{"id":59000,"date":"2025-11-18T06:01:39","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T06:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=59000"},"modified":"2025-11-18T06:01:39","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T06:01:39","slug":"crypto-exchanges-binance-okx-used-by-criminals-to-disguise-illicit-funds-icij-investigation-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=59000","title":{"rendered":"Crypto Exchanges Binance, OKX Used By Criminals To Disguise Illicit Funds, ICIJ Investigation Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A recent report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), titled \u201cThe Coin Laundry,\u201d has unveiled evidence of criminal activities conducted through major cryptocurrency exchanges, aimed at evading global regulatory scrutiny.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The investigation <\/a>alleges that money launderers, linked to drug trafficking, Southeast Asian scam centers, and North Korean hackers, have been leveraging major exchanges to facilitate their illicit operations.<\/p>\n

Crypto Money Laundering Operations Linked To Huione Group<\/h2>\n

The ICIJ\u2019s analysis highlights that, as recently as July 2025, the Huione Group, a Cambodian financial entity flagged by US authorities as a \u201cprimary money laundering concern,\u201d transferred approximately $1 million worth of Tether\u2019s USDT stablecoin daily to accounts at Binance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This flow amounted to over $408 million from Huione to Binance customer accounts between July 2024 and July 2025. Notably, these transactions allegedly occurred while Huione was under the supervision of two court-appointed monitors, established as part of Binance\u2019s plea deal with US regulators in November 2023.<\/p>\n

The report goes on to reveal that at least $226 million also shifted into accounts at OKX, another major crypto exchange, during the five months following OKX\u2019s guilty plea in February for operating an unlicensed money transmitter<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ICIJ\u2019s report also explores a network of cash desks and courier services that operate in cities such as Hong Kong, Toronto, London, and Istanbul, allowing individuals to anonymously convert cryptocurrency outside the view of financial authorities. These locations have emerged as largely unregulated hotspots for laundering money.<\/p>\n

In a separate investigation, ICIJ examined an alleged pyramid scheme orchestrated by Vladimir Okhotnikov, who is accused of misappropriating at least $340 million from investors between 2020 and 2022 through a fraudulent investment platform<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Insufficient Regulatory Oversight?\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n

The report highlighted that these illicit transactions often traverse anonymous digital wallets and tools like \u201cswappers,\u201d which enable users to automatically exchange cryptocurrencies without identity verification, complicating law enforcement efforts to trace illicit activities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A dozen former compliance employees from major exchanges, including OKX and Binance, reported to ICIJ that they struggle to keep pace with \u201cincreasingly sophisticated criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regulators around the world are responsible for ensuring that cryptocurrency firms comply with anti-money laundering laws<\/a>. However, the report asserts that the current landscape is characterized by \u201cfragmented enforcement,\u201d resulting in \u201cinsufficient oversight,\u201d according to the ICIJ.<\/p>\n

According to ICIJ\u2019s findings, authorities have imposed at least $5.8 billion in fines and penalties against cryptocurrency exchanges. Meanwhile, consumer and business losses from crypto-related crimes are escalating.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the United States alone, the FBI estimates that Americans lost approximately $9.3 billion to crypto crimes in 2024, a 67% increase from the previous year.<\/p>\n

\"Crypto\"<\/p>\n

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), titled \u201cThe Coin Laundry,\u201d has unveiled evidence of criminal activities conducted through major cryptocurrency exchanges, aimed at evading global regulatory scrutiny.\u00a0 The investigation alleges that money launderers, linked to drug trafficking, Southeast Asian scam centers, and North Korean hackers, have been leveraging major exchanges […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-59000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59000\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}