According to Chainalysis, 4% of criminal whales are hoarding $25 billion worth of crypto

Chainalysis data shows that 4,068 criminal whales (roughly 4% of all whales) are hoarding more than $25 billion worth of cryptocurrencies.

The blockchain analytics firm defines a criminal whale as any private wallet containing more than $1 million worth of cryptocurrencies, with more than 10% of funds received from illegal addresses linked to activities such as phishing, fraud and malware.

The data comes from the Crime Balance section of the Crypto Crime Report, which examines the situation of criminal activity on the blockchain from 2021 to early 2022. The report is extensive and also covers topics such as ransomware, malware, dark web markets, and non-fungible token crime.

“In total, Chainalysis has identified 4,068 criminal whales holding over $25 billion worth of crypto. Criminal whales make up 3.7% of all crypto whales – i.e. personal wallets with more than $1 million in crypto.”

The data shows that 1,374 whales received between 10% and 25% of their credit from nefarious sources, while 1,361 whales received between 90% and 100%. There are a total of 1,333 criminal whales holding between 25% and 90% illegal funds.

ratio excess belong whale received from illegal addresses | The source: chain analysis

“While stolen funds dominate overall criminal balance sheets, the dark web market is the largest source of illicit funds sent to criminal whales, second only to fraud and third after stolen ones.”

Illegal Trading Activities

In terms of illicit trading activity, the report revealed that criminal addresses received over $14 billion in 2021, a whopping 79% increase from $7.8 million in 2020.

Value obtained by that type of crypto crime | The source: chain analysis

Most of that $14 billion last year came from fraud, up 82% year over year to $7.8 billion. Specifically, DeFi carpet moves were highlighted as the main source of the scam that raised $2.8 billion:

“We should note that around 90% of the total loss in value from carpet pulling in 2021 could be attributed to the fraudulent central exchange Thodex. The exchange’s CEO disappeared shortly after the platform blocked users’ ability to withdraw funds.

Thefts also increased by 516%, accounting for $3.2 billion in illicit transaction activity, with the DeFi sector a renewed source of concern.

On the bright side, Chainalysis notes that total trading volume in US dollars will be around $15.8 trillion by 2021, with rogue addresses accounting for just 0.15% of that, up from 0.34% last year .

“Crime is shrinking in the crypto ecosystem. Law enforcement agencies’ ability to fight crypto crime is also improving. We’ve seen many examples of this throughout 2021, from the CFTC filing multiple investment scams, to the FBI removing the fast-spreading REvil ransomware strain, to OFAC sanctions for Suex and Chatex.”

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