$158,000,000,000 of Illicit Crypto Transactions Triggered in 2025, Shattering Record: Report

Illicit crypto asset inflows hit a record $158 billion last year, according to a new report.

The inflows represent a 145% jump from $64.5 billion in 2024, ending a multi-year decline and reaching the highest level in five years, says TRM Labs.

The illicit transactions were driven by sanctioned entities, fraud and hacks, with ransomware also seeing record highs.

“Despite the increase in absolute illicit volume, illicit volume as a proportion of overall crypto volume fell in 2025, from 1.3% in 2024 to 1.2% in 2025.

While illicit activity represented a small share of overall on-chain volume, illicit entities captured 2.7% of available crypto liquidity in 2025, using a new metric that frames risk relative to deployable capital rather than raw transaction volume.”

Sanctions volume was dominated by Russian transactions, with the sanctioned ruble-pegged stablecoin A7A5 accounting for more than $72 billion in total volume.

“On-chain activity indicates that A7 functions as a hub connecting Russia-linked actors with counterparties across China, Southeast Asia, and Iran-linked networks, reflecting a deliberate shift toward crypto-enabled, state-aligned financial infrastructure.”

TRM Labs says China also is also playing an exponentially increasing role in illicit crypto transactions.

“TRM analysis showed that activity associated with Chinese-language escrow services and underground banking networks has grown sharply over time, with adjusted crypto volume rising from approximately USD 123 million in 2020 to over USD 103 billion in 2025.

This sustained growth reflects the increasing reliance of a wide range of illicit actors, including scam networks, cybercrime groups, and sanctions evasion intermediaries, on escrow-based crypto services for settlement and cash-out across the APAC region.”

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