A recent report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), titled “The Coin Laundry,” has unveiled evidence of criminal activities conducted through major cryptocurrency exchanges, aimed at evading global regulatory scrutiny.
This flow amounted to over $408 million from Huione to Binance customer accounts between July 2024 and July 2025. Notably, these transactions allegedly occurred while Huione was under the supervision of two court-appointed monitors, established as part of Binance’s plea deal with US regulators in November 2023.
ICIJ’s report also explores a network of cash desks and courier services that operate in cities such as Hong Kong, Toronto, London, and Istanbul, allowing individuals to anonymously convert cryptocurrency outside the view of financial authorities. These locations have emerged as largely unregulated hotspots for laundering money.
A dozen former compliance employees from major exchanges, including OKX and Binance, reported to ICIJ that they struggle to keep pace with “increasingly sophisticated criminals.”
According to ICIJ’s findings, authorities have imposed at least $5.8 billion in fines and penalties against cryptocurrency exchanges. Meanwhile, consumer and business losses from crypto-related crimes are escalating.
In the United States alone, the FBI estimates that Americans lost approximately $9.3 billion to crypto crimes in 2024, a 67% increase from the previous year.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
