Russia and Ukraine Lead Darknet Cryptocurrency Transaction Volumes

In 2020, the total volume of cryptocurrency payments on the darknet amounted to $1.7 billion. The top three by turnover on the darknet were Russia, the United States and Ukraine.

Which countries drove darknet market activity in 2020? https://t.co/JsYZZihtUJ

— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) February 1, 2021

In Russia, annual darknet cryptocurrency turnover exceeded $288 million; in the United States, $179 million; in Ukraine, $98 million.

China occupied fourth place with $87 million. Vietnam closed the top five with $56 million.

Data: Chainalysis.

“The United States, Russia, Ukraine, and China dominate in the value of both sent and received funds. We suspect that a significant portion of the volume from China and Russia received by darknet markets is linked to money laundering in these countries,” according to the Chainalysis report.

Most often, users send funds via cryptocurrency exchanges, P2P platforms and mixing services. To obtain them, they use exchanges and mixers.

“We see a significant rise in the popularity of mixers: their share more than doubled—from 5% in 2019 to 13% in 2020. This reflects growing caution among darknet sellers and administrators following crackdowns by law enforcement,” say Chainalysis analysts.

Hydra, a leading dark-market service provider, accounts for 75% of all darknet revenue.

In terms of cryptocurrency turnover, Hydra ranked among the top 10 platforms in Eastern Europe and even surpassed some popular exchanges such as Kraken, OKEx and Poloniex.

Chainalysis analysts note that excluding Hydra, the revenue generated by darknet marketplaces from 2019 to 2020 remained roughly unchanged.

Earlier, Chainalysis reported that the share of cryptocurrency transactions related to illicit activity fell to to $10 billion in 2020.

Through decentralized exchanges (DEX), criminals moved $34 million — 0.024% of turnover during this period (about $144.3 billion).

In September 2020, Chainalysis specialists reported that Eastern Europe leads in activity on darknet markets among other regions of the world.

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