According to a report published by Elliptic, the volume of illegal crypto assets laundered through cross-chain transactions has reached a record $7 billion in one year.
The company's analysts have included three categories of this criminal activity, including decentralized exchanges that allow exchanging cryptos even within the blockchain itself, cross-chain bridges through which coins move between networks as well as crypto exchange services that do not comply with KYC rules.
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In the first "State of Cross-chain Crime" report published in October last year, Elliptic experts counted $4.1 billion in assets laundered through these routes. According to them, the figure should have been $6.5 billion by the end of 2023.
The analysts have explained:
"However, the latest figure of $7 billion shows that cross-chain crime is increasing faster than expected."