Overall BTC-Related Crime Dropped But Ransomware Incidents Increase

The newest reports show that the overall BTC-related crime dropped in 2020 but the ransomware incidents surged by 311% year over year as we can read more in today’s bitcoin scam news.

The illicit activity makes up 0.34% of all crypto transaction volumes in 2020 as per the data by Chainalysis and it marks a 2% drop from a year earlier. Ransomware incidents increased by about 311% year over year which could have been possible because of the COVID-prompted working from home environment and measures that became quite vulnerable for companies. Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen mentioned the potential misuse of crypto in her confirmation hearing which weighed on the BTC price last week.

The overall BTC-related crime fell last year to a small fraction of the overall trading volume but some targeted hacks surged once criminals start exploiting people that started working from home during the pandemic. Last year, an illicit activity made about 0.34% of all crypto transaction volume according to a report from Chaianlysis, marking a 2% drop from the year before. Kim Grauer, the head of research at Chainalysis said:

 “We saw a significant decrease in the share of overall activity associated with illicit entities. Still, ransomware was by far the biggest category in terms of activity growth and we’re seeing an all time high for dark-net market activity.”

Ransomware is malicious software used by hackers to infect a computer and demand a fee to unlock it. The bounty is often paid in BTC or other cryptocurrencies but the category made up just 7% of all crypto funds that were received by criminals and increased by 311% year over year. Chainalysis pointed to more people that started working from home because of the COVID pandemic which opened the doors for criminals. Darknet markets were the second biggest crime category that accounted for $1.7 billion worth of crypto activity which is about a 30% increase from a year earlier. Known as the dark web, this network uses the internet but requires specific software and authorizations to access. The criminals turned to cryptocurrencies like BTC for their ease of sending online fast.

Crypto assets are pseudonymous and they can be tracked but you cannot know who sent them. these features caught the attention of regulators that fear the crypto’s role in money laundering and terrorist financing.