TL;DR
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Good news: Crypto crime is down 29%
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Bad news: The 2023 numbers only look good, because 2022’s were so bad.
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The tidy $8.7B that FTX owed to its users/creditors in 2022, inevitably tipped the scales in 2023’s favor. It ain’t great, but we’ll take it!
Full Story
In the words of our shut-in neighbor, Dave, who collects vintage milk bottles and is weirdly knowledgable about the life and career of Fran Drescher:
“The beautiful thing about hitting rock bottom is: things can’t get any worse.”
Yeah, well, this story follows a similar theme.
Let’s start on a positive note…
Good news: Crypto crime is down 29%.
According to a report by Chainalysis, the amount of crypto stolen through scams last year was nearly a third less than in 2022, while illicit revenue was down more than 54%.
Bad news: The 2023 numbers only look good, because 2022’s were so bad.
If you’re looking for someone to point the finger at – we’ve got you! Look no further than Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried and his famously bankrupt company, FTX.
The tidy $8.7B that FTX owed to its users/creditors in 2022, inevitably tipped the scales in 2023’s favor.
These aren’t ideal circumstances…
But we’ll take it.