A new report by Chainalysis shows that more than $75 billion in cryptocurrencies are linked to illicit activity, opening up the potential for government crypto reserves to be created through asset seizures.
Chainalysis: More than $75 billion in shadow crypto assets are stored on blockchains, available for seizure
As the US and other countries consider the idea of creating national crypto reserves, a new study by Chainalysis suggests that governments already have potential access to tens of billions of dollars in digital assets held on public blockchains that could be recovered.
In a report published on Thursday, the company estimated the total value of crypto assets linked to illicit activity at $75 billion.
Of this, $15 billion belongs directly to illegal entities, and more than $60 billion is stored in wallets that have an indirect connection to them.
Darknet Control and Bitcoin Dominance
Chainalysis reports that darknet market operators and sellers control over $40 billion in cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin (BTC) accounts for approximately 75% of the total shadow value, but stablecoins are gradually taking an increasing share of such transactions.
Confiscations as a tool of crypto policy
Chainalysis data links to initiatives of the Donald Trump administration, in particular the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile projects, which aim to expand the government’s crypto reserves without additional budgetary costs — in particular by confiscating illicit assets.
“The cryptocurrency ecosystem opens up an unprecedented opportunity: billions of dollars of illicit funds are on public blockchains and can theoretically be seized,” the report states.
Chainalysis co-founder Jonathan Levine emphasized in a commentary to Bloomberg that these figures “take the potential for confiscation to a whole new level” and “change the way governments think about crypto reserves.”
Precedents: Canada seizes $40 million
Canadian regulators recently seized $40 million in digital assets from the TradeOgre exchange, which was accused of unregistered activities and money laundering.
However, the move drew criticism from the crypto community, which saw it as an overreach of authority.
Less than 1% of crypto transactions are illegal
Despite the increase in hacks and schemes, the share of criminal transactions in 2024 was only 0.14% of all blockchain turnover — the lowest figure in recent years. By comparison, the United Nations (UNODC) estimates that 2–5% of global GDP is laundered through traditional financial systems.
Experts explain that the transparency of blockchain makes crimes in the cryptosphere more visible and easier to detect, which creates the impression of a larger scale of the problem than it actually is.
Related: Crypto ETF filings surge as SEC stalls amid US government shutdown
