Major Blow to the Sinaloa Cartel
The Sinaloa cartel was busted by the DEA and FBI while $10 million in digital assets was seized.
In a significant blow to organized crime, U.S. law enforcement, led by the Justice Department, seized over $10 million in cryptocurrency allegedly linked to the Sinaloa cartel. The operation was conducted across multiple states and was part of a larger crackdown that has disrupted drug labs, arrested major cartel members, and removed staggering quantities of drugs from U.S. streets.
Unprecedented Drug Seizures Since January 2025
According to the DEA, the following quantities were seized:
- 44 million fentanyl pills
- 4,500 pounds of fentanyl powder
- 65,000 pounds of methamphetamine
- Over 201,500 pounds of cocaine
“DEA is hitting the cartels where it hurts—with arrests, with seizures, and with relentless pressure,” said DEA Acting Administrator Robert Murphy. “We’re dismantling these networks brick by brick—and we won’t stop until we have wrecked their entire empire.”
The U.S. government has long considered the Sinaloa cartel one of six Mexican drug organizations with global reach and ties to terrorist activity. They’re deeply involved in trafficking deadly substances like fentanyl, heroin, ecstasy, meth, and cocaine.
Coast-to-Coast Raids Reveal Scope of Operations
Police busts across several states highlight the operation’s scale:
- Lexington County, South Carolina: 156 pounds of fentanyl, 44 pounds of meth, and a gun were seized.
- Kern County, California: Authorities dismantled a meth conversion lab with 240 pounds of crystal meth and 151 gallons of liquid meth.
- Georgia: 700+ pounds of meth found hidden in a shipment of cucumbers.
- Texas: 1,700 pounds of meth valued over $15 million seized from a vehicle.
- El Paso: 115 pounds of meth confiscated from a GPS-tracked vehicle in collaboration with U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi praised the DEA’s efforts:
“Our agents are doing historic work to keep our communities safe. A single pill can kill, and cartels are bringing deadly poison into our neighborhoods disguised as medicine.”
Cartels Turning to Crypto for Money Laundering
Criminal networks like the Sinaloa cartel are increasingly turning to decentralized digital assets as a way to launder money.
According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, cross-chain crypto laundering is expected to hit $21.8 billion in 2025, up from $7 billion in 2023.
Groups such as North Korea’s Lazarus Group have used DeFi protocols and crypto mixers to obfuscate the origin of stolen funds. In one case, Bybit, a leading crypto exchange, nearly lost 499,000 ETH through a sophisticated attack. The stolen funds were routed through THORChain, generating approximately $24 million in transaction fees.
This technique—cross-chain swapping—lets criminals move funds across multiple blockchains, making it harder for law enforcement to trace.
Conclusion
This high-profile operation signals a new era of collaboration between U.S. federal agencies and blockchain forensics teams. The $10 million crypto seizure linked to the Sinaloa cartel underscores how deeply digital currencies are embedded in modern organized crime. But it also shows that law enforcement is catching up—fast.
As regulators and intelligence agencies continue to enhance surveillance of blockchain transactions, digital assets are becoming less of a safe haven for illicit profits.
