In this episode we sit down with Ari Redbord, Global Head of Policy at TRM Labs, to unpack one of the most important and misunderstood topics in digital assets: crypto crime, sanctions evasion, privacy, AI-powered fraud, and the future of blockchain intelligence.

Ari brings a unique perspective to the conversation. Before joining TRM Labs, he spent over a decade as a U.S. federal prosecutor working on terrorism finance, national security, sanctions, and financial crime cases, before moving to the U.S. Treasury and later into crypto.

We discuss why illicit crypto activity reached record highs in 2025, why that headline does not tell the full story, how Russia, Iran, North Korea and organized criminal networks are using crypto infrastructure, and why Ari believes blockchains are also one of the most powerful tools ever created for investigators.

We also dive into the rise of AI-enabled scams, ransomware, wrench attacks, privacy tokens, mixers, institutional adoption, and why crypto may become one of the biggest battlegrounds in the fight between technological freedom and financial surveillance.

If you want a serious conversation about where crypto is heading, what threats are real, and how the industry matures from here, this is one to watch.

Topics covered:

Why Ari says there is no such thing as “crypto crime”

Why illicit activity hit a record in 2025

Russian-linked sanctions evasion and stablecoin usage

Why bad actors still use public blockchains

Privacy tokens, mixers, and the balance between privacy and compliance

Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, Bitfinex, and major crypto crime investigations

The rise of wrench attacks and physical threats against holders

Why scam and recovery fraud are devastating victims

How AI is accelerating cybercrime at scale

Why blockchains may help solve identity, authentication, and provenance problems

How regulators, banks, and institutions now view crypto

Follow Ari / TRM Labs:

https://x.com/ARedbord

https://x.com/TRMLabs