Crypto Flows to Human Trafficking Surge 85% in 2025 as Chainalysis Report Exposes Southeast Asian Networks

Cryptocurrency transactions linked to suspected human trafficking services surged 85% year-over-year in 2025, reaching hundreds of millions of dollars across identified networks, according to Chainalysis’ 2026 Crypto Crime Report.

The growth is concentrated in Southeast Asia-based operations, where Telegram-facilitated escort services, labor placement agents tied to scam compounds, and child sexual abuse material vendors increasingly rely on stablecoins and sophisticated money laundering infrastructure. For the crypto industry, the report delivers a stark message: while blockchain transparency creates unprecedented opportunities for law enforcement to trace and disrupt these crimes, the same technology enables criminal networks to operate at global scale with professionalized financial practices.

Chainalysis Report Reveals 85% Spike in Trafficking-Linked Crypto Transactions

The numbers landed like a weight on the compliance community’s chest. According to Chainalysis, cryptocurrency flows to suspected human trafficking services jumped 85% in 2025, with total volume reaching hundreds of millions of dollars across identified addresses . This isn’t an abstract metric about money moving between wallets. It’s a measure of lives caught in networks that span continents.

The blockchain analysis firm tracked four primary categories of suspected crypto-facilitated trafficking activity: Telegram-based international escort services, labor placement agents connected to Southeast Asian scam compounds, prostitution networks, and vendors of child sexual abuse material . Each category shows distinct payment patterns, operational models, and levels of professionalization.

Tom McLouth, intelligence analyst at Chainalysis, described the findings as “industry-defining” in an interview. “I haven’t seen anyone talk about human trafficking holistically within the current crypto ecosystem and how it’s being leveraged,” he said. “People don’t like to sit at the dinner table and talk about CSAM and industrialized exploitation” .

The growth coincides with the expansion of Southeast Asia-based scam compounds, online casinos, and Chinese-language money laundering networks operating largely via Telegram. These interconnected ecosystems form what Chainalysis calls a “rapidly expanding local illicit ecosystem with global reach and impact” .

Four Categories of Crypto-Facilitated Trafficking: How the Networks Operate

Understanding the threat means understanding how these networks differ. Each category developed its own financial fingerprints.

Telegram-Based International Escort Services

These operations show the highest concentration of large transactions, with 48.8% of transfers exceeding $10,000. That’s not pocket money. It’s evidence of organized criminal enterprises operating at commercial scale. One prominent operation advertises across major East Asian cities with tiered pricing ranging from 3,000 RMB ($420) for hourly services to 8,000 RMB ($1,120) for extended arrangements including international transport .

Labor Placement Agents for Scam Compounds

Recruitment payments typically range from $1,000 to $10,000, matching advertised pricing tiers for “workers” trafficked into Southeast Asian scam compounds. These agents maintain presence across multiple guarantee platforms to maximize reach, with some operating through mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges .

Prostitution Networks

Approximately 62% of prostitution network transactions fall between $1,000 and $10,000, suggesting agency-level operations rather than individual actors. These networks have almost completely switched to stablecoins, which provide fast cross-border settlements and relatively low fees .

CSAM Vendors

Child sexual abuse material operations show the most disturbing patterns. About half of CSAM-related transactions are under $100, reflecting how cheaply abuse material now circulates. Subscription-based models dominate, typically costing less than $100 per month and creating predictable revenue streams. A single darkweb CSAM site identified in 2025 used over 5,800 cryptocurrency addresses and generated more than $530,000 since July 2022, surpassing the notorious “Welcome to Video” case from 2019 .

Why Stablecoins Dominate Trafficking Payments While CSAM Vendors Turn to Monero

Payment preferences tell a story about operational priorities. International escort services and prostitution networks operate almost exclusively using stablecoins, particularly USDT and USDC. This suggests these entities prioritize payment stability and ease of conversion over the risk that centralized issuers might freeze their assets .

CSAM vendors historically preferred Bitcoin, but that’s changing. Alternative Layer 1 networks are gaining ground, and Monero usage is increasing for laundering proceeds. Instant exchangers—platforms providing rapid cryptocurrency swapping without KYC requirements—play a crucial role in this process .

A disturbing trend emerged in 2025 with increasing overlap between CSAM networks and sadistic online extremism communities. Following law enforcement actions against groups like “764” and “cvlt,” SOE content began appearing within CSAM subscription services, commonly advertised as “hurtcore.” These groups specifically target and manipulate minors through sextortion schemes, monetizing the resulting content through cryptocurrency payments .

Key Transaction Patterns by Category

• International Escort Services: 48.8% of transactions exceed $10,000, indicating organized criminal enterprises
• Prostitution Networks: 62% of transactions fall between $1,000-$10,000, suggesting agency-level operations
• Labor Recruitment: Payments consistently range $1,000-$10,000, matching advertised trafficking fees
• CSAM Vendors: ~50% of transactions under $100, reflecting low-cost subscription models

Telegram’s Role: Chinese Money Laundering Networks and Guarantee Platforms

The cryptocurrency footprint of escort services reveals sophisticated integration with established financial infrastructure. Funds flow through a combination of mainstream exchanges, institutional platforms, and guarantee services like Tudou and Xinbi. These guarantee platforms hold crypto in escrow until transactions are confirmed, adding a layer of trust for buyers and sellers who can’t meet in person .

Chainalysis identified an administrator account linked to the “Fully Light Group,” a Kokang-based organization previously flagged by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for illegal gambling and money laundering. Their presence in channels facilitating transactions between scam compounds and labor placement agents suggests how established criminal networks provide critical financial infrastructure for trafficking operations .

Telegram itself has taken some action. McLouth noted that “some of the most prominent guarantee services created their own third-party applications that were advertised on app stores like Apple and Google Play” following intervention .

The scale of Chinese-language money laundering networks became evident in February 2026, when Chinese authorities announced the arrest of more than 1,100 people involved in laundering money by purchasing cryptocurrencies. The launderers charged clients commission to convert illegal proceeds into virtual currencies via crypto exchanges .

Global Reach: How Southeast Asian Networks Target Victims Across Continents

Geographic analysis reveals how Southeast Asian services, particularly Chinese-language operations, have expanded their reach globally through cryptocurrency adoption. Large-scale transactions show significant flows from Brazil, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Australia flowing into Southeast Asian hubs .

“To target those victims, because there is a belief that there is more wealth in English-speaking Western states, they have to leverage infrastructure within those states to better target those potential victims,” McLouth explained. “I think that same thinking is being leveraged at the CSAM level of this ecosystem” .

CSAM operations show strategic use of U.S.-based infrastructure. While U.S.-based IP addresses account for a large portion of CSAM activity associated with surface websites, this likely reflects operators leveraging American infrastructure for scale, reliability, and an initial appearance of legitimacy that helps the activity blend into normal traffic .

The Internet Watch Foundation identified 312,030 reports containing child sexual abuse images and videos in 2025, a 7% increase from the previous year. Early analysis indicates that most clearweb sites offering virtual currency payment for child sexual abuse are hosted in the United States .

The Transparency Paradox: Blockchain as Law Enforcement’s Secret Weapon

Here’s the irony that gives investigators hope: while crypto enables these crimes, blockchain transparency creates investigative opportunities impossible with cash. Every transaction leaves a permanent trail.

Law enforcement is learning to follow those trails. In 2025, German authorities dismantled KidFlix, one of the world’s largest child exploitation platforms, with blockchain analysis playing a key role. Binance’s investigative team cross-examined its database against wallet addresses linked to the platform, identifying 120 users with Binance accounts. The operation resulted in 79 arrests, seizure of over 3,000 electronics, and identification of 1,400 suspects across 31 countries .

“The blockchain is pseudonymous, not anonymous,” said Erin Fracolli, global head of special investigations at Binance. “If you’re doing this sort of thing, you can get caught” .

Chainalysis highlighted several red flags compliance teams can monitor: large regular payments to labor placement services paired with cross-border transactions, high-volume flows through guarantee platforms, wallet clusters showing activity across multiple illicit categories, regular stablecoin conversion patterns, and connections to Telegram-based recruitment channels .

Regulatory Response: DOJ and Treasury Target Southeast Asian Criminal Networks

Governments are responding with unprecedented force. In October 2025, the Department of Justice indicted Chen Zhi, founder of Prince Holding Group, for operating forced-labor camps across Cambodia that perpetrated fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes. DOJ simultaneously initiated a civil forfeiture action seeking approximately 127,271 bitcoin—worth about $15 billion—from proceeds of the fraud, marking the largest forfeiture action in DOJ history .

OFAC sanctioned 146 individuals and entities associated with the Prince Group, while FinCEN finalized a rule under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act effectively severing Huione Group, a Cambodia-based financial services conglomerate, from the U.S. financial system. FinCEN determined that Huione Group laundered over $4 billion of illicit proceeds between August 2021 and January 2024 .

Attorney General Pam Bondi stated: “Today’s action represents one of the most significant strikes ever against the global scourge of human trafficking and cyber-enabled financial fraud” .

INTERPOL has also elevated the issue. A resolution adopted at the 2025 General Assembly highlighted the globalization of scam centers, with victims from more than 60 countries trafficked into compounds worldwide. The resolution calls for real-time intelligence-sharing, multinational joint operations, targeting of criminal financing, and standardized emergency protocols to locate and rescue victims .

The Human Toll: Why Transaction Volumes Only Tell Part of the Story

Chainalysis emphasizes that the dollar amounts significantly understate the human toll. “We aren’t providing absolute values because we know our estimate is a lower bound estimate,” a spokesperson said. “We don’t want an undercount to then be cited everywhere. That’s why we gave a range in the hundreds of millions” .

McLouth put it more directly: “This is real human trafficking, real sex trafficking, real labor trafficking. These are real people being affected.”

The connection between crypto and human trafficking isn’t about the technology itself—it’s about what happens when vulnerable people encounter organized criminal networks with sophisticated financial tools. Victims are lured by fake job advertisements, trafficked across borders, forced to work in scam compounds under threat of violence, and exploited for commercial sex or forced labor.

McLouth emphasized that crypto’s role shouldn’t be misunderstood. “From the perspective of crypto, we want to emphasize that crypto isn’t enabling the crime. Crypto is allowing us to expose it, and provides new opportunities for countering it and having these discussions based on the fact that we haven’t been able to have previously” .

What Comes Next: Compliance Recommendations and Industry Responsibility

The 85% surge in trafficking-related crypto flows presents both a challenge and an opportunity. Challenge because these networks are growing and professionalizing. Opportunity because every transaction leaves traces that investigators can follow.

Chainalysis recommends that compliance teams and law enforcement monitor several key indicators: large, regular payments to labor placement services paired with cross-border transactions; high-volume flows through guarantee platforms; wallet clusters showing activity across multiple illicit categories; regular stablecoin conversion patterns; concentrated fund flows to regions known for trafficking operations; and connections to Telegram-based recruitment channels .

The financial industry is adapting. In July 2025, President Trump signed the GENIUS Act, establishing a federal regulatory system for stablecoins with compliance programs intended to combat illegal activity and sanctions violations . Circle praised the law, saying it modernizes anti-money-laundering rules for the digital era.

But critics note limits. Regulations apply primarily to U.S.-based exchanges, while funds can still move freely through offshore platforms and decentralized finance systems. Tether, with more than $180 billion in circulation, is based in El Salvador and wouldn’t be covered .

The path forward requires continued collaboration between blockchain analytics firms, law enforcement agencies, and compliant exchanges. As the Chainalysis report demonstrates, the same technology that criminals exploit for global reach also creates unprecedented visibility into their operations. The question is whether the industry can move fast enough to turn that visibility into meaningful disruption.