Crypto crime was the highest — and lowest — ever in 2021: Chainalysis

New data from the blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis shows the highs and lows of crime-related cryptocurrency transactions across 2021. 

The volume of crime-related crypto transactions hit a record high at $14 billion in 2021, up 79% since 2020. But since the number of cryptocurrency transactions grew 567% that same year, crime-related activity comprised 0.15% of all cryptocurrency transactions — the lowest that rate has been since 2017. 

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Chainalysis concludes that the growth rate for legitimate crypto transactions far exceeds crime-related ones, chafing against the persisting belief that cryptocurrency is primarily used for criminal activity. 

Crypto scams and funds stolen in decentralized finance were the biggest areas of crypto-related crime in 2021. Victims lost $7.8 billion worth of crypto due to scams – a yearly increase of 82% in 2021. Of the $3.2 billion worth of crypto stolen that same year 72% of it came from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, according to Chainalysis

The firm notes that its data for crypto-related crime is likely to increase as it retroactively identifies illicit transactions.

About Author

MK Manoylov has been a reporter for The Block since 2020 — joining just before bitcoin surpassed $20,000 for the first time. Since then, MK has written nearly 1,000 articles for the publication, covering any and all crypto news but with a penchant toward NFT, metaverse, web3 gaming, funding, crime, hack and crypto ecosystem stories. MK holds a graduate degree from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) and has also covered health topics for WebMD and Insider. You can follow MK on X @MManoylov and on LinkedIn.