Cryptocurrency has shifted from a supplementary payment method into a core enabler of organized crime and cyber-enabled illicit activity.

Across a range of illicit activities, crypto facilitates the movement and laundering of funds, supporting increasingly sophisticated financial architectures that combine decentralized and regulated systems. As adoption expands, particularly through stablecoins and accessible platforms, barriers to entry are lowered, enabling greater scale, resilience and geographic dispersion, and positioning cryptocurrency as a strategic asset that is reshaping global illicit economies.

Cryptocurrencies have streamlined the movement of illicit funds and strengthened the…