Bitcoin mixers are rarely used for illegal purposes

The analytical company Chainalysis conducted a study on the use of Bitcoin mixers and it turned out that they are used much less often for illegal purposes than previously thought.

At the webinar “Cryptocurrency Typology: What You Should Know About Who is Who on the Blockchain”, Chainalysis representatives said that mixing services are usually used to ensure privacy. However, many darknet users usually send funds directly from exchanges and exchangers.

Despite this, the services are still used to launder and hide stolen cryptocurrencies, but this is done by a small part of users and only on certain services. However, most of the stolen bitcoins go through mixers.

“A lot of people use mixers just for their privacy. But we know that most of the illicit money goes through these services, ”said Hannah Curtis, senior manager for Chainalysis data.

It is reported that approximately 8.1% of all coins that went through mixing services were stolen. However, only 2.7% of the coins were used on black markets. In addition, 1.9% of mixed funds came from sports betting or gambling sites, which can also be considered criminal activity in some countries.

At the same time, almost half of all mixed cryptocurrencies come from cryptocurrency exchanges. 40% of them come from traditional sites, and 7.7% from decentralized exchanges and peer-to-peer exchanges. A quarter of the coins on the mixers come from other mixing services.

Researchers also noted that the proportion of coins used in illegal activities that go to centralized mixers is greater than the corresponding parameter on decentralized services.

It is also interesting that although researchers can track the funds received for mixing services, after the procedure they become untraceable. That is, mixing works.

“We can determine the funds received for services, including mixing services. But do not think that then someone can trace the way of coins, ”Curtis emphasized.

Recall that in May this year, the popular cryptocurrency mixer Bestmixer was successfully closed by the Netherlands Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) with the support of Europol. The service participated in the laundering of cryptocurrencies in the amount of $ 200 million.