Crypto-linked suspicious transactions hit record high in Germany

Germany’s Financial Intelligence Unit reported a record surge in suspicious activity reports tied to cryptocurrencies last year, even as overall SAR filings declined.

In its annual report released Tuesday in Cologne, the FIU stated that 8,711 crypto-related notifications were submitted in 2024 — marking an 8.2% increase from the previous year, Bloomberg reported. This occurred despite the total number of SARs dropping after the agency issued new guidance aimed at reducing irrelevant reports.

The majority of the flagged transactions involved Bitcoin (BTC), followed by Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), and Litecoin (LTC). These tokens were frequently linked to activity on trading platforms, mixing services, or online gambling.

The FIU noted that these types of transactions are commonly used to obscure the origins of illicit funds, underscoring the increasing role of digital assets in money laundering schemes.

Internationally, Germany’s trend mirrors growing concerns over the criminal use of cryptocurrencies. In the UK, the National Crime Agency reported that crypto exchanges were tied to 6.6% of all SARs in the 2023–24 period, as total filings rose slightly to approximately 872,000. The UK also noted a sharp increase in counter-terrorism financing reports and account-freezing actions.

In the U.S., FinCEN received over 8,600 crypto-linked SARs in fiscal year 2023, a jump driven by a specific advisory issued in September that led to weekly filings spiking as high as 1,560. Overall, U.S. entities filed 4.6 million SARs during the year.

Globally, the scale of crypto-related money laundering is also substantial. Chainalysis data shows laundered crypto volumes reached $31.5 billion in 2022 before falling to $22.2 billion in 2023 — though still well above pre-2021 levels.

Chainalysis noted that in 2023, the overall crypto transaction volume declined by 15%, but the laundered crypto volume decreased by approximately 30%. It’s hard to say if there was a positive change since the total criminal use of crypto was more or less stable at around $50 billion per year in 2022, 2023, and 2024, according to Chainalaysis.