Chainalysis predicts crypto scams number to grow due to AI

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Chainalysis predicts crypto scams number to grow

Key Takeaways

- Record Scam Revenue: Crypto scam revenue reached approximately $9.9 billion in 2024, with projections to exceed $12 billion in 2025 as more fraudulent addresses are identified.

- AI-Driven Fraud: Generative AI is enabling scammers to create realistic fake identities and content, driving a 1,900% revenue surge among AI service vendors in the scam infrastructure space.

- Sophisticated Scam Operations: Platforms like Huione Guarantee are evolving into dual-purpose marketplaces, offering both legitimate and illicit services, further complicating fraud detection.

- Growing Threat Landscape: Annual scam activity has grown by an average of 24% since 2020, with estimates suggesting total illicit crypto volumes reached up to $51 billion in 2024 despite a lower overall market share.

AI’s Role in Accelerating Crypto Scams

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reported in its Feb. 13 Crypto Scam Revenue 2024 report that generative AI is revolutionizing the scam landscape. Elad Fouks, Chainalysis’ head of fraud products, explained that AI enables scammers to generate synthetic identities and highly realistic fake content, allowing fraudsters to bypass traditional identity verification controls with ease.

Yearly crypto scam revenue. Source: Chainlysis

Escalating Scam Revenue and Operational Sophistication

Chainalysis noted that the crypto scam revenue hit around $9.9 billion in 2024, led predominantly by pig butchering scams, and projects that this figure could exceed $12 billion in 2025. The firm’s newly acquired fraud detector—purchased for approximately $150 million—revealed that 85% of scams involve fully verified accounts, a statistic that underscores how AI is making fraudulent operations both high-fidelity and low-cost.

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Market Impact and Broader Economic Concerns

Deloitte’s Center for Financial Services estimates that generative AI and deepfakes could cost the US economy $40 billion by 2027. Amid these concerns, operations like Huione Guarantee illustrate how scam infrastructure providers have seen exponential revenue growth, further bolstered by a 1,900% surge in AI service vendor revenue.

A Growing Threat with Global Implications

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has already raised alarms over scammers leveraging generative AI to target cryptocurrency investments. With scam activity growing by an average of 24% annually since 2020, and total illicit crypto volumes in 2024 estimated at up to $51 billion, the integration of AI is expected to further escalate losses and complicate efforts to combat crypto fraud.

Recently we wrote, that ZkLend, a decentralized lending protocol on the Starknet network, was exploited for nearly $5 million on February 12, sparking fresh concerns over crypto security.

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