CoinTalk

Nansen Unveils AI-Powered Crypto Trading on Base and Solana

Blockchain analytics firm Nansen has officially entered a new phase of its evolution by launching AI-driven crypto trading tools that allow users to execute trades using natural language. The move marks a significant shift from pure analytics toward direct market participation, positioning Nansen at the center of the growing intersection between artificial intelligence and decentralized finance.

Global Sanctions Ignite an Unprecedented Rise in Illicit Crypto Activity

Sanctions Pressure Reshapes the Crypto Underground

Global economic sanctions are increasingly pushing sanctioned governments, entities, and affiliated networks toward cryptocurrencies, driving illicit on-chain activity to historic highs. As traditional banking channels tighten under geopolitical pressure, digital assets are emerging as an alternative financial route for those seeking to bypass restrictions at scale.

Data from Chainalysis’ 2026 Crypto Crime Report shows that illicit cryptocurrency addresses received at least $154 billion throughout 2025, representing a dramatic 162% year-over-year increase compared with 2024. This surge marks the highest level ever recorded and reflects how sanctions are accelerating the evolution of crypto-based financial evasion.

Nation-States Take Center Stage in On-Chain Illicit Activity

What sets 2025 apart from previous years is the dominant role of nation-states. Chainalysis analysts describe the year as a clear inflection point, where state-linked actors became the primary drivers of illicit crypto flows. Rather than fragmented criminal networks, large-scale, coordinated activity linked to sanctioned governments defined the landscape.

According to the report, these actors moved funds at volumes never before observed on public blockchains. This shift signals a maturation of the illicit crypto ecosystem, where advanced strategies, purpose-built tokens, and structured on-chain behavior are increasingly common.

Russia’s A7A5 Token Highlights a New Strategy

Russia provides one of the most striking examples of this trend. Facing sweeping sanctions tied to the war in Ukraine, the country launched a ruble-backed stablecoin known as A7A5 in February 2025. In less than a year, transactions involving the token exceeded $93.3 billion, demonstrating how state-aligned digital assets can rapidly gain scale under financial isolation.

The rapid adoption of A7A5 illustrates how sanctioned nations are experimenting with crypto-native instruments to maintain trade flows, preserve liquidity, and reduce dependence on Western-controlled financial infrastructure.

Sanctions Reach Record Levels Worldwide

The growth in illicit crypto activity closely mirrors the global expansion of sanctions themselves. The Global Sanctions Inflation Index estimated that by May 2025, there were nearly 80,000 sanctioned individuals and entities worldwide. This reflects a sharp escalation over recent years as governments increasingly rely on sanctions as a geopolitical tool.

In the United States alone, the Center for a New American Security reported that more than 3,100 entities were added to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List in 2024, an unprecedented figure. Each new designation further constrains access to traditional finance and increases incentives to explore alternative systems like crypto.

Stablecoins Dominate Illicit Crypto Flows

Stablecoins have become the backbone of illicit crypto activity, accounting for 84% of total illicit transaction volume in 2025, according to Chainalysis. This dominance mirrors trends in the legitimate crypto economy, where stablecoins continue to gain market share due to their efficiency and predictability.

Their appeal is straightforward. Stablecoins offer low volatility, fast cross-border settlement, and broad acceptance across exchanges and on-chain services. These same features that make them useful for businesses and consumers also make them attractive to sanctioned actors attempting to move large sums discreetly and efficiently.

Illicit Activity Remains a Small Share of the Market

Despite the alarming growth in absolute numbers, illicit crypto usage still represents a very small portion of overall blockchain activity. Chainalysis estimates that more than 99% of all crypto transactions are legitimate, with illicit activity accounting for less than 1% of total transaction volume.

While the illicit share increased slightly compared to 2024, analysts stress that it remains dwarfed by lawful usage. As attribution methods improve and more illicit addresses are identified, reported figures may rise further in 2026, but this will largely reflect better visibility rather than explosive criminal adoption.

Traditional Money Still Fuels Global Crime

Even with crypto’s growing role, fiat currency remains the dominant medium for illicit finance worldwide. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has previously estimated that global criminal proceeds equal roughly 3.6% of global GDP, far exceeding the scale of illicit crypto flows.

This contrast underscores an important reality: while crypto is increasingly used to evade sanctions, it has not replaced traditional financial systems as the primary vehicle for criminal activity.

A New Intersection of Geopolitics and Blockchain

The data from 2025 makes one conclusion unavoidable. As sanctions expand and financial pressure intensifies, cryptocurrencies are becoming a strategic tool for sanctioned actors, including nation-states themselves. This evolution is reshaping how regulators, analysts, and policymakers view blockchain technology, not just as a financial innovation, but as a geopolitical instrument.

While the crypto economy remains overwhelmingly legitimate, the growing involvement of sanctioned governments marks a new and complex chapter for the industry—one where global politics and decentralized finance are increasingly intertwined.

Key Takeaways:

• Umbra protocol uses "Stealth Addresses" to allow users to pay each other privately on public chains like Ethereum.
• Unlike mixers which obfuscate the source of funds, Umbra ensures only the receiver can see who got paid.
• This technology offers a compliance-friendly alternative for businesses that need privacy for payroll and contracts.

The Umbra protocol is solving one of the most glaring problems in the cryptocurrency space. We call it the "Privacy Paradox." Everyone wants the security of a public blockchain, but nobody wants their salary, spending habits, or net worth broadcast to the entire world.

In the past, privacy meant using "mixers" like Tornado Cash. However, as we discussed recently, regulators view mixers as tools for money laundering. This created a massive gap in the market for a privacy solution that protects the user without breaking the law.

How Does a Stealth Address Work?

The innovation behind the Umbra protocol is the concept of "Stealth Addresses." When you send money to someone on a standard blockchain, you send it to their public address (e.g., vitalik.eth). Anyone watching that address knows exactly how much money they received.

With Umbra, the sender uses the recipient's public key to generate a brand new, unique address on-chain. This address has never been used before.

The funds are sent to this new address. Only the receiver holds the private key to unlock it. To an outside observer, it just looks like a random transfer to a random wallet. There is no visible link between the sender and the receiver's main identity.

Is It Different from a Mixer?

Yes, fundamentally. Mixers pool everyone's money together to hide where it came from. The Umbra protocol does not touch the source of the funds.

It simply ensures that the destination is private. It is like mailing a letter to a PO Box instead of a home address. The postman (the blockchain) delivers the letter, but nobody knows who actually picked it up.

This distinction is critical for 2026. It allows businesses to pay employees in crypto without revealing their salaries to the entire company. It allows vendors to pay suppliers without revealing their entire balance sheet to competitors.

Why Does Privacy Matter for Mass Adoption?

For crypto to replace banking, it needs basic privacy standards. You wouldn't use a bank that published your credit card statement on a public billboard.

The Umbra protocol provides this missing layer of financial hygiene. It allows the Ethereum ecosystem to remain transparent for verification but private for individual user rights. It protects users from "doxing" and targeted phishing attacks by keeping their main wallet addresses disconnected from their daily spending.

Conclusion

Privacy is not about hiding crimes; it is about protecting dignity. As regulators crack down on total anonymity, stealth address technology offers a middle ground that works for everyone.

Yield-Bearing Stablecoins Spark Fresh Warnings From Wall Street

Key Takeaways:

• Traditional banking excludes billions of people while cryptocurrencies offer universal access to the global economy.
• Digital assets provide a hedge against inflation when central banks print excessive amounts of fiat money.
• Decentralization ensures that your wealth cannot be censored or frozen by any single authority.

Cryptocurrencies have fundamentally changed the way we think about value and ownership. For many people in developed nations they might seem like just another speculative asset class similar to stocks or commodities. However for the majority of the global population they represent a vital technological breakthrough that solves deep systemic problems.

The legacy financial system is slow and expensive. It is also surprisingly exclusive. We need a new system that operates on the internet standard of being open and permissionless. This technology is not just about getting rich but about fixing the broken plumbing of the global economy.

Why Is Financial Inclusion Critical?

The most obvious need for cryptocurrencies stems from the failure of traditional banking. According to the World Bank roughly 1.4 billion adults remain unbanked. These people have no access to savings accounts or credit cards.

This is usually because they lack the necessary paperwork or live in regions where building bank branches is not profitable. Digital assets solve this immediately. Anyone with a smartphone can create a wallet in seconds.

This capability empowers entrepreneurs in developing nations to participate in global commerce. A freelancer in Nigeria can receive payment from a client in New York instantly without losing 10 percent to remittance fees. This levels the playing field for the global workforce.

How Do They Protect Against Inflation?

Another major driver for cryptocurrencies is the loss of trust in fiat money. Central banks control the supply of currencies like the Dollar or the Euro. When governments print money to fund debt it dilutes the savings of everyday citizens through inflation.

Bitcoin and other digital assets are often designed with a fixed supply cap. There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin. This mathematical scarcity acts as a shield against the devaluation of fiat currency.

In countries with hyperinflation like Venezuela or Argentina people do not buy digital tokens to speculate. They buy them to survive. They need a store of value that their government cannot devalue overnight.

Can They Prevent Censorship?

We live in an era where financial deplatforming is becoming a weapon. Banks can freeze accounts based on political pressure or arbitrary rules. Cryptocurrencies offer a solution known as censorship resistance.

Because the network is decentralized there is no CEO to call and no server to shut down. If you hold your own private keys nobody can stop you from sending or receiving value.

This property is essential for human rights activists and journalists operating in oppressive regimes. It ensures that money remains personal property rather than a permissioned privilege granted by the state.

Are They More Efficient Than Banks?

The final argument for cryptocurrencies is pure efficiency. Sending money internationally via the SWIFT banking system takes days and involves multiple intermediaries. Each middleman takes a cut.

Blockchain transactions operate 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. They settle in minutes or seconds regardless of borders. This speed allows for new business models like micropayments and automated streaming money that were impossible with the old infrastructure.

Conclusion

The world does not just want cryptocurrencies it effectively needs them. They provide a necessary upgrade to a financial system that was built before the internet existed. By prioritizing inclusion and sovereignty this technology builds a fairer future for everyone.