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The 'Bitcoin' dossier states that the Çopja criminal organization used every possible means to strengthen its power and launder the proceeds of crime. One of the most important tools was the use of cryptocurrencies.
"Criminal groups , we have seen that historically they have laundered money in other sectors, but the cryptocurrency sector has created a kind of veil that money can be laundered easily, but it is not that simple, to launder money through cryptocurrencies, of course it is not impossible, but platforms that are licensed, here we are talking about outside Albania, laundering money through these platforms is somewhat difficult because, undoubtedly, they have knowledge of the client ," said pedagogue Nadia Elbasani.
"International cooperation that concerns the main digital wallet exchanges and those that mainly circulate cryptocurrencies such as Binance or another company or exchange created in 2011 in the USA, named Cragen. These two are the main exchanges that Albanian law enforcement agencies have acted in international cooperation with ," said former prosecutor Eugen Beci.
SPAK, with the help of blockchain experts, discovered that transactions were carried out through the TRON/TETHER network, with large values.
The file mentions 4 transactions worth 105 thousand, 237 thousand, 978 thousand and around 2 million dollars. These amounts are suspected to be money earned from drug trafficking.
"The moment a licensed platform knows the person who carries out the transaction, the difficulty of laundering money on these platforms is undoubtedly increased. But, unfortunately, we have platforms that do not have customer identification. And these platforms have more potential for money laundering by criminal groups ," said Nadia Elbasani.
"An IT expert can look directly at the blockchain, all the transactions where they are coming from, where they are going, which exchange these funds are on, and then if these funds are moving from one exchange and going to another exchange. But this requires a lot of experience, requires a lot of expertise, as well as some software that is very advanced for tracking and tracing these exchanges," said Dorian.
Investigators initially focused on the gateway, the exchanges. These centralized platforms, where proceeds are converted into crypto with a click, are where dirty money takes on the guise of legitimacy.
In many cases around the world, and also in this case, operators use local exchange points to legalize flows. This is thought to be the reason for the involvement of two individuals operating in the foreign exchange business.
The investigation revealed a clear structure: safe money corresponding to drug sales was transferred to bank accounts in other countries, from there it was purchased in Tether, Ethereum, Bitcoin, and sent to digital wallets of a widespread network of users.
Part of the network was clear: accounts on Binance, other accounts hosted on a platform that turned out to be “ALT 5 Sigma,” and between them, wallets that held large transactions.
"The prosecution body has every right to impose seizure if it suspects that this wall was used to launder the proceeds of a criminal offense, but it must investigate, collect evidence to proceed with the confiscation case. But there is also a very important issue here, which is the issue of the Key," said lawyer Dritan Jahaj.
As the investigation progressed, one clear element emerged: SOLUTION SRL, a company registered in the city of Milan, Italy. That company was nothing more than a cabinet that covered the flows.
From October 23, 2024 to July 9, 2025, transaction records showed purchases of around $40 million worth of cryptocurrency. That's far more than the $10 million previously reported. As the documents show, the money flowed from bank accounts in the UK and Spain into a jungle of digital transactions. It then passed through several wallets and eventually ended up at addresses that investigators linked to members of the organization in Elbasan./ TCH
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