Criminal Crypto Wallets Hold Nearly $15 Billion as Governments Target Seized Assets for Reserves
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A new Chainalysis report reveals that crypto wallets linked to criminal activity are holding about $14.8 billion worth of digital assets in 2025, highlighting both the vast scale of crypto crime and the potential value of seized tokens for government reserves.
The report’s “Criminal Crypto” chart shows that stolen funds account for the majority of these holdings, totaling $11.5 billion, followed by darknet markets ($669 million) and organized crime networks ($982 million).
Other categories include scams, ransomware, and funds from sanctioned jurisdictions. While the total has fallen since the 2021 peak, it still represents a major portion of on-chain wealth connected to illegal activity.
When including “downstream” wallets – addresses that have received at least 10% of their funds from criminal sources – the total exceeds $60 billion. Bitcoin dominates these holdings, representing roughly 75% of all crypto tied to unlawful behavior, followed by Ether and stablecoins.
The findings arrive as multiple governments, including the United States under President Donald Trump, explore the creation of strategic crypto reserves sourced from seized digital assets. With over $75 billion in potentially recoverable crypto worldwide, policymakers see digital forfeitures as a new frontier in national asset strategy.
However, Chainalysis warns that tracing, freezing, and reclaiming such assets remains a complex challenge, requiring international coordination, technical expertise, and well-funded enforcement programs.
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