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$312 Billion Laundered Through US Banks — But Crypto Still Gets the Blame 🤔
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A new FinCEN advisory just dropped, and the numbers are staggering:
Between 2020 and 2024, US banks handled an estimated $312 billion in laundered money tied to Chinese networks. That averages out to over $62 billion a year flowing through the US financial system — not exactly pocket change.
How It Works
Chinese laundering networks have essentially partnered with Mexico-based drug cartels.
Cartels need to wash US dollar drug proceeds.
Chinese gangs desperately want US dollars to get around strict Chinese currency controls.
Result? A symbiotic black-market bromance.
FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki summed it up: these networks don’t just wash drug money — they’re also knee-deep in human trafficking, healthcare fraud, elder abuse, and a cool $53.7 billion in shady real estate deals.
But Wait… Isn’t Crypto Supposed to Be the Big Bad? 🧐
Here’s where things get spicy: despite these massive numbers, politicians (
Elizabeth Warren) keep pointing fingers at crypto as the main villain in money laundering.Warren has repeatedly warned that criminals are “increasingly turning to cryptocurrency.”
And yes, illicit activity exists in crypto… but perspective matters.
According to Chainalysis:
Illicit crypto activity over the last five years = $189 billion.
US banks laundered $312 billion in just four years — and that’s only from Chinese networks.
For even more context:
Global money laundering (UN estimate): > $2 trillion every year.
Crypto’s illicit volume: < 1% of total crypto transactions (per TRM Labs).
The Takeaway
Traditional banks remain the real laundromats for global crime, while crypto is often scapegoated because it’s new, flashy, and easier to demonize.
FinCEN’s findings highlight a broader truth: organized crime runs on fiat pipelines, not blockchains.
What do you think — is crypto unfairly treated, or does the space still need stricter guardrails to avoid becoming the next $312B headline? -
A new FinCEN advisory just dropped, and the numbers are staggering:
Between 2020 and 2024, US banks handled an estimated $312 billion in laundered money tied to Chinese networks. That averages out to over $62 billion a year flowing through the US financial system — not exactly pocket change.
How It Works
Chinese laundering networks have essentially partnered with Mexico-based drug cartels.
Cartels need to wash US dollar drug proceeds.
Chinese gangs desperately want US dollars to get around strict Chinese currency controls.
Result? A symbiotic black-market bromance.
FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki summed it up: these networks don’t just wash drug money — they’re also knee-deep in human trafficking, healthcare fraud, elder abuse, and a cool $53.7 billion in shady real estate deals.
But Wait… Isn’t Crypto Supposed to Be the Big Bad? 🧐
Here’s where things get spicy: despite these massive numbers, politicians (
Elizabeth Warren) keep pointing fingers at crypto as the main villain in money laundering.Warren has repeatedly warned that criminals are “increasingly turning to cryptocurrency.”
And yes, illicit activity exists in crypto… but perspective matters.
According to Chainalysis:
Illicit crypto activity over the last five years = $189 billion.
US banks laundered $312 billion in just four years — and that’s only from Chinese networks.
For even more context:
Global money laundering (UN estimate): > $2 trillion every year.
Crypto’s illicit volume: < 1% of total crypto transactions (per TRM Labs).
The Takeaway
Traditional banks remain the real laundromats for global crime, while crypto is often scapegoated because it’s new, flashy, and easier to demonize.
FinCEN’s findings highlight a broader truth: organized crime runs on fiat pipelines, not blockchains.
What do you think — is crypto unfairly treated, or does the space still need stricter guardrails to avoid becoming the next $312B headline?@johnblockbuster
This report makes it crystal clear: the real laundromats are still banks, not blockchains. $312B in just four years through U.S. banks — and that’s only tied to Chinese networks. Compare that to all illicit crypto activity over five years ($189B), and it’s obvious where the bigger problem lies. Politicians keep blaming crypto because it’s easy to demonize and harder to understand, but the data doesn’t lie. If regulators really want to fight crime, they should focus on tightening fiat rails — not scapegoating an industry that makes up less than 1% of illicit financial flows. -
Yes, banks are the main laundromats, but that doesn’t mean crypto gets a free pass. Criminals will always chase loopholes, and as crypto grows, so does its attractiveness for illicit use. The key is balance: don’t scapegoat crypto, but also don’t ignore the risks. Tools like on-chain analytics, KYC layers for fiat-crypto bridges, and zero-knowledge proofs for privacy + compliance could give us both transparency and safeguards. The FinCEN numbers show that fiat is the bigger threat today, but crypto still needs stronger guardrails if it wants to avoid becoming the next $312B headline.
