Crypto money laundering raised to $8,6 billion in 2021

Since 2017, Chainalysis estimates that a total of $33,4 billion in cryptocurrency has been laundered

28.01.2022 - 07:55

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What’s new? A new report from Chainalysis shows that $8,6 billion was laundered through cryptocurrencies in 2021. That is a 25% increase on 2020’s $6,6 billion, but well below the record high of $10,9 billion reached in 2019. Chainalysis began tracking this information in 2017, and since then a total of $33,4 billion in cryptocurrency has been laundered.

Chainalysis’s report

What does the report say? Chainalysis notes that approximately $2 trillion in fiat is laundered each year as a result of offline crimes. However, it is more difficult to reliably estimate the amount of fiat money laundered because of the use of untraceable cash. The report states the following:

“The biggest difference between fiat and cryptocurrency-based money laundering is that, due to the inherent transparency of blockchains, we can more easily trace how criminals move cryptocurrency between wallets and services in their efforts to convert their funds into cash.”

What is more “preferred” to be laundered? In terms of assets, the largest concentration came from altcoins, as 68% of the laundered funds went to the 20 largest deposit addresses used for illegal activity. Ether was laundered in 63% of cases, stablecoins in 57%, and bitcoin was the least concentrated, with only 19% going to the largest addresses.

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