Crypto Sanctions Evasion Surged 700% in 2025, Chainalysis Says

The United States has long used financial sanctions to restrict Iran’s access to dollars and cross-border payment services, prompting local businesses to turn to cryptocurrency. TRM Labs tracked about 60 wallets linked to sanctioned Iranian entities. Their transactions involved CoinEx and Nobitex, highlighting sanctions-compliance and anti-money-laundering risks at centralized exchanges.

A TRM Labs report said the wallets had moved more than $3.84 billion in cryptocurrency through CoinEx since 2019. About $2.7 billion, or roughly 70% of the total, went to Nobitex, Iran’s largest domestic exchange. CoinEx subsequently denied serving as a funding gateway for sanctioned Iranian crypto companies, leaving the two sides at odds over the exchange’s responsibility.

Following financial sanctions on Russia, crypto assets, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies have increasingly served as alternative channels for cross-border settlements. The European Commission has therefore made closing sanctions-evasion routes a central element of its 20th package of measures against Russia. The package covers service providers in Russia and Belarus and brings trading platforms, tokens and the digital ruble within the financial blockade.

The EU's latest proposal is its largest Russia sanctions package in two years and is scheduled to take effect on May 24, 2026. It would prohibit EU operators from transacting with Russian and Belarusian crypto service providers and seeks to block 11 platforms that assist Russia. Ruble-backed stablecoins including A7A5 and RUBx, as well as the digital ruble issued by Russia's central bank, are also designated as prohibited instruments for transactions and sanctions evasion.

Blockchain analytics company Chainalysis said groups linked to Russia and Iran are using cryptocurrency to pay for military drones and critical components, circumventing international sanctions and scrutiny by the traditional financial system. Although cryptocurrency is pseudonymous, its public and difficult-to-alter onchain transaction records also make fund flows an important lead for law-enforcement investigations.

A recent Chainalysis report found that the procurement networks have used onchain transfers to support military supply chains. The available information did not specify the report’s publication date, the total amount involved or the timing of individual transactions. The report said analyzing wallet addresses, fund-transfer routes and counterparties can help identify sanctions-evasion procurement by Russia- and Iran-linked groups, as well as nodes in their supply chains.

區塊鏈分析公司 Elliptic 報告顯示，Bitpapa 及 ABCeX 等多家加密貨幣交易所正協助俄羅斯實體規避國際制裁，進行盧布與加密貨幣的兌換。這些交易行為在 Garantex 被封鎖後填補了市場真空，導致 2025 年非法地址接收的加密資產總額達到 1,540 億美元的新高。