Chainalysis has released its mid-year crypto crime update and... it's good and bad.
The good? Aggregate illicit activity on-chain has fallen by almost 20% year to date, Chainalysis said.
The bad is really bad though. Stolen funds nearly doubled from US$857 million to US$1.58 billion. On average, the amount of cryptocurrency stolen per heist increased by almost 80%, due to Bitcoin going up in price abut also centralised exchanges being targeted.
Also, the Norkies (that's a technical term for North Korean IT workers) are busy social engineering to steal crypto.
Ransomware is also on the up, and 2024 has seen some large payments being collected. Chainalysis mentioned the Dark Angels criminals picking up US$75 million as an example, indicating ransomware is still a very lucrative business to be in, despite police efforts to quell the cybercriminal enterprise.
The median ransom demanded, meanwhile, rose to US$1.5 million in mid-June from US$200,000 in early 2023, and on-chain inflows hit US$459.8 million, up 2% from US$449.1 million.
Despite all that, Chainalysis reckons victims are paying ransom less often this year, so that's one bright spot.
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