Crypto crime witnessed an unprecedented surge in 2025, reaching new highs primarily driven by escalating nation-state activities, significant large-scale thefts, and the increasing professionalization of criminal infrastructure, according to new data from Chainalysis shared with Bitcoin Magazine. Illicit crypto addresses, which are accounts involved in criminal activities such as scams, ransomware, and darknet markets, collectively received a minimum of $154 billion over the year. This represents a staggering 162% increase from 2024, with sanctioned entities alone contributing a dramatic 694% to this growth.

Even when excluding the activities of sanctioned actors, 2025 still marked a record year for illicit crypto activity, underscoring the expanding and diversifying threat landscape. While these figures are considered a lower-bound estimate based on known illicit addresses, they clearly indicate a maturing ecosystem that is increasingly intertwined with global geopolitical tensions. The Chainalysis report cautioned that despite illicit activity remaining below 1% of the total crypto volume, its implications for national security, consumer protection, and regulatory oversight are becoming significantly more pronounced.

A particularly striking trend of 2025 was the remarkable rise of nation-state activity on-chain. Russia’s ruble-backed A7A5 token, for example, facilitated over $93.3 billion in transactions within its first year, serving as a clear real-world illustration of state-backed, crypto-enabled sanctions evasion. Concurrently, Iran continued to utilize proxy networks for money laundering, illicit oil sales, and arms procurement, channeling more than $2 billion through wallets that have been confirmed in sanctions designations. North Korea also intensified its operations, with DPRK-linked hackers stealing an estimated $2 billion last year, including the largest crypto heist on record: the February Bybit exploit, which alone netted nearly $1.5 billion.

These developments signify a massive paradigm shift, demonstrating that nation-states are now actively participating in the same professionalized crypto service ecosystem that was initially developed to facilitate cybercrime and organized crime. By leveraging