Chinese cryptocurrency addresses sent over $2.2 billion in crypto to scams and darknets in a period between April 2019 and June 2021, Reuters reports, citing a blockchain-focused forensics firm Chainalysis. According to the firm, China historically played a large role in cryptocurrency-related crime as these addresses also received over $2 billion worth of illicit cryptocurrency.
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However, the transaction volume of illicit addresses in China has fallen dramatically over the past two years.
Chainalysis explains that the drop is due to the absence of large-scale Ponzi schemes like the 2019 PlusToken scam, which "primarily targeted users across Asia" and whose proceeds were "largely laundered" through Chinese services.
"While China remains one of the top-ranked countries for illicit transaction volume, it used to beat all others by a wide margin, suggesting that cryptocurrency-relatedcrime in the country has fallen," the firm said in a recent report.
In the meantime, China plans to continue heavy regulatory pressure on the cryptocurrency market after escalating crackdown on the sector earlier this year. The country's central bank, the People's Bank of China, will put more monitoring pressure on financial platform companies to make sure they are complying with requirements. It remains unclear though if China plans to somehow expand its crackdown against cryptocurrencies.
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