Crypto crime in 2024 is likely to exceed $ 51b, higher than that reported: chainalysis
Crypto crime has entered a professional period managed by scams driven by AI, Stablecoin laundering and excellent cyber syndicates, 2025 “Crypto crime report“Through the chainalysis was announced, last year witnessed a terrifying $ 51 billion in the forbidden volume of transaction – collapse of previous records and assumptions.
Initial estimates have suggested a collapse in crypto crime for 2024. Deeper review today suggests otherwise: criminals have adopted advanced money launch methods, depending on stablecoins, Decentralized Finance (DEFI) and ai-powered deception, which created the illusion of reduced crime.
The days of single hackers and shady markets of DarkNet have disappeared. The report painted a harsh picture of hyper-professionalized cybercrime networks, in which fraud cartels, country-state hackers and AI-powered scams are leading the scene.
Ransomware payments drop 35% year-to-year (yoy), yet the battle is far from the winner. Cybercriminals were abandoned bitcoin (Btc) in favor of Stablecoins, Monero (Xmr) and exploitation of the DEF.
Total amount of cryptocurrency received by prohibited addresses 2020–2024. Source: chainalysis
Stablecoins is the new kingpin of prohibited crypto activity
Bitcoin has been the money of choice for cybercriminals for many years, but it has changed in 2022. The 2025 chainalysis report shows a seismic shift in Stablecoins that now costs 63% of all prohibited crypto transactions.
Criminals abandon bitcoin in favor of Stablecoins because they offer speed, liquidity and blind blinds that make transactions easier to perform and are more difficult to monitor. Unlike bitcoin, which may experience longer confirmation hours, stablecoins provide closely instant transactions and stability of the dollar.
This makes Stablecoins good for launching a huge amount of money without worrying about price change and making tracking transactions more difficult due to faster transfers through mixers, Crosschain and Defi protocol bridges to diminish transactions of transactions and discovering. This pivot shows a growing preference for better financial tools in the emerging crypto crime scene.
Stablecoins reached BTC for prohibited activity for the third year. Source: chainalysis
But Stablecoin’s readers are fighting back. For example, Tether, frozen the way -the addresses tied to the forbidden activity, forcing criminals to look for successors. Some turned to Monero, privacy wallets and defi -based laundering schemes.
Ransomware payments decrease by 35%, but cybercrime fits
At first glance, ransomware attacks appear to refuse. In 2024, payments were rejected by 35%, suggesting that victims and regulators were finally getting the upper hand. However, this number is a mask of a deeper change.
Instead of disappearing, the ransomware groups were rebranded, different and adapted. Following Lockbit’s takedown.
Another crypto crime sector continues to develop in simple vision through simple market manipulation. Decentralized exchanges (DEX) remain fertile soil for washing the trade, in which the orchestra of the schemes pouring trading volumes and deceptive investors. The crypto firm CLS Global Only plead guilty to wash-trading A token made by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for a cyber sting operation.
Related: In the pictures: The record-breaking of the bybit $ 1.4B hack
The crypto market remains hurt by washing trading, fake volume and pump-and-dump schemes. The 2025 chainalysis reports that $ 2.57 billion in the prohibited amount of trade was artificially formed in 2024.
These methods rely on creating an illusion of demand, often through automatic trading bots that quickly buy and sell tokens to decompose artificial prices. This work is deceptive to new investors in the belief that a project has a real momentum. A fast growing green candle and seemingly organic volume draw on new investors with the promise of fast gains.
When sufficiently undeniable consumers enter the market, the insanity discards their holdings, price crashing and leaving investors holding trivial tokens. This cycle, known as the classic “pump-and-dump,” continues to plague the Dexs, which disrupts trust in crypto markets.
In 2024, 3.59% of all the new tokens minted that showed the classic rug-pull behavior.
Looking forward to Cat-and-Mouse crypto crime
The 135-page chainalysis also covers the increasing laundering-as-a-service platforms, the decline of Darknet Market revenues, and AI’s growing role in crypto scams. Examines how North Korea hackers steal a record of $ 1.34 billion, the collapse of major ransomware groups such as Lockbit and the SEC cracking to $ 2.57 billion in market manipulation schemes. The report shows the evolution of the crime and the rising global response with detailed study of the case and forensic views.
There is a cat-and-mouse game with regulators and criminals locked in a rising weapon breed. Stablecoin regulations are expected to tighten as governments respond to their growing role in launching money.
At the same time, AI-powered fraud will expand greatly, with scams of deepfake, synthetic identity and automatic phishing attacks that make it harder to see. Ransomware tactics will continue to change, transferring focus from ransom payments to data robbery and extortion.
Cybercriminals will find new ways to force the victims, and while law enforcement measures test, the battle between regulators and illicit actors will only exacerbate, shaping the future of crypto role in global finances.
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