Money laundering issue in 2021 and how to fight against money laundering

Do you want to find out more about cryptocurrency crimes statistics for the first half of 2021?

Today, cryptocurrencies have become more and more popular. Due to this, the level of crypto crimes increases. Therefore, a level to protect your cryptocurrencies against fraud and other types of crypto crimes also increases.?

In this article, you will learn about money laundering statistics, including hacks, ransomware, and other crimes in 2021. In addition, you will find out how to fight against crypto crimes and protect your crypto assets from "dirty money".?

According to the cryptocurrency crime and anti-money laundering report by CipherTrace, the overall sum of crypto crimes reached $681 million by the end of Q2 in 2021. Cryptocurrency hacks reached $361 million that is 2, 7 times more than in the previous year. This summer, ransomware crimes reached $70 million.?

Crypto crimes amounted to $329 million. One of the most popular trends of crypto crimes in 2021 is the use of flash loans. Since flash loans don't require any KYC verification, it's complicated to catch crimes. The actual problem is not in platforms offering flash loans. The problem is in unaudited smart contracts.?

Ransomware issue

One of the most significant issues that exist in the current cryptocurrency world is ransomware. One of the large-scale ransom attacks was performed by RaaS in July 2021. A huge number of attacks make us pay attention to the security issue in the USA infrastructure. In June, the US State Department offered $10 million to everybody to help the authorities identify the ransomware crime.?

Crypto analytics companies produce AML and crypto tracing tools to fight against ransomware and other types of crypto crimes. One of the most significant associations fighting against ransomware is the Ransomware Task Force. This organization traces "dirty transactions" and catches criminals but also focuses on the education of people on how not to become a victim of ransomware. Companies fighting against ransomware collect data of the ransomware payments. These companies use AML and transaction monitoring tools to identify the addresses where a transaction was sent and create a database of suspicious addresses.?

Ransomware crimes use a public blockchain to receive their payments while hoping that authorities and police won't track them. However, all the data can be traced on the chain. Using crypto analytics and transaction tracking tools, such as CipherTrace, AMLBot, and much more, police can get more information, including when crypto assets entered a crypto exchange account, and connect BTC addresses to their owners.?

During the first half of this year, criminal group DarkSide hacked the Colonial Pipeline. This crime group stole unencrypted files. Criminals threatened the organization to share their data with the vast audience if they didn't pay for the crimes. Colonial Pipeline paid 75 BTC to prevent the circulation of their private data on the Internet. This sum of crypto assets was equal to $4.2 million at the moment.?

Several months later, 63.69 BTC of the 75 BTC were returned to the Colonial Pipeline that they had paid to DarkSide. Around 85 % were just recovered to the company because of the difference between the BTC courses.?

Crypto criminals are looking for new ways to steal digital assets?

Scammers and thieves have become more and more sophisticated and found new ways to steal crypto assets. Due to this, it's more difficult to trace "dirty transactions" and catch crypto crimes.?

In gaming applications, including Steam and Discord, malware programs appeared. In addition, the police found a new crypto malware application by using crypto analytics and AML tools. This program was accepted to be the best program allowing to get cryptocurrencies in a dishonest way in 2021.?

$ 13 million was stolen by hackers on THORChain?

In summer 2021, THORChain, a DeFi exchange, was hacked by crypto criminals who stole around $ 8 million in diverse cryptocurrencies. To refund costs stolen from users, the decentralized exchange decided to pay hackers a bug bounty to get stolen money and return them to their owners.?

FATF started to apply the Travel Rule providing the decentralized sector with a high level of security in 2021. Diverse jurisdictions and governments worldwide have implemented this rule in different ways. Around ten jurisdictions announced that they were actively implementing the Travel rule requirements. Fourteen jurisdictions announced that they met the Travel Rule, but haven't yet implemented it.?

Because of the lack of effective implementation of this rule, AML and crypto analytics services are widely used by diverse crypto companies worldwide, providing a high level of security. High-quality crypto analytics and AML services allow checking cryptocurrencies on the involvement in illegal activities before they come into your wallet. According to the statistics, around 29 % of crypto wallets checked by AMLBot contain "dirty money" that can be really harmful to the company's reputation inside the crypto community.?

The use of AML services in the work of central payment systems?

There is a tendency worldwide among central banks to issue their cryptocurrencies and implement them in digital payment systems. As mentioned in a previous article, one of the biggest payment systems Mastercard started to cooperate with CipherTrace, a crypto analytics company, to provide their customers with a high level of safety. The popularity of crypto analytics and AML tools grows day by day because of the extensive use of cryptocurrencies in everyday life. All the payment systems and central banks want to protect their customers from the threat of being involved in illegal activities. According to the crypto specialists' forecast, central banks and traditional payments systems will widely incorporate AML services in their job processes while being afraid of the competition with cryptocurrencies.?

In conclusion, according to the statistics, a list of the most essential DeFi related issues includes ransomware, crypto hacks, flash crypto loans, malicious attacks, and much more. To protect your crypto wallet from "dirty money" gotten in a dishonest way, users should use AML tools. They allow checking cryptocurrency transactions on the involvement of digital assets in illegal activities and making your cryptocurrencies clean.