Earlier this week Chainalyis published the key findings of their 2021 Geography of Cryptocurrency report. According to this research, Eastern Europe is severely affected by illicit cryptocurrency-related activity. In relative terms, the region is second after Africa in terms of exposure — but its overall crypto economy is much larger than that of Africa.
Ukraine accounted for “most of this scam activity, sending more web traffic to scam websites than any other country, more than doubling the total web visits of the second-ranked country.”
The key findings of this research, which covers the period from June 2020 and July 2021, look as follows:
- Addresses based in Eastern Europe have the second-highest rate of exposure to illicit addresses behind only Africa.
- Eastern Europe sent “the second most cryptocurrency of any region to illicit addresses, behind only Western Europe,” in raw value
- Eastern Europe sent “more cryptocurrency to darknet markets than any other region.” Much of this darknet appeal in the region is due to activity involving Hydra Market. This is “the world’s biggest darknet market,” catering only to users in Russian-speaking countries throughout Eastern Europe.
- Eastern Europe also sent, “by a wide margin,” the most web traffic to scam websites during the time period studied.
- Eastern Europe is “the only region with a total transaction volume of $400 million or more for which illicit activity makes up more than 0.5% of total cryptocurrency value sent and received.”
- Scams — usually victims sending money to scammers — account for “the biggest share of funds sent from Eastern Europe to illicit addresses,” as is the case with all regions. Thus, Eastern Europe-based addresses sent $815 million to scams, second only to Western Europe.
Ukraine is highlighted in a sad light in the study. This country accounted for “most of this scam activity, sending more web traffic to scam websites than any other country, more than doubling the total web visits of the second-ranked country.”
Cryptocurrency value sent to illicit addresses by region (June 2020-July 2021)
Illicit share in all crypto-activity by region (June 2020-July 2021)
Number of visits to cryptocurrency scam sites by country (June 2020-July 2021)
