Crosschain Swaps Move $21B in Illicit Funds, Up 200% in Two Years: Elliptic
According to a recent report by UK-based blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, crosschain swaps have become a crucial component of money laundering operations, with illicit flows totaling $21.8 billion across multiple blockchains.
Cryptocriminals are utilizing tools such as bridges, decentralized exchanges (DEXs), and coin swappers to obscure the origins of $21.8 billion in illicit crypto flows, representing a 211% increase from $7 billion in 2023. This growth reflects the expanding use of blockchain bridges, DEXs, and coin swap services, as well as the growing number of blockchains.
"When you look back, let's say a decade ago, the primary cryptocurrencies and blockchains out there were Bitcoin and Ethereum and a few others," said Arda Akartuna, Elliptic's APAC lead crypto threat researcher. "It's an increasingly multichain ecosystem... that just widens the available assets and the available obfuscation channels open to criminals."
Structured chain-hopping involves splitting funds and distributing them simultaneously across several blockchains, while multi-hop chain-hopping is the act of moving assets from one chain to another repeatedly. Both techniques are inefficient by design and come with high fees in order to confuse investigators.
In one early 2025 case, hackers suspected to be linked to North Korea stole $75 million from an unnamed exchange and bridged the funds in sequence from Bitcoin to Ethereum, then to Arbitrum, Base, and finally Tron — employing both structured and multi-hop tactics. Similar patterns are now appearing in smaller fraud cases, indicating that complexity itself has become a deliberate strategy.
DEXs, once viewed as transparent and traceable, are increasingly being used as entry points in the crypto laundering cycle, especially when low-liquidity tokens are involved. DEX aggregators and automated market makers (AMMs) also exploit their open design to route transactions in ways that reduce slippage and avoid detection.
Coin swap sites operate more like underground currency changers, allowing users to anonymously exchange assets across different blockchains with minimal friction, no registration, and often no meaningful Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks. These platforms have become a go-to tool for illicit actors, particularly those operating in darknet markets, ransomware networks, and online carding fraud.
Elliptic reported that around 25% of illicit and high-risk flows through coin swap services are linked to online gambling, especially platforms lacking mainstream licenses. Many of these sites are connected to scams such as pig butchering and narcotics trafficking, creating a closed loop of high-risk funds being recycled between illicit gambling and laundering networks.
The cat-and-mouse tools chasing crosschain laundering have adapted to the evolving tactics. Platforms like Elliptic Investigator, Chainalysis Storyline, and TRM Forensics are built to automate and visualize crosschain analysis, while centralized stablecoin issuers reserve the ability to freeze flagged assets.
Conclusion
The growing use of blockchain bridges, DEXs, and coin swap services has made it increasingly difficult for investigators to track illicit crypto flows. The increasing complexity and sophistication of laundering methods have led to a cat-and-mouse game between law enforcement agencies and cryptocurrency thieves.
"It doesn't matter if they've tried to do it over five different blockchains or just once — we're able to follow those funds automatically through our investigation tools," said Akartuna. "Something that's really manual and might take several hours, you can now do in mere clicks and minutes because it's all automated."
The uneven match between the infrastructure for fighting crypto crime and the evolving tactics of cryptocurrency thieves highlights the ongoing challenge of combating crosschain laundering.