Often accused of being a tool for financial crime, crypto now reveals a very different reality. The latest data from Chainalysis and TRM Labs show that the share of illicit flows on major centralized exchanges is declining sharply, with Binance standing out for its particularly low level of exposure. Discover these figures and the platform’s efforts to limit transactions linked to illegal activities.
Crypto crime in sharp decline, Binance at the forefront
Cryptocurrency-related crime is declining sharply, and the data now proves it.
According to independent analyses by Chainalysis and TRM Labs, the share of funds directly linked to illicit activities on major centralized exchanges fell sharply between early 2023 and mid-2025, now accounting for only a tiny fraction of total volumes.
Among the seven largest exchanges by volume, direct exposure to addresses identified as illicit stood at around 0.018% to 0.023% of total volume in June 2025.
In other words, less than $2 to $2.30 out of every $10,000 traded comes directly from wallets associated with scams, hacks, ransomware, or sanctions violations.
Binance Shows Lower Exposure Than Its Competitors
In this context, Binance stands out as one of the most advanced exchanges. According to Chainalysis, only 0.007% of the volume processed by the platform in June 2025 was directly linked to illicit wallets, compared to an average of 0.018% for the other six major exchanges. Binance’s ratio is therefore more than 2.5 times lower than that of its peers.
The volume of transactions linked to illicit activities on Binance is lower than on other major CEXs
TRM Labs reaches similar conclusions using its own methodology: approximately 0.016% of Binance’s volume is directly exposed to illicit funds, compared to 0.023% for other major platforms—a difference of about 30%.
Most importantly, both studies point to the same trend: between January 2023 and June 2025, Binance reportedly reduced its direct exposure to illicit funds by 96 to 98%, which is a few percentage points better than the average for other major exchanges.
This is despite the fact that, in 2025, the platform is processing more than $90 billion in daily trading volume, with approximately 217 million daily orders—levels comparable to the combined volume of several of its competitors.
Why It’s Important to Discuss Direct Exposure
The figures cited refer to direct exposure to illicit funds—that is, the portion of trading volume that originates directly from or is sent to addresses identified as linked to criminal activities.
If, out of every $10,000 processed, $1 is linked to an address identified as illicit, the direct exposure is 0.01%.
The lower this rate is, the more it indicates that the platform’s filtering and compliance systems are successfully isolating these flows upstream, flagging them to authorities, or even blocking them before they spread.
Unlike traditional banking systems, the transparency offered by blockchain allows these exposures to be measured with a high degree of granularity, making this type of comparison between different exchanges possible.
Illicit amounts far lower than those in traditional finance
These figures take on a different perspective when compared to estimated illicit flows in traditional finance. The Nasdaq estimates that approximately $3,000 billion in illicit funds circulated through the global financial system in 2023, while estimates from the UN and the IMF place money laundering at between 2% and 5% of global GDP each year.
In the cryptocurrency sector, Chainalysis and TRM Labs estimate that the amounts identified as illicit and passing through major centralized exchanges are limited to a few billion dollars per year—a fraction of the overall volume.
This does not mean that everything is detected or that the risk has disappeared, but these figures help put into perspective certain claims that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are primarily used for money laundering.
What is Binance doing to reduce illicit flows?
Binance attributes these results to a combination of measures, including human resources, detection technologies, and cooperation with authorities.
More than 1,280 specialists—nearly 22% of its workforce—are dedicated to compliance, investigations, and risk management, with annual budgets of several hundred million dollars allocated to KYC, transaction monitoring, and financial investigations.
The platform also emphasizes collaboration with law enforcement. It reports having responded to more than 240,000 requests and organized more than 400 training sessions for investigators and regulators worldwide to share methods for on-chain tracing and combating fraud.
Authority requests processed by Binance
These efforts complement Binance’s participation in collective initiatives such as the Beacon Network and the T3+ program—alongside Tether, TRON, and TRM Labs, among others—aimed at sharing real-time alerts and freezing funds identified as illicit before they can be dispersed.
Toward Wider Adoption Through Greater Transparency?
The continued decline in the share of illicit funds on major exchanges and the convergence of analyses from multiple data providers reinforce the idea that the industry is maturing.
Thanks to the transparency of blockchains and stricter anti-money laundering standards, crypto is becoming one of the most traceable financial systems.
For regulators and traditional financial institutions alike, emerging use cases—such as tokenization or payments—rely on one key factor: trust.
Players capable of operating on a global scale while maintaining a very low level of exposure to illicit flows help build this foundation of trust and pave the way for broader integration of blockchain and cryptocurrencies into mainstream finance.
