I probably shouldn’t say this so, if I get arrested, please send money and help me but, over ten years ago, I told Russian and Iranian contacts to put all their money into bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to avoid sanctions.
Yes, it’s my fault.
I’m sure there are others out there, but the key thing about decentralised value exchange is exactly that. It is decentralised. It has no central bank controls. It is network controlled. It is immediate and real-time. There is no government involved. That’s the beauty of it … for some.
The fact that there is no central bank governance means that it can be a Wild West playground of scammer, skimmers, fraudsters and criminals so you need to be careful, but it amazes me that, after so many years, it looks like my Russian and Iranian friends were listening* as a new report says Russia and Iran have turned digital currencies into powerful tools for sanctions evasion, hacking and global money laundering.
The report** estimates $350 billion has been laundered globally between 2005 and 2025, and says that Russia, North Korea and Iran are particularly “prolific” in exploiting cryptocurrency markets to dodge sanctions.
For example, the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex allegedly processed more than $100 billion in transactions, with 82 percent of its total volume linked to sanctioned entities worldwide. In Iran, two sanctioned individuals – Alireza Derakhshan and Arash Estaki Alivand – allegedly generated more than $100 million in profit for Iran through cryptocurrency derived from oil sales.
The thing is that there may be accusations against Russia, Iran and North Korea, but the report also cites America as a major player too. The United States accounted for 39 of the 164 tax and laundering cases they investigated, which is almost a quarter of the total. “The U.S. intrinsically presents more opportunities for money laundering activity and has a higher likelihood that victims will be targeted”, the report states.
By comparison, there were only 19 cases instigated in Russia.
The critical conclusion is that, if you are dealing with cryptocurrency laundering and tax avoidance, there is zero accountability. Of the 164 documented cases worldwide dealt with in the report, most (79%) have not resulted in convictions. “Most of these crimes go unpunished”, the report says.
I guess that’s the reason why I told the Russians and Iranians to invest in cryptocurrencies over a decade ago.
* I call them friends because most people in Russia and Iran are just like you and me. They just want a happy life and hate their government. Don’t think they are like the people portrayed in films and the media. They are normal people, just like you and me.
** Confronting the Illicit-Finance Hydra in Crypto Markets: Protecting Retail Investors and Disrupting Hostile Government Exploitation, by Henry Jackson Society, March 2026
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...