Chainalysis Launches Crypto Crime Incident Response Program

Blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis has launched a Crypto Incident Response Program to assist organizations that have been targeted by hackers and ransomware to recover their funds. 

Targeted organizations that have opted for coverage from the unit will get access to a 24/7 hotline. Once contact has been made between the victim organization and the response unit, Chainalysis will assign a team of experts “to work around the clock and side-by-side” with them, and, if need be, help liaise with law enforcement. 

Chainalysis’s Manager of Investigations, Jarno Laatikainen, is credited with having spearheaded the project. 

Chainalysis shares crypto crime figures

According to Chainalysis’s data, legitimate use of crypto is far outpacing criminal usage–just 0.15% of transactions last year involved illicit addresses–but crypto heists employing hackers or ransomware are at an all-time high. 

Between 2019 and 2020 there was a quintupling in the total value looted by ransomware attackers, from $144 million to $728 million–a level that held steady throughout 2022. 

Crypto-Related Crime Hit Record $14B in 2021—But Shrank by Volume: Chainalysis

Crime involving cryptocurrencies surged to a new high of $14 billion in 2021, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis in its annual Crypto Crime report released on Thursday. This is an increase of 79% in value from the $7.8 billion figure from 2020, mostly thanks to the surge in crypto prices in 2021. But this activity represented just 0.15% of the total of $15.8 trillion in crypto transaction volumes recorded over the course of the year—the lowest percentage ever. For comparison, the...

Meanwhile, the total value looted by hackers rose to an all-time high of over $3 billion last year having been well under a billion during 2020. The total number of hacks rose from 117 in 2020 to 251 in 2021. 

It looks like we’re on track for another record year in 2022. The total number of hacks in the year to date (YTD) currently sits at 64, while the total value looted is a little under $2 billion. 

The historic $622 million Ronin Bridge hack, which hit Axie Infinity developer Sky Mavis’s ​​Ethereum sidechain, accounts for about a third of the total looted by hackers so far this year.