"I'm telling you dude, crypto adoption has skyrocketed since 2023. Just look a volume! Mainstream adoption is here!" Meanwhile . . .
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  • 22 points Words_Or-Wisdom

    Nothing new here. We all know bitcoin and other crypto is only really used as a currency by criminals. The rest is speculation/gambling.

    parent
  • 16 points a5ehren

    All the real volume is Russia/nk/etc evading sanctions. The rest is just exit liquidity

    parent
    4 points SPL_034

    It's funny you mention that...Crypto values tanked in the week leading up to announcement that there were going be sanctions on Lukoil and Rosfnet last October.

    parent root
  • 4 points Shoddy-Childhood-511

    It's paywalled but benzinga says "TRM Labs identified Zedcex and Zedxion, two UK-registered exchanges, as key facilitators of IRGC transactions. IRGC-linked activity accounted for 56% of total volume on these platforms between 2023 and 2025."

    Appears these are really one exchange run by the same people:
    https://support.zedxion.com/hc/en-gb

    Zedcex claims "reserves" of 425 B USD, whatever that means, maybe bullshit? Zedxion makes no claims about reserves, probably because different buisness fuctions. They both claim way spot trading volumes way beyond the Iran trades, but that maybe synthetic trades that fake volume, which TRM Labs removed.

    Also dnyuz says TRM Labs said that "The vast majority of the IRGC transactions were done via the Tether currency USDT .. on Tron, a popular [Chinese] cryptocurrency network.".

    At present, there are no crypto-currency projects in the top 13 largest AML fines, only large banks and brokerages, although BitMEX comes #14: https://www.sanctionscanner.com/blog/top-14-biggest-aml-fines-of-all-time-updated-for-2025-1034

    Iran and drug dealers feature heavily in those AML fines of course. I'd expect this case could rank somewhere onto that list eventually, likely takes a year or two. Otoh, if these guys mostly hold USDT then could Teather somehow drop them, making their holding worthless? lol

    parent
  • 3 points sneaky-pizza

    Lemme guess, melania coin

    parent
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