Scams and rug pulls proliferated in the year, where developers of what seemed like legitimate projects merely set up wallets to take investors’ money and run. — Bloomberg
Crypto criminals made off like bandits as digital assets spiked in popularity, according to a 2022 cryptocurrency crime report.
Illicit transactions jumped nearly 80% to US$14bil (RM58bil), an all-time high, in 2021, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Overall transaction volume jumped 567%, which shows legitimate transactions outpaced crime. Yet, illegal activity is tracking popular growth categories in crypto, including decentralised finance, or DeFi projects, the data show.
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