Growing coordination between blockchain investigators and law enforcement is redefining how digital assets tied to crime are identified and recovered. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis shared a report on Oct. 9 showing that cryptocurrencies tied to illicit activity now surpass $75 billion in onchain balances.
Chainalysis stated:
To date, Chainalysis has helped law enforcement agencies worldwide seize more than $12.6 billion in illicit funds through our data, software, and services.
The firm added that “as of July 2025, illicit entity balances of BTC, ETH, and stablecoins have reached almost $15 billion. This represents a dramatic 359% surge from the relatively modest balances observed as recently as 2020.” Bitcoin continues to dominate criminal holdings with a 75% share of the total, though ether and stablecoins have seen significant growth.
The company emphasized that “the cryptocurrency ecosystem presents law enforcement with an unprecedented opportunity: billions of dollars in illicit proceeds are sitting on public blockchains, and are theoretically seizable if authorities can coordinate action.”
Chainalysis also revealed: “We identified a much broader network of wallets linked to these illicit activities, which hold balances of over $60 billion. This total is roughly four times the amount held directly by the illicit entity wallets themselves.”
The report concluded:
The scale of seizable assets — $15 billion in illicit entity balances and $60 billion in downstream wallets — presents a significant opportunity for asset recovery, albeit with distinct challenges.
“While centralized stablecoins can be frozen by issuers, confiscating BTC and other permissionless cryptocurrencies requires either obtaining private keys or intercepting funds at centralized off-ramps,” the blockchain analytics firm said.
Despite ongoing debate over crypto’s misuse, Chainalysis highlighted that blockchain transparency continues to equip law enforcement with the data and tools necessary to trace, freeze, and reclaim illicit assets on a global scale.
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