Chinese money laundering networks dominate global activity

Infosecurity Magazine reports that Chinese money laundering networks processed a fifth of all illicit cryptocurrency proceeds over the past five years, driving the global crypto-based laundering ecosystem's growth from $10 billion in 2020 to more than $82 billion in 2025.

Money laundering into CMLNs increased 7,325 times faster than in centralized exchanges, 2,190 times faster than in "intra-illicit on-chain flows", and 1,810 times faster than in decentralized finance, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, which attributed the rapid growth to the wider availability and liquidity of cryptocurrencies. Criminals are increasingly turning to these networks instead of centralized exchanges, which can freeze suspicious funds, and around 10% of money stolen in romance scams is linked to them.

Chainanalysis tracked more than 1,799 active wallets and identified six service types, including brokers, OTC and peer-to-peer services, money mule networks, crypto-swapping vendors, and gambling platforms, many openly promoted with escrow tools and user ratings.