Crypto Playing ‘Growing Role’ in Crime Across Western Balkans: NGO
By: bitcoin ethereum news|2025/05/16 10:30:06
0
Share
In brief New research from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime found that crypto is playing a “growing role” in criminal activity in the Western Balkans. The NGO found that tens of millions of euros linked to criminal networks from the region had been routed through crypto wallets. The Western Balkans has only three documented cases of crypto seizure, all of which occurred in the last few years. Criminals are making increasing use of cryptocurrency in Western Balkan nations such as Albania and Serbia, according to research from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC). Writing in one of two new risk bulletins for this month, the Geneva-based NGO found that seizing illicitly sourced crypto remains a big challenge in the Balkans, with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia home to “only three documented cases of crypto asset seizures” to date. The bulletin explained that the illegal use of crypto has grown in tandem with more legitimate uses, as transaction volumes in the region sit somewhere between $25 billion and $30 billion. It’s in this context that Montenegro has become a major European node for the use of crypto on darknet marketplaces, while using crypto to launder the proceeds of drug trafficking has grown in recent years in Albania and Serbia, as per an earlier GI-TOC bulletin from December. Sasa Djordjevic, GI-TOC’s senior analyst for the Western Balkans, told Decrypt that cryptocurrencies are “playing a growing role in criminal activity in the Western Balkans,” with the region also seeing a growth in use for fraud and illegal crypto-mining. “Drug trafficking groups are increasingly using crypto to move and hide their profits,” he said. “Some suspicious transactions linked to criminal networks from the Western Balkans are worth tens of millions of euros, often routed through crypto wallets and reinvested into legal businesses.” Djordjevic also notes that such patterns tend to mirror known cocaine trafficking routes from Latin America to Europe, while GI-TOC has observed connections between criminal actors in the Western Balkans and darknet markets such as Hydra, prior to its shutdown in 2022. A growing problem GI-TOC’s latest bulletin suggests that illicit usage will continue growing in the region, given that local authorities are struggling to keep up with such usage in terms of regulations, technical expertise and cross-border cooperation. “Currently, only three out of six Western Balkan countries have adopted laws on digital assets, and implementation has yet to begin in one of them,” explained Djordjevic. The three countries Djordjevic is referring to here are Albania, Serbia and Kosovo, the latter of which introduced cryptocurrency legislation in November—but the bylaws necessary for implementation have not yet been adopted. “Although the EU’s MiCA regulation offers a path toward stronger oversight, full and consistent implementation across the region remains challenging, as the Western Balkans are not yet part of the EU,” he added. “Until regulatory and enforcement capacities are strengthened, the region will remain vulnerable to illicit crypto activity.” As mentioned above, the Western Balkans has only three documented cases of crypto seizure, all of which occurred in the last couple of years. The most recent of these involved the seizure of assets belonging to an Albanian crime syndicate, which was the target of an operation between November 2024 and January 2025. Working in conjunction with an unidentified stablecoin operator and a major crypto-exchange, forces from Albania, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Europol seized the gang’s cash, bank accounts and other property, including hardware wallets containing $10 million in cryptocurrencies. Playing catch-up However, such examples are still few and far between, and for Djordjevic and GI-TOC, the situation won’t improve until the region’s authorities catch up with the pace of change. This not only means that governments should “adopt and enforce clear regulations” for tracing and seizing illicit crypto, but that law enforcement must “invest in advanced blockchain tools” and specialized training. “Implementing FATF recommendations and EU rules on crypto remains key, particularly for countries previously on the FATF grey list,” Djordjevic said, adding that closer cooperation with Europol, Interpol and other national agencies is also a necessity. Daily Debrief Newsletter Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more. Source: https://decrypt.co/320192/crypto-playing-growing-role-in-crime-across-western-balkans-ngo
You may also like

Slow Down, That's the Answer to the Age of the Agent
Rather than worrying about AI, it's better to regain control of pace and judgment

From Cash to Cryptocurrency: Moving Towards a Unified Regulatory Path for Illegal Payments
By establishing a framework based on the principle of "general law" and broadly defining the function of "payment tools," future innovations can be automatically included in the regulatory perspective, thereby breaking the passive cycle of "innovation-regulation-re-innovation-re-regulation" and guid...

Who will own the most Bitcoin in 2026
In this article, we will examine some individuals, companies, and wallets that have become crypto whales based on on-chain data and their own public statements, and investigate the amount of Bitcoin they hold.

A private feud lasting 10 years, if not for OpenAI's "hypocrisy," would not have led to the world's strongest AI company, Anthropic
What shapes the global AI landscape is not only the competition of technological routes but also a personal trauma that has never healed.

"Crypto Tsar" steps down: 130 days of political performance come to an end, how much of Trump's crypto promise remains?
The encryption czar has left, and Trump has muted.

From Utopian Narratives to Financial Infrastructure: The "Disenchantment" and Shift of Crypto VC
Financial infrastructure is the real reason that attracts venture capital investment in the cryptocurrency field.

A decade-long personal feud, if not for OpenAI's "hypocrisy," there would be no globally leading AI company Anthropic
Shaping the global AI landscape is not just a battle of technical paths, but also a wound of private trauma that has never healed

a16z: The True Meaning of Strong Chain Quality, Block Space Should Not Be Monopolized
Essentially, this attribute allows stakeholders to have a "virtual lane" within a high-throughput blockchain to ensure their transactions can be included.

a16z: The True Meaning of Strong Chain Quality, Block Space Should Not Be Monopolized
Essentially, this attribute allows stakeholders to have "virtual lanes" within a high-throughput blockchain, ensuring that their transactions can be included.

2% user contribution, 90% trading volume: The real picture of Polymarket
Is Polymarket a battleground for retail investors or an arena for institutions?

Trump Can't Take It Anymore, 5 Signals of the US-Iran Ceasefire
From Oil Prices and Elections to Secret Negotiations, Are the US and Iran Really Heading for a Ceasefire?

Judge Halts Pentagon's Retaliation Against Anthropic | Rewire News Evening Brief
The "Orwellian" Term Stymies Pentagon's Supply Chain Risk Label for Anthropic

Midfield Battle of Perp DEX: The Decliners, The Self-Savers, and The Latecomers
Hyperliquid has captured this wave of geopolitical market trends with commodity contracts. Decentralized exchanges are moving from internal competition within the crypto industry to a genuine alternative to traditional financial infrastructure, and this direction has only just begun.

Iran War Stalemate: What Signal Should the Market Follow?
Watch the Bond Market

Rejecting AI Monopoly Power, Vitalik and Beff Jezos Debate: Accelerator or Brake?
Can technological advancement be guided, or has it already gone beyond our control?

Insider Trading Alert! Will Trump Call a Truce by End of April?
Multiple Accounts Accurately Predict War, Earn $1.8 Million

After establishing itself as the top tokenized stock, does Ondo have any new highlights?
The total market capitalization of the global stock market is about $150 trillion, while the tokenized stocks market is currently only $10 billion in size, making it akin to a nascent super market that has just cracked the door open.

BIT Brand Upgrade First Appearance, Hosts "Trust in Digital Finance" Industry Event in Singapore
Discussing topics such as governance standards, compliance frameworks, and operational infrastructure within the context of the institutionalization process
Slow Down, That's the Answer to the Age of the Agent
Rather than worrying about AI, it's better to regain control of pace and judgment
From Cash to Cryptocurrency: Moving Towards a Unified Regulatory Path for Illegal Payments
By establishing a framework based on the principle of "general law" and broadly defining the function of "payment tools," future innovations can be automatically included in the regulatory perspective, thereby breaking the passive cycle of "innovation-regulation-re-innovation-re-regulation" and guid...
Who will own the most Bitcoin in 2026
In this article, we will examine some individuals, companies, and wallets that have become crypto whales based on on-chain data and their own public statements, and investigate the amount of Bitcoin they hold.
A private feud lasting 10 years, if not for OpenAI's "hypocrisy," would not have led to the world's strongest AI company, Anthropic
What shapes the global AI landscape is not only the competition of technological routes but also a personal trauma that has never healed.
"Crypto Tsar" steps down: 130 days of political performance come to an end, how much of Trump's crypto promise remains?
The encryption czar has left, and Trump has muted.
From Utopian Narratives to Financial Infrastructure: The "Disenchantment" and Shift of Crypto VC
Financial infrastructure is the real reason that attracts venture capital investment in the cryptocurrency field.
