The rising use of “cross-chain bridge providers” — which switch cryptocurrency from one blockchain to a different, bypassing any centralized entities like an change — has made it tougher to trace cryptocurrency funds, particularly the place it issues cash laundering. One such service alone, RenBridge, is believed to have laundered over $500 million in felony proceeds.

That is in line with a current report from Elliptic, which gives cryptocurrency monitoring and compliance options. It famous that transaction quantity on these bridges has risen since October 2020, and whereas the newest peak appears to be this previous January, a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars} price of transactions nonetheless happen frequently. The report recommended that a lot of this exercise is linked straight with felony exercise, noting that this started occurring as crypto exchanges grew to become extra regulated.

An evaluation by the corporate discovered that one cross-chain bridge specifically, RenBridge, has been used to launder no less than $540 million in cryptoassets originating from theft, fraud, ransomware and different forms of felony exercise since 2020. It additionally stated RenBridge is a vital facilitator for Russia-linked ransomware gangs, with over $153 million in ransom funds laundered by means of the service thus far.

Purloined cryptocurrency makes up the largest portion of illicit exercise stated to be laundered by means of RenBridge, accounting for 49.2% of recognized proceeds, adopted by:

• Funds from ransomware assaults, at 28.4%;
• The mysterious “different” at 10.8%;
• Cash from Ponzi schemes, at 9%;
• Darkish internet markets at 2.1%; and,
• Stolen bank cards at 0.5%.

Whereas using cross-chain bridges has made cryptocurrency tougher to trace, the report says it’s not inconceivable as a result of there stays a substantial amount of transparency within the sector. Doing so, nonetheless, often entails lengthy handbook searches. Elliptic lately launched software program that gives automation options for such investigations.