Cybercriminals reportedly earned at least 36.7 billion yen in crypto assets in 2020 alone
Chainalysis, a research firm specializing in the fraudulent use of crypto assets, has released a report summarizing the trends of crypto assets in 2020. In it, Chainalysis revealed that the misuse of cryptocurrencies is increasing as crypto assets become more widespread.
Chainalysis Blog | Crypto Crime Summarized: Scams and Darknet Markets Dominated 2020 by Revenue, But Ransomware Is the Bigger Story
Ransomware gangs made at least $ 350 million in 2020 | ZDNet
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-gangs-made-at-least-350-million-in-2020/
Cryptocurrency assets have made remarkable progress in recent years, with the market capitalization of cryptocurrency assets reaching the 100 trillion yen mark in early 2021. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that there are many cases where crypto assets are misused for crimes, such as a senior US government official saying in January 2021 that 'many virtual currencies are used by criminal organizations.'
'Most of the cryptocurrencies are used by criminal organizations,' said US Treasury Secretary candidate, but also pointed out that 'the facts are different' --GIGAZINE
Regarding the situation of such crypto assets, Chainalysis said, 'While increasing demand from institutional investors is driving the rise of the crypto assets market, the convenience of crypto assets that can be sent immediately from anywhere in the world makes criminals It's very attractive, 'he said, reiterating that crypto assets are being used for cybercrime.
According to the Chainalysis, the shows the most significant presence in the crime surrounding encryption assets ransomware thing with a crime. The amount of crypto assets received by criminals through ransomware in 2020 is estimated to be $ 350 million (about 36.7 billion yen or more).
Chainalysis says, '$ 350 million sounds exaggerated, as it's only 7% of the crypto assets received by criminals in 2020, but that amount is compared to 2019. It's up 311%. Other crypto asset-related crimes have increased so dramatically as many organizations are vulnerable to new networks while working from home due to the effects of the new coronavirus infection. It's unparalleled. '
The graph below shows the changes in the amount of crypto assets traded due to ransomware crimes. Scale of encryption assets paid as ransom of ransomware is, in 2019 did small things than one billion dollars (about 10.4 billion), in 2020 more than tripled has expanded .
Moreover, since the estimated amount of '350 million dollars' is calculated from the 'minimum amount of crypto assets known to have been used for crimes', experts said, 'How many times the actual damage amount is?' Can also swell. ' For example, dealing with the cloud storage service-related information
by Cloudwards
Chainalysis's research also revealed how cybercriminals are using crypto assets. For some time, some cybercriminals have used a technique called ' bitcoin mixing ' to mix the obtained crypto assets with legitimate crypto assets and then convert them into the currency used in reality for money laundering. I knew that it was, but it turned out that ransomware users also use the same technique.
According to the findings, Chainalysis said, 'Many cybercriminals are using Bitcoin mixing, which means that if even one service that is being abused for Bitcoin mixing can be seized, it is a crime that uses crypto assets. It's important information for law enforcement because it can confuse the whole activity. '
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