The surging criminal use of crypto in Western Balkan hotspots like Albania and Serbia, as per Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) research
Criminal Activities Having Increasing links to Cryptocurrencies within the Western Balkans: Non-Governmental Organization Discloses
Criminals in countries like Albania and Serbia are increasingly adopting cryptocurrencies, as per the latest findings from GI-TOC. This trend has escalated amid a context where billions in regional transactions take place.
In a recent bulletin, GI-TOC highlighted that while cryptocurrencies are playing a more substantial role in criminal activities across the Western Balkans, the seizure of illegally sourced crypto remains a significant challenge for the region.
Placing itself on the map as a significant node for crypto transactions in darknet marketplaces, Montenegro leads the Western Balkan nations. Meanwhile, crypto-based money laundering from drug trafficking has seen a notable increase in Albania and Serbia. GI-TOC's earlier bulletin from December offers more insights into this topic.
Sasa Djordjevic, GI-TOC's Western Balkans Senior Analyst, shares that cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly used in illicit activities in the Western Balkans. He also points out that some criminal transactions linked to local networks are worth millions of euros, often moving funds through digital wallets and being invested in legal businesses.
Djordjevic notes that these patterns resemble known cocaine trafficking corridors from Latin America to Europe and confirms GI-TOC's observation of connections between criminal actors in the Western Balkans and darknet marketplaces like Hydra.
An expanding issue
GI-TOC's bulletin emphasizes that the illicit use of crypto is expected to continue growing in the region, with local authorities grappling to meet the challenges posed by regulatory, technical expertise, and cross-border cooperation gaps.
At present, only three out of six Western Balkan countries have cryptocurrency-related laws in place, and implementation is still pending in one of them. These countries are Albania, Serbia, and Kosovo, the latter of which introduced crypto legislation in November but lacks the bylaw dispositions required for implementation.
Though the EU's MiCA regulation potentially offers stronger oversight, consistent and uniform implementation across the region remains a challenge, given the Western Balkans' non-EU status.
The region has documented only three cases of crypto seizure, all within recent years. The most recent incident involved the confiscation of assets belonging to an Albanian crime syndicate during an operation from November 2024 to January 2025. Aided by an unidentified stablecoin operator, a major crypto-exchange, forces from Albania, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Europol seized the gang's cash, bank accounts, and other assets, including hardware wallets containing over $10 million in cryptocurrencies.
Catching up to the shift
Though incidents like the above provide glimpses of progress, they remain scarce. For Djordjevic and GI-TOC, the situation will not improve until regional authorities catch up to the evolving cryptocurrency landscape.
To achieve this, they believe governments should not only adopt and enforce clear cryptocurrency regulations for tracing and confiscating illicit crypto but also invest in advanced blockchain tools and specialized training. Implementing the FATF recommendations and EU rules on crypto, particularly for countries previously on the FATF grey list, is also essential. Additionally, bolstering cooperation with Europol, Interpol, and other national agencies is a necessity.
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- The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) has revealed that the use of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and stablecoins, in criminal activities is escalating across the Western Balkans, particularly in countries like Albania and Serbia.
- In light of this trend, GI-TOC has highlighted that the seizure of illegally sourced cryptocurrencies remains a significant challenge for the region, with only three documented cases being reported to date.
- Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital assets are becoming increasingly used for illicit activities in the Western Balkans, according to GI-TOC's Western Balkans Senior Analyst, Sasa Djordjevic.
- Local criminal networks are using digital wallets to move funds worth millions of euros, a pattern similar to known drug trafficking corridors from Latin America to Europe, notes Djordjevic.
- The illegal crypto transactions are often connected to darknet marketplaces like Hydra, emphasizing the growing reliance on technology and cryptocurrencies for criminal activities.
- To counteract this trend, GI-TOC and Djordjevic recommend that governments adopt and enforce clear regulations for tracing and confiscating illicit cryptocurrencies, invest in advanced blockchain tools, implement the FATF recommendations, and strengthen cooperation with international agencies like Europol and Interpol.
- In the midst of the general-news landscape, the increasing use of cryptocurrencies in crime and finance, along with issues such as crypto-based money laundering, will require continual vigilance and coordinated efforts among all parties involved in the crypto industry, including crypto miners, exchanges, and users with crypto wallets.
