It looks like the dark side of blockchain is getting a little lighter. TRM Labs’ 2024 Crypto Crime Report shared illicit activities on blockchains have plummeted to record low. „BiTcOiN iS fOr cRiMiNaLs” people in salty disbelief.
One more traditional crypto FUD just got dumbed down, again
Illicit on-chain volume has dropped by 24% since 2023, now sitting at $45 billion, and that might sound like a lot, but it only makes up about 0.4% of all crypto transactions.
All while crypto transaction volume overall skyrocketed by 56% last year, surpassing $10.6 trillion!
And for comparison, there’s an estimation as 2% of the dollar-volume in the world is connected to illicit activity.
TRM Labs credits this decline to increased efforts from law enforcement and players in the crypto industry working together to tackle illegal activities.
Nowhere is this more evident than on TRON, founded by the ever-controversial Justin Sun.
TRON teamed up with Tether and TRM Labs to form a group aimed at identifying and disrupting criminal networks. And they did.
The iron fist of the law
This so-called T3 Financial Crime Unit claims to have frozen around $130 million worth of USDT linked to suspected crimes since its launch in August.
They’ve been busy monitoring over $3 billion in USDT transactions, and it seems their hard work is paying off, as TRM Labs reports that illicit activity on TRON has dropped big time, with volume decreasing by $6 billion and the proportion of such activity nearly halving.
Despite this progress, TRON still takes the cake as the most-used blockchain for illicit activities, because it accounts for 58% of total illicit volume, while Ethereum and Bitcoin lag behind at 24% and 12%, respectively.
This trend reflects a preference for blockchains that offer low transaction fees and popular stablecoins.
Popular choice for everyone
A United Nations report highlighted that bad actors often prefer USDT transactions facilitated through TRON’s TRC-20 protocol.
With nearly $60 billion in USDT on TRON, second only to Ethereum, it’s no wonder criminals are drawn to it.
The report also reveals that sanctions violations make up about a third of all illicit volumes across monitored networks, while scams account for roughly a quarter.
On the other hand, fraud-related inflows dropped by 40% in 2024 but still sit high at $10.7 billion.
And let’s not forget about “pig butchering,” an investment scam that saw around $2.5 billion stolen, though thankfully, that’s also down.
