TRM estimates that illicit cryptocurrency wallets received USD 158 billion in 2025, a 145% increase from 2024 and the highest level observed in five years, even as illicit activity fell slightly as a share of total attributed on-chain volume. The largest shift came from sanctions-related flows tied mainly to Russia-linked entities, including A7A5 and the A7 wallet cluster, while stolen funds also rose after nearly 150 hacks. The report frames crypto as increasingly embedded in geopolitical finance, sanctions evasion, underground banking, and illicit markets, with Chinese-language escrow and money-laundering networks processing more than USD 100 billion. For crypto-security monitoring, the Bybit breach is a notable driver of 2025 hack losses, accounting for USD 1.46 billion of the USD 2.87 billion stolen across the year.