As the cryptocurrency market enters 2026, one theme has become increasingly clear. It was less about speculation and more about infrastructure, regulation, and real-world usage last year. Across jurisdictions, regulators and institutions have moved from theory to implementation, reshaping how digital assets are overseen and used.
This change was characterized by the rise of stablecoins. While Bitcoin (BTC) continues to dominate the cryptocurrency market capitalization, stablecoins now account for more than half of the world’s on-chain transaction volume. Their growing role in payments, remittances and transactions has put them in the spotlight of regulatory attention, especially as governments grapple with financial stability and compliance risks.
In this week’s episode of Byte-Sized Insight, Cointelegraph explores how these changes played out in practice, with insights from Matthias Bauer-Langgartner, Head of European Policy at Chaineries.
Stablecoins are not a bystander
“2025 was the year of stablecoins,” said Bauer Langertner.
He began by emphasizing that this is nothing new, as their advantage has been building for years. According to Chainalysis data, stablecoins currently “clearly dominate the crypto world with more than 50% of trading volume,” even though Bitcoin holds about half of the total market capitalization.
This growth has made stablecoins attractive for both legal and illicit use cases.
“Stablecoins have dominated the trading volume of crypto assets for quite some time, both in illegal and legal use.”
He added that criminals like stablecoins because they are liquid, globally accessible, and avoid volatility. Yet the same structure creates coercion.
“Centralized stablecoin issuers typically have the ability to freeze or even burn stablecoins,” he said, calling this “a very powerful tool to fight financial crime.”
Cryptocurrency crime becomes geopolitical
2025 was marked not only by individual fraud and hacking, but also by a shift towards state-related cryptocurrency activity.
“2025 was, in many cases, a record year for crypto crime,” Bauerlangertner said. Chainalysis recorded $154 billion in illicit cryptocurrency flows, an increase of 162% year over year.
Related: Tether’s role in Venezuela and Iran highlights the dual nature of stablecoins
Much of that growth was driven by nation-state actors, he said.
“State actors are facilitating the use of cryptocurrencies for illegal activities at a truly professional level.”
In this episode, he also detailed specific sanctioned stablecoins and state-backed networks used to evade sanctions.
Bauerlangertner said that despite the surge, illegal activity remains a small portion of overall usage. “If we’ve seen an increase so far, it’s less than 1% of overall activity,” he said, highlighting the challenges regulators face as adoption accelerates.
He also highlighted the ongoing implementation of crypto asset market regulation in Europe and how it is shaping up with other global frameworks, creating a more structured industry.
Listen to the full episode on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s entire lineup of other shows!
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