A blockchain forensic firm, Elliptic has released a report revealing that some $400 million worth of XRP is involved in illicit activities. This represents just 0.2% of the networks transactions. However, Elliptic claims Bitcoin on the other hand has 0.5% of its transactions involved in such activities.

Elliptic tackles crypto involvement in illicit activities such as drugs, weapons and others. Their research detected that so many sites that illicit trades usually go on, have been accepting XRP alongside other cryptocurrencies. In the case of XRP, much of these illicit transactions were related to Ponzi schemes and scams.

According to Tom Robinson, the co-founder of Elliptic, regardless of how insignificant the amount may seem, it still shows that the coin is involved in illegal activities. He is therefore warning all businesses handling some of these transactions to be cautious so that they won’t be used as vehicles for such activities. He claims the relatively small amount of illegal use of XRP might be attributed to ripple’s association to traditional banks.

However, a spokesperson from Ripple claims XRP like any other crypto is available to be used by anyone so the company doesn’t control its uses. He said Ripple enabled transactions are secure and takes place via regulated institutions.

Setting the records straight, Elliptic only conducted the research on Ripple’s native token, XRP but not the Ripple company itself. Robinson claims it’s likely to have some illicit use surrounding every promising value transfer mechanism. To him, identifying it earlier and being able to know where they stem from, should be comforting to banks rather than causing fear and panic.

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