Criminals refuse to leave the world of cryptocurrencies to carry out their misdeeds, mainly scams, which during 2021 had an 81% growth in the value stolen, compared to 2020, where this activity decreased considerably compared to previous years, according to the firm Chainalysis.
The firm recently released a preview of its report Crypto Crime Report 2022, where he indicated that the scams carried out with cryptocurrencies in 2021 had a value of 7.700 million dollars, that is, an increase of 81% compared to 2020.
“Scams were once again the largest form of cryptocurrency-based crime, measured by transaction volume, with more than $ 7.7 billion in cryptocurrencies taken from victims around the world,” the firm highlighted in advance of its report. , which will be published in February the full version.
Chainalysis exemplifies the case of Finiko, a Russia-based Ponzi scheme, which operated from December 2019 to July 2021 by inviting users to invest with bitcoin or theter, with the promise of monthly returns of up to 30 percent.
“During the roughly 19 months it was active, Finiko received more than $ 1.5 billion bitcoin equivalent in more than 800,000 separate deposits … Finiko represents a massive fraud perpetrated against cryptocurrency users in Eastern Europe, predominantly in Russia and Ukraine” , highlighted the firm.
According to Chainalysis, this growth in the value of the estates was driven by the appearance of carpet pulls, known as “rug pulls,” which according to the firm is a relatively new type of fraud, particularly in the DeFi ecosystem (decentralized finance). ), where usually the developers of a cryptocurrency-based project, especially a new token, suddenly abandon it, taking user funds with them.
“(The rug pulls) They are the largest form of crime based on cryptocurrencies and aimed exclusively at new users, so the scam represents one of the biggest threats to the continued adoption of cryptocurrencies, ”highlights Chainalysis.
According to the graphs presented by Chainalysis in said advance, the value of the scams of the rug pulls rose in 2021 to about 2,500 million dollars, that is to say 37% of all the income from the frauds with cryptocurrencies, when in 2020 they represented only 1 percent.
The document details that, during 2021, the issue of cryptocurrency scams had an important change, since last year there were more frauds, but with a shorter life span, compared to previous periods.
“The average financial scam was active for only 70 days in 2021, down from 192 in 2020. Looking back, (from 2013 to 2016) the average cryptocurrency scam was active for 2,369 days, and the figure has been trending constant downward since then ”, the analysis limits.
For Chainalysis, investigators and authorities have improved their investigation and prosecution of scamsFor example, in September 2021, US regulators filed charges against 14 investment scams that promote themselves as providers of compatible cryptocurrency derivatives trading services.
Chainalysis highlights that although it is common for scams to be motivated by the rise in prices of cryptocurrencies, the end of a statistical relationship between the asset prices and fraudulent activity.
“New and less intelligent users attracted by the growth of cryptocurrencies are more likely to fall for scams than more experienced users. However, the relationship between asset prices and scam activity now appears to be disappearing, ”documents Chainalysis.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx