- ICIJ’s Coin Laundry investigation tracks illicit crypto flows across 35 countries.
- $408 million flowed from Huione to Binance accounts between July 2024 and July 2025.
- FBI estimates Americans lost $9.3 billion to crypto crimes in 2024, up 67% from 2023.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has released The Coin Laundry, a cross-border investigation exposing how cryptocurrency companies aided a shadow economy profiting from criminal activity. Led by ICIJ, the project involved 113 journalists from 38 media partners across 35 countries.
Over 10 months of reporting, journalists gathered hundreds of cryptocurrency wallet addresses connected to illegal operations. Reporters collected these addresses from scam victims, police reports, court records, sanctions lists, and complaints filed with Seychelles’ financial regulator. The team disentangled tens of thousands of transactions recorded across public blockchains to trace global financial flows behind money laundering networks and cyber heists.
Major Exchanges Processed Questionable Transfers
The investigation found that money launderers for drug traffickers, Southeast Asian scam operators, and North Korean hackers used major exchanges to move funds. ICIJ’s analysis revealed that as recently as July 2025, Huione Group sent approximately $1 million worth of Tether daily to accounts at Binance. Huione Group is a Cambodian financial institution flagged by U.S. authorities as a “primary money laundering concern.”
In total, ICIJ’s review uncovered more than $408 million flowing from Huione to customer accounts at Binance from July 2024 to July 2025. These transfers happened while Binance operated under the supervision of two court-appointed monitors following the company’s November 2023 plea deal for violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws. Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion, one of the largest corporate penalties in U.S. history.
The analysis found at least $226 million also flowed into customer accounts at OKX from Huione during the five months after OKX pleaded guilty in February to operating an unlicensed money transmitter. OKX agreed to pay more than $504 million in penalties. The transfers from Huoine continued after its May designation as a primary money laundering concern.
Cash Desk Networks Operate Outside Regulation
The Coin Laundry examined a list of cash desks and courier services that allow anonymous cryptocurrency cashouts outside financial regulator oversight. Found in Hong Kong, Toronto, London, Istanbul, and other cities, these operations are a new and largely unpoliced channel for laundering money.
To expose cryptocurrency’s role in supercharging scams, ICIJ examined an alleged pyramid scheme that defrauded victims worldwide. Vladimir Okhotnikov, 47, is accused of using a rigged cryptocurrency investment platform to steal at least $340 million from investors between 2020 and 2022.
U.S. prosecutors indicted Okhotnikov in 2023, but he remains free in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. That is where he continues launching similar schemes promoted through celebrity-studded events and social media campaigns.
An ICIJ analysis shows authorities worldwide have levied at least $5.8 billion in fines against cryptocurrency trading platforms. Meanwhile, the FBI estimates Americans lost $9.3 billion to crypto crimes in 2024, a 67% increase from 2023.
Related: https://coinedition.com/doj-confirms-15m-seizure-linked-to-apt38-after-2023-crypto-thefts/
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