Overall bitcoin-related crime fell last year, but one type of crypto hack is booming

Cryptocurrency-related crime fell last year to a small fraction of overall trading volume. But some targeted hacks boomed as criminals exploited people working from home during the pandemic.

Last year, illicit activity made up 0.34% of all cryptocurrency transaction volume, according to a report from blockchain data firm Chainalysis. That was down from roughly 2% a year earlier.

“We saw a significant decrease in the share of overall activity associated with illicit entities,” Kim Grauer, head of research at Chainalysis, told CNBC. “Still, ransomware was by far the biggest category in terms of activity growth and we’re seeing an all time high for dark-net market activity.”

Ransomware is…