According to Chainalysis, in 2025, the amount of money laundered through cryptocurrencies exceeded $82 billion, which is eight times more than five years ago.
This is reported by Business • Media
Growth of Shadow Financial Flows Through Digital Assets
Analysts at Chainalysis highlighted in their new report that over the past five years, the volume of money laundering through cryptocurrencies increased from approximately $10 billion in 2020 to over $82 billion in 2025. The main drivers of this process have been professional illegal services, which predominantly operate in Chinese-language networks.
“The volume of laundered funds in cryptocurrency has increased eightfold over the last five years, according to the report by Chainalysis.”
Experts note that the rapid growth of shadow operations is explained not only by increased liquidity in the crypto market but also by the emergence of specialized infrastructure for concealing the origins of funds. Money laundering in cryptocurrency has now definitively transformed into a resilient global service industry.
Chinese-Language Networks and the Structure of Money Laundering
A significant portion of illegal financial flows is funneled through so-called “Chinese” networks. According to Chainalysis, these networks account for about 20% of all detected money laundering activity in digital assets. The influx of funds to these networks has grown significantly more dynamically than to centralized exchanges or DeFi protocols.
In 2025, at least $16.1 billion was processed through these channels. The money was distributed among approximately 1,800 active wallets and various services, including primary access brokers, informal over-the-counter platforms, money courier networks, and other illegal platforms.
Guarantee platforms that operate based on messengers play a central role in this shadow ecosystem. They provide fund deposit services and maintain reputational systems for involved participants. Even after certain channels are blocked, operators quickly adapt their activities, moving to new platforms and continuing operations.
Analysts emphasize that the scale and resilience of such networks indicate their connection to off-chain criminal activities, including fraud and cybercrimes. Despite the tightening of sanctions and controls, this sector has already established itself as a global service industry.
Previously, representatives of Chainalysis reported that in 2025, cryptocurrency scammers seized a record amount of $17 billion. This figure demonstrates a sharp increase in the scale and technological complexity of criminal schemes in the digital asset sector.
It is also known that about 80% of crypto projects that have suffered hacking attacks do not fully resume their operations.