A new Chainalysis report shows the total value of illicit cryptocurrency addresses received in 2025 reached $154 billion (a conservative estimate), a 162% increase from the revised total of the previous year. This surge is driven largely by activity related to sanctioned entities, including state sanctions circumvention. The illicit share of all cryptocurrency transactions remains below 1%. Chainalysis states that its methodology does not cover non-crypto-native criminal proceeds, such as traditional drug trafficking where payments are made solely through cryptocurrencies, because on-chain data makes it difficult to distinguish such transactions from legitimate activities.
The organization attributed the majority of illicit transactions in 2025 to a few state-sponsored actors, including North Korea, Russia, networks allied with Iran, and a money laundering group in an Asian country. In 2025, North Korean hackers stole $2 billion. Russia’s ruble-backed A7A5 stablecoin accounted for a large share of on-chain state-sponsored activities, facilitating over $93.3 billion in transactions in its first year after its launch in February 2025, despite previous US and EU sanctions. Iranian proxy networks facilitated over $2 billion in on-chain activity, involving money laundering, illicit oil sales, and arms procurement.
Stablecoins accounted for 84% of all illicit transactions in 2025. Illicit crypto activities rely on full suites of illicit infrastructure service providers, which are used by ransomware, fraud networks, and state-sponsored actors. On-chain crime increasingly overlaps with violence, such as human trafficking and coercive attacks, forcing victims to transfer crypto assets during periods of market activity.
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