The 2024 figure was revised up from the $9.9 billion Chainalysis initially reported, and the 2025 figure could exceed $17 billion as the company identifies more illicit wallet addresses in the coming months, Chainalysis said in a Tuesday blog post.

Last year’s increase was driven by a surge in impersonation tactics and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, according to the post.

Impersonation scams, in which fraudsters pose as legitimate organizations or authority figures, saw year-over-year growth of 1,400%, the post said. Example seen in 2025 included scammers…