The amount of money laundered using NFTs has tripled since the beginning of 2021

We often write about NFTs, and a lot of the news is about how unknown users (or known ones) buy non-fungible tokens for a lot of money. Along with the growing popularity of NFTs, the sector of criminal activity is also growing.

We are talking about laundering money obtained illegally. In short, the user creates an image, converts it to NFT format, puts it up for sale, and then buys it from his second account. As a result, the buyer de jure remains unknown, because. marketplaces do not require confirmation of sources of income and disclosure of identity, and the seller can report that he received his “millions” from the sale of virtual art objects.

Chainanalysis reports that in the fourth quarter of 2021, approximately $1.4 million was laundered using NFTs. Compared to the first quarter of the same year, the amount tripled. But this is still a drop in the ocean when compared to how much money cybercriminals are laundering using cryptocurrencies ($8.6 billion in 2021).

262 marketplace users made more than 25 fictitious sales of non-fungible tokens. But the undisputed leader is the NFT holder, who made 830 transactions. The total profit of violators amounted to almost $ 9 million.

A source: The Verge