Cryptocurrency crime hit an all-time high in 2021 with illicit addresses receiving
The number rose from
Total transaction volume grew to
Scamming was the greatest form of crypto-based crime, followed by theft.
Chainanalysis said that
Banks and lawyers are replaced by code called a smart contract, which is written on a public blockchain such as ethereum.
The code then executes when the right conditions are met, though experts caution that there are code vulnerabilities in some newly launched protocols that hackers can exploit.
Though cryptocurrency is at an all-time high, legitimate crypto activity is outpacing criminal usage, Chainanalysis said.
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