Crypto criminals moved $649B in stablecoins in 2024

Criminal activity involving stablecoins reached $649 billion in 2024, according to Bitrace’s 2024 Crypto Crime Report.  

This amount represents 5.14% of all stablecoin transactions last year, a slight decrease from 5.94% in 2023, indicating that while illicit use increased in absolute terms, the overall stablecoin market grew faster.  

Tether (CRYPTO:USDT) remains the dominant stablecoin in these illicit transactions, with Tron and Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) blockchains accounting for about 90% of the crime-related volume.

Tron (CRYPTO:TRX) still leads with over 75% of these transactions, although Ethereum’s share is growing.  

The report highlights that stablecoins play a significant role in criminal activities such as fraud, money laundering, darknet market trade, and crypto gambling.

For example, illicit darknet trade grew by over $30 billion, and crypto gambling increased 17.5% to $217.84 billion in 2024.  

Scams and fraud saw a sharp rise, jumping from $12 billion in 2023 to $52 billion in 2024.

Escrow services like Huione have become key intermediaries in laundering schemes, with Tether and Circle actively freezing over $1 billion in assets last year to combat illegal activity.  

Despite these enforcement efforts, the amount of frozen assets remains a small fraction of the total illicit volume, though it doubled compared to the previous three years combined.  

Crypto sleuth ZachXBT noted that North Korean hackers have an “epidemic” level of involvement in stablecoin-related crime. 

The report concludes that stablecoins remain a vital part of the crypto ecosystem with legitimate uses far outweighing criminal ones.

However, the criminal share is substantial and enforcement is becoming more determined and sophisticated.  

“If the industry continues to focus on fighting fraud and money laundering, it could make a real difference,” the report states, emphasizing the need for ongoing vigilance and regulatory action.