Chainalysis: Chinese-language money laundering networks now drive 20% of known crypto laundering

In a post dated January 27, 2026, Chainalysis says “Chinese-language” money laundering networks (CMLNs) have emerged as major facilitators of the illicit crypto economy. In its TL;DR, Chainalysis states these networks appeared at the start of the pandemic and now “dominate” known crypto money laundering. The headline includes a quantitative claim: CMLNs are “now driving 20% of laundering activity.” This is potentially material for AML/compliance teams, but the available excerpt does not describe definitions or calculation methodology (e.g., what exactly is included in “known crypto money laundering”). The “Chinese-language” framing can also be geopolitically/reputationally sensitive and should be handled with careful, evidence-based wording. As this is currently a single vendor blog/report source, the claims should be validated against the primary write-up and any corroborating materials.

What to check

• How Chainalysis defines “known crypto money laundering,” and whether the metric only covers identified/attributed activity.
• How the “20%” figure is computed: time window, dataset coverage, and included entity/scheme types.
• What evidence and limitations are provided in the full post (case studies, addresses/clusters, assumptions).
• Whether there is independent corroboration or comparable estimates outside this single post.

Sources

• https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/2026-crypto-money-laundering/ (Chainalysis — Crime category (RSS))

Disclaimer

This content is based on publicly available sources and is provided for informational purposes only. Refer to primary sources and your internal compliance procedures before making decisions.