Crypto Flows to Human Trafficking Networks Surge 85% in 2025: Chainalysis
Cryptocurrency transactions linked to suspected human trafficking networks rose 85% year over year in 2025, reaching hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a new report from .
“The intersection of cryptocurrency and suspected human trafficking intensified in 2025,” the firm said, adding that the financial figures “significantly understate the human toll of these crimes, where the true cost is measured in lives impacted rather than money transferred.”
Chainalysis the surge aligns with the rapid expansion of Southeast Asia–based scam compounds, online casinos, and Chinese-language money laundering networks operating largely via Telegram. These crypto groups form what the firm described as a growing illicit ecosystem with global reach.
The report tracks four primary categories of suspected crypto-facilitated trafficking: Telegram-based “international escort” services, “labor placement” agents linked to forced scam compound work, prostitution networks, and child sexual abuse material vendors.
Despite the scale of activity, Chainalysis noted that blockchain transparency provides “unprecedented visibility” into these operations, offering law enforcement investigative opportunities that do not exist with cash-based systems.
Stablecoins Not Crypto Dominate as Operations Professionalize
Transaction data reveals clear operational differences across categories. Nahead 48.8% of transfers linked to Telegram-based “international escort” services exceed $10,000, pointing to organized enterprises operating at scale. Prostitution networks cluster more heavily between $1,000 and $10,000.
dominate payments for escort and prostitution networks, reflecting a preference for price stability and ease of conversion. By contrast, CSAM vendors have traditionally relied more on BTC, though Chainalysis observed a decline in BTC’s dominance as alternative networks and privacy-focused assets such as Monero gain traction for laundering proceeds.
In one major case uncovered in July 2025 following a lead, Chainalysis identified a large dark web CSAM platform that used more than 5,800 cryptocurrency addresses and generated over $530,000 in revenue since mid-2022, surpassing the scale of the 2019 Welcome to Video investigation.
Chris Hughes, Hotline Director at the Internet Watch Foundation, said the organization identified 312,030 reports containing child sexual abuse imagery in 2025, a 7% increase from the previous year.
“Any payment information that we identify on commercial websites is captured and shared with global law enforcement and organisations like Chainalysis to disrupt further distribution,” he said.
Chainalysis concluded that while trafficking networks are growing more sophisticated and integrated with established money laundering systems, identifiable blockchain patterns such as large recurring cross-border payments and stablecoin conversion flows provide compliance teams and authorities with actionable detection signals.
