TL;DR

• Good news: Crypto crime is down 29%

• Bad news: The 2023 numbers only look good, because 2022’s were so bad.

• 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.