Tron's (TRX) Illicit Crypto Transactions Dropped by 50%, TRM's Crime Report Says
2025-01-17
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Tron TRXUSD blockchain managed to achieve the largest drop in illicit crypto activity, a new report by TRM Labs says. In total, the volume of illegal transfers dropped by 24% to $45 billion. Despite crypto being criticized for offering tech rails for illicit activity, this only accounts for 0.4% of overall crypto transfers.
Tron TRXUSD sees largest drop in illicit crypto transfers, report says
In 2024, Tron TRXUSD blockchain saw the volume of illicit transfers dropping by $6 billion. It is equal to "halving" the proportion of such activity in aggregated blockchain turnover, the 2024 Crypto Crime Report by TRM Labs says. At the same time, Tron TRXUSD remains responsible for 58% of illegal crypto transactions.
In our latest blog post, get a teaser of our upcoming ✨2024 Crypto Crime Report ✨— with key findings and volumes for #crypto crime, sanctions, fraud, terrorist financing, #ransomware, hacks, and illicit drug sales. Read the post 👉 https://t.co/gcxuzwntCX pic.twitter.com/X207vGR81e
On this list, Tron TRXUSD is accompanied by Ethereum (24% of illicit volume), Bitcoin (12%), Binance Smart Chain and Polygon (3% each). This reflects a continued preference for blockchains that have low transaction fees, smart contracts and popular stablecoins, analysts say. As such, the center of illicit activity in crypto migrated from privacy-centric cryptos like Monero (XMR) and ZCash (ZEC).
Tron TRXUSD founder Justin Sun appreciates this accomplishment and shows his optimism about the potential of anti-fraud collaboration with TRM Labs and USDT issuer Tether in T3 FCU alliance launched in Q3, 2024:
The numbers speak for themselves. Already seeing huge success for T3 FCU… and this is just the start.
In total, the amount of illicit funds sent via crypto transfers to sanctioned states and enities, operations with blocklisted accounts and fraud-related funds were the three largest groups.
$2,200,000,000 stolen in crypto hacks in 2024
Inflows to sanctioned entities dropped to $14.8 billion in equivalent as the U.S. OFAC sanctioned 86 cryptocurrency addresses connected to designated jurisdictions and groups.
Fraud-related transactions decreased by 40% in 2024 but still total over $10.4 billion. TRM Labs experts attribute the trend to the decline of Ponzi schemes globally. 
In contrast, selling illegal drugs with crypto and blockchain service hacks are two categories that gained steam in 2024. Hackers moved $2.2 billion of funds, while darknet online drug marketplaces processed $2.4 billion. North Korean hackers might stay behind $800 million of money transferred from hacked services.