While regulators around the globe aim to form a regulatory framework for the emerging cryptocurrency market, criminal's held $11B worth of crypto funds in 2021 vs. $3B in 2020, according to data from Chainalysis. On the other hand, criminal activity's share of crypto transaction volume at 0.15% has never been lower, the report noted. Furthermore, weekly criminal balances - with the majority accounting for stolen funds - have been drifting lower since the October 2021 peak. And the large drop in criminal balances in Feb. 2022 is due to the DOJ’s $3.6 billion seizure of Bitcoin (BTC-USD) stolen in the 2016 Bitfinex hack, the report highlighted. Following the seizure, criminal balances stood at ~$5B as of Feb. 9. Looking at it from a different angle, 4,068 crypto whales, a private wallet holding $1 million or more worth of crypto that has received more than 10% of its funds from illicit
