This week’s lead story is a major global investigation from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The exposé uncovers how crypto-to-cash storefronts and courier services are quietly moving billions of dollars in cryptocurrency into physical cash with minimal or no KYC. These operations form an off-chain financial system that makes illicit funds incredibly difficult to trace, and they’re expanding across Hong Kong, Ukraine, Dubai, and major North American cities. Crystal’s intelligence work features directly in the report, underscoring just how critical attribution and off-ramp visibility have become to modern AML efforts.
ICIJ maps global crypto-to-cash storefronts eroding AML controls
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has published a major investigation, “The Coin Laundry,” into crypto-to-cash desks and courier services that swap large volumes of cryptocurrency for physical cash with minimal or no KYC. Working with reporter Spencer Woodman and investigator Richard Sanders, the project documents how these operations have proliferated in Ukraine, Hong Kong, Dubai, Toronto, Istanbul and major cities in North America, creating what amounts to a parallel banking system outside traditional AML controls.
Sanders has spent the past two years visiting cash desks in person, executing test transactions and collecting wallet addresses linked to these services. ICIJ reports that Hong Kong cash desks processed at least $2.5 billion in crypto in 2023, while one Ukraine-based operation, 001k.exchange, has received more than $14.8 billion since 2022 and offers courier cash drops in cities such as New York, Miami and Montreal, often without formal onboarding. Investigators quoted in the piece describe these desks as a “money laundering nightmare,” because funds routinely flow from scams, sanctioned entities and high-risk services into largely unlabeled wallets and then disappear into cash.
Crystal is explicitly referenced in the investigation: Nick Smart, Crystal’s Chief Intelligence Officer, describes the volumes flowing through these desks as “absolutely staggering” and notes that they are “a perfect place to operate as a criminal because no one’s going to ask any questions,” while highlighting Crystal’s work mapping hundreds of these operations across five continents.
Why this matters
The investigation shines a spotlight on how crypto-to-cash desks are undermining decades of AML infrastructure, shows the limits of standard attribution when key off-ramps are unlabeled or constantly cycling wallets, and underscores the need for deeper, specialized intelligence on OTC and cash-desk infrastructure, an area where Crystal’s work is being recognized on the record by global media.
Read more on the ICIJ website
UK Twitter hacker ordered to repay over $5 million in stolen bitcoin
British hacker Joseph James O’Connor, known online as “PlugWalkJoe,” has been ordered by UK authorities to forfeit 42 BTC and other crypto worth around $5.4 million, representing the proceeds of the notorious 2020 Twitter (now X) hack. O’Connor and co-conspirators compromised more than 130 high-profile accounts, including Barack Obama, Jeff Bezos, Apple, Uber, Kanye West, Bill Gates, Elon Musk and others, then used them to push a fake bitcoin “doubling” scam and threaten public figures.
O’Connor pleaded guilty in the US in 2023 to charges including computer intrusion, wire fraud and extortion, and is serving a five-year sentence. The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service has now secured a civil recovery order so he cannot benefit from his crimes, with a court-appointed trustee set to liquidate the seized assets.
Why this matters
This case underlines how social media compromise plus SIM swapping can quickly escalate into large-scale crypto fraud, shows prosecutors are willing to pursue asset recovery across borders even after conviction, and highlights how the appreciation of seized crypto can turn six-figure scams into multi-million-dollar restitution actions over time.
Read more on the Block
Dubai Digital Economy Court freezes $456M in TrueUSD reserve dispute
Dubai’s Digital Economy Court (DEC) has upheld a worldwide freezing order over approximately $456 million linked to the reserves of the TrueUSD (TUSD) stablecoin, in a dispute between issuer Techteryx Ltd and Dubai-based Aria Commodities DMCC. Techteryx alleges that funds meant to back TUSD were diverted in 2021–2022 via accounts managed by Hong Kong trustee First Digital Trust into illiquid commodity trade finance, mining and private deals, in breach of the stablecoin’s custody terms.
When redemptions surged and those positions could not be unwound, the resulting liquidity crunch contributed to the reserve shortfall that forced Justin Sun to step in earlier this year to stabilize TUSD and reassure holders. In an October 17, 2025 ruling, Justice Michael Black KC found there were “serious issues to be tried” and a credible constructive-trust claim over the assets, andidentified a real risk that Aria’s controller could dissipate or restructure holdings before a final judgment. The decision is the DEC’s first worldwide freezing order and is being framed as a landmark for digital-asset litigation in the UAE.
Why this matters
The case highlights how off-chain reserve management and opaque trade-finance structures can create systemic risk for stablecoin users, signals that Dubai’s specialist digital court is willing to exercise extraterritorial powers over large digital-asset disputes, and reinforces global regulatory concerns about reserve transparency, governance and custody in the stablecoin sector.
Read more on Unlock Media
Japan Exchange Group considers tighter rules on crypto treasury firms
Japan Exchange Group (JPX), which operates the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is weighing stricter oversight of listed companies that hold significant cryptocurrency on their balance sheets as a core strategy. Officials are concerned that “digital asset treasury” firms are exposing retail investors to excessive volatility and governance risk, especially after sharp declines in the share prices of crypto-heavy names such as Metaplanet and Convano Inc., which had previously rallied on aggressive bitcoin accumulation plans.
Measures under discussion reportedly include fresh audits, enhanced disclosure requirements for crypto treasury strategies, and curbs on backdoor listings for firms attempting to pivot into crypto-hoarding via mergers or acquisitions. At least three companies have already put such plans on hold after informal pushback from the exchange, and similar resistance to stock-market “crypto pivots” has recently emerged in Hong Kong and India, where regulators have blocked or questioned listed companies trying to transform themselves into proxy bitcoin plays.
Why this matters
JPX’s stance shows that major exchanges are increasingly uncomfortable with listed companies turning into de facto crypto ETFs by stealth, raises the bar for governance, risk management and disclosure around corporate crypto treasuries, and may shape how other Asian markets respond to equity-market speculation on digital asset holdings.
Read more on Crypto.news
