The illicit flow of crypto through crosschain swaps has reached at least $21.8 billion, a 211% increase from 2023. Twelve percent of these funds are tied to North Korea. Once a niche practice, crosschain swaps have now evolved into major money laundering mechanisms, allowing criminals to obscure their activities across multiple blockchains. Techniques such as structured and multi-hop chain-hopping complicate tracing efforts for investigators. The emergence of new blockchains enhances laundering opportunities, as more assets and obfuscation paths become available for misuse.
At least $21.8 billion in illicit or high-risk crypto has flowed through crosschain swaps, up from $7 billion in 2023, according to estimates by UK-based blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.
Illicit actors no longer simply send crypto through mixers or dump tokens on a single decentralized exchange (DEX). Nowadays, the funds move around multiple blockchains to frustrate investigators and evade detection.
Structured chain-hopping involves splitting funds and distributing them simultaneously across several blockchains. Multi-hop chain-hopping is the act of moving assets from one chain to another repeatedly.
The rise of new blockchains and crosschain services is resulting in more crypto laundering avenues, reflecting the growing use of blockchain bridges, DEXs, and coin swap services.
#crypto-laundering #crosschain-swaps #blockchain-analysis #illicit-finance #money-laundering-techniques
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