In 2024, ransomware operators generated $813 million in revenue, marking a 35% decline from the previous year’s $1.25 billion, according to a report by Chainalysis.
The amount of stolen funds in the first half of the year rose by 2.4% compared to 2023, including $75 million paid to the Dark Angels group. However, a sharp decline in extortion payments in the second half led to an overall decrease.
Chainalysis analysts believe hackers are finding it more challenging to launder illicit gains due to sanctions against the Russian exchange Cryptex and the seizure by German authorities of servers from 47 Russian-speaking crypto exchanges without KYC.
Another positive trend noted by experts is the growing gap between the amounts demanded by criminals and the sums actually sent to them.
“Victims who paid ransoms typically sent between $150,000 and $250,000, regardless of the initial demands,” the report states.
Earlier, Chainalysis analysts reported that in 2024, the total volume of illicit cryptocurrency transactions amounted to $40.9 billion, with 63% conducted in stablecoins.