Russia, North Korea, and Iran are actively using cryptocurrency to evade sanctions and launder billions of dollars
Crime syndicates and hostile states — specifically Russia, North Korea and Iran — are increasingly turning to cryptocurrency to launder money and evade sanctions, according to a new report that estimates $350 billion has been laundered globally between 2005 and 2025.
The study, Confronting the Illicit-Finance Hydra in Crypto Markets: Protecting Retail Investors and Disrupting Hostile Government Exploitation, examined 164 documented money-laundering cases over the past two decades. It found that cryptocurrency has enabled designated individuals, terrorist groups and entire countries to sidestep sanctions and “process billions of dollars, either voluntarily or involuntarily.”
In an interview with Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Alexander Browder, the researcher behind the report and the Founder of the Global Cryptocurrency Laundering Database, cautioned that the $350 billion figure likely understates the true scale of the problem. While that amount reflects what has been documented in open sources, he said, the real total is probably far higher — “many multiples” of the reported sum.
"The database is based on open sourced reporting of crypto laundering, but many schemes have never seen the light of day and have not shown up in any court records, news reporting or law enforcement announcements,” Browder added.
The report describes Russia, North Korea and Iran as particularly “prolific” in exploiting cryptocurrency markets to dodge sanctions.
It points to the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex, which it says processed more than $100 billion in transactions, with 82 percent of its total volume linked to sanctioned entities worldwide. The exchange reportedly “functioned as a sanctions-evasion tool because it provided services that helped users move value,” the report reads.
North Korean entities, meanwhile, are alleged to have stolen $4.1 billion through 19 hacks targeting the cryptocurrency industry and private individuals. Among them was a February 2025 breach of the exchange Bybit — described in the report as the "largest cryptocurrency hack to date" — in which hackers from North Korea reportedly seized $1.5 billion.
In Iran’s case, the report says the government and affiliated partners have used digital assets to bypass trade barriers. Two sanctioned individuals, Alireza Derakhshan and Arash Estaki Alivand, allegedly generated more than $100 million in profit for Iran through cryptocurrency derived from oil sales.
After U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Tehran on Feb. 28, crypto outflows from the Iranian exchange Nobitex surged 700 percent, according to the blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, suggesting that funds were being shifted to overseas exchanges.
The report also identifies the three governments as among “specific bad actors” carrying out hacks and cyberattacks to generate state revenue.
While the United States is frequently cast as a driver of global sanctions enforcement, it is also the country most affected by crypto-enabled money laundering, according to the findings. Along with Russia and the United Kingdom, it ranks among the three nations most impacted, with the United States recording the largest share of documented cases.
The United States accounted for 39 of the 164 cases — 23.6 percent of the total. "The U.S. intrinsically presents more opportunities for money laundering activity and has a higher likelihood that victims will be targeted,” the report states.
Russia ranked second, with 19 cases representing 11.5 percent of the total laundered volume. The report attributes that concentration to what it describes as "state support and funding," a large population and a sophisticated cybercriminal ecosystem. It adds that the prevalence of such activity in Russia mirrors “the widespread use of cryptocurrency as a tool to circumvent international sanctions imposed on the country and its individuals and entities.”
Yet accountability has been limited. Of the 164 documented cases worldwide, 79 percent have not resulted in convictions. “Most of these crimes go unpunished and more vigilant prosecution needs to be carried out,” the report says.