"'New Frontier' of Crypto Laundering Involves Cross-Chain Bridges and DEXs: Elliptic"
Elliptic, a blockchain analytics and cryptocurrency compliance firm, has released new research that reveals how cross-chain bridges and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) have removed barriers for cybercriminals. Elliptic researchers Eray Arda Akartuna and Thibaud Madelin explored what they described as the new frontier of cryptocurrency laundering in a recent report titled "The state of cross-chain crime." According to the report, the free flow of capital between cryptocurrency assets is now more unhindered as a result of the emergence of new technologies such as bridges and DEXs. Since the beginning of 2020, cybercriminals have used cross-chain bridges, DEXs, and coin swaps to conceal at least $4 billion in illicit cryptocurrency proceeds. A third of all stolen cryptocurrency, or roughly $1.2 billion, was swapped using DEXs in the incidents studied. More than half of the illicit funds identified were swapped directly through two DEXs, Curve and Uniswap, with the 1inch aggregator protocol coming in third place. A similar amount, around $1.2 billion, has been laundered using coin swap services, which allow users to swap assets within and across networks without requiring an account. According to the researchers, many are advertised on Russian cybercrime forums and cater almost entirely to a criminal audience. This article continues to discuss findings from the study regarding cybercriminals' use of cross-chain bridges, DEXs, and coin swaps to obfuscate illicit cryptocurrency proceeds.