An updated analysis of U.S. Attorney Bitcoin-related press releases

In 2020, The Block did an analysis on press releases from the Department of Justice (DOJ) as a proxy for bitcoin-related criminal activities. In that analysis, we concluded that criminal press releases involving bitcoin had been steadily increasing throughout the years, hitting record highs in 2019. In this piece, we provided an updated look at these press releases to draw new insights. 

As The Block previously noted, bitcoin continues to be the dominant currency used on darknet markets, with 98% of the markets we’ve analyzed accepting bitcoin payments. In its 2021 crypto crime report, Chainalysis estimated that, in 2020, $10 billion in cryptocurrency transaction volumes were related to illicit activities. However, Chainalysis added that 2020 saw a large decrease in illicit cryptocurrency activities compared to 2019. DOJ press releases appear to point to a similar downtrend.