The usage of blockchain bridges for money laundering increased last year, while the use of cryptocurrency mixers decreased.
The alteration demonstrates the sophistication with which money laundering schemes may be modified by criminal actors. 2022 saw a higher reliance on centralized exchanges and illicit service types, but 2023 saw an increase in the usage of blockchain bridges and casino services for cryptocurrency laundering.
The growth of YoMix and its embrace by Lazarus Group is a prime example of sophisticated actors’ ability to adapt and find replacement obfuscation services when previously popular ones are shut down, Chainalysis stated.
The Lazarus Group’s fondness for bridges is making them more popular, yet the amount of money delivered to mixers from illegitimate addresses nearly halved to $504.3 million.
Much of this is likely due to law enforcement and regulatory efforts, such as the sanctioning and shutdown of mixer Sinbad in November 2023, Chainalysis said.
Due to suspected connections to a North Korean hacker organization, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned the cryptocurrency mixer Sinbad, which resulted in the FBI, Dutch, and Finnish authorities seizing control of its website.
The most skilled criminal actors are always modifying their money laundering tactics and taking advantage of new types of cryptocurrency services, as demonstrated by the shifts in approach that we have witnessed from crypto criminals such as Lazarus Group, Chainalysis concluded.