UK Crime Agency Warns of 'Innovative Use' of Crypto by Launderers

The National Economic Crime Centre says criminals are increasingly using cryptoasset products alongside traditional laundering methods to hide and move illicit value on a large scale. In its annual report the UK agency describes cross-border laundering networks that mix novel and established techniques and notes a trend of organized crime groups outsourcing laundering services to specialist networks. The NECC has placed cryptoassets third on a nine-item list of economic crime priorities it agreed with the Financial Conduct Authority, the Home Office and the Treasury in July 2025. That ranking is intended to guide where regulated firms concentrate compliance work and places crypto above threats such as criminal cash and money mule activity. To respond, the agency says it is developing "a more proactive and intelligence-led crypto capability" aimed at generating its own targets rather than relying solely on referrals. It cited recent enforcement work including Operation Atlantic, a week-long effort with the U.S. Secret Service and several major crypto firms that uncovered 20,000 approval-phishing victims and froze $12 million in March. The NECC also highlighted Operation Destabilise, the probe into Russian-speaking networks that convert street cash into crypto, which has yielded 129 arrests and over £25 million seized in the UK. The report also references academic work on privacy technologies. A Royal United Services Institute paper based on a roundtable the NECC hosted argued against banning crypto privacy tools, with participants warning prohibition could push illicit actors onto unregulated services and reduce avenues for investigators to obtain information. RUSI associate fellow Allison Owen told Decrypt that strengthening compliance and trust features would ultimately broaden legitimate use of such technologies.