What is money laundering in cryptocurrency?

The goal of money laundering in cryptocurrency is to move funds to addresses where its original criminal source can’t be detected, and eventually to a service that allows cryptocurrency to be exchanged for cash — usually this means exchanges. If that weren’t possible, there would be very little incentive to commit crime involving cryptocurrency.

What types of services do cybercriminals use to launder cryptocurrency?

Mining pools, high-risk exchanges, and mixers also saw substantial increases in value received from illicit addresses as well. We also see patterns in which types of services different types of cybercriminals use to launder cryptocurrency.

What is criminal activity in the cryptocurrency industry?

Criminal activity studied in this report included cryptocurrency addresses linked to online scams, ransomware attacks, terrorist funding, hacks, transactions linked to child abuse materials, and funds linked to payments made to dark web marketplaces offering illegal services like drugs, weapons, and stolen data.

How much cryptocurrency did criminals launder in 2021?

Criminals laundered $8.6bn (£6.4bn) of cryptocurrency in 2021, up by 30% from the previous year, a report by blockchain data company Chainalysis says. It says police could strike a "huge blow" by targeting key services used to launder cryptocurrency by criminals.