Do you think the encryption is used for illegal activities? Read this report first
The crime of encrypted currency may develop, but the share of such illegal transactions is still remarkably small.
According to the latest annual report by TRM LABS on Crypto CRIME, only 0.4 % of all digital asset transactions in 2024 were linked to illegal activity, which represents a 51 % decrease from the previous year despite an increase in the total market.
The illegal encryption activity decreases even with a high total size
According to Blockchain Intelligence, the total volume of transactions in the encryption sector increased by 56 % last year, exceeding $ 10.6 trillion. However, the estimated illegal flows decreased sharply to about $ 45 billion, down from about $ 59 billion in 2023.
the a report He pointed out that the crime of encryption was dominated by harmonious penalties, deceptions and funds related to the addresses listed on the list. Collectively, these categories represented more than 85 % of the illegal size set by TRM.
In addition, networks like Tron, Ethereum and Bitcoin have remained the first places for such activity. Interestingly, while TON alone represented 58 % of all criminal flows, the volume of illegal transactions has already decreased by half compared to 2023. TRM attributed some of this success to the effectiveness of the T3 FCU, a leading general initiative targeting USDT ISSITE to TON.
Since its launch, it has helped freeze more than $ 130 million, and 20 % of USDT has already been returned to Tron to victims or authorities.
Meanwhile, the targeted sanctions against the major Russian and Iranian stock exchanges such as GARANTEX and NOBITEX, which were the goal of $ 49 million penetration, strangled the flows to the restricted judicial states by 33 %.
Continuous threats and advanced criminal playing book
Despite the total decrease, TRM stimulated on emerging trends that require vigilance. It stated that the financing of terrorism, especially the involvement of groups such as Isis Khwasan (ISKP), is increasingly dependent on encryption, with Stablecoins remaining the primary option despite the increasing interest in coins such as Monero (XMR).
Hacks also witnessed an increase, stolen $ 2.2 billion, which represents a 17 % increase, and is primarily targeting Defi protocols. As other researchers mentioned, North Korean actors were inappropriately responsible, stealing nearly $ 800 million using advanced roads, and often focused on stealing special keys. In addition, their laundry tactics adapted, using decentralized bridges and moving money quickly across the chains to make recovery very difficult to enforce the law.
But the most anxious emerging threat may be the rapid adoption of Amnesty International by the fraudsters. According to TRM, criminals are now using large linguistic models (LLMS) to formulate very specialized fraud characters, generate convincing videos Deepfake for blackmail and investment fraud, and produce advanced hunting messages.
They also use artificial intelligence to create fake identifiers to bypass Kyc, and even generate uneven images. Blockchain Research expects a significant expansion of the crime operating in Amnesty International in 2025.
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