The incoming volume in crypto mixers nearly doubled this April as the 30-day moving average reached an all-time high of $51.8 million worth of cryptocurrency, Chainalysis said in a recent report.
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to get daily short digests about events that shape the crypto world
The data shows that among sanctioned entities that were laundering crypto via mixers the world's largest Russia-based darknet marketplace Hydra amounted over 50% alone. The remaining percentage is divided between bitcoin mixer Blender.io and Lazarus Group.
Yet, cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) remain the top source of cryptocurrencies sent to mixers.
Chainalysis notes that even though mixers bring significant value to privacy in the blockchain network, the data shows that these products currently pose a "significant money laundering risk," with 25% of funds coming from illicit addresses. The New York-headquartered firm highlighted that nearly 10% of all funds sent from illicit addresses are sent to mixers.
Despite the growing interest in mixers among cybercriminals, the developers of these products seems to be cooperating with authorities as some even complied with anti-money laundering rules. For instance, cryptocurrency mixers Tornado Cash and CoinJoin began blacklisting cryptocurrencies tied to illegal activity.
Access more than 50 of the world's financial markets directly from your EXANTE account – including NASDAQ, London Stock Exchange and Tokyo Stock Exchange