An estimated $154 billion flowed to illicit addresses, the highest total on record and a 160% jump in illicit volumes according to data cited by Eric Jardine, head of research at Chainalysis.
But treating that number as evidence of runaway criminal adoption may miss the more consequential story. What changed in 2025 was not merely volume, but the identity of the actors, the scale at which they operated, and the implications this has for banks, regulators, and the future architecture of financial blockchain compliance.
The real inflection came from “a shift in who’s doing what,” Jardine explained, noting that in 2025, nation states, most notably Russia, began participating “in earnest in the crypto ecosystem,” primarily…
Jan 26 2026
