Crypto’s 2-Second Laundering Era: Hackers Now Move Before Victims Speak

A 2025 analysis by Global Ledger covering 255 crypto hacks totaling $4.04 billion reveals that hackers now move stolen funds in as little as two seconds, frequently before victims disclose the breach. While the initial transfer sprint is faster (with 84.6% of hacks seeing funds move before public disclosure in the latter half of the year), the subsequent full laundering marathon has slowed to an average of 10.6 days. This slowdown reflects increased scrutiny from exchanges and analytics firms post-disclosure, forcing attackers to use more complex, multi-layered routing. Cross-chain bridges have become the primary laundering highway, handling nearly half of all stolen funds ($2.01 billion), significantly outpacing mixers. Despite sanctions changes, Tornado Cash usage increased in the second half of the year. Attackers are avoiding centralized exchanges for immediate cash-outs, favoring DeFi platforms. Overall, Ethereum accounted for 60.64% of losses, and recovery efforts remain limited, with only about 9.52% of funds frozen.

(Source：BeInCrypto)