Blockchain sleuths ZachXBT and Taylor Monahan stated crypto scammers have been emboldened with US regulators losing crypto-associated court cases and politicians endorsing memecoins.
Memecoins endorsed with the aid of political figures like Donald Trump, lax rules, and crypto court cases abandoned by US regulators have kicked off a crypto “crime super-cycle,” say a pair of blockchain crime investigators.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT posted to X on Thursday that crypto has historically been ripe for abuse, but that has “distinctly raised since that politicians launched memecoins and several court cases have been dropped, also allowing the behavior.”
He claimed crypto influencers and key thought leaders face “zero repercussions” for scamming their imitators.
“That said, there’s never been a worst time to be doing black hat, phishing, social engineering, robberies, vs. Gray hat activities while the modern-day surroundings is favorable,” ZachXBT added.
Slow rules plays a factor
A lack of rules, failing to clamp down on ventures that didn’t reveal paid advertisements and other similar behavior have also contributed to the so-called supercycle, according to ZachXBT.
“If they had spent time regulating it rather than going after open source developers or blue chip decentralized protocols, it’s only prevalent due to the fact there’s never really been repercussions,” he said.
Over $2 billion was misplaced to crypto hacks in the first quarter of 2025, with phishing scams making up $96 million, and rug pulls accounting for over $300 million, cybersecurity firm Hacken said in its April report, shared with Cointelegraph.
Change not going while criminals make money
Blockchain sleuth Taylor Monahan also chimed in, pronouncing scammers working in the space are not likely to exchange at the same time as they are nevertheless being rewarded through large profits.
“No social, financial, or legal downsides or friction around this kind of behavior. Second is this is really so easy and there’s so much instant [money] at the table for doing so,” Monahan stated.
Monahan thinks the crypto space is in a “tough spot” because it’s preserving too many hackers and scammers.
“Most have gone essentially all-in over the past two cycles, e.g., romance scams, [North Korea], malware as a service. Ransomware might be the largest losers if crypto ceased to exist the next day,” Monahan said.
The law catches up with some scammers
There are scammers in the crypto space going through the law for their crimes. In a Wednesday note, officials with the USA Department of Justice announced the seizure by the Secret Service of more than $225 million linked to crypto funding scams.
In May, a New Zealand man was arrested in connection with a global crypto fraud operation that allegedly stole 450 million New Zealand dollars ($265 million).
