As the United States and other countries weigh the prospect of building national cryptocurrency reserves, new research from Chainalysis suggests governments may already be within reach of tens of billions of dollars in potentially recoverable onchain assets — a development that could intersect with those reserve discussions.
In a report published Thursday, Chainalysis estimated that crypto balances linked to illicit activity exceed $75 billion. That total includes roughly $15 billion held directly by illicit entities and more than $60 billion in wallets with downstream exposure to those entities.
The blockchain analytics company said darknet market operators and vendors control more than $40 billion in crypto assets on the blockchain.
About 75% of the total illicit value is held in Bitcoin (BTC), although stablecoins account for a growing share of such activity.
Chainalysis linked its findings to the US Trump administration’s creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile. These initiatives aim to expand federal crypto holdings through budget-neutral means, which may include asset forfeitures.
“[T]he cryptocurrency ecosystem presents law enforcement with an unprecedented opportunity: billions of dollars in illicit proceeds are sitting on public blockchains and are theoretically seizable if authorities can coordinate action,” the report said.
Chainalysis co-founder and CEO Jonathan Levin told Bloomberg that the figures raise “asset forfeiture potential to a completely different level,” adding, “It does change how countries think about that.”
Elsewhere, Canadian authorities recently seized about $40 million in digital assets from TradeOgre, a cryptocurrency exchange accused of operating without registration and facilitating money laundering. The action sparked strong criticism from members of the crypto community, who argued that the move overstepped regulatory bounds.
Related: Bybit hacker launders 100% of stolen $1.4B crypto in 10 days
Blockchain transparency skews perception of crypto crime
While crypto crime has increased in recent years, including several high-profile hacks targeting major exchanges and service providers, its overall scale remains small.
According to Chainalysis’s 2025 Crypto Crime Report, illicit transactions accounted for just 0.14% of all blockchain activity in 2024, a figure that continues a downward trend from previous years.
By contrast, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that 2%-5% of global GDP is laundered through traditional financial systems.
Analysts say one reason crypto crime draws disproportionate attention is the transparency of blockchain networks, where every transaction is publicly traceable. That visibility makes illicit activity easier to detect, and therefore more reported than crimes involving cash or conventional banking systems.
As a relatively new technology, the crypto ecosystem has also faced intense regulatory and enforcement scrutiny, amplifying perceptions of widespread wrongdoing.
Related: Blockchain security must localize to stop Asia’s crypto crime wave
