It became known how many fraudulent cryptocurrencies were launched in 2022

According to Chainalysis experts, every fourth digital asset launched in 2022 was associated with fraudsters using the Pump&Dump scheme. Analysts found that 9900 tokens out of 40,520 launched on the BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum networks were created only for such fraudulent activities.

Pump & Dump is a manipulative scheme to increase the value of cryptocurrencies with a subsequent price collapse. Large asset owners artificially increase (pump) their price in order to sell (dump) them to small traders at the highest possible price. As a result, the value of the asset falls, and investors lose their money.

«While it’s impossible to know the advertising strategy or intentions of all the tokens launched, we checked the 25 with the biggest price drops in the first week on Token Sniffer, a service that rates new tokens on a scale from zero to 100 based on their reliability. According to Token Sniffer, all 25 cryptocurrencies received a score of zero, indicating that they were almost certainly designed for pump and dump,» Chainalysis experts summarized.

According to Chainalysis' annual report, the total value of illegal cryptocurrency transactions reached a record $ 20.1 billion in 2022. However, the figure is not final and may increase if experts identify new addresses related to criminal activity.