AI Tools Increasingly Being Leveraged to Enable Crypto Crime and Other Illicit Financial Activities

AI tools are transforming cryptocurrency-related illicit activities, with overall adoption climbing sharply according to recent findings from blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs. The company’s 2026 AI-in-Crime Adoption Index scores the use of artificial intelligence across crypto crime at 54 out of 100, placing it in the “emerging” category.

According to insights from TRM Labs, this marks a rise from roughly 28 in 2024 and reflects approximately a 40 percent increase over the past year.

Scammers account for most of the growth and have reached a “mature” stage of AI integration, while hacking and ransomware operations remain in the emerging phase.

Activities linked to narcotics and darknet markets are still at the earliest “horizon” stage.

Ari Redbord, Global Head of Policy and Government Affairs at TRM Labs, explained the shift clearly: artificial intelligence has not created entirely new forms of crime. Instead, it has eliminated previous limitations.

The barrier of required technical skill has dropped dramatically, the potential scale of operations has expanded, and the creation of false identities has become industrialized.

Tasks that once demanded a coordinated team can now often be handled by a single individual with access to widely available AI subscriptions.