Headline: Illicit actors pulled in $141B in stablecoins in 2025 — A7A5 alone linked to $72B, TRM Labs says
A new TRM Labs report finds that illicit entities received roughly $141 billion in stablecoins in 2025 — the highest level seen in five years — as global stablecoin volumes surged into the trillions. TRM noted that aggregate stablecoin activity topped $1 trillion per month on several occasions last year.
Sanctions-related flows dominated the illicit activity, accounting for about 86% of the total, with TRM saying bad actors increasingly relied on stablecoin platforms to move value across borders. A single ruble‑pegged token, A7A5, was tied to roughly $72 billion of the $141 billion, according to the report; TRM describes that token as operating within sanctions-linked networks.
Oleg Ogienko, director for Regulatory and Overseas Affairs at A7A5, pushed back in comments to CoinDesk: “TRM Labs tries to call all Russian external trade illicit or illegal. But this is of course a wrong statement.” At Consensus Hong Kong 2026 he adopted a more combative tone, saying he would debate anyone who accuses his company of noncompliance and insisting A7A5 follows local rules. “We are fully compliant with the regulations of Kyrgyzstan. We do not do illegal things,” Ogienko said, adding that the project has KYC procedures and built-in AML mechanisms and does not violate Financial Action Task Force principles.
Despite those assertions, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has sanctioned Old Vector LLC and A7 LLC — the issuing and affiliated entities behind A7A5 — as well as Promsvyazbank (PSB), the institution that holds the token’s reserves. Those designations prevent U.S. dollar‑denominated financial institutions from interacting with the sanctioned parties, a barrier that regulators say complicates the token’s integration with broader financial markets.
The TRM report underscores ongoing tensions around stablecoins: while they enable high‑speed, high‑volume transfers that attract legitimate users, they also remain a preferred tool for sanctions evasion and illicit finance — presenting fresh challenges for compliance teams and regulators worldwide.
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