Possible cross-chain crypto laundering exceeds $21.8B as criminals try to cover tracks

Crypto criminals are increasingly moving their illicit assets across different blockchains in an attempt to cover their tracks, a new report has found.

The estimated total value of such "cross-chain criminal and high-risk activity" has exceeded $21.8 billion, compared with $7 billion in 2023 and $4 billion in 2022, blockchain analysis firm Elliptic said in its State of Cross-chain Crime in 2025 report. The number has also increased as the researchers covered more blockchains and assets.

The report has found that around a third of cross-chain investigations involve more than three blockchains, while 27% involve over five, and 20% span more than ten, as criminals are trying to obfuscate their transaction trails.

This is being done by using decentralized exchanges, so-called cross-chain bridges, or protocols that enable communication between different blockchains, and coin swap services. The latter are centralized services that offer anonymous online swapping services through websites or Telegram channels.

Also, according to the researchers, emerging cross-chain crime trends include industrialized scamming activity, such as crypto investment scams and memecoin rug pulls, as well as sectoral sanctions risks.

"One of the most prolific threat actors is North Korea, responsible for around 12% of our $21.8 billion estimate. DPRK hackers are increasingly using sophisticated cross-chain methods to launder the proceeds of their crypto hacks," Elliptic said.

The Bybit crypto exchange hack in February this year, the largest hack in history, was another demonstration of these methods, as criminals tried to launder around $1.5 billion in cryptoassets.

However, it should be noted that a swap per se is not a cause for concern, as this is just routine crypto activity, with traders and decentralized finance users simply moving their assets around.

"However, when crypto is split across several blockchains (structured chain-hopping) and/or swapped successively several times across different blockchains (multi-hop chain hopping), the likelihood of suspicious activity increases," the researchers said, noting that such activity often incurs significant transaction fees and has little practical purpose other than to confuse on-chain trails.

The report has also emphasized that no type of crime is exempt from cross-chain activity.

"In particular, we note an increase in cross-chain risks associated with scams, mirroring the rise of industrial-scale fraud across the world since the COVID-19 pandemic. We also note a rise in cross-chain obfuscation associated with the proceeds of online gambling – an activity illegal in many jurisdictions," they concluded.