The UK’s National Economic Crime Centre said in its annual report this week that criminals are "innovatively using cryptoasset products to evade detection and move illicit value at scale," according to Decrypt. The agency, which sits within the National Crime Agency, said cross-border money laundering networks are spreading and increasingly combine newer techniques with traditional methods while moving funds through both legitimate and illicit channels. It also said many organized crime groups no longer launder money themselves, instead paying specialist networks to do it.
The report placed cryptoassets third among nine UK economic crime priorities set in July 2025 by the NECC, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Home Office and HM Treasury, ranking above cash-based crime and money mules. The agency said it is building a "more proactive, intelligence-led cryptoasset capability." It also linked cryptoassets with artificial intelligence in its threat assessment, citing the use of synthetic identities and process automation in attacks on banks. The report added that Operation Atlantic, carried out with the U.S. Secret Service, Coinbase, Binance, Kraken and Tether, identified 20,000 authorized push payment fraud victims and froze $12 million. A separate case, Operation Destabilise, led to 129 arrests and seizures of more than £25 million in the UK.
Criminals are "innovatively using cryptoasset products to evade detection and move illicit value at scale," the UK’s National Economic Crime Centre said in its annual report released this week, according to Decrypt.
The NECC is part of the National Crime Agency and coordinates the UK response to economic crime. In its threat assessment, the agency said cross-border money laundering networks are expanding, blending newer methods with traditional ones and moving funds through both legitimate and illicit channels. It added that many organized crime groups no longer handle laundering on their own, instead outsourcing the work to specialist networks for a fee.
Crypto ranked among top economic crime priorities
The report also placed artificial intelligence alongside cryptoassets, saying criminals are using synthetic identities and process automation to attack banks.
Cryptoassets ranked third among nine economic crime priorities identified in July 2025 by the NECC, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Home Office and HM Treasury. The category ranked above cash-based crime and money mules. The agency said it is developing a "more proactive, intelligence-led cryptoasset capability."
Operation Atlantic and Operation Destabilise
The report said Operation Atlantic, conducted with the U.S. Secret Service, Coinbase, Binance, Kraken and Tether, has identified 20,000 authorized push payment fraud victims and frozen $12 million.
It also said Operation Destabilise, which targeted Russian-speaking networks that converted street cash into cryptoassets, has resulted in 129 arrests and seizures of more than £25 million in the UK.
The report also referenced a study from the Royal United Services Institute on privacy-enhancing technologies in the crypto sector.
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