Technology

There are plenty of smaller exchanges without KYC. Further, most decentralised exchanges do not need KYC. And laundering the crypto through privacy-focussed coins makes the stolen funds (near) untraceable.

There are several methods to turn stolen crypto into real wealth. It is easy because there's still very little actual regulation to mitigate this and law enforcement does not have the capacity attuned to crypto-theft and crypto-laundering.

Methods include using shell companies (e.g Changpeng Zhao, former CEO of Binance, and the original founders of Bitfinex, the list goes on), creating, owning and wash trading their own cryptocurrencies (e.g. USDT of Bitfinex), using money mules, and "gifting" or allocating assets to friends, family, and employees or colleagues (e.g. Nayiem Willems of the Altilly and the XeggeX exit scams). Desirable real-world assets are real-estate: Renting out an apartment, villa, or BnB supplies them with infinite clean money. If their identity is known and being pursued by law enforcement, they will move to a different country or jurisdiction (e.g. Paul Edward Vernon of the Cryptsy exit scam). Sometimes they will bribe politicians or law enforcement.

I can recommend some documentaries on Netflix: "Bitconned" (about the Centra exit scam), "Trust no One: The hunt for the crypto king (about the QuadriCex exit scam), "Biggest heist ever" (about the mystery behind the Bitfinex "hack"). Coffeezilla on YouTube also has some reportages on the dodgy practices of the Bitfinex founders.