Elliptic estimates that illicit and high-risk cross-chain laundering through DEXs, bridges and no-KYC swap services has exceeded $21.8 billion, nearly tripling in two years. The report identifies North Korean cyber threat actors among the drivers of this growth and cites North Korean hacks, including the $1.5 billion Bybit theft, as case-study material. The key laundering typology is chain-hopping, where illicit funds are rapidly swapped across assets and blockchains to complicate tracing and delay investigators. Elliptic says many crypto investigations now span several blockchains, making automated cross-chain tracing and real-time screening important for compliance teams, investigators and law enforcement.