Global crypto rules tighten in 2025; H1 AML fines top $90M

Regulators in the United States, the European Union, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Turkey and Brazil enforced mandatory anti-money-laundering, know-your-customer and stablecoin rules in 2025. Authorities applied those rules to exchanges, custodians and stablecoin issuers. Skynet’s research shows more than $90 million in AML fines and settlements were paid in the first half of the year.

Stablecoin frameworks adopted across jurisdictions require full fiat reserve backing, ban algorithmic stabilization mechanisms, demand independent reserve attestations and require issuers to obtain licenses. Enforcement actions have expanded beyond token projects previously reviewed as securities to include firms that operate payments, custody and trading services tied to stablecoins.

Regulatory priorities shifted toward AML enforcement in 2025. Penalties from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fell about 97% year over year while actions linked to money laundering and sanctions evasion rose. Analysts tracked roughly a 400% increase in crypto-linked sanctions evasion during 2025, and blockchain monitoring groups reported state-driven sanctions-evasion transactions rose as much as 694% over the prior year. Regulators targeted stablecoin flows tied to sanctioned entities and networks.

Several jurisdictions introduced licensing and supervisory regimes specific to crypto payments and custody. Authorities applied traditional financial compliance tools — KYC checks, transaction monitoring and suspicious-activity reporting — to crypto firms. Independent security reviews of smart contract code became a requirement in Hong Kong, the UAE, the EU and in several U.S. states, with some regulators treating certain contracts as part of financial market infrastructure.

Derivatives trading moved toward regulated venues in 2025 as traders sought compliance and market access. Open interest on IBIT, BlackRock’s regulated venue on Nasdaq, reached $27.6 billion, compared with $26.9 billion on the offshore platform Deribit. In the United States, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission remains the lead authority on derivatives, and the GENIUS Act provided a legislative basis for new rules while the Clarity Act awaited Senate action.

Skynet’s State of the Digital Asset Regulations Report notes: “Stablecoin regulation has converged with unusual speed. Across every major jurisdiction, regulators have arrived at a structurally similar framework: full fiat reserve backing, prohibition of algorithmic stabilization mechanisms, independent attestation of reserves, and licensing of issuers.”