This morning I started my day with the headlines from CNBC about the Feds announcing another great seizure of $3.36 billion in bitcoin, which was stolen a decade ago from the illegal Silk Road marketplace. This is the 2nd largest crypto recovery by the Feds. The largest historic recovery of $3.6 billion in stolen crypto is linked to the 2016 hack of Bitfinex has been done earlier this year. I am happy to see the news as such Shit is making the crypto space a concerning one! These are really positive news to tackle the negative impression of BITCOIN in illegal activities. As a crypto enthusiast, every day I read hundreds of news and coin analyses throughout the crypto-related portal but very few are very impactful news like this one. For the last couple of days, the space was getting many concerning news but such a piece of good news will bring BTC into the spotlight again.

Source

The most important factor is that the occurrence is not a new one which is linked to 2013 when the accused person Zhong stole these BTC from the illegally established dark web market known as the Silk Road marketplace which is a dark web-based forum in which drugs, arms, and other illicit products were traded with cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, DASH and so on. The Silk Road marketplace was launched in 2011 and the Federal Bureau of Investigation successfully shut it down in 2013. The founder of the marketplace, Ross William Ulbricht, is now serving a life sentence in prison. U.S. authorities seized about 50,676 stolen bitcoin from Zhong’s house which is $3.36 billion in value from Gainesville, Georgia.

So, what is the present condition of illicit activities or fraud in crypto spheres? I want to share some interesting data regarding these malfunctions based on crypto which will convince you how the whole sphere is changing and improving. All of this data is from the Chainalysis. And if you want to read the recent news detail and the previous crypto recovery then follow these links: $3.36 billion recoveries, $3.6 billion recoveries.

On November 9, 2021, pursuant to a judicially authorized premises search warrant of ZHONG’s Gainesville, Georgia, house, law enforcement seized approximately 50,676.17851897 Bitcoin, then valued at over $3.36 billion. This seizure was then the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice and today remains the Department’s second-largest financial seizure ever. The Government is seeking to forfeit, collectively: approximately 51,680.32473733 Bitcoin; ZHONG’s 80% interest in RE&D Investments, LLC, a Memphis-based company with substantial real estate holdings; $661,900 in cash seized from ZHONG’s home; and various metals also seized from ZHONG’s home. Department of Justice

How the situation is Changing?

In the year of a bull market in 2021, a report is saying that Crypto scammers took a record $14 billion in 2021 which is really a big amount. But surprisingly, in 2022 which can be regarded as the bear market the scamming amount has dropped significantly. Not only the scamming activities but all the fraudulent, illicit activities are slowing down in comparison with the data of the last couple of years. Here the summary of the report is presented for better understanding. The details report from the Chainalysis can be read from here.

Though these charts are not showing the whole picture and it can be seen that overall illicits trend is below the 2021 line. But there is the claim about the decreasing price of crypto is liable for measuring the value in USD which is legit. But It is also true that for te illcit activities the crypto values are just the medium of payment where actual deal is always n USD or other FIAT currency which has no effect of the crypto values!

But the good thing is that the scamming sectors has dropped significantly. The deposits to the scamming sites has decreased a lot compare to previous years. The overall scammi has dropped to 1/4 cimpared to the year of 2019. In 2019, the amount was $10 billion but in 2022 its near only $2.0 billoon.

Concerning growth of hacks

Though scammers are being defeated by mass people awareness and security knowledge but hackers have done many many big hacks. Itvhas increased alarmingly. For more about hacks you can read my this blog. Most conerning issue is here when most popular chain BNB got such hack and they centrally shut down the chain which is creating the another concern of not being a truely decentralization!

Beaides the increasing hacks, the darknet activities are not slowing down also as it shows the growing trend in the charts which is another sign of concern. The recent war with Russia-Ukrain has triggered such Activism due to tremendous amount of the sanctions on them. But this should be addressed for a better crypto environment.

What do you think about the current situation let m know in the comment section. I will try to know more and share my Knowledge and experience! Have a nice day!

All the charts are taken from Chainalysis resources and the cover image from the quoteinspetor resources.