China has been so restrictive about withdrawing money that it has inadvertently created the world's largest criminal network.
The crypto world has quietly acquired new "shadow bankers," with a significant portion of dirty digital money now flowing through Chinese-language underground networks. According to analysts at Chainalysis, such groups have emerged in recent years as one of the main operators in the global crypto-laundering industry and already process approximately 20% of all known money laundering transactions on the blockchain.
We are talking about so-called Chinese-language money laundering networks, which began to actively develop at the onset of the pandemic and quickly took a dominant position in the criminal crypto economy. While the volume of illicit funds flowing through blockchain was estimated at approximately $10 billion in 2020, by 2025 it would exceed $82 billion. Against this backdrop, Chinese networks have shown explosive growth. Since 2020, the inflow of funds into such structures has grown 7,325 times faster than the volume of illicit transactions through centralized crypto exchanges.
In 2025 alone, approximately $16.1 billion passed through these networks, equivalent to approximately $44 million per day. The ecosystem includes over 1,799 active crypto wallets, and the transactions themselves are characterized by high speed and scalability. Some services reach a billion-dollar turnover in less than a year, indicating close ties to offline criminal organizations and significant financial resources.
Analysts identify several types of services within this ecosystem. Some split large transfers into thousands of smaller transactions to conceal the origin of the funds, while others, conversely, aggregate small amounts into large packages for integration into the legitimate financial system. These include schemes with front men, informal OTC exchanges, underground exchange services, online gambling, and specialized platforms for mixing and exchanging cryptocurrencies. A separate niche is occupied by so-called "Black U" services, which openly deal with cryptocurrency of criminal origin and sell it at a 10-20% discount from the market price.
Warranty platforms like Huione and Xinbi play a crucial role, acting as marketplaces and intermediaries between sellers and buyers of services. While they don't formally manage the actual money flows, they serve as aggregation points for the entire infrastructure. Even after blocking and sanctions, such platforms quickly lose only a portion of their audience, with sellers simply migrating to alternative communication channels, primarily messaging apps.
Money laundering is increasingly becoming automated. In some services, clients simply enter the amount and wallet address, and the system automatically processes the exchange and transfer of funds in minutes. For example, large transactions on "Black U" services were processed in an average of 1.6 minutes at the end of 2025. This dramatically reduces the risk of blocking and increases the efficiency of the schemes.
Experts attribute the rapid development of such networks not only to the growth of the crypto market but also to strict currency controls in China. Attempts to move capital abroad created demand for alternative financial channels, which eventually began to serve international criminal groups. Cryptocurrency proved a convenient tool for cross-border fund transfers without a complex network of intermediaries and paper trails.
Despite sanctions, investigations, and international law enforcement operations, the very structure of these networks remains resilient. Attacks on individual platforms or services produce only a temporary effect, after which ecosystem participants quickly reorganize and continue operating through other channels. Analysts emphasize that real impact is only possible with targeted action against the operators and organizers of these schemes, and not just the platforms where they advertise their services.
A Chainalysis report shows that Chinese-language networks have become more than just a part of cryptocrime, but a fully-fledged global infrastructure. While they play a particularly prominent role in money laundering, this is just one example of how criminal groups around the world are adapting to digital financial technologies, turning blockchain into a new tool for the shadow economy.
The crypto world has quietly acquired new "shadow bankers," with a significant portion of dirty digital money now flowing through Chinese-language underground networks. According to analysts at Chainalysis, such groups have emerged in recent years as one of the main operators in the global crypto-laundering industry and already process approximately 20% of all known money laundering transactions on the blockchain.
We are talking about so-called Chinese-language money laundering networks, which began to actively develop at the onset of the pandemic and quickly took a dominant position in the criminal crypto economy. While the volume of illicit funds flowing through blockchain was estimated at approximately $10 billion in 2020, by 2025 it would exceed $82 billion. Against this backdrop, Chinese networks have shown explosive growth. Since 2020, the inflow of funds into such structures has grown 7,325 times faster than the volume of illicit transactions through centralized crypto exchanges.
In 2025 alone, approximately $16.1 billion passed through these networks, equivalent to approximately $44 million per day. The ecosystem includes over 1,799 active crypto wallets, and the transactions themselves are characterized by high speed and scalability. Some services reach a billion-dollar turnover in less than a year, indicating close ties to offline criminal organizations and significant financial resources.
Analysts identify several types of services within this ecosystem. Some split large transfers into thousands of smaller transactions to conceal the origin of the funds, while others, conversely, aggregate small amounts into large packages for integration into the legitimate financial system. These include schemes with front men, informal OTC exchanges, underground exchange services, online gambling, and specialized platforms for mixing and exchanging cryptocurrencies. A separate niche is occupied by so-called "Black U" services, which openly deal with cryptocurrency of criminal origin and sell it at a 10-20% discount from the market price.
Warranty platforms like Huione and Xinbi play a crucial role, acting as marketplaces and intermediaries between sellers and buyers of services. While they don't formally manage the actual money flows, they serve as aggregation points for the entire infrastructure. Even after blocking and sanctions, such platforms quickly lose only a portion of their audience, with sellers simply migrating to alternative communication channels, primarily messaging apps.
Money laundering is increasingly becoming automated. In some services, clients simply enter the amount and wallet address, and the system automatically processes the exchange and transfer of funds in minutes. For example, large transactions on "Black U" services were processed in an average of 1.6 minutes at the end of 2025. This dramatically reduces the risk of blocking and increases the efficiency of the schemes.
Experts attribute the rapid development of such networks not only to the growth of the crypto market but also to strict currency controls in China. Attempts to move capital abroad created demand for alternative financial channels, which eventually began to serve international criminal groups. Cryptocurrency proved a convenient tool for cross-border fund transfers without a complex network of intermediaries and paper trails.
Despite sanctions, investigations, and international law enforcement operations, the very structure of these networks remains resilient. Attacks on individual platforms or services produce only a temporary effect, after which ecosystem participants quickly reorganize and continue operating through other channels. Analysts emphasize that real impact is only possible with targeted action against the operators and organizers of these schemes, and not just the platforms where they advertise their services.
A Chainalysis report shows that Chinese-language networks have become more than just a part of cryptocrime, but a fully-fledged global infrastructure. While they play a particularly prominent role in money laundering, this is just one example of how criminal groups around the world are adapting to digital financial technologies, turning blockchain into a new tool for the shadow economy.
