Cryptocurrency Crime

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of crimes involving cryptocurrencies. It first introduces the concepts of crypto-enabled and crypto-dependent crimes, which offer a framework for categorizing the types of crime. The chapter also describes the characteristics of cryptocurrencies which may facilitate their use by criminals. It then gives an overview of the various types of crime that involve cryptocurrencies, including types of fraud, cyber-crimes, cryptocurrency mining crimes, money laundering, terrorism financing, sanctions evasion, tax evasion, darknet marketplaces, bribery and corruption, and cryptocurrency-adjacent crimes. Finally, the chapter considers crimes associated with particular areas of the larger cryptocurrency ecosystem, namely, decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and offer conclusions about cryptocurrencies and criminal activity. Many DeFi projects and protocols are governed in a decentralized manner through decentralized autonomous organizations. NFTs are digital records of ownership and authenticity of some asset (which may be digital or physical) created by smart contracts and stored on a blockchain.