Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeffrey Snyder discusses how cryptocurrencies are being used by the World’s bad actors with the Henry Jackson Society’s Alexander Browder.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Joining me now is Alex Browder of the Henry Jackson Society. Alex, thanks so much for joining us on the program this morning. Thanks for having me.
You recently released a report for the Henry Jackson Society. I’m very interested in this because it talks about the crypto industry. And I guess my first question is, I know cryptocurrency is becoming popular in kind of the mainstream, but how popular is it among some of the world’s worst actors?
Alexander Browder, Henry Jackson Society
Yeah, so with the proliferation of cryptocurrency, criminal use has exploded by both hostile governments and bad actors around the world, creating millions of victims and facilitating an increase in sanctions evasion. So over the past year, I’ve created the largest open source database of cryptocurrency laundering, featuring 164 of the most prominent cases, and in total, over $350 billion has been laundered through cryptocurrency. Notably, Iran, North Korea and Russia all have been prevalent roles or have had prevalent roles within this ecosystem.
So it’s really a national security issue at this moment.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, and why cryptocurrency? Why didn’t they use the traditional ways of, I’m going to call it money laundering, I’m not an expert, but why did they pick cryptocurrency?
Alexander Browder, Henry Jackson Society
So as a tool which isn’t freely controlled by any government or standard institution, it provides an alternate way for criminals and also hostile governments like North Korea, which are cut off from the main financial systems. So they can profit, first of all, of people within the cryptocurrency industry and also use cryptocurrency as a way to launder funds.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And is it possible to hide a transaction? We’ll get into this a little bit later about the regulatory apparatus here in the States and in the UK, but is it possible for these governments to actually hide a transaction, meaning even if the regulators were looking, they couldn’t find it?
Alexander Browder, Henry Jackson Society
Yeah, so this is the paradox of cryptocurrency. For most cryptocurrency assets, every time there’s a transaction, it’s recorded on a public ledger called a blockchain. And so this becomes an issue for criminals who want to hide their tracks.
So what they’ve come up with is different laundering techniques and even different cryptocurrencies. So firstly, I’ve identified several different kinds of laundering techniques. One of the most prevalent techniques is something called mixing.
This is where criminals are able to send their cryptocurrency into a mixing service, and it sends out a completely different address. So it’s harder for authorities to track the incoming and outgoing address together. So I’ve identified 10 of the largest mixes, which have processed a total of 9.7 billion dollars. But this is just one of the many techniques that have popped up, and I’m happy to talk about it more. But secondly, they’ve also gone so far as to set up their own cryptocurrencies, which are much harder to trace. For example, Monero, which is apparently completely untraceable, meaning bad actors can get away without any of this public tracking.
And so you’ve seen this pop up a lot in darknet marketplaces where criminals are selling drugs and fentanyl and other serious issues.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
So let me ask you about, at the outset of our interview, I talked about kind of how cryptocurrency is kind of coming into the mainstream. So there are a lot more retail investors, there’s a lot more institutional investors, both here in the States and in the UK, across the world, really. Should this scare those people?
Or should that concern these people who are investing? Does this laundering have an impact on what they’re doing?
Alexander Browder, Henry Jackson Society
I think that definitely the use of crypto by these bad actors should concern legitimate retail and institutional investors. Let me highlight a couple of scenarios for you. So firstly, retail investors who are duped into investing into major cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes can have their life savings disappear.
For example, recently, there was this case of the Airbit Club, where it was marketed as a cryptocurrency mining and trading business. And after paying for membership, victims got access to an online portal that displayed profits that accumulated over time. But according to the DOJ, those profits were completely fabricated, and it processed over $100 million in victims throughout the United States.
And they were eventually convicted. But this is one of many cases of Ponzi schemes, where they promote themselves as a key trading platform, investment platform, and take in large amounts of funds from everyone. Not only that, people who are just invested in the cryptocurrency space, either through their personal wallets or cryptocurrency exchanges can have their funds stolen within seconds.
I’ve got many examples of this, but I want to highlight a few egregious cases, most of which are carried out by North Korea. For example, in February 2025, there was a really prominent case by the North Koreans. They stole $1.5 billion from a cryptocurrency exchange in two seconds. So you can have $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency drained within a few seconds. And this goes directly to funding North Korean nuclear program. And then also, the year before this, there was another major hack from the Harmony Bridge hack, where over $100 million was stolen.
And 65,000 people had all their money stolen, and they were left without compensation. And the funds lay dormant for seven months until they were laundered. So this is one of many, but not even that.
People who are not even in the cryptocurrency industry, and who are just regular individuals, can also see effects of this. So a key aspect of my report is ransomware. And for your audience, which don’t know specifically what that is, it’s when malicious actors steal data and encrypt it and force companies or governments to pay.
So there was a really prevalent case of this when the colonial pipeline in the U.S. had to shut down after it was attacked through a cyber attack. They had to pay $4.4 million. And then, not only that, the pipeline normally moves close to 2.5 million barrels a day in oil, and that completely got shut down. So you saw 70% of all gas stations in Washington, D.C., North Carolina, and other states all ran out of gas. And this meant that the U.S. gas prices topped $3 for the first time since 2014. So even if you’re not in the cryptocurrency space, you can still feel the effects of this.
And especially a more recent development where institutional retail investors can feel is in the surge in scams and fake advertising directly targeting senior citizens and people who are less knowledgeable around cryptocurrency.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. We’re kind of coming up short on time, but I did want to kind of follow up, and we can bring you back to talk more about this, because this is not going to get solved in eight to 10 minutes.
But let’s talk about the regulatory framework. Is it strengthened enough? Is it thorough enough here in the U.S., the U.K., and in other European markets to regulate and define these bad actors? It sounds like they might have some catching up to do. Yeah.
Alexander Browder, Henry Jackson Society
So from what I’ve identified, criminals are running circles around authorities and regulators across the globe. There’s an inequality of arms between the authorities and the criminals. The criminals have billions to launder and have many means to do it, whereas authorities are currently underfunded and overstretched, meaning it’s hard for them to trace down every attack, every complaint, which makes this industry rife for malicious actors.
And so what I’m trying to propose, I was in U.K. Parliament earlier this week, is that we increase funding for cryptocurrency teams and even set up their own specialized cryptocurrency enforcement agencies, which can protect victims and stop bad actors like North Korea.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Clearly, there’s a lot of work to do. I think it’s probably really hard for governments. You’re kind of reacting.
I just might have thought you’re reacting to what these bad actors are doing. It’s like playing football or Australian rugby. The defense doesn’t know what the offense is going to call, so it kind of has to react.
I think governments are probably trying to react, but they need more resources. This is a big issue, especially when it impacts regular citizens, older citizens who have saved money for decades and decades. Alex, we’re going to have to leave it there.
Great research, great report. We thank you so much and we look forward to having you back on the program again very soon. Thanks for having me on.
