In 2025, illicit entities received $141 billion in stablecoins, the highest level observed in five years, according to a new report from TRM Labs. The report noted that overall stablecoin activity exceeded $1 tillion per month on several occasions last year.
Sanctions-related activity accounted for 86% of illicit crypto flows, the report said, with bad actors mostly relying on stablecoin platforms.
Of that $141 billion, $72 billion was linked to the A7A5 token, a ruble-pegged stablecoin operating within sanctions-linked networks.
Oleg Ogienko, A7A5’s director for Regulatory and Overseas Affairs, told CoinDesk that “TRM Labs tries to call all Russian external trade illicit or illegal. But this is of course a wrong statement.”
In separate comments during an interview at Consensus Hong Kong 2026, Ogienko was even more defiant, saying he was looking to debate anyone who accuses him of breaking any compliance laws through his stablecoin company.
“We are fully compliant with the regulations of Kyrgyzstan. We do not do illegal things,” he said. “We have KYC procedures, and we have AML mechanisms embedded into our infrastructure. We do not violate any Financial Action Task Force principles.”
However, Old Vector LLC and A7 LLC, A7A5’s issuing and affiliated entities, and Promsvyazbank (PSB), the bank that holds the reserves, are sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, barring the U.S. dollar-denominated financial world from interacting with them.
