“A series of ICIJ reports unearth a litany of crypto-backed criminality including people trafficking operations, drug cartels, Russian criminal gangs and crypto-to-cash storefronts around the world.”, — write: www.coindesk.com
The ICIJs series of investigative reports into crypto, dubbed the Coin Laundry, showed how illicit funds are funneled through major exchanges such as Binance, OKX, Coinbase, Kraken, Bybit and Kucoin.
The crypto funds tracked by ICIJ were linked to criminal enterprises across the world including North Korean hackers, Chinese and Russian criminal gangs focused on people trafficking, drug dealing substances like fentanyl, Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, as well as and brazenly carried out using “crypto-cash storefront” operations in places like Ukraine and Dubai.
The ICIJ said its findings demonstrate “how the rise of blockchain technology — coupled with the speed, anonymity and global reach of cryptocurrency transactions — has quietly spawned a shadow financial system that operates faster, darker and further beyond the reach of regulators and law enforcement.”
In practice this means a drug cartel, lets say, can easily use a whole new financial system involving dollar-pegged stablecoins, for instance, to move cash around, whereas in the old days the criminals would have to stuff cash in to the boot of the car, according to one analyst ICIJ spoke with.
“For decades, we’ve shown how hidden money moves through offshore havens. Now we’re revealing how the same forces are exploiting crypto markets to move illicit cash in plain sight,” said ICIJ Executive Director Gerard Ryle in a statement.
“Our investigation raises urgent questions: How complicit are major crypto exchanges in enabling criminal activity? And why are regulators struggling to keep pace with a financial system that thrives on opacity and speed?” he asked.
The cryptocurrency trading world is scrutinized by several large so-called blockchain analytics companies that trace illicit funds and suspect wallet addresses, many of whom are contracted to work with the compliance departments of the big exchanges. The ICIJ investigations appear to have relied on some smaller, independent blockchain sleuths to carry out its analysis.
More than 100 journalists from more than 35 countries partnered with ICIJ on the project. Media partners include The New York Times, Le Monde, The Toronto Star, Malaysiakini, The Indian Express and the Australian Financial Review.
Coindesk reached out to Binance, OKX, Coinbase, Kraken, Bybit and Kucoin for comment.
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence’s Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025, with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch, the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B, while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
View Full Report
The DOJ filed its own post-trial motion last week, pushing back against Storm’s motion for acquittal.
- Prosecutors with the Southern District of New York argued that they had enough evidence to convict Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm during his 4-week trial.
- The filing pushed back against Storm’s motion for acquittal, a procedural move following his conviction earlier this year on a conspiracy charge.
- The defense has a few days to file a response.
Read full story