Russians are in second place for money laundering using cryptocurrency mixers

According to a Chainalysis report, hackers from China and Russia lead the ranking of money laundering through cryptocurrency mixers.

As it became known, in April 2022, the total amount of funds laundered through mixers reached a historic high of $ 51.8 million (April figures are almost twice as high as the results for the same period last year). «This surge is 100% due to North Korea’s hacking,» said Kim Grauer, head of research at Chainalysis.

The privacy of cryptocurrency mixing services makes them attractive to fraudsters (most servers never require KYC). However, Chainalysis representatives emphasized that cryptocurrency mixers will soon become obsolete, as methods for tracking transactions on blockchains are constantly improving.

As a reminder, one of the most popular mixers among crypto criminals is the Tornado Cash service. For example, North Korean hackers from the Lazarus Group regularly launder funds through Tornado Cash: according to the FBI, it was Lazarus that stole $ 625 million from the popular Axie Infinity game and withdrew this money through Tornado Cash, and funds stolen from the Harmony blockchain were also laundered using this scheme.