From Cross-Chain Laundering to AI Hacks: Inside the Rapidly Escalating Global Crypto Crime Economy

ICIJ’s review lines up with Spencer Woodman’s warning of exchanges that move “billions linked to money launderers, drug traffickers and North Korean hackers,” with last year’s total reaching $51 billion. These figures keep climbing as investigators analyze more blockchain data.

According to our metrics today, it looks like 2024 saw a drop in value received by illicit crypto addresses to a total of $40.9 billion.

But that's not the full picture, when we published last year's Crypto Crime Report, we reported $24.2 billion for 2023. One year later, our updated estimate for 2023 is $46.1 billion.

Huione Group Sent Millions to Binance Despite Money Laundering Alert

Between July 2024 and July 2025, investigators found more than $408 million flowing from Huione to customer accounts at Binance. These transfers happened while the company was under the supervision of two court-appointed monitors put in place after Binance's November 2023 guilty plea for breaking anti-money laundering laws.

Another leading exchange handled similar amounts, at least $226 million also flowed into customer accounts, from Huione during the five months after the exchange pleaded guilty in the U.S. in February to operating an unlicensed money transmitter.

Both exchanges kept taking this money despite paying hundreds of millions in fines. Recent forensic updates show that a huge part of the flow moves into multi-chain routes, where assets jump through bridges and smaller liquidity pools.

Analysts say more than US$21.8 billion has already been pushed through these cross-chain channels this year, which makes the trail harder to follow and adds more pressure on centralized platforms already dealing with stricter oversight.

Despite claims that 92% of exchanges meet full KYC and AML standards, regular users keep facing extra checks and delayed withdrawals, while the biggest transactions pass through the system without any resistance. Anonymous cryptocurrency wallets have consequently given you a way to use crypto without asking for ID or waiting for an exchange to approve basic actions.

Non-custodial wallets keep everything tied to your own keys, so transfers stay quick and private, untouched by the delays hitting many platforms. For anyone who just wants to store or send their assets, self-custody ends up feeling like the only part of the industry that still operates on clear, predictable terms.

Off-platform channels give a clearer look at a side of the activity that rarely shows up in official reports.

Cash Couriers Trade Bags of Money for Crypto in Big Cities

Crypto to cash courier services,  often arranged on the Telegram messaging app,  operating in Miami, Washington, New York, Montreal, and London have found a new way to launder money.

"The courier arrives at the agreed point by car, you get into the car, receive cash, and count it," a group called 60Sek admitted on Telegram in response to a question about how the system works in New York City. No ID needed, no questions asked – send crypto, get cash.

These services handle real money since August 2022, it has received more than $14.8 billion in crypto. They operate openly in the U.S. and Europe, advertising their ability to turn crypto into physical cash within hours.

Stablecoins Take Over as Criminals' Favorite Online Money

Bitcoin is no longer king in the shadows; stablecoins now anchor most crypto activity tied to criminal networks. Such a turn makes perfect sense, stablecoins like USDT stay pegged to the dollar, avoiding Bitcoin's wild price changes.

They also make up most of crypto activity, as shown by the total growth YoY in stablecoin activity of around 77%. Drug traffickers, scammers, and hackers now mainly use USDT for transactions.

North Korea Steals $2 Billion Using AI-Powered Hacking Tools

On February 21st, 2025, hackers from the Lazarus Group, an elite crew tied to North Korea's intelligence agency, broke into ByBit and clicked away with $1.46 billion in Ethereum.

In 2025 alone, they have stolen more than $2 billion in crypto, using AI to boost every stage of their operations. It can scan thousands of smart contracts in minutes, pick out weak points, and automate multi-chain hits that used to require entire teams.

Over the past ten years, the group has stolen more than $6 billion, making them the most dangerous crypto thieves on the planet. According to the Wall Street Journal, that money goes straight to keeping Kim Jong Un's regime afloat and funding his nuclear program.

Americans Lost $9.3 Billion to Crypto Crimes in 2024

In the U.S. alone, the FBI found Americans lost $9.3 billion to crypto crimes in 2024, a 67% jump from the previous year. Complaints about crypto scams in the U.S. more than doubled in 2024 to nearly 150,000, and California got hit hardest, losing $1.39 billion – one out of every seven stolen dollars came from that state.

The whole laundering network pushing these billions around is far more concentrated than most people think. Back in 2023, just 1,425 deposit addresses received over a million dollars each in stolen crypto, totaling $6.7 billion for those wallets.

What makes this even harder to contain is that 69% of exchanges still don't follow the FATF Travel Rule, even after years of being told to get their act together. That gap gives hackers plenty of room to work, and they're shifting tactics faster than regulators can keep up.

At this point, it's not just about big heists making headlines. It affects regular people – everyday transfers, basic transactions, and whether you can actually trust that your crypto is safe.