On April 22, 2021, Chainalysis published its findings on the OFAC sanctions violation risk tied to ransomware payments.  According to Chainalysis, 15% of ransomware payments paid in 2020 were at risk of OFAC sanctions.  Even though lower than the measured risk from 2016 – 2018, last year’s numbers remain an uptick from 2019.  

Chainalysis discovered ransomware victims paid out in 2020 more than $50 million worth of cryptocurrency to addresses that carried sanctions – with mainstream exchanges receiving “more than $32 million from ransomware strains associated with sanctions risks.”  Given the public market embrace of crypto exchanges, it is very likely those exchanges seeking greater regulatory scrutiny will eventually implement curbs to address the OFAC October 2020 advisory – eventually making it more difficult for smaller businesses to satisfy ransomware demands.