Crypto Flows Tied to Suspected Human Trafficking Reached ‘Hundreds of Millions’ in 2025: Chainalysis

The report from Chainalysis reported that in 2025, 85% of Cryptocurrency payments tied to suspected human trafficking services rose to hundreds of millions million dollars.

It said that much of the activity is associated with groups operating in Southeast Asia, adding that nearly half of transactions from Telegram-based “international escort” services were for more than $10,000.

Most of these networks were made by stablecoins, researchers also found that other types (including CSAM vendors) used more Bitcoin or privacy coins (specifically Monero) for laundering. The report says that “Instant exchanger, which offer rapid and anonymous cryptocurrency swapping without KYC requirements, is a key part of this process”.

These results highlight the growing use of cryptocurrency to transfer money faster and operate around the world for trafficking networks (and illegal actors in general) as a means by which they can be more efficient.

The activity was examined by Chainalysis, which focuses on various forms of activity such as escort services, recruitment agents associated with forced labour, prostitution and vendors selling child pornography. In addition, the firm also found payments across the Americas, Europe and Australia.

But despite the growing business, it said that using cryptocurrency could also help investigators because of its transparency, which makes it easier for authorities to track down money and identify suspicious and known patterns in pricing. A. description of suspicious activity at scale, the report reads ‘Standardized pricing models create clear transaction patterns that investigators and compliance teams can use to detect suspicious activities at an appropriate level.

In the future Chainalysis said trafficking networks will likely continue to evolve their strategies but better pattern-recognition tools and efficient cooperation between crypto companies and authorities could help detect or disrupt these operations, citing more effective patterns.

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