Study finds Chinese crypto laundering operation moved $16B in 2025

Criminal organizations using Chinese as their main language laundered roughly $16.1 billion through digital currency transactions last year, a new study shows.

The findings come from Chainalysis, a company that tracks blockchain data, which released its report on Tuesday. These networks handled about 20 percent of all dirty cryptocurrency dealings in 2025, which totaled more than $82 billion.

Telegram channels serve as criminal marketplaces

The criminal groups do most of their business on Telegram, the messaging app where they run various channels and chat groups. People offering laundering services post advertisements showing stacks of physical currency and customer reviews to prove they have enough money and provide reliable service, the report states.

These Telegram channels work as “guarantee” platforms that act like marketing centers or casual middleman services, putting sellers in touch with potential buyers. Chainalysis noted that while these platforms don’t handle the actual transactions themselves, they serve as the primary way illegal deals get set up.

The platforms don’t just facilitate money laundering. They also host other criminal activities, including trafficking people and selling Starlink satellite equipment that ends up in scam operations across Southeast Asia, according to Andrew Fierman, who leads national security intelligence at Chainalysis.

Customers range from organized criminal groups to government actors facing international sanctions, Fierman explained.

“We have seen everything from North Korean money and DPRK-related hacks going through, to a whole host of other illicit activity,” Fierman told CNBC.

Mark Button, who teaches criminology at the University of Portsmouth and has researched similar operations in India and West Africa, said these Telegram platforms are widely used by illegal networks around the world.

The study found six primary methods these Chinese-language networks use to clean dirty money, frequently depending on digital currencies to transfer funds without drawing attention.

Fierman said criminals prefer cryptocurrencies because they’re easy to convert to cash, simple to use, and offer some level of privacy, especially for those trying to prevent their money from getting frozen in regular banking systems.

Criminals particularly favor stablecoins like USDT from Tether and USDC from Circle. These digital currencies stay at a steady value compared to real money like the U.S. dollar. They don’t swing wildly in price like Bitcoin or Ethereum, which helps reduce transaction expenses.

“If you are involved in illicit activity, the last thing you want to be doing is losing more money,” Fierman said. “You already have to pay money for the laundering process… the last thing you want is for there to be a really bad week on Bitcoin and lose another 10% of your money.”

Casinos and Southeast Asia emerge as key hubs

Button explained that many organized crime groups using crypto laundering also push money through businesses that look legitimate.

“Casinos are a classic means to launder any criminal proceeds,” he said, noting that criminal organizations commonly wash illegal funds by inflating how much money their operations supposedly earn.

A 2024 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report found that Southeast Asia has become a center for both legal and illegal gambling establishments connected to organized crime since at least 2022.

Though the Chainalysis research focused on networks communicating in Mandarin, many transactions actually start outside China, Fierman pointed out. This includes countries like Cambodia and Myanmar, where criminal syndicates operate large-scale fraud operations.

“China has actually been very good at cracking down on these kinds of scams, because they generally don’t like organized crime,” Button said.

China’s state media Xinhua reported Thursday that authorities executed 11 people from a Myanmar-based fraud ring on charges including “intentional homicide, intentional injury, unlawful detention, fraud and casino establishment.”

China maintains tough anti-money laundering regulations and prohibited cryptocurrency trading in 2021, pointing to its connection with organized crime.

Because of this, Chinese criminal groups frequently move to Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia and Myanmar, where looser laws and corrupt local authorities let them work more openly, Button said.

Although governments have actively tried to shut down these international crime networks, stopping them has proven difficult because their operations are sophisticated and enforcing laws across borders is complicated.

“These are very large, well-resourced organizations. This is not like a few criminals operating out of a back room flat,” Button said.

Chainalysis calculated that these Chinese-language money laundering networks processed about $44 million every day throughout 2025.

Even with ongoing efforts to stop this illegal trade, Fierman said many networks will probably keep avoiding getting caught. “This is how illicit actors operate. They evolve, and once one gets detected, they hop to another avenue.“

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