Report: attackers are 13 times faster at disposing of stolen cryptocurrencies

In 2015, attackers on average held stolen or fraudulently obtained cryptocurrency assets for 365 days. In 2020, sent bitcoins for a total of $1.4 billion to mixers, according to a Crystal Blockchain report

This metric has fallen 13-fold thanks to advances in blockchain analytics tools and the emergence of networks of regulated virtual asset service providers (VASPs).

The trend affects about 80% of such assets, with criminals retaining a smaller portion for the long term.

Data: Crystal Blockchain.

To hinder tracking, attackers employ intermediary transactions. In 81% of cases, the chain of transfers from the initial attacker address to the withdrawal point consisted of nine intermediary operations.

Over five years, the directions for withdrawing stolen assets have also changed.

In 2015, verified-exchanges were most often used — they received 53% of the funds. By 2020, the volume in this direction had fallen to 8%, while the share of trading platforms without verification rose to 61%.

During the study period, criminals significantly increased the popularity of mixing services — the share of funds sent to them rose from 3% to 27%.

Earlier Crystal researchers confirmed that CoinJoin coin-mixing technology indeed makes the tracking of Bitcoin transaction paths more difficult.

According to Crystal Blockchain’s earlier report, over the last nine years, from 2011 to 2020, lost $7.6 billion.

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