Illicit Crypto Flows Climbed to $154 Billion in 2025 as Nation States Evade Sanctions, Report Finds
An early preview of Chainalysis’s annual crypto crime report reveals that crypto addresses tied to criminal operations pulled in at least $154 billion during 2025, shattering prior records with a 162% jump from the previous year’s revised $57.2 billion figure. This spike stems largely from sanctioned entities, which saw inflows balloon by 694% year-over-year, signaling a shift where crypto is increasingly relevant at the geopolitical level and used to sidestep financial sanctions and restrictions in the traditional banking system.
The firm’s data traces this upward trajectory from just $11 billion in 2020, and Chainalysis stresses that these numbers represent a conservative baseline, as ongoing investigations…
