Sanctioned states move $104B through crypto networks

TLDR

Blockchain analytics firms report that sanctioned states moved about $104 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025, making crypto a meaningful channel for sanctions evasion and illicit finance.

1. Chain data links roughly $104 billion in 2025 crypto flows to entities under international sanctions, within about $154 billion received by illicit addresses overall.
2. Iran, Russia, and North Korea reportedly use crypto for trade settlement, cyber theft, and proxy funding, with heavy reliance on stablecoins and specific ruble-backed tokens.
3. Regulators are responding by sanctioning addresses, networks, and service providers, which increases compliance pressure on exchanges and may tighten rules for everyday crypto users.

Deep Dive

1. How Big The $104 Billion Number Is

Blockchain analysis cited in a recent CoinsKid community article estimates that sanctioned states and related entities moved approximately $104 billion in cryptocurrency during 2025, based on traceable on-chain flows tied to sanctions lists and associated networks.

Overall, illicit crypto addresses received around $154 billion in 2025, with value linked to sanctioned entities growing roughly 694% year over year, according to data referenced from the 2026 Chainalysis Crypto Crime Report and summarized in coverage of sanctioned state crypto activity.

A single ruble-backed stablecoin, A7A5, processed about $93.3 billion in transactions over ten months and has been highlighted by the EU as a key rail for cross border settlement outside traditional banking.

2. How Sanctioned States Use Crypto

Reports identify three main users among sanctioned governments: Iran, Russia, and North Korea. North Korean linked actors allegedly stole over $2 billion in crypto in 2025 through hacks and overseas IT worker schemes, then routed value through mixers and intermediaries to fund state programs and proxy networks.

Iran associated addresses, including those linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), are reported to have moved more than $3 billion in 2025, helping settle oil related deals, fund militias, and pay for equipment via blockchain based transfers.

Russian aligned networks reportedly rely heavily on stablecoins and ruble linked tokens, including A7A5, for cross border trade and oil settlement, keeping activity mostly in business hours patterns that resemble wholesale payment flows rather than retail speculation.

3. Regulatory Crackdown And User Impact

US, EU, and UK authorities have started to expand sanctions beyond individuals to cover specific crypto infrastructure, including stablecoins, exchanges, mixers, and identified wallet clusters, as reflected in European actions against the ruble backed stablecoin A7A5 and other Russian crypto providers.

Major centralized exchanges are under intense scrutiny for possible exposure to Iranian and Russian flows, with US senators citing estimates of over $1 billion routed via intermediaries, even as exchanges like Binance publicly dispute those numbers and emphasize their sanctions controls.

For regular users, this trend likely means stricter KYC and transaction screening, a higher chance that certain coins, privacy tools, or protocols become geofenced or blacklisted, and more reliance on chain surveillance tools to keep infrastructure in the regulated perimeter.

Conclusion

Sanctioned states using about $104 billion in crypto in 2025 shows that digital assets have become a real, if still minority, channel for sanctions evasion and illicit finance. That growth is now driving a regulatory response that targets not just bad actors but also the networks and service providers they use, which in turn raises compliance intensity for the broader crypto ecosystem and may reshape which assets and protocols remain easily accessible over time.