Binance Research: The seizure rate of illegal funds in crypto assets is about 11% in 2025, significantly higher than that of the traditional financial system

Binance Research released a report stating that crypto assets are not a "safe haven for illegal funds." In 2025, approximately 11% of illegal fund flows in the global crypto sector have been seized or frozen, which is about 55 times the recovery rate of traditional fiat currency systems.

The report pointed out that this data is derived from public law enforcement and freezing actions by institutions such as Tether, Interpol, and T3 Financial Crime Unit, rather than statistics from a single regulatory agency. At the same time, compared to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimated recovery rate of less than 1% for illegal funds in the traditional financial system, the tracking and recovery efficiency in the crypto sector is significantly higher.

The research also mentioned that even after excluding a single large case (involving about $15 billion in Bitcoin related to the Prince Group), the remaining crypto asset recovery rate in 2025 is still about 10 times that of the traditional financial system. Additionally, data from SlowMist and PeckShield shows that in 2025, approximately 8.3% to 13.2% of stolen crypto assets were successfully recovered or frozen, reflecting improved efficiency in security response and collaboration among exchanges, stablecoin issuers, and law enforcement agencies.

The report concluded that while the issue of crypto crime still exists, the view that "crypto assets are inherently more suitable for illegal activities" is being weakened by on-chain transparency and regulatory collaboration capabilities.