According to Chainalysis, 4068 criminal whales (approximately 4% of all whales) are in possession of more than $25 billion in cryptocurrencies.
Criminal whales, according to the blockchain analytics firm, are any private wallet that owns more than $1 million in cryptocurrency and receives more than 10% of its funds from illicit addresses linked to scams, fraud, and malware. The information comes from the Crypto Crime Report’s “Criminal Balances” section, which looks at criminal behaviour on the blockchain in 2021 and early 2022. The research covers a wide range of topics, including ransomware, malware, darknet markets, and NFT-related criminality.
The data revealed that 1,374 whales had obtained between 10% and 25% of their balance via shady sources, while 1,361 had gotten between 90% and 100%. There were 1,333 criminal whales, with illegal financial balances ranging from 25% to 90%. In terms of illegal transaction activity, the research found that criminal addresses got more than $14 billion in 2021, up from $7.8 million in 2020. Scamming accounted for the lion’s part of the $14 billion number last year, accounting for $7.8 billion, up 82 percent year over year.
Theft soared by 516 percent, accounting for $3.2 billion in illegal transactions, with the DeFi sector once again becoming a source of concern.
That’s all from this report.
