According to Chainanalysis, a blockchain analytics firm, stablecoins surpassed Bitcoin as the predominant currency in illicit transactions for the years 2022 and 2023. Their latest crypto crime report indicates a shift from Bitcoin, the primary choice for cybercriminals from 2018 to 2021, to stablecoins for the majority of illegal trading volumes in the subsequent years.
This shift coincides with an overall increase in stablecoin transactions, encompassing both lawful and unlawful activities. While Bitcoin remains the primary currency for certain criminal activities like darknet market sales and ransomware, stablecoins are increasingly utilized for scams and transactions linked to sanctioned entities, the latter representing the largest segment of cryptocurrency-related crime by transaction volume in 2023. The report states that in 2023, transactions from sanctioned entities and jurisdictions reached $14.9 billion, constituting 61.5% of all illicit transaction volumes recorded that year. A significant portion of this activity is attributed to crypto services sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control but still operational in areas without U.S. sanctions enforcement.
In a separate report on January 4, blockchain security firm CertiK noted a more than 51% decrease in cryptocurrency hacking revenues in 2023. Co-founder Gu Ronghui regarded this as a "positive development" in blockchain security.
Chainanalysis's report echoes this sentiment, showing a 54.3% decrease in revenues from cryptocurrency hacks and a 29.2% fall in profits from cryptocurrency scams. Consequently, there was also a noticeable reduction in transaction volumes linked to illicit addresses in 2023.
