Crypto Crime Report
Crypto Scam Revenue 2024: Pig Butchering Grows Nearly 40% YoY as Fraud Industry Leverages AI and Increases in Sophistication
In 2024, cryptocurrency scams received at least $9.9 billion on-chain, an estimate that will increase as we identify more illicit…
35% Year-over-Year Decrease in Ransomware Payments, Less than Half of Recorded Incidents Resulted in Victim Payments
The ransomware landscape experienced significant changes in 2024, with cryptocurrency continuing to play a central role in extortion. However, the…
Cryptocurrency donations to extremist groups dip globally, but white supremacism, nationalism, and anti-Semitism grow across Europe
Extremism, in its many forms, represents an ongoing threat to global peace and security. Often fueled by ideological grievances and…
2025 Crypto Crime Trends: Illicit Volumes Portend Record Year as On-Chain Crime Becomes Increasingly Diverse and Professionalized
In recent years, cryptocurrency has become increasingly mainstream. Although illicit activity on-chain previously revolved heavily around cybercrime, cryptocurrency is now…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…