11.5 billion dollars in cryptocurrency lost in 2022 due to hackers and scammers

Bitcoin’s share of illicit cryptocurrency transactions has decreased significantly due to the emergence of many other networks. Scammers and hackers favor the TRON blockchain

$11.5 billion in various cryptocurrencies were lost by their owners in 2022. This happened as a result of hackers and scammers activity. TRM Labs, a smart blockchain solutions company, conducted a study and found. That the collapse in cryptocurrency prices since 2021 had no meaningful impact on the dollar volume of related crimes.

At least $7.8 billion was invested in pyramid schemes in 2022, according to TRM Labs. And $3.7 billion was stolen from hacks. Another $1.5 billion in digital assets was spent on the darknet, a marketplace specializing in the sale of illegal drugs, analysts said.

About $2 billion of the money stolen by hackers was stolen as a result of attacks on firewalls. And which allow the transfer of cryptocurrencies from one blockchain to another. Our experts point out that criminals are also increasingly resorting to such schemes to make it harder to track the movement of assets.

Recall that in 2016, two-thirds of stolen cryptocurrencies were in Bitcoin. And in 2022, it accounted for just under 3%. According to the report, Ethereum (68%) and Binance Smart Chain (19%) dominated.

And if in 2016 Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency used to finance terrorism. By 2022, it was almost completely replaced by TRON blockchain assets – their share was 92%, according to the report. This network became popular because of low fees. And that’s why most of the USDT stablecoin’s turnover occurs on TRON.

In May 2023 alone, hackers and fraudulent cryptoprojects stole $71 million in cryptocurrency. Also in early June, the biggest hack of the year occurred. A hacker stole over $100 million from Atomic Wallet cryptocurrency users.