Crypto theft reached $3.4 billion in 2025, with the $1.5 billion Bybit hack accounting for 44% of the total. Another 212 incidents in the first half of 2026 caused about $1.1 billion in losses, and groups linked to Lazarus were involved in roughly 55%, while KelpDAO lost $293 million in an April attack. Stolen funds typically move through a roughly 45-day, three-stage laundering cycle: DeFi (decentralized finance services) swaps and mixing services in the first five days, then cross-chain bridges (tools moving assets between blockchains) and lower-KYC (identity-check) exchanges, followed by batch cash-outs through no-KYC venues, instant exchangers and over-the-counter networks between days 20 and 45. Once funds pass across multiple blockchains, mixing services and jurisdictions, they can still be traced, but recovery becomes significantly harder. Less than 5% of the stolen Bybit funds were ultimately recovered, while Tether and Circle can freeze USDT and USDC addresses, prompting attackers to swap stablecoins into Bitcoin or Ethereum within minutes of an attack.