Despite the billions stolen recently, scams and crypto crime fall 15% this year. A new report from Chainalysis, a blockchain intelligence firm, shows that there’s a 15% drop in the volume of crypto crimes so far this year. Comparatively, there’s also a 36% decline in legit transactions.
“If we dig into specific forms of cryptocurrency-based crime, we find that some have actually increased in 2022, while others have declined more than the market overall,” the firm stated in the report.
According to the firm, the total scam revenue for the year so far is 65% lower than it was through July 2021. Currently, the revenue sits at $1.6 billion, which can be attributed to an overall decline in the crypto market.
Scam Revenue in the Crypto Market
“Since January 2022, scam revenue has fallen more or less in line with Bitcoin pricing,” the firm said in the report. “The cumulative number of individual transfers to scams so far in 2022 is the lowest it’s been in the past four years.”
So, what does this change suggest? According to the firm, they believe fewer people are falling for crypto scams. As crypto crime falls, it seems the scams aren’t quite as enticing now that the values have dropped.
Additionally, the report notes another factor in the decline. In 2022, there hasn’t been one single significant scam covering a broad population, at least in comparison to recent years.
For instance, the scammers behind PlusToken got away with upwards of $2 billion in 2019. Moreover, last year, Finiko stole roughly $1.5 billion.
The Reduction in Scams, Despite Hacks
While the basic number of scams and crypto crime falls 15%, there has been $1.9 billion in digital assets stolen through hacks as of July 2022. These include the hack of Nomad Token Bridge as well as the $5 million taken from Solana wallets. The report compares this number to a little under $1.2 billion stolen during the same period in 2021.
“We shouldn’t expect theft to drop based on cryptocurrency market movements the way scamming does,” the report stated. “As long as crypto assets held in DeFi protocol pools and other services have value and are vulnerable, bad actors will try to steal them.”
Founded in 2014, the firm provides software tools that detect and prevent crypto crime to businesses, government agencies, and financial institutions.
