Over 4,000 ’Criminal Whales’ control a total of $25 billion in cryptocurrency

<p>Criminal crypto balances increased from $3 billion to $11 billion, owing primarily to a rise in the cryptocurrency market in 2021, but also to an increase in hacks.</p> <p>According to new Chainalysis data, 4,068 "criminal whales" own cryptocurrency worth $25 billion. Criminal crypto whales, according to the firm, are any private wallet that holds $1 million or more in cryptocurrency and has received 10% or more of that amount through illicit addresses. (In other words, not all of the $25 billion is illegally obtained.)</p> <p>The data is a preview of Chainalysis' upcoming 2022 Crypto Crime Report, and it follows similar, recent reports on ransomware, NFT fraud, money laundering, and malware.</p> <p>Two findings stand out in this report: the increase in crypto balances resulting from crime and the reasons for that increase.</p> <p>Illicit balances (funds obtained through illegal means) totalled $11 billion at the end of 2021, up from $3 billion at the end of 2020.</p> <p>That increase was due to a surge in cryptocurrency values in 2021, as well as "a surge in the number of hacks that occurred this year, which also contributed to the amount of funds held by hackers following a hacking event," according to Kim Grauer, head of research at Chainalysis.</p> <p>Stolen funds accounted for 93 percent (or $9.8 billion) of the $11 billion in illicit balances at the end of 2021. According to the report, darknet market funds are followed by scams ($192 million), fraud shops ($66 million), and ransomware ($30 million).</p> <p>Of course, the seizure of $3.6 billion in Bitcoin last week as a result of the 2016 Bitfinex hack means that the $11 billion in illicit balances at the end of 2021 is already significantly lower for the time being.</p> <p>In 2021, there will be criminal cryptocurrency whales</p> <p>Aside from the increase in criminal balances in 2021—and the extent to which stolen funds were featured previously and beyond other metrics—Chainalysis discovered that criminal balances fluctuated throughout the ye