Illicit crypto activity in Australia remains below 1%: TRM report

Less than 1% of Australian crypto transactions were linked to illicit actors, even as such entities in the country processed $50 billion in one year.

Illicit activity represents only a small fraction of Australia’s cryptocurrency ecosystem, even as digital asset adoption continues to expand.

According to TRM Labs analysis, less than 1% of the country’s total on-chain crypto activity between March 2025 and February 2026 was linked to illicit counterparties, essentially highlighting that the vast majority of transactions occur within legitimate financial and commercial use cases.

Australia’s Crypto Ecosystem

Over the same period, Australian crypto entities processed around $50 billion in total on-chain transaction volume, while the country recorded approximately $15 billion in incoming value to centralized exchanges and decentralized financial platforms.

Among the 95 countries analyzed, TRM Labs said Australia ranks 20th in total crypto value received, placing it in the top quartile globally.

Despite the growing role of digital assets in Australia’s financial system, exposure to criminal activity remains minimal relative to the overall scale of transactions. Sanctions-related activity accounted for the majority of illicit exposure, accounting for around 70% of the total illicit volume identified during the period.

Darknet markets ranked as the second largest category, followed by investment fraud and illicit goods and services. Smaller amounts of illicit activity were linked to categories including banned substances, ransomware, scams, terrorist financing and general cybercrime. The findings reveal that while criminal actors have increasingly incorporated cryptocurrencies into existing financial crime typologies, such activity still represents a very small proportion of overall blockchain usage.

From drug markets to broader crimes

Historically, the first cryptocurrency-related cases in Australia were often associated with drug markets, but the ecosystem has since diversified as adoption expanded and digital assets became integrated into more areas of financial activity. At the same time, authorities have stepped up regulatory and enforcement frameworks.

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The country has required digital currency exchanges to register with the Australian Transaction Analysis and Reporting Center since 2018, subjecting them to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations such as customer due diligence, transaction monitoring and reporting suspicious matters.

Meanwhile, Australia scored its first major cryptocurrency-related money laundering conviction in 2025 following Operation Taipan, which is a multi-year investigation led by Victoria Police into a China-linked laundering syndicate that used digital asset infrastructure.