Mexican drug cartels have moved away from traditional cash-handling middlemen toward a decentralized network of freelance cryptocurrency facilitators, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek investigation.
The shift cuts cartel costs and fragments the paper trail in ways that have outpaced existing law enforcement tools.
Where cartels once paid brokers up to 15% to clean drug proceeds through trade-based schemes, peer-to-peer crypto conversion now offers lower fees, faster cross-border transfers, and a dispersed operator base that provides no single chokepoint for investigators to target.
The Scotese Case
One documented facilitator, David Scotese, operated under the handle "LetterGuy21969" on LocalMonero.co, advertising cryptocurrency for "cold hard cash, no names, no questions."
Authorities allege he completed more than 4,000 transactions from 2021 onward, many linked to cartel funds, conducting deals in the parking lot of Victory Park in Murrieta, California, while families picnicked nearby.
Scotese's case illustrates the broader operational model: freelancers reachable via Telegram or WeChat, functioning as on-demand contractors who convert street cash into stablecoins or privacy coins like Monero, then route funds across borders in minutes.
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The Infrastructure
Chinese criminal networks, already embedded in traditional "black market peso" exchanges, have integrated into this system, adding additional layering.
The DEA reported that U.S. cash seizures have roughly halved since 2020, while crypto confiscations totaling $2.5 billion have surpassed dollar seizures - reflecting a documented shift in cartel financial operations.
Stablecoins like USDT on TRX have become the preferred vehicle, offering dollar parity without banking exposure. Cross-chain bridges and mixers add further obfuscation once funds are in digital form.
Why Law Enforcement Is Struggling
Blockchain records are public, but connecting pseudonymous wallets to identifiable individuals requires precise intelligence - often sourced from informants who may simultaneously be laundering for other networks.
Subpoenaing banks yields rapid results; thousands of dispersed freelance operators across encrypted messaging apps do not.
The Justice Department has intensified prosecutions of cartel-linked money brokers, but the gig-economy model is structurally resistant to disruption: individual operators are replaceable, geographically scattered, and operate without formal organizational ties that can be systematically dismantled.
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