Knowledge Base - Technology

The use of mixers and tumblers in various illicit activities such as money laundering and hacks is rapidly increasing. Attackers run illicit proceeds through mixers and tumblers to obscure the trail of ownership by pooling others’ holdings, scrambling it, and redistributing the funds on the other end. On January 18, 2022, $34 million in crypto was stolen from Singapore-based crypto exchange, Crypto.com. Reportedly, the stolen Ethereum (ETH) was laundered through Tornado Cash — an ETH mixer protocol  — and Bitcoin was laundered through an unknown Bitcoin mixer.

In recent years, jurisdictions have become increasingly focused on regulating the use of crypto in financial crimes. With the UK updating its sanctions regulatory framework, the U.S. releasing its updated sanctions guidance focusing on the crypto industry, and jurisdictions increasing coordinated sanctions enforcement activities, it is clear that countries around the globe are using sanctions as a tool to combat the use of crypto in financial crimes.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) which is pegged to be the next frontier of fintech innovation has grown exponentially over the past year. The DeFi market cap has shown a 382% increase since the beginning of the year, setting a new all-time high at $95.7 billion. However, the surge in the DeFi industry’s growth has also garnered the interest of bad actors leading to a rise of attacks in the DeFi space.