Money laundering is increasingly being conducted through digital assets, with stablecoins leading the way, according to a report by the Bank of Italy. In 2024, the UIF (Financial Intelligence Unit)—the anti-money laundering division of the financial institution that represents the Italian central bank within the Eurosystem—recorded 6,255 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) related to crypto-assets, marking a 25% increase over 2023. In just the first three months of 2025, 2,166 such reports have already been filed. This surge may continue due to the introduction of new anti-money laundering regulations, such as Article 45-bis of Legislative Decree 231/2007, which makes it mandatory for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs)—including those based abroad—to apply Italian anti-money laundering laws at any crypto-asset collection point operating within the country.
Under the upcoming MiCAR regulation, VASPs will soon be referred to as CASPs (Crypto Asset Service Providers). Last year, STRs filed by these operators rose by 168%, due to “the growing number of active reporters in the sector” who submitted reports for the first time.
Meet the stablecoins, a “steady” alternative to traditional cryptocurrencies
An Untraceable Transaction
Thanks to stablecoins—cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of another asset, such as a fiat currency like the dollar or the euro—money launderers no longer even need to go through traditional exchange systems. To understand how this works, it’s important to distinguish between hot wallets, which are crypto wallets connected to the internet, and cold wallets, which are offline wallets disconnected from the network. There are also hosted wallets, which are managed by a third-party provider that controls the private keys and assets, and unhosted wallets, which are controlled directly by the user with no intermediaries or identity verification procedures.
The latter can allow users to exchange crypto—including stablecoins—simply by handing over a USB stick or even a piece of paper from one person to another.
Such a transaction could involve just a few hundred euros—or billions. Since there is no intermediary, such as a bank, exchange office, or regulated professional, the transaction is unmonitored, and money laundering can take place without oversight or mandatory reporting to authorities. The dirty money remains in crypto form but is transferred as if it were cash. Moreover, the fact that stablecoins maintain a fixed exchange rate makes them an ideal tool for cross-border money laundering between different currencies.
Suspicious transactions: the boom of stablecoin
This is no minor issue: the UIF estimates that money laundering flows in Italy have reached €40 billion—around 2% of the country’s GDP. Because crypto-related investigations are highly complex, it took 17 months the Guardia di Finanza, the Italian law enforcement agency aimed to tackle several crimes such as tax evasion and money laundering, to seize €1.2 billion, which amounts to just 3% of the estimated total laundered funds.
These figures are echoed by data on money laundering and illicit digital transactions. According to the latest Crypto crime report by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, illicit crypto transactions accounted for 0.14% of global transaction volume in 2024, totaling $40 billion.
However, while in 2020 Bitcoin was used in 70% of criminal transactions—favored by bad actors for its high liquidity—in 2024 it is stablecoins that dominate, accounting for 63% of all illicit activity. This shift reflects the explosive growth in illegal operations conducted with stable cryptocurrencies, which rose by approximately 77% year-over-year in 2024.
