Crypto Crime Report: 2025 Statistics & Trends

Crypto crime is escalating fast and shifting in form. In 2024 alone, $51 billion flowed into illicit wallets, with $40 billion laundered and over $2 billion stolen outright. Bitcoin is no longer king in the shadows; stablecoins now dominate criminal crypto flows. This report breaks down who’s losing money, how it's being funneled, and why tracking these shifts is critical. The insights ahead reveal patterns that can help spot emerging threats and shape stronger policy.

How much cryptocurrency has been stolen in the world

Understanding what counts as stolen crypto is key because it isolates direct asset theft from fraud or sanctions violations. These losses often come from individual wallets, not institutions, which means a higher number of victims and more personal financial damage.

• Each year starts with low crypto theft and then escalates rapidly; 2022 began at $20B and peaked at $590M by December.
• 2022 was by far the most intense year for crypto theft, totaling nearly $590 billion in December alone.
• Monthly crypto thefts in 2024 show signs of leveling off after May, plateauing at $270 billion for three consecutive months.

Total amount of cryptocurrency stolen by month worldwide

• Crypto theft dropped from $3.7B in 2022 to $1.8B in 2023, but rose again to $2.2B in 2024. There is no clear downward trend, instead, we are at risk of renewed growth.

To see the full picture, we need to step back and look at the year-by-year trajectory of stolen crypto.

How much crypto has been stolen by year

Stolen funds are defined as crypto directly taken through hacks, phishing, or unauthorized access to wallets and services, excluding scams or investment fraud.

• Crypto theft surged from just $25 million in 2015 to $3.7 billion in 2022 - a 148x increase in seven years.
• Despite a drop in 2023, the average annual growth rate in crypto theft since 2015 exceeds 50%.
• If the trend continues, crypto thefts could exceed $100 billion annually by 2040 without stronger global enforcement.

How much cryptocurrency has been stolen in 2022?

• Hackers stole $3.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency in 2022, making it the highest year on record.

How much cryptocurrency has been stolen in 2023?

• In 2023, crypto thefts totaled $1.8 billion, a sharp drop from the previous year.

How much cryptocurrency has been stolen in 2024?

• Crypto thefts in 2024 reached $2.2 billion, with most losses driven by DeFi protocol attacks.

To understand which assets are most vulnerable, we need to break down thefts by individual cryptocurrencies, starting with Bitcoin

How many Bitcoins have been stolen?

• Over 59,174 BTC have been stolen since 2010, worth an estimated $6.3 billion as of May 2025.

Major Bitcoin thefts by year

Most common post-theft Bitcoin laundering patterns:

• Privacy coins: 45% of stolen Bitcoin is swapped to Monero (XMR) via instant exchanges.
• Peel chains: 70% of thieves use this method, breaking large sums into smaller, harder-to-trace transactions.
• Cross-chain bridges: 30% funnel funds to Ethereum or BNB Chain for tokenization.

Bitcoin theft statistics:

• A total of over 59,174 BTC has been stolen between 2010 and 2025.
• The largest single Bitcoin theft was 50,000 BTC in the 2012 Silk Road breach.
• In 2024, hackers stole 4,502.9 BTC in the DMM Bitcoin exchange hack, making it the most active year.

How much Ethereum was stolen?

Bitcoin isn't the only target. Ethereum has also seen major losses, often through different attack vectors.

• Over 4.1 million ETH have been stolen since 2016, totaling an estimated $10.2 billion as of May 2025.

Major Ethereum thefts by year

Most common Ethereum post-theft laundering patterns

• Privacy Tools: 60% of stolen Ethereum is swapped to Monero (XMR) via decentralized exchanges like ChangeNOW.
• Cross-Chain Bridges: 25% funnel funds to Bitcoin or Solana for further obfuscation.
• Peel Chains: 15% use small, incremental transfers to evade detection.

Ethereum theft statistics:

• More than 4.1 million ETH have been stolen between 2016 and 2025.
• The largest Ethereum theft was The DAO hack in 2016, with 3.6 million ETH drained from a smart contract flaw.
• In 2025, the Bybit hack stole 401,347 ETH worth $1.5 billion—the biggest crypto theft ever in dollar terms.

While Ethereum faced billion-dollar breaches, Solana has quietly racked up losses of its own.

How much Solana has been stolen?

• At least $750 million in Solana has been stolen since launch, with most losses in 2022 and renewed attacks in 2025.

Stolen Solana per year:

The biggest crypto rug pulls

List of crypto rug pulls ranked by total loss:

Beyond platform-specific thefts, rug pulls remain one of the most devastating and deceptive forms of crypto fraud.

Crypto rug pull losses by year

• Rug pull losses exploded from $1.3M in 2022 to $94.8M in 2024 - a massive resurgence in scam-driven exits.
• 2021 saw a historic spike with $5.06B in rug pull losses, over 200 times higher than the year before.

Rug pulls in 2025

There is an ongoing investigation into the sudden collapse of OM Mantra's token price, which plummeted over 90% on April 13, 2025. The incident has sparked widespread speculation about a potential rug pull, with various allegations and counterclaims emerging.

• If the OM Mantra collapse is confirmed as a rug pull, it would add over $5.5 billion in losses, making 2025 the highest year on record for rug pulls by value.

As direct scams multiply, another threat grows in parallel: how criminals move and clean the stolen crypto.

Cryptocurrency money laundering statistics

Percentage of illicit transactions worldwide by year

• In 2022, 0.24% of all crypto transactions were illicit, up from 0.15% in 2021.
• Illicit crypto activity peaked in 2023, with 0.61% of transaction volume tied to crime, more than double the previous year.
• In 2024, the share of illicit transactions dropped sharply to 0.14%, the lowest in four years.

This figure reflects estimated total inflows to addresses identified as involved in illicit activity. It includes scams, fraud, sanctioned entities, and laundering services. The final value may rise as new addresses are discovered and confirmed.

Crypto money laundering by year

Laundered funds refer to crypto moved through known laundering services like mixers, wallets, and bridges. This subset excludes funds not explicitly tied to laundering behavior.

Total value of crypto laundering-related transactions by year, billion $

• Over $102 billion has been laundered through cryptocurrency channels since 2019.

To understand what drives laundering, it helps to first see what types of crimes generate that illicit crypto.

Crypto crime types by percentage of total illicit volume:

• Sanctions violations account for 33% of illicit crypto volume, it shows that geopolitical misuse has overtaken consumer scams.
• Blocklisted funds hold a 29% share, which means laundered or tainted crypto continues to circulate despite enforcement.
• Scams and frauds make up only 24% of illicit activity, the narrative around crypto crime may understate the role of regulatory evasion.

Table with crime types by percentage of total illicit volume

Once we know the sources, the next question is: which coins actually carry the dark money?

Most common crypto used for laundering by year:

• Stablecoins jumped from 15% to 63%, and they now dominate illicit crypto flows and have replaced Bitcoin as the asset of choice.
• Bitcoin’s share in illicit transactions dropped from 70% to 20%, which shows criminals now avoid traceable assets.
• Privacy coins held steady at 10%, which shows their appeal has plateaued despite promises of anonymity.

Table with the popularity of crypto for money laundering by year:

Total number of intermediary wallets used for money laundering

• The number of intermediary wallets jumped to 12 million in 2023, it means crypto laundering routes have never been more crowded.
• From 2020 to 2023, the count rose by over 40%, which shows laundering infrastructure keeps expanding behind the scenes.
• Wallet growth paused in 2021 before surging again, it signals laundering networks adapt fast and bounce back stronger.

Behind all these mechanisms lies a simple, brutal truth: more Americans are losing more money than ever.

Crypto scam losses in the United States

• Since 2020, scam losses in the U.S. grew from $0.2B to $9.3B, which shows a 46-fold explosion in just four years.
• If the current trend holds, U.S. citizens could lose over $66 billion to crypto-related crimes in 2050.
• Americans lost a total of $20.8 billion to crypto scams between 2017 and 2024, it shows just how fast digital fraud has scaled into a national crisis.

YoY change of crypto scam-related complaints in the U.S.

• Complaints about crypto scams in the U.S. more than doubled in 2024 to nearly 150,000, signaling an explosion of fraud that hit more Americans than ever before.

The complaint surge wasn’t evenly spread. Some states saw far higher damage than others.

Map of crypto-related financial losses by state in 2024

Crypto fraud losses in the U.S. by state in 2024:

• California leads with $1.39 billion in crypto fraud losses; one in every seven stolen dollars came from California.
• The top five states by losses are all economic powerhouses, it is clear that wealth concentration drives scam exposure.

Crypto losses by type of crime in the United States in 2024

• Investment scams stole over $5.8 billion, it means this single category caused more loss than all others combined.
• The bottom ten crime types together account for less than $10 million, it shows how focused the damage is at the top.
• Romance scams drained $237 million, it signals emotional fraud remains one of the most costly and persistent threats.

Not all victims are hit the same. Age plays a defining role in who gets targeted, and how hard.

Crypto scam cases by age in the U.S. in 2024

• Americans over 60 lost $2.8 billion to crypto scams in 2024, which means seniors faced more financial harm than all younger groups combined.
• People in their 40s filed the most complaints; tech-savvy age groups still fall victim in huge numbers.
• Victims under 20 lost just $8 million, which signals that digital-native teens avoid scams far better than older generations.
  

The biggest crypto scams in history

• The FTX collapse wiped out $8.9 billion, equal to the entire annual budget of the U.S. National Science Foundation.
• Five of the ten biggest crypto scams each stole over $1 billion, which shows billion-dollar frauds are no longer rare in crypto.
• Classic Ponzi schemes like OneCoin and BitConnect still rank at the top, it signals that old tricks keep thriving in new tech.

The 50 biggest crypto scams in history

This number represents crypto received by addresses tied to scams, including high-yield frauds and romance scams. It does not count losses in traditional hacks or laundering cases.

Insights & Implications:

1. Stablecoins now dominate dark money flows
The shift from Bitcoin to stablecoins as the laundering vehicle of choice reflects a deeper transformation: criminals now prioritize speed, liquidity, and fiat parity over anonymity. This trend makes illicit finance harder to detect and easier to integrate into traditional markets. Researchers must treat stablecoins not just as fintech tools but as new global risk vectors requiring stricter cross-border oversight models.

2. Crypto scams are on the rise
The exponential rise in scam volume and value shows crypto crime has matured from opportunistic fraud to industrial-scale deception. As retail investors enter the space without critical education, the gap between innovation and awareness widens. Institutions must embed crypto literacy in financial education to curb systemic vulnerability.

3. Crypto rug pulls are unpredictable threats
Rug pulls strike without warning, often within hours of project launch, bypassing traditional fraud indicators. Their volatility and social-engineered hype cycles make them uniquely difficult to forecast. The only defense is proactive education that teaches pattern recognition and healthy skepticism before the next wave begins.

4. Sanctions violations contribute the most to the illicit volume

Illicit crypto flows are no longer just about personal loss—they now directly undermine global sanctions and foreign policy. The dominance of sanctioned entity transactions in crypto crime signals a growing use of blockchain in geopolitical circumvention. Research institutions must expand their focus to treat crypto misuse as both a financial crime and a threat to international governance.

5. U.S. citizens could lose over $66 billion to crypto crime by 2050
If current loss trajectories continue, crypto crime will surpass many national public spending categories by mid-century. This isn’t just about tech regulation—it’s about consumer protection at macroeconomic scale. The practical move is to integrate crypto scam forecasting into public policy models and digital risk assessments.

6. Older Americans are the highest-risk group
Victims over 60 now account for the largest losses, revealing a sharp age-based vulnerability in digital financial systems. The data suggests this is not just a fraud issue, but a crisis in digital inclusion. Financial education programs must evolve to include targeted outreach and adaptive tools for aging populations, or the losses will keep compounding.

Methodology:

• We calculated the projection using historical crypto theft data from 2015 to 2024, sourced from Chainalysis and IC3 reports. We estimated an average annual growth rate of approximately 50%, then applied compound growth over 16 years to project potential losses reaching $100 billion annually by 2040 if current trends persist.
• We used loss data from the FBI Internet Crime Report (2020–2024) and applied a linear trend model to forecast future losses. We fit a linear regression to yearly losses in billions of USD, then extended that trend to estimate losses in 2050.

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