Illicit entities received an estimated 141 billion dollars in stablecoins during 2025, marking the highest level recorded in five years, according to a new report by blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs. Despite the large nominal figure, the report noted that less than 0.5 percent of total stablecoin transaction volume was linked to illicit activity last year.
Stablecoin usage expanded significantly in 2025, with overall transaction volumes exceeding 1 trillion dollars per month on multiple occasions. Against that backdrop, the 141 billion dollars attributed to illicit networks represents a small fraction of total flows, though the concentration of activity in specific ecosystems has drawn regulatory scrutiny.
Sanctions related activity accounted for 86 percent of all illicit crypto flows, the report found, with most of those transactions routed through stablecoin platforms. Analysts observed that certain sanctioned networks have evolved into structured cross border financial systems that rely heavily on digital dollar equivalents and other fiat pegged tokens for settlement.
More than half of the illicit stablecoin flows identified in the report were associated with the A7A5 token, a ruble pegged stablecoin. Approximately 72 billion dollars in volume was linked to that ecosystem in 2025. The issuing and affiliated entities behind A7A5, along with Promsvyazbank, which holds the token’s reserves, are subject to U.S. Treasury sanctions.
Representatives of the A7A5 ecosystem disputed the characterization of their activity as illicit. Oleg Ogienko, the token’s director for Regulatory and Overseas Affairs, stated that the company operates in compliance with the regulations of Kyrgyzstan and maintains know your customer and anti money laundering procedures within its infrastructure. He argued that not all Russian external trade should be classified as illegal and challenged allegations that the token violates Financial Action Task Force principles.
Regulators and compliance experts note that sanctions designations can restrict access to the U.S. dollar financial system even if local regulatory frameworks permit operations. As a result, interactions between sanctioned entities and global stablecoin infrastructure can raise enforcement concerns for exchanges, custodians, and payment providers.
The report highlights the dual nature of stablecoins within the global financial system. On one hand, they facilitate legitimate cross border payments, trading, and treasury management at scale. On the other, their speed and global accessibility can be leveraged by sanctioned networks seeking alternatives to traditional banking rails.
Blockchain analytics firms continue to refine monitoring tools to track flows across wallets, tokens, and exchanges. As stablecoin volumes grow into the multi trillion dollar range annually, oversight efforts are increasingly focused on identifying high risk clusters while distinguishing them from the overwhelming majority of compliant transactions.
