A report by the U.S. Treasury Department published in March 2026, specifically addressed by the Secretary of the Treasury to the U.S. Congress, noted multiple forms of cryptocurrency crime carried out in previous years.
The update comes after multiple reports last year of cryptocurrency crimes carried out, including a pig butchering scam headquartered in Cambodia worth $15 billion, the proceeds of which have been seized by the U.S. government.
Multiple trends highlighted in report: money laundering, hacking groups, and investment fraud
The report took note of trends in cryptocurrency crime over the past few years, including money laundering carried out through stablecoins, North Korean groups hacking digital asset service providers, or, as referred to in the official document, DASPs, investment fraud carried out through fake investment schemes, and terrorist groups using digital assets to facilitate their operations.
“While digital assets are not the primary method used by other threat actors such as drug traffickers and terrorist groups, they have become more popular in recent years in line with the increased adoption of digital assets; such actors use digital assets for transfers or purchases, as well as to launder assets obtained from illegal activity,” read the report.
According to estimates, North Korean cyber criminals stole roughly $2.8 billion in digital asset form from January 2024 to September 2025.
The FBI’s International Crime Complaint Center pegged that roughly $9 billion was stolen from victims in digital asset fraud. Ransomware payments—siphoned by malicious actors through the disabling of valuable systems and data, after which ransom money is demanded from the victims—were estimated at $734 million in 2024, after it reached a high of $1.1 billion in 2023.
Digital asset kiosks marked as high risk
Digital asset kiosks—commonly known as cryptocurrency ATMs—were also noted as a high-risk target for scammers, with more than 10,900 complaints made to the International Crime Complaint Center and losses of $246.7 million.
Additional patterns noted included the use of cryptocurrency to facilitate trade in countries where the U.S. has imposed sanctions, such as a ruble-based stablecoin in Russia, which is supposedly used to conduct cross-border trade, or digital assets used to facilitate the illegal sale of oil.
Iran has also been known to be a hub for Bitcoin mining, hosting operations intensive enough to disrupt energy supply across parts of Tehran, creating blackouts.