Blockchain data platform Chainalysis revealed that $14 billion (€12.4 billion) worth of cryptocurrency was sent to illicit addresses in 2021, twice as much as in 2020. $2.2 billion (1.93 billion euros) were stolen outright from Decentralized Finance protocols in 2021. The illicit addresses currently hold at least $10 billion (8/.8 billion euros) in cryptocurrencies, most of which are held by wallets involved in cryptocurrency theft.

Cybercriminals earned 82% more revenue from scams last year, harvesting $7.8 billion in cryptocurrencies from victims. Of that $7.8 billion, $2.8 billion came from a scam called "rug pulls." In such scams, developers create seemingly legitimate cryptocurrency projects before stealing investors' money and disappearing.