In 2025, illicit entities acquired $141 billion in stablecoins, the very best stage noticed in 5 years, in response to a brand new report from TRM Labs. The report famous that general stablecoin exercise exceeded $1 tillion per thirty days on a number of events final 12 months.
Sanctions-related exercise accounted for 86% of illicit crypto flows, the report mentioned, with dangerous actors largely counting on stablecoin platforms.
Of that $141 billion, $72 billion was linked to the A7A5 token, a ruble-pegged stablecoin working inside sanctions-linked networks.
Oleg Ogienko, A7A5’s director for Regulatory and Abroad Affairs, advised CoinDesk that “TRM Labs tries to name all Russian exterior commerce illicit or unlawful. However that is in fact a unsuitable assertion.”
In separate feedback throughout an interview at Consensus Hong Kong 2026, Ogienko was much more defiant, saying he was trying to debate anybody who accuses him of breaking any compliance legal guidelines via his stablecoin firm.
“We’re absolutely compliant with the laws of Kyrgyzstan. We don’t do unlawful issues,” he mentioned. “We have now KYC procedures, and we now have AML mechanisms embedded into our infrastructure. We don’t violate any Monetary Motion Activity Power rules.”
Nevertheless, Previous Vector LLC and A7 LLC, A7A5’s issuing and affiliated entities, and Promsvyazbank (PSB), the financial institution that holds the reserves, are sanctioned by the U.S. Division of the Treasury, barring the U.S. dollar-denominated monetary world from interacting with them.
