Cryptocurrency-based crime hit a record $14 billion in 2021

livemint.com:

The dollar amount collected through cryptocurrency-based crime hit a record high in 2021, as the volume of cryptocurrency transactions overall grew into tens of trillions of dollars, according to blockchain data platform Chainalysis Inc. 

However, the volume of illicit activities remains a small share of the total cryptocurrency transactions volume, according to a preview of Chainalysis’s 2022 Crypto Crime Report to be published in February. 

The volume of cryptocurrency transactions grew to $15.8 trillion in 2021, up 567% from 2020, in a sign that the trading of digital assets is becoming increasingly mainstream. Illicit transactions totaled $14 billion in 2021, up 79% from $7.8 billion the previous year. But illicit transactions only made up 0.15% of cryptocurrency transaction volume in 2021. 

While risks remain for potential cryptocurrency investors, Ross Delston, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who advises clients on anti-money-laundering issues, said he doesn’t expect the level of interest to ebb anytime soon. 

“What’s so interesting about cryptocurrency is we usually associate it with illicit transactions; there is so much news about anything that goes wrong with crypto," he said. “As Chainalysis points out in the report, it’s relatively a small fraction of transactions that are criminal in nature." 

In its report, Chainalysis warns that its tracked volume of illicit activity is likely to rise later as the company identifies more bad actors and incorporates data gained from that into its historical analysis. The company added that with the exception of 2019, which was notable for the PlusToken cryptocurrency scam, bad actors have made up a smaller component of overall cryptocurrency transaction volume over the past few