According to Kashif Raza, illicit transactions represent less than 1% of global crypto activity (source: @simplykashif, Jan 12, 2026). This aligns with Chainalysis, which estimated illicit activity at roughly 0.34% of on-chain volume in 2023, well below 1% (source: Chainalysis 2024 Crypto Crime Report). TRM Labs likewise reported that illicit volume remained under 1% of total transactions, despite fluctuations in absolute illicit value from scams and sanctions evasion (source: TRM Labs 2024 Illicit Crypto Report). For traders, a sub-1% share supports an institutional adoption narrative for BTC and ETH while concentrating regulatory risk on specific vectors such as mixers and sanctioned services like Tornado Cash and Sinbad rather than the broader market (sources: U.S. Treasury OFAC, Aug 2022 Tornado Cash designation; U.S. Treasury OFAC, Nov 2023 Sinbad designation).

According to @DecryptMedia, authorities allege Paxful was used by money launderers and that the Bitcoin exchange knew about it; this is a law-enforcement claim referenced in the cited tweet (source: authorities via @DecryptMedia tweet on 2025-12-11). For traders, headline and enforcement risk may pressure BTC peer-to-peer liquidity and widen regional P2P spreads where Paxful has been a major on-ramp, warranting close monitoring of quotes and fill rates (source: authorities’ allegations via @DecryptMedia; market-structure playbook used by professional desks). If formal actions follow, flows could shift toward alternative P2P venues or centralized exchanges, potentially increasing on-ramp friction and basis dispersion in BTC (source: authorities’ allegations via @DecryptMedia; standard market reaction patterns observed by institutional trading desks).

According to the source, Arthur Hayes will appear on PrivacyInMotion with Midnight Network and Brave to discuss the trade-off between user privacy and systemic legitimacy and whether Bitcoin is truly private money, as posted on November 10, 2025. Source: the source post dated November 10, 2025. For traders, this theme ties directly to compliance obligations such as the FATF Travel Rule requiring virtual asset service providers to transmit sender and recipient information, which shapes exchange policies and liquidity conditions for privacy features and assets. Source: Financial Action Task Force, Recommendation 16 and related guidance. Bitcoin’s ledger is public and transactions can be linked on-chain, meaning BTC is pseudonymous rather than fully private, a fact that influences how privacy tooling and KYC frameworks interact with trading venues. Source: Bitcoin Whitepaper 2008, Section Privacy. Enforcement against privacy mixers has affected user access routes, exemplified by OFAC’s sanctions on Tornado Cash in 2022, a development traders monitor when assessing counterparty risk and potential flow disruptions. Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, OFAC press release August 8, 2022. U.S. guidance classifies many custodial crypto services as money transmitters subject to KYC/AML, affecting onboarding and withdrawals that can alter spreads during policy headlines. Source: FinCEN Interpretive Guidance, May 9, 2019.

According to the source, leaked documents allege an $8 billion crypto network facilitating Russia’s sanctions evasion, underscoring the scale of sanctions circumvention in digital assets. The source post provides only a headline and link with no asset-level names, exchanges, wallets, or immediate market reaction data, according to the source.