Cryptocurrency was long touted as finance's future, promising decentralisation, openness, and inclusion. Digital currencies have, over the years, also served as a haven for criminals, with billions of dollars laundered through crypto exchanges, mixers, and decentralised platforms. As governments around the world clamp down on regulations, there are still big-name scandals rolling out, revealing the loopholes in the digital financial system.
Below are five of the largest cryptocurrency money laundering cases in recent times.
India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been fighting against crypto-related scams in full force. In February 2025, the agency froze assets to the tune of Rs 10.63 crores in a multi-crore Bitcoin scam case involving the deceased Amit Bhardwaj. Bhardwaj, who was a leading personality in India's crypto world, allegedly cheated investors of Rs 6,500 crore through a Ponzi scheme in the guise of a Bitcoin mining operation. The crackdown is part of India's larger push to cover transactions in digital assets with closer oversight.
Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX lost close to US$235 million of investor funds on July 18, 2024, due to a disastrous hack. The North Korean-connected Lazarus Group was held responsible for the hack, using loopholes in the exchange's multisignature wallet system. The hack led WazirX to temporarily suspend trading and also prompted further security scrutiny in India's crypto exchanges.
Director Carl Erik Rinsch, known for directing 47 Ronin, was arrested in March 2025 for wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors accused Rinsch of defrauding Netflix for US$11 million for a science fiction series called White Horse that never came into existence. Rather than putting the money into manufacturing, he allegedly spent the funds on luxurious high-end shopping and speculative cryptocurrency investments. The case has re-opened questions of how cryptocurrency can be used to hide illicit funds.
North Korea has become one of the stars of the crypto universe, not legitimately, but thanks to a chain of high-level cyber robberies. The world's most infamous hacking collective from North Korea, Lazarus, has been behind the theft of around 13,580 bitcoins worth almost US$1 billion. Experts say such stolen cryptocurrencies are being utilized to fund North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, and thus cryptocurrency crime is of global security.
For decades, the crypto market moved in a sea of regulatory ambiguity, sometimes metaphorically referred to as the 'Wild West' of finance. That time is now drawing to a close, though. Since the FTX collapse in 2022 and the incarceration of its creator, Sam Bankman-Fried, regulators across the globe are acting decisively to combat illegal conduct. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was handed a four-month prison sentence for money laundering, marking a wider drive for compliance. The US government during Donald Trump's second term has made moves to mainstream crypto into traditional finance, including the appointment of an AI and cryptocurrency czar and the creation of a national Bitcoin reserve.
The crossover between crypto crime and celebrity culture made headlines when Iris Au, aka EyeRize and the girlfriend of Love Island winner Davide Sanclimenti, admitted tax fraud in March 2025. Prosecutors disclosed that she hid more than US$2.6 million in cryptocurrency profit obtained from her then-boyfriend, a fraudster known as 'The Godfather.' She allegedly laundered the proceeds through shell companies, which highlighted tax evasion vulnerabilities for digital assets.
As per blockchain analytics company Chainalysis, cryptocurrency crime hit a record US$51 billion in 2024. The report pointed to a growth in AI-driven scams and the increased application of stablecoins for money laundering, where illegal stablecoin transactions made up 63% of the entire crypto crime volume. The trend calls for more draconian enforcement action to keep up with changing threats.
Amid increasing regulation, cryptocurrency continue to be a double-edged sword, a force for freedom to millions and a weapon for the underworld of cyberthieves and scammers. Headline cases such as those mentioned above are a reminder that the world of digital assets remains open to exploitation.
As governments and financial regulators intensify their scrutiny, the battle against crypto-enabled crime has a long way to go. The next few years will tell if digital finance can shake its image as a sanctuary for crime or if newer criminal strategies will keep arising in the dynamic environment.