How criminal millions sprinted through Binance, OKX and other top crypto exchanges

Researchers found that drug traffickers, Southeast Asian fraud gangs, and North Korean hackers regularly used major crypto platforms to quietly move their money.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) Coin Laundry investigation found that illicit funds were channeled through major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, OKX, Coinbase, Kraken, Bybit and Kucoin, as part of a global shadow economy profiting from criminal proceeds.

The 10-month cross-border project, conducted with 37 media partners in 35 countries, collected hundreds of wallet addresses linked to fraud, theft, sanctions violations and other illegal activities, and traced tens of thousands of transactions across public blockchains.

Criminal money on the largest stock exchanges in the world

The research found that money launderers working for drug traffickers, Southeast Asian scam networks and North Korean hacking groups routinely use leading exchanges to move their money.

A key finding revealed that Huione Group, a Cambodian financial institution identified by US authorities as having a “major money laundering concern,” was sending approximately $1 million in USDT per day to accounts at Binance in July 2025. This contributed to more than $408 million in total transfers between July 2024 and July 2025.

These flows continued even while Binance operated under two court-appointed regulators as part of its November 2023 plea deal for violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws, which required the company to pay $4.3 billion. The investigation also found that more than $226 million from Huione customer accounts entered OKX in the five months after OKX pleaded guilty in the U.S. in February 2025 to operating an unlicensed money transmitter and agreed to pay more than $504 million in fines.

According to ICIJ, these transfers continued despite Huione being identified as a major money laundering problem in May. Reporters also investigated how so-called cash registers and courier services operating in cities such as Hong Kong, Toronto, London and Istanbul allow users to cash out large sums of cryptocurrency anonymously, away from regulators’ scrutiny, providing another channel through which illicit proceeds enter or leave exchanges.

The report also documented how scam victims in twelve countries saw their stolen money flow through the same major platforms. Highlighting the extent of criminal activity using crypto infrastructure, the investigation detailed the alleged pyramid and Ponzi scheme led by Vladimir Okhotnikov, who was accused of stealing at least $340 million from investors between 2020 and 2022 through a rigged cryptocurrency investment platform and continuing to run similar schemes from Dubai.

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Anonymous wallets and ‘swappers’

While blockchain records provide transparency, ICIJ reported that criminals are using anonymous wallets and tools like “swappers” to complicate tracing, creating significant tracking challenges for exchange compliance teams. More than a dozen former compliance officers at companies including Binance and OKX told ICIJ they struggled to keep up with increasingly sophisticated money laundering techniques.

Regulators have imposed at least $5.8 billion in fines and sanctions on crypto exchanges worldwide, but supervision remains fragmented even as US authorities estimate $9.3 billion in crypto-related losses by 2024.