- Europol reports an increase in the scale and complexity of crimes involving cryptocurrencies.
- In 2025, investors lost over $2.1 billion due to criminal activities.
- Fraud schemes like “pig butchering” and physical attacks on cryptocurrency asset owners are becoming increasingly common.
Rise of Cryptocurrency Crime and New Challenges for Law Enforcement
The European policing agency has reported a noticeable increase in the complexity and scale of crimes related to cryptocurrencies. According to expert assessments, strong international cooperation and significant resources are needed to investigate such offenses, as criminals are employing new methods for money laundering and financing illegal operations.
This is reported by Business • Media
Burkhard Müller, head of the European Center for Combating Financial Crimes, emphasized that crypto assets are actively used to finance terrorist activities, drug trafficking, and circumventing sanctions. He highlighted that investigating such cases is becoming a serious burden for law enforcement agencies in European Union countries.
Crypto assets are actively used to finance terrorism, drug trafficking, and circumventing sanctions. According to him, investigating these crimes places a “significant burden” on law enforcement agencies in EU countries.
Rapid Increase in Losses and New Types of Attacks
Europol has recorded that in 2025, total losses for investors from hacks and exploits exceeded $2.1 billion. The largest incident occurred in February when criminals stole approximately $1.5 billion during an attack on the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit. Additionally, attacks on companies BtcTurk and Coinbase were reported.
In June, law enforcement managed to uncover a large-scale fraud scheme in Spain, where over 5,000 people fell victim to scammers, resulting in total losses of around $540 million. The perpetrators employed a so-called “pig butchering” scheme, where they gained the victims’ trust under the guise of romantic relationships and encouraged them to invest in fictitious crypto assets.
Experts estimate that in 2024, similar frauds netted criminals over $4 billion. In 2025, another dangerous trend emerged — a sharp increase in physical attacks on digital asset owners. Criminals are using violence to gain access to the victims’ cryptocurrency wallets.
Analysts from Chainalysis noted that the number of such attacks increased by 54% over the past year. Europol reports numerous cases of kidnappings and torture in France, Sweden, Norway, as well as in countries outside Europe — Brazil, Canada, and Thailand. Criminals are using physical pressure to force victims to hand over their digital assets.
In response to the escalating threats, the agency has called for enhanced international cooperation and improved technical training for investigators to more effectively combat rapidly evolving cryptocurrency crimes.
It was previously reported that the U.S. Department of Justice, in collaboration with Europol, seized $200 million in fiat and digital assets as part of the international operation RapTor.