A new report from crypto analytics firm Chainalysis shows how quickly crypto money laundering has consolidated into a small number of highly effective networks. What began during the pandemic has scaled into a dominant force. Chinese-language money laundering networks now account for around 20% of all known illicit crypto activity worldwide.

According to Chainalysis, these networks processed $16.1 billion in 2025 alone, or roughly $44 million per day, spread across more than 1,799 active wallets. Their growth has far outpaced other laundering routes. Since 2020, illicit inflows tied to these networks have grown 7,325 times faster than illicit inflows to centralized exchanges, which are increasingly vulnerable to freezes and enforcement.

This story is an excerpt from the Unchained Daily newsletter.

Chainalysis writes that these networks “operate openly across various platforms” and show “industrial-scale processing capacity, operational resilience, and technical sophistication.” Rather than a single organization, the ecosystem is made up of specialized services. Some break large sums into smaller transfers to avoid detection, while others consolidate funds for cashing out.

Platforms such as Huione and Xinbi act as coordination points, but Chainalysis emphasizes they do not control the underlying activity. Enforcement actions can be disruptive, the report notes, but vendors tend to migrate quickly. The result is a laundering system that adapts faster than the efforts designed to shut it down.