2026 Crypto Crime Report Key Insights: TRM Identifies Record USD 158 Billion in Illicit Crypto Flows in 2025, Reversing a Multi-year Decline
This blog features key highlights from TRM’s upcoming 2026 Crypto Crime Report. Be sure to check back in the coming weeks to get your complete copy.
Key takeaways
- Illicit crypto volume reached an all-time high of USD 158 billion in 2025, up nearly 145% from 2024.
- 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-related activity in 2025 was overwhelmingly driven by Russia-linked…
