Monero

On August 25, the National Police Agency released the 2026 Police White Paper, revealing that the number of cybercrime cases cleared in 2025 reached 15,108, up 14.8% from the previous year, marking a record high. The amount of damage from unauthorized transfers in internet banking reached approximately 10.397 billion yen, also a record high. The number of money laundering cases cleared increased to 1,792, up 39.7% year-on-year. The white paper reported on the actual state of crypto asset abuse, including methods of transferring funds obtained through unauthorized access and phishing to crypto asset accounts, conversion into the highly anonymous crypto asset Monero (XMR), mixing techniques, and complex money laundering structures via unregistered peer-to-peer exchangers. It also highlighted the results of cooperation with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the case of approximately 48.2 billion yen stolen from domestic exchanges by the North Korean group "TraderTraitor." Meanwhile, the Cyber Special Investigation Division's on-chain analysis and promotion of international joint investigations have led to the identification of suspects and the preservation of crypto assets for confiscation. The National Police Agency, jointly with the Financial Services Agency, requested the Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Association (JVCEA) to strengthen withdrawal restrictions for all crypto asset exchange businesses, urging measures such as imposing withdrawal restrictions for a certain period after purchase or deposit, pre-registration of withdrawal addresses, and freezing accounts for suspicious transactions.

The privacy coin market outperformed the broader crypto market after Chinese prosecutors proposed in a research paper that the use of crypto mixers and privacy coins should be treated as circumstances giving rise to a presumption of money laundering intent. The total market cap of the privacy coin sector rose 7% to 16.1 billion dollars, with Zcash up 10.5% and Monero up 2.5%. The paper, published on the official website of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, recommends measures such as mandating the preparation of fund flow analysis reports during investigations and introducing evidentiary rules that treat mixer usage as a circumstance giving rise to a presumption of intent, in order to close the law enforcement gaps created by blockchain anonymity.