Say Goodbye to Your Stolen Cryptos, They May Never Be Found

According to crypto forensics firm Elliptic, investigators are ill-equipped to deal with the evolving cross-chain movement of illicit crypto.

With crypto-driven money laundering becoming an increasing concern for regulators worldwide, Elliptic has released a new report that sheds light on the latest threat landscape.  

In the report, “The state of cross-chain crime,” the company highlights how criminals have grown increasingly sophisticated in obscuring the flow of ill-gotten crypto funds by exploiting decentralized exchanges, cross-chain bridges, and coin swap services. Over $4 billion in illegal funds have been concealed using these three facilities.

Notable recent exploits include the Axie Infinity Ronin sidechain hack, which saw over $500 million stolen, and the $100M Horizon Bridge attack.

Cross-chain money laundering is an increasing concern

Criminals pilfering centralized digital assets like stablecoins Circle (USDC) and Tether (USDT) often use decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like Uniswap to exchange them for non-centralized cryptocurrencies l