Stablecoin Flows Through Crypto Privacy Tools: $4.2B Exposed by Protocol, Asset, and Risk Profile

Intro

Greater than $4.2 billion in stablecoins have been processed by means of on-chain privateness protocols, and the info reveals patterns that problem frequent assumptions about who makes use of these instruments and why. AMLBot’s evaluation of its public Dune Analytics Dashboard — which tracks cumulative stablecoin volumes throughout Twister Money, Railgun, zkBOB, Hinkal, Aztec, and Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow — exhibits that stablecoin choice in privateness protocols isn’t random. It correlates immediately with every protocol’s compliance posture. 

In protocols with out screening, 99–100% of quantity is DAI — the one main stablecoin that can not be frozen. In protocols with compliance mechanisms, USDC dominates at as much as 81%. The information additionally exhibits that OFAC’s 2022 sanctions on Twister Money successfully stopped the protocol’s progress, however didn’t scale back general demand for stablecoin privateness. Customers migrated to Railgun and zkBOB, each of which have since surpassed Twister Money in cumulative quantity. After sanctions have been lifted in March 2025, customers didn’t return.

These findings, and others explored intimately beneath, have direct implications for compliance groups, blockchain investigators, danger analysts, and policymakers working to know how privateness infrastructure is definitely used — and how one can calibrate their monitoring techniques accordingly.

The dashboard is freely accessible and up to date usually: 🔷 Stablecoin Turnover in On-Chain Privateness Instruments: AMLBot’s Dune Dashboard.

Appendix: Dashboard Documentation

What Are Privateness Instruments in Crypto?

Crypto privateness instruments are on-chain protocols that break the seen hyperlink between sender and receiver. They do that in numerous methods, and the variations matter for compliance.

– Mixers pool deposits from a number of customers and allow them to withdraw equal quantities to contemporary addresses. Twister Money is the best-known instance. It makes use of fixed-denomination swimming pools (0.1, 1, 10, 100), so each deposit and withdrawal seems the identical on-chain. OFAC sanctioned it in August 2022, however these sanctions have been lifted in March 2025 after the Fifth Circuit dominated that immutable good contracts don’t qualify as “property” below IEEPA. The protocol’s good contracts stored working autonomously all through the sanctions interval regardless, since there was nobody to “flip them off.” The felony case in opposition to Twister Money co-founder Roman Storm reached a partial verdict in August 2025. A jury convicted Storm of conspiracy to function an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise, however deadlocked on the 2 extra severe costs — conspiracy to commit cash laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions. The deadlocked costs led to a partial mistrial. Storm filed a movement for acquittal on the conviction, which is pending judicial evaluate as of early 2026. Prosecutors have requested a retrial on the unresolved counts for late 2026. Individually, the builders of Samourai Pockets, a Bitcoin-focused privateness mixer, pleaded responsible to conspiracy costs and have been sentenced to 4 and 5 years in jail in late 2025 — establishing one other precedent within the evolving authorized panorama round privateness software builders.

– Shielded Switch Programs work in another way. Railgun, for example, makes use of zk-SNARKs (Zero-Data Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Data) to protect pockets addresses whereas retaining the transactions themselves legitimate and auditable on-chain. It additionally runs a “Personal Proofs of Innocence” mechanism that screens transfers in opposition to identified illicit addresses, which is an fascinating try to reconcile privateness with compliance. In early 2026, Railgun launched Railgun_connect, a characteristic enabling non-public wallets to work together with DeFi protocols like CowSwap with out unshielding funds — a major step towards making privateness the default slightly than an add-on.

– Compliance-Oriented Privateness Swimming pools characterize a more moderen strategy. Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow, launched on Ethereum mainnet in 2025 and primarily based on analysis co-authored by Vitalik Buterin, makes use of Affiliation Set Suppliers (ASPs) to display deposits earlier than admitting them into the privateness pool. Customers can show their funds aren’t related to illicit exercise with out revealing transaction particulars. This “compliance-by-design” strategy goals to supply privateness with out creating regulatory publicity — a mannequin that differs essentially from each conventional mixers and shielded switch techniques.

– Protocol-Particular Privateness Layers like zkBOB and Hinkal every have their very own strategy, however basically they permit customers to conduct transactions privately. zkBOB was constructed across the BOB stablecoin but in addition helps USDC and USDT through Zero-Data Proofs. Hinkal helps stablecoin and DeFi token shielding, together with CRV alongside the usual stablecoins, and makes use of KYC-gated entry to limit its privateness swimming pools to verified customers.

The sensible distinction for compliance groups is that every protocol leaves a special footprint on-chain, processes completely different property, and has a special regulatory historical past. Though Twister Money sanctions have been lifted in March 2025, transactions with historic Twister Money publicity nonetheless get flagged in another way than Railgun exercise, which has built-in screening. Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow provides one other layer of nuance: it actively excludes illicit deposits, which implies publicity to Privateness Swimming pools carries a special compliance profile than publicity to protocols with out such screening. Realizing which protocol processed which stablecoin, at what quantity, is what enables you to make these distinctions slightly than treating the whole lot as generic “mixer publicity.”

What the Dashboard Covers

It tracks the cumulative worth of stablecoin transfers routed by means of privateness good contracts throughout the next protocols:

Twister Money — non-custodial mixer utilizing fixed-denomination deposit swimming pools, sanctioned by OFAC in August 2022. Regardless of sanctions and enforcement actions, the protocol’s good contracts continued to function autonomously on-chain all through the sanctions interval. The sanctions have been lifted in March 2025 after the Fifth Circuit dominated that immutable good contracts don’t qualify as “property” below IEEPA. Legal proceedings in opposition to co-founder Roman Storm resulted in a combined verdict in August 2025: conviction on conspiracy to function an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise, with the jury deadlocked on the extra severe cash laundering and sanctions conspiracy costs. As of early 2026, prosecutors have requested a retrial on the unresolved counts.

Railgun — zk-SNARK-based privateness system that shields pockets addresses utilizing Zero-Data Proofs. Implements a Personal Proofs of Innocence mechanism designed to display in opposition to identified illicit addresses. 

zkBOB — privateness protocol constructed across the BOB stablecoin, additionally supporting USDC and USDT transfers through Zero-Data Proofs.

Hinkal — privateness protocol supporting stablecoin and DeFi token shielding, together with CRV (Curve DAO Token) alongside commonplace stablecoins. Hinkal positions itself as an institutional-grade privateness layer with KYC-gated entry.

Aztec (zk.cash) — privacy-focused Layer 2 constructed on Ethereum utilizing zk-rollup structure. The dashboard tracks historic DAI turnover by means of Aztec’s privateness swimming pools, with a cumulative quantity of $124 million. Whereas the unique zk.cash utility was sundown, its on-chain transaction historical past stays a part of the privateness protocol panorama, and the Aztec Community launched its new Ignition Chain mainnet in November 2025.

Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow — compliance-oriented privateness protocol launched on Ethereum mainnet in March 2025, primarily based on analysis co-authored by Vitalik Buterin. Makes use of an Affiliation Set Supplier (ASP) mechanism that screens deposits in opposition to identified illicit addresses earlier than admitting them into the privateness pool. Customers can generate Zero-Data Proofs exhibiting their withdrawal belongs to a compliant set, with out revealing particular transaction particulars. Helps DAI, USDC, USDT, USDS, and BOLD.

🔷The dashboard doesn’t declare to cowl each present privateness software or blockchain, but it surely captures probably the most broadly used protocols related to compliance and investigative workflows.

Tracked Stablecoins

DAI — decentralized stablecoin issued by MakerDAO (now Sky). Tracked throughout Twister Money, Railgun, Hinkal, Aztec, and Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow.

cDAI — Compound-wrapped DAI, representing DAI deposited into the Compound lending protocol. Tracked in Twister Money, the place it traditionally circulated by means of devoted privateness swimming pools.

USDC — USD-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle. Tracked throughout Twister Money, Railgun, zkBOB, Hinkal, and Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow.

cUSDC — Compound-wrapped USDC. Tracked in Twister Money.

USDT — USD-pegged stablecoin issued by Tether. Tracked throughout Twister Money, Railgun, zkBOB, Hinkal, and Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow.

BOB — stablecoin native to the zkBOB protocol ecosystem. Tracked in zkBOB.

CRV — Curve DAO governance token. Whereas not a stablecoin within the conventional sense, CRV is included as a result of it’s actively processed by means of Hinkal’s privateness mechanism and represents a significant share of that protocol’s exercise.

USDS — stablecoin issued by Sky (previously MakerDAO), the rebranded successor to DAI inside the Sky ecosystem. Tracked in Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow.

BOLD — stablecoin native to the Liquity v2 protocol. Tracked in Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow.

🔷 Each canonical and wrapped token kinds are included as a result of they characterize the identical underlying financial publicity and are generally utilized in privateness protocol interactions. The dashboard expands its asset protection as new stablecoins seem in privateness swimming pools.

Who This Dashboard Is For

(a) AML Compliance Groups monitoring publicity to privateness protocols in transaction flows. When you’re constructing or refining a crypto transaction monitoring workflow, this dashboard tells you which of them stablecoins and protocols carry probably the most quantity, so you possibly can prioritize what to flag.

(b) Blockchain Investigators tracing funds by means of mixing and shielding providers and utilizing any blockchain investigation software to reconstruct fund flows. Understanding which protocols course of which stablecoins — and at what scale — helps prioritize investigative assets and contextualize on-chain findings.

(c) Danger Analysts and Compliance Officers at exchanges, OTC Desks, and fee suppliers who must assess privateness protocol publicity as a part of their KYT workflows.

(d) Researchers and Policymakers finding out the dimensions of privateness protocol utilization, the impression of sanctions enforcement on on-chain habits, and the evolution of the crypto privateness ecosystem.

(e) Journalists and Analysts overlaying crypto compliance, DeFi privateness, and illicit finance developments who want verifiable, on-chain knowledge slightly than estimates or projections.

How one can Use the Dashboard

The Stablecoin Turnover in On-Chain Privateness Instruments: AMLBot’s Dune Dashboard is structured with paired visualizations for every protocol and stablecoin mixture:

Cumulative Complete — a single determine exhibiting the all-time USD worth of stablecoin transfers by means of a given protocol for a particular asset.

Historic Turnover Chart — a time-series bar chart exhibiting how volumes advanced month by month, revealing developments, seasonal patterns, and the impression of exterior occasions (such because the OFAC sanctions on Twister Money and their subsequent lifting).

Asset Distribution — a pie chart exhibiting the general breakdown of stablecoin quantity by asset kind throughout all protocols (USDT: 52.1%, DAI: 31.4%, USDC: 16.1%, with BOB, CRV, BOLD, and USDS making up the rest).

Customers can filter, evaluate, and cross-reference knowledge throughout protocols to determine shifts in privateness protocol utilization over time. The dashboard is publicly accessible and requires no account or subscription to view.

Methodology

Information Supply. On-chain transaction knowledge listed through Dune Analytics SQL queries in opposition to decoded good contract occasion logs.

Measurement. Every knowledge level represents the cumulative USD worth of stablecoin transfers processed by means of the respective protocol’s privateness good contracts. This consists of each deposits into and withdrawals from privateness swimming pools or shielding mechanisms.

Updates. The dashboard refreshes mechanically as new on-chain knowledge turns into obtainable. Historic knowledge is cumulative and grows over time.

Scope Limitations. The dashboard captures probably the most broadly used protocols, stablecoins, and networks however doesn’t cowl each present privateness software, blockchain, or token. New protocols and property are added as they acquire significant quantity. Figures mirror cumulative historic totals and should differ from point-in-time snapshots relying on when the dashboard is considered.

Why Stablecoin-Particular Information Issues

Most public discussions of privateness protocol utilization give attention to ETH volumes or combination totals. Stablecoin-specific knowledge tells a special and arguably extra operationally related story. In 2026, stablecoins are the first medium for worth switch in crypto. They’re dollar-denominated, liquid on principally each trade, and built-in into most DeFi protocols. When you’re attempting to maneuver a considerable amount of worth with out value danger, you’re utilizing a stablecoin. That’s true whether or not you’re a treasury supervisor at a respectable firm or somebody laundering stolen funds. The asset class doesn’t care about intent. When stolen funds, laundered proceeds, or sanctioned property transfer by means of privateness protocols, they’re more and more denominated in stablecoins slightly than risky property. Monitoring stablecoin-specific flows offers a clearer image of how these protocols are utilized in observe.

The general stablecoin distribution throughout all six protocols reveals a transparent hierarchy — and the breakdown itself is analytically vital.

Determine 2. Stablecoin Composition Throughout All Tracked Privateness Protocols. USDT accounts for greater than half of all quantity, reflecting each its market dominance and customers’ demand for privateness round probably the most regularly frozen stablecoin. Information Supply: AMLBot Dune Dashboard, March 2026.

Centralized stablecoin issuers like Tether and Circle have the technical skill to freeze tokens on the good contract degree. AMLBot’s Evaluation of Stablecoin Freezing Exercise Throughout 2023–2025 discovered that Tether blacklisted 7,268 addresses with $3.29 billion frozen, whereas Circle blacklisted 372 addresses with $109 million frozen. That 30x distinction in enforcement depth impacts how every stablecoin will get distributed throughout privateness protocols. Customers who’re involved about freezing danger gravitate towards DAI, which may’t be frozen on the issuer degree as a result of it’s decentralized. How this habits performs out throughout particular protocols is immediately observable within the dashboard knowledge — and is explored intimately within the Analytical Insights part beneath.

Completely different stablecoins point out completely different danger profiles. A transaction flagged for privateness protocol interplay carries a special danger profile relying on whether or not it entails DAI, USDC, or USDT — and which protocol processed it. This dashboard offers the info wanted to make these distinctions.

Cross-chain motion provides one other layer. Stablecoins bridge simply between Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, and Arbitrum. That makes them handy for chain-hopping methods that obscure fund flows. And since stablecoins are so broadly accepted at exchanges and OTC desks, changing again to fiat on the finish is comparatively frictionless.

The emergence of newer stablecoins in privateness infrastructure can be value noting. USDS (Sky’s successor to DAI) and BOLD (Liquity v2) have began showing in Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow, suggesting that the stablecoin panorama inside privateness protocols is diversifying past the unique DAI/USDC/USDT trio.

Key Findings

Complete tracked stablecoin quantity throughout all six protocols exceeds $4.2 billion cumulative. zkBOB ($1.59B), Railgun ($1.58B), and Twister Money ($847M) account for the overwhelming majority, adopted by Aztec ($124M), Hinkal ($70M), and Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow ($4.6M). 

USDT dominates general, accounting for 52.1% of all stablecoin quantity in privateness infrastructure. $1.5 billion flows by means of zkBOB alone, plus $667 million by means of Railgun. It’s the most-used stablecoin in privateness infrastructure by a large margin.

DAI accounts for 31.4% of whole quantity. In Twister Money particularly, DAI and cDAI make up $842 million of the protocol’s $847 million stablecoin quantity, seemingly as a result of DAI can’t be frozen by a centralized issuer the way in which USDT and USDC can. DAI additionally dominates Aztec’s tracked quantity solely ($124M).

USDC accounts for 16.1% of whole quantity and has emerged as a major asset in privateness infrastructure, significantly by means of Railgun, the place USDC turnover has reached $565 million, making it the second-largest stablecoin circulation by means of that protocol. Railgun has turn out to be the most important privateness protocol by stablecoin selection, processing $667M in USDT, $565M in USDC, and $345M in DAI, totaling $1.58 billion.

Twister Money processes virtually solely DAI: its USDC and USDT volumes are negligible ($1.8M and $3.7M respectively), reinforcing that customers of this protocol overwhelmingly choose the decentralized stablecoin that may’t be frozen on the issuer degree.

Hinkal has processed $70.2 million in stablecoin and DeFi token quantity, with USDC ($37.3M) and USDT ($20.6M) as the first property, supplemented by DAI ($9.9M) and CRV ($2.5M).

Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow, the latest protocol on the dashboard, has processed $4.6 million since its launch in mid-2025, with quantity rising sharply from December 2025 onward. USDC ($3.7M) is its dominant asset. 

The chart beneath exhibits how cumulative stablecoin quantity is distributed throughout the six tracked protocols.

Determine 1. Determine 1. Cumulative Stablecoin Quantity by Privateness Protocol. zkBOB and Railgun every exceed $1.5B, whereas Twister Money, as soon as the dominant protocol, sits at $847M following sanctions-driven person migration. Information Supply: AMLBot Dune Dashboard, March 2026.

Most public discussions of privateness protocol utilization give attention to ETH volumes or combination totals. Stablecoin-specific knowledge tells a special and arguably extra operationally related story. In 2026, stablecoins are the first medium for worth switch in crypto. They’re dollar-denominated, liquid on principally each trade, and built-in into most DeFi protocols. When you’re attempting to maneuver a considerable amount of worth with out value danger, you’re utilizing a stablecoin. That’s true whether or not you’re a treasury supervisor at a respectable firm or somebody laundering stolen funds. The asset class doesn’t care about intent. When stolen funds, laundered proceeds, or sanctioned property transfer by means of privateness protocols, they’re more and more denominated in stablecoins slightly than risky property. Monitoring stablecoin-specific flows offers a clearer image of how these protocols are utilized in observe.

The general stablecoin distribution throughout all six protocols reveals a transparent hierarchy — and the breakdown itself is analytically vital.

Determine 2. Stablecoin Composition Throughout All Tracked Privateness Protocols. USDT accounts for greater than half of all quantity, reflecting each its market dominance and customers’ demand for privateness round probably the most regularly frozen stablecoin. Information Supply: AMLBot Dune Dashboard, March 2026.

Centralized stablecoin issuers like Tether and Circle have the technical skill to freeze tokens on the good contract degree. AMLBot’s Evaluation of Stablecoin Freezing Exercise Throughout 2023–2025 discovered that Tether blacklisted 7,268 addresses with $3.29 billion frozen, whereas Circle blacklisted 372 addresses with $109 million frozen. That 30x distinction in enforcement depth impacts how every stablecoin will get distributed throughout privateness protocols. Customers who’re involved about freezing danger gravitate towards DAI, which may’t be frozen on the issuer degree as a result of it’s decentralized. How this habits performs out throughout particular protocols is immediately observable within the dashboard knowledge — and is explored intimately within the Analytical Insights part beneath.

Completely different stablecoins point out completely different danger profiles. A transaction flagged for privateness protocol interplay carries a special danger profile relying on whether or not it entails DAI, USDC, or USDT — and which protocol processed it. Cross-chain bridging between Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, and Arbitrum provides additional complexity, making stablecoins handy for chain-hopping methods that obscure fund flows. The dashboard offers the info wanted to make these distinctions. The next part examines what that knowledge reveals when analyzed throughout protocols.

Analytical Insights: What the Information Reveals About Privateness Protocol Utilization

The dashboard knowledge is helpful as a reference software, however its actual worth lies in what it reveals while you take a look at the numbers throughout protocols and stablecoins collectively. Beneath are the important thing analytical findings we’ve recognized — patterns that aren’t seen from any single chart, however emerge when the dataset is examined as an entire.

1. Freezing Danger Is the Major Driver of Stablecoin Choice in Privateness Protocols

Probably the most constant patterns within the knowledge is the connection between a protocol’s compliance posture and the kind of stablecoin its customers choose.

As famous above, centralized stablecoin issuers like Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC) have the power to freeze tokens on the good contract degree, which means they will block any particular deal with from sending or receiving their stablecoin. DAI (now ruled by Sky, previously MakerDAO) is completely different — it’s a decentralized stablecoin with no issuer that may freeze particular person tokens. With that context, the dashboard knowledge exhibits a sample:

Determine 3. Stablecoin Composition by Protocol, ordered from least to most compliance screening. In unscreened protocols (Twister Money, Aztec), customers select virtually solely non-freezable DAI. As compliance mechanisms improve, freezable stablecoins (USDC, USDT) turn out to be dominant — a behavioral sample immediately observable within the knowledge. Information Supply: AMLBot Dune Dashboard, March 2026.

In protocols with no compliance screening, customers virtually solely select DAI — the stablecoin that can not be frozen. Twister Money processes 99.4% DAI ($842M out of $847M whole). Aztec processes 100% DAI ($124M). The mixed USDC and USDT quantity in Twister Money is below $5.5 million — successfully a rounding error on a $847 million whole.

In protocols with built-in compliance mechanisms, customers are snug utilizing freezable stablecoins. In Railgun (which runs Personal Proofs of Innocence screening), the breakdown is 42% USDT, 36% USDC, and 22% DAI — a way more balanced combine. In Hinkal (which requires KYC verification to entry), USDC truly leads at 53%. In Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow (which makes use of Affiliation Set Suppliers to display deposits), USDC dominates at 81%. 

It’s a behavioral sign: the extra a protocol does to distance itself from illicit exercise, the extra keen customers are to convey property that may be traced and frozen. When there’s no such mechanism, customers shield themselves by selecting the one main stablecoin that no single entity can freeze. For compliance professionals, this discovering has a direct sensible utility: the stablecoin-protocol mixture in a flagged transaction is informative. That is explored additional in Part 5.

2. The Frozen Stablecoin Paradox: USDT Is Each the Most Frozen and the Most Personal

At first look, this appears contradictory: USDT accounts for 52.1% of all stablecoin quantity in privateness infrastructure (Determine 2), making it by far probably the most privately transacted stablecoin, and but USDT can be the stablecoin most aggressively frozen by its issuer.

However the contradiction dissolves while you perceive it as a suggestions loop slightly than a paradox.

USDT is probably the most broadly used stablecoin in crypto. Based on DefiLlama, its market capitalization exceeds that of USDC by a major margin, and it dominates buying and selling pairs throughout each centralized and decentralized exchanges. So the baseline quantity of USDT in any crypto exercise, together with privateness protocols, is of course excessive.

On the identical time, as famous earlier, Tether’s considerably extra aggressive enforcement posture creates an incentive for USDT holders to hunt privateness instruments — not essentially for illicit functions, however as a result of the chance of getting property frozen (probably incorrectly or with out ample recourse) is larger with USDT than with some other main stablecoin.

Determine 6. Stablecoin Diversification Comparability: zkBOB vs. Railgun. Each protocols course of roughly $1.6B in cumulative quantity, however zkBOB depends upon a single asset (94.5% USDT), whereas Railgun maintains a balanced combine throughout three stablecoins. Information Supply: AMLBot Dune Dashboard, March 2026.

The information exhibits the place this USDT goes: primarily into zkBOB ($1.5 billion) and Railgun ($667 million). Notably, USDT customers don’t change to DAI to keep away from freezing danger — they keep in USDT however route it by means of privateness infrastructure. This implies that what these customers need isn’t a special asset, however a layer of privateness across the identical asset. They need the liquidity and market acceptance of USDT, mixed with the safety that privateness protocols provide.

For danger analysts, this can be a helpful calibration level. A USDT transaction flagged for privateness protocol publicity shouldn’t be mechanically handled as larger danger than a DAI transaction with the identical publicity. The motivation for looking for privateness might differ by asset: USDT customers could also be looking for safety from aggressive issuer-level enforcement, whereas DAI customers in unscreened protocols could also be looking for most untraceability.

3. OFAC Sanctions Redirected Privateness Demand — and It By no means Got here Again

The historic turnover charts for every protocol inform an vital story about what occurs when regulatory motion hits a particular privateness software.

Determine 4. Cumulative Stablecoin Turnover for Twister Money, Railgun, and zkBOB from 2019 to March 2026. Two vertical markers present the August 2022 OFAC sanctions and their March 2025 removing. Twister Money’s progress stopped on the first marker and didn’t resume after the second — whereas various protocols continued to speed up. Information supply: AMLBot Dune Dashboard, March 2026.

In August 2022, OFAC sanctioned Twister Money. Determine 4 exhibits that Twister Money’s stablecoin quantity progress successfully stopped round that time — the cumulative determine plateaued and has barely moved since. The protocol’s whole stablecoin turnover stands at $847 million, and the historic chart exhibits that the majority of this quantity accrued earlier than the sanctions interval.

However the demand for stablecoin privateness didn’t disappear. It moved. Railgun’s stablecoin quantity grew from close to zero to over $1.5 billion, with the sharpest acceleration occurring within the interval between late 2022 and early 2026. zkBOB confirmed an identical trajectory, rising to $1.59 billion over the identical interval. What’s vital is that after OFAC lifted the Twister Money sanctions in March 2025, the amount didn’t return to Twister Money. The post-sanctions stablecoin charts for Twister Money present continued gradual progress from DAI, however nothing near the tempo of Railgun or zkBOB. In the meantime, Railgun and zkBOB continued their steep upward curves. Customers who migrated to various protocols in the course of the sanctions interval seem to have stayed.

The timeline beneath illustrates the shift. Two occasions, the imposition and removing of sanctions, divide the chart into three distinct intervals, every telling a special a part of the story.

This has three implications for the business:

First, sanctions have been efficient at disrupting a particular protocol, however not at lowering general privateness protocol utilization. The entire quantity throughout all protocols now exceeds $4.2 billion — excess of Twister Money ever processed alone.

Second, person migration is sticky. As soon as customers discover an alternate privateness protocol that meets their wants, they don’t return to the unique even after the regulatory danger is eliminated. That is per how know-how adoption works extra broadly: switching prices are excessive, and as soon as customers construct familiarity with new instruments, inertia retains them there.

Third, post-sanctions compliance danger persists. Though Twister Money is now not sanctioned, its person base has shifted. New stablecoin exercise in Twister Money is minimal. However the historic $847 million in cumulative quantity nonetheless exists on-chain, and transactions that touched Twister Money in the course of the sanctions interval carry a special regulatory profile than these earlier than or after. Compliance groups want to tell apart between historic and present publicity — the dashboard’s time-series knowledge makes that doable.

4. The zkBOB Focus Danger: $1.5 Billion in a Single Asset

zkBOB is the most important protocol by cumulative stablecoin quantity ($1.59 billion), however this headline determine obscures an vital element: 94.5% of that quantity — $1.5 billion — is a single asset, USDT.

Determine 6. Stablecoin Diversification Comparability: zkBOB vs. Railgun. Each protocols course of roughly $1.6B in cumulative quantity, however zkBOB depends upon a single asset (94.5% USDT), whereas Railgun maintains a balanced combine throughout three stablecoins. Information supply: AMLBot Dune Dashboard, March 2026.

The protocol’s native stablecoin, BOB, accounts for less than $19.9 million (1.3% of whole quantity). USDC provides $68.3 million (4.3%). This implies zkBOB is, from a sensible standpoint, a USDT privateness protocol with incidental assist for different property. This focus carries a number of dangers. If Tether have been to undertake a extra aggressive blacklisting posture towards addresses related to privateness protocols — or if Tether have been pressured by regulators to take action — zkBOB can be disproportionately affected. Not like Railgun, which has a diversified stablecoin base (42% USDT, 36% USDC, 22% DAI), zkBOB has virtually no buffer.

It additionally carries an analytical implication. When a compliance group flags a transaction for zkBOB publicity, the asset is sort of definitely USDT. This makes zkBOB publicity functionally predictable, which is helpful for danger scoring: it permits compliance groups to use USDT-specific danger components (comparable to the upper chance of Tether enforcement motion) alongside the privateness protocol danger issue. For comparability, Railgun presents the alternative sample — a broadly diversified stablecoin base throughout three main property, none of which exceeds 42% of whole quantity. This diversification makes Railgun extra resilient to single-issuer danger, but in addition makes publicity to Railgun much less predictable from a stablecoin perspective.

The distinction turns into stark when the 2 protocols’ stablecoin compositions are positioned aspect by aspect.

5. The place Stablecoins Circulate: USDC and USDT Inform Reverse Tales

Probably the most analytically vital findings within the dashboard knowledge emerges while you evaluate how USDC and USDT distribute throughout privateness protocols. The 2 stablecoins comply with virtually completely inverse patterns, and the distinction reveals two essentially completely different person segments inside privateness infrastructure.

USDC: Gravitating Towards Compliance

USDC is issued by Circle, an organization that has publicly positioned itself as compliance-first. Circle holds state cash transmitter licenses, cooperates with legislation enforcement, and has filed for an IPO. Its stablecoin freezing strategy is conservative relative to Tether, fewer addresses frozen, decrease whole worth, and usually triggered by express courtroom orders or sanctions designations.

Given this profile, you would possibly anticipate USDC to keep away from privateness infrastructure solely. However the knowledge exhibits the alternative: USDC has a significant presence in privateness protocols — totaling over $676 million in cumulative quantity. Extra importantly, its distribution is closely skewed towards protocols with compliance mechanisms:

Determine 5. USDC and USDT Distribution throughout Privateness Protocols. USDC concentrates in compliance-screened protocols, reaching 81% of Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow’s quantity. Information Supply: AMLBot Dune Dashboard, March 2026.

Railgun: $565M (36% of Railgun’s Complete Quantity) — protocol with Proofs of Innocence screening.

zkBOB: $68.3M (4.3% of zkBOB’s Complete) — minimal share in a USDT-dominated protocol.

Hinkal: $37.3M (53% of Hinkal’s Complete) — majority asset in a KYC-gated protocol.

Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow: $3.7M (81% of Privateness Swimming pools’ whole) — dominant asset in probably the most compliance-oriented protocol.

Twister Money: $1.8M (0.2% of Twister Money’s Complete) — successfully absent.

The sample: as protocol compliance will increase, USDC’s share will increase with it. In probably the most screened protocol (Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow), USDC accounts for 81% of all quantity. Within the least screened (Twister Money), it accounts for 0.2%.

USDT: Gravitating Towards Quantity and Privateness With out Screening

USDT, issued by Tether, dominates general privateness infrastructure at 52.1% of whole quantity. However its distribution follows the alternative sample to USDC:

Determine 6. USDC and USDT Distribution throughout Privateness Protocols.  USDT concentrates in unscreened protocols, with $1.5B (94.5%) flowing by means of zkBOB alone. The inverse sample reveals two distinct person segments inside privateness infrastructure. Information Supply: AMLBot Dune Dashboard, March 2026.

zkBOB: $1,500M (94.5% of zkBOB’s Complete) — excessive focus in a protocol with out compliance screening.

Railgun: $667M (42.3% of Railgun’s Complete) — vital presence, however balanced with different property.

Hinkal: $20.6M (29.3% of Hinkal’s Complete) — minority share in a KYC-gated protocol.

Twister Money: $3.7M (0.4% of Twister Money’s Complete) — minimal, however Twister Money is DAI-dominated for various causes.

Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow: $0.7M (15.5% of Privateness Swimming pools’ Complete) — small share in probably the most compliance-oriented protocol.

The place USDC concentrates in compliance-screened protocols, USDT concentrates in unscreened ones. The $1.5 billion USDT circulation by means of zkBOB alone, a protocol with no compliance mechanisms, represents the one largest stablecoin circulation in all of privateness infrastructure.

This isn’t coincidental. USDT holders face the next baseline freezing danger, which creates a stronger incentive to route transactions by means of privateness protocols. And since these customers are looking for safety from issuer-level enforcement slightly than regulatory compliance, they gravitate towards protocols that provide most privateness — no matter whether or not these protocols display for illicit exercise.

The 2 charts aspect by aspect inform a narrative that neither tells alone: privateness infrastructure serves at the least two distinct person segments. The primary phase, seen within the USDC knowledge, desires privateness inside regulatory bounds. These customers select compliance-screened protocols and use a stablecoin from a regulated issuer. Their seemingly motivations embody defending buying and selling methods, shielding wage funds, or sustaining monetary privateness with out creating regulatory publicity.

The second phase, seen within the USDT knowledge, desires privateness from issuer-level enforcement. These customers focus in high-volume, unscreened protocols and use the stablecoin with the best freezing danger. Their motivations might vary from respectable considerations about aggressive Tether enforcement to illicit fund motion, the info alone can not distinguish between these.

For compliance groups, this discovering has a direct sensible utility: the stablecoin in a flagged transaction is itself a danger sign. USDC flowing by means of Railgun or Privateness Swimming pools carries a special danger profile than USDT flowing by means of zkBOB, and inner danger fashions ought to mirror that distinction.

6. Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow: Early Indicators of a Paradigm Shift

Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow is by far the smallest protocol on the dashboard by quantity ($4.6 million cumulative), however its progress trajectory and asset composition make it value watching intently.

The protocol launched in mid-2025 and spent its first a number of months processing modest volumes — roughly $100K–$300K per thirty days between July and October 2025. Then, beginning in November 2025, volumes started accelerating: $1.3M in December, $3M+ in January 2026, and $3.5M+ in each February and March 2026. In relative phrases, that’s a 30-40x improve in month-to-month quantity over six months.

The expansion trajectory, proven beneath, reveals a transparent inflection level in late 2025.

Determine 8. Month-to-month stablecoin quantity by means of Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow since launch. Quantity grew roughly 30–40x between July 2025 and March 2026, with USDC accounting for 81% of all exercise — suggesting that the protocol attracts primarily compliance-oriented customers. Information supply: AMLBot Dune Dashboard, March 2026.

What makes this progress vital isn’t absolutely the numbers, $4.6M is modest by privateness protocol requirements, however what it suggests about unmet demand. 

Earlier than Privateness Swimming pools launched, there was no protocol particularly designed to supply privateness with built-in compliance screening. The truth that it attracted quantity instantly, and that quantity is accelerating, signifies {that a} phase of the market was ready for precisely this sort of software. If the present trajectory holds, Privateness Swimming pools might turn out to be a significant knowledge level within the dashboard inside the subsequent 12 months — and a reference case for a way compliance-by-design privateness protocols carry out relative to their unscreened counterparts.

7. Stablecoin–Protocol Mixtures as a Danger Scoring Framework

Taking the above findings collectively, the dashboard knowledge allows a sensible danger calibration framework primarily based on the noticed relationship between stablecoin kind, protocol kind, and person habits patterns.

CombinationSuggested Danger TierRationaleDAI + Twister Money or AztecHigherNo compliance screening. 99–100% DAI focus signifies customers particularly chosen a non-freezable asset in an unscreened atmosphere + historic sanctions publicity (TC).USDT + zkBOBElevatedLargest single stablecoin circulation in privateness infrastructure ($1.5B). ZK-based privateness with out compliance mechanisms. Excessive single-asset focus.USDT/DAI + RailgunModerateProof of Innocence mechanism offers some screening, however protocol doesn’t require KYC. Diversified stablecoin base suggests combined person intent.USDC + RailgunModerate-LowerUSDC’s presence ($565M) in a protocol with compliance screening suggests privacy-seeking customers who stay inside regulatory norms.USDC/USDT + HinkalModerate-LowerKYC-gated entry restricts pool individuals. Institutional positioning.USDC + Privateness Swimming pools 0xBowLower (Relative)Energetic ASP deposit screening. Compliance-by-design structure. USDC dominance (81%) signifies regulated-segment customers.

It’s vital to notice that “Decrease Danger” doesn’t imply “NO Danger.” Any privateness protocol interplay introduces an data hole within the transaction chain, which is inherently a compliance concern below Journey Rule necessities. The matrix above helps distinguish the diploma of concern — not whether or not concern is warranted in any respect. 

Moreover, these danger tiers mirror the info noticed on the time of research. Protocol mechanisms can change, stablecoin issuer insurance policies can evolve, and person habits shifts over time. Compliance groups ought to deal with this as a residing framework, calibrated usually in opposition to up to date dashboard knowledge.

How Compliance Groups Can Use These Findings

Beneath the EU’s MiCA Regulation and the Journey Rule, there’s a requirement to determine and transmit originator and beneficiary knowledge with each crypto switch. When a part of a transaction’s historical past consists of interplay with a privateness protocol, that creates a niche within the data chain. The Journey Rule knowledge actually doesn’t exist for the shielded portion. Compliance groups must determine what to do with that hole. The analytical findings above level to a number of concrete methods to calibrate that response.

Use the stablecoin as a danger sign, not simply the protocol. As proven in Sections 1 and 5, the stablecoin in a flagged transaction is itself informative. USDC flowing by means of Railgun or Privateness Swimming pools suggests a compliance-conscious person looking for privateness inside regulatory bounds. DAI flowing by means of Twister Money suggests a person who particularly selected a non-freezable asset in an unscreened atmosphere. Inner danger fashions ought to mirror this distinction — a blanket “privateness protocol publicity = excessive danger” strategy fails to distinguish between essentially completely different person behaviors.

Distinguish between historic and present Twister Money publicity. As Part 3 demonstrates, Twister Money’s stablecoin exercise has been successfully flat since August 2022. The brand new quantity is minimal. However $847 million in historic quantity nonetheless exists on-chain. A transaction that touched Twister Money in 2021 carries a special profile than one from 2025 — the dashboard’s time-series knowledge makes it doable to evaluate when the publicity occurred, not simply that it occurred.

Account for protocol-level compliance mechanisms in danger scoring. Not all privateness protocols are equal. Railgun screens in opposition to identified illicit addresses. Hinkal requires KYC. Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow actively rejects deposits linked to sanctioned or felony exercise. Twister Money and zkBOB haven’t any such mechanisms. Publicity to a screened protocol might warrant commonplace evaluate; publicity to an unscreened protocol might warrant Enhanced Due Diligence. The danger matrix in Part 7 offers a data-driven baseline for this calibration.

Monitor focus danger in particular protocol–asset pairs. As Part 4 exhibits, zkBOB processes $1.5 billion in USDT with no compliance screening — the one largest stablecoin circulation in privateness infrastructure. In case your trade sees vital zkBOB-exposed USDT deposits, that warrants heightened consideration not as a result of the protocol is sanctioned, however due to the dimensions and lack of screening concerned.

Watch rising protocols for shifts in person habits. Privateness Swimming pools 0xBow is small at the moment ($4.6M), however its 30–40x progress trajectory (Part 6) suggests a brand new class is forming. As compliance-by-design instruments acquire quantity, danger fashions will want a brand new tier — one which accounts for protocols the place illicit deposits are actively excluded slightly than passively accepted.

The dashboard doesn’t make these compliance selections for you. But it surely offers you the info (and the analytical framework) to make them with precision as an alternative of guesswork.

Associated AMLBot Analysis

This dashboard is a part of AMLBot’s broader on-chain analysis program. Associated stories and instruments embody:

What Comes Subsequent

This evaluation displays dashboard knowledge as of March 2026. The dashboard updates mechanically as new on-chain knowledge turns into obtainable, and AMLBot continues so as to add new protocols and stablecoins as they acquire significant quantity. Because the privateness protocol panorama evolves — by means of new instruments, regulatory shifts, and adjustments in issuer enforcement — the patterns recognized right here will evolve with it. We are going to replace this evaluation periodically as the info warrants.

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