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Crypto Crime Siphoned Off Nearly $10.5B in 2020: Research
Blockchain analytics company Coinfirm noted that scams and fraud account for two thirds of the funds misappropriated.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 12:19 p.m. Published Mar 1, 2021, 4:06 p.m.
Financial crime related to cryptocurrency reaped nearly $10.5 billion last year – slightly down from 2019, according to research from blockchain analytics company Coinfirm.
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- Provided to CoinDesk on Monday, Coinfirm's report said, of the $10.5 billion total, over two-thirds (67.8%) was misappropriated by fraud and scams.
- That's seven times more than hacks, which reaped 9.6% of the 2020 total of ill-gotten gains.
- Darknet markets and the drugs trade made up 18.4%, while sanctions breaches accounted for just 3.9% of the yearly total.
- However, the firm notes that the crypto total still pales in comparison to EY's estimate that crime in traditional finance amounted to $1.4-3.5 trillion last year.
- The data showed most notably that scams saw a sharp rise for 2020, in part due to the PlusToken scam which fleeced investors for around $2.9 billion.
- However, fund misappropriated by frauds and scams have doubled since 2017, per the report.
- The company further noted that much crypto crime is hidden, with 80% of fraud and hack cases not reported in the year they occur and up to 50% not reported at all.
- It arrived at the data having developed a "map" of global crypto crime through its own methodologies and services.
See also: Cryptopia Exchange, Currently in Liquidation, Gets Hacked Again: Report
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- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
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