#cryptonews
Cybercriminals are increasingly turning to stablecoins, according to the 2025 Crypto Crime Report released today, on Jan. 15, by Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm.
The report shows a clear shift away from Bitcoin (BTC), which previously dominated the cryptocurrency landscape for criminal activity. Now, 63% of all illicit cryptocurrency transactions involve stablecoin assets.
For example, Tether (USDT) has a track record of freezing addresses associated with scams, terrorist financing, and sanctions evasion, making stablecoins a less attractive option for some illicit actors.
While the rise of stablecoins in illicit activities is concerning, Chainalysis analysts highlighted in the report that stablecoin issuers often actively combat their misuse.
However, this figure likely underestimates the true scale of crypto crime, with historical trends suggesting the actual figure may be closer to $51 billion. This represents approximately 0.14% of total on-chain transaction volume.
Chainalysys also estimates that $40.9 billion was received by illicit addresses in 2024.
Ransomware remains a persistent threat, generating substantial revenue for criminals. However, a combination of law enforcement actions and a decline in victim willingness to pay ransoms has somewhat tempered their impact, according to the report.
The report also highlights a significant decline in darknet market activity and fraud shop volumes.
While decentralized finance (DeFi) services have been frequent targets, centralized exchanges experienced a surge in attacks during the second and third quarters of 2024.
Chainalysys confirms in its report a concerning rise in stolen funds, with a 21% year-over-year increase to $2.2 billion.
North Korean hacking groups represent 61% of the total stolen funds, siphoning off a record-breaking $1.34 billion from crypto platforms. These attacks often involve sophisticated tactics, techniques, and procedures employed by North Korean IT workers who have infiltrated crypto and Web3 companies, compromising their internal networks.
Private key compromises were the most common method of theft, accounting for almost 44% of all stolen crypto.