2023 Crypto Year in Review: Podcast Ep. 88 – Kim Grauer

Episode 88 of the Public Key podcast is here and we are happy that you love the refreshed look. 2023…

Crypto Crime Report

Targeted Approval Phishing Scams See Explosive Growth Over Last Two Years, With At Least $374 Million Suspected Stolen in 2023

Approval phishing is a scamming tactic that has existed for many years. But whereas approval phishing scammers have historically targeted…