New York Times: Over $28 billion in illicit funds flowed into crypto platforms in two years

According to Odaily Planet Daily, approximately $28 billion in funds related to illicit activities such as hacking, fraud, and extortion flowed into various cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide over the past two years. Binance is listed as one of the main recipients, with OKX, Bybit, and HTX also on the list. The report states that some of these funds can be traced back to North Korean cybercrime organizations and transnational fraud rings spanning from Minnesota in the United States to Myanmar.

The report highlighted the following key findings:

Even after pleading guilty in 2023, Binance continued to receive more than $400 million in deposits from Cambodia’s Huione Group (which has been identified by the U.S. Treasury Department as a key player in criminal activity); this year, approximately $900 million in funds from North Korean hackers flowed into Binance.

Shortly after OKX reached a $504 million settlement with the US in February 2024, it continued to receive more than $220 million in deposits from Huione in the following five months.

In 2024, global trading platforms received at least $4 billion in fraudulent funds, which ultimately flowed to mainstream platforms such as Binance, OKX, Bybit, and HTX.

More than $500 million flowed into multiple platforms via offline "crypto cash-out counters," which allowed users to directly exchange crypto assets for cash and were considered a major conduit for criminal funds. (The New York Times)