Benchmark Finds $187.75 Billion in High-Risk Crypto Exchange Exposure

A five-year benchmark found $187.75 billion in high-risk exposure across 99 centralized crypto exchanges, as 10 platforms captured most flagged inflows from 2021 through 2025.

The 10 exchanges represented 90.9% of flagged inflows over the full period. The dataset encompassed $36.28 trillion in flows involving Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Tether (USDT) on Tron.

The analysis traced links to identified high-risk sources or destinations through as many as five blockchain transfers. Its total covers exposure found in both inflows and outflows. The figure measures on-chain proximity to identified entities; it is not a count of transactions established as illicit.

Across the benchmark, risky-flow shares averaged 0.68% for inflows and 0.42% for outflows. At individual exchanges, the highest figures reached 7.79% for inflows and 24.78% for outflows. The difference between the average and peak outflow figures shows that a marketwide average does not describe every platform's recorded exposure.

Sanctions accounted for $74.09 billion in combined exposure over the five-year period. In 2025, sanctions made up 62.2% of risky inflows and 53.8% of risky outflows. Those percentages refer to flagged activity, rather than all exchange flows.

The exposure estimate does not establish that the full $187.75 billion was illicit. Nor does a link to an entity classified as high risk establish that an exchange or customer knowingly participated in illegal activity. The benchmark records on-chain links, but does not establish that an exchange or customer knowingly participated in illegal activity.

The study covered three asset categories and stopped tracing at five transfers. Its figures therefore describe exposure captured within those boundaries. Even within that scope, the results show both concentrated flagged inflows and substantial variation in the highest exchange-level flow rates.