In a recent report, Chainalysis revealed a sharp increase in digital currency flows linked to services suspected of being linked to human trafficking over the course of 2025, with these flows jumping 85% on an annual basis to reach hundreds of millions of dollars.
This comes at a time of growing global attention to exploitation networks and their financing mechanisms, emphasizing that the true cost of these crimes is borne by the victims and not the financial figures.
He explains Report This growth has coincided with the expansion of Southeast Asian fraud complexes, online gambling operations and Chinese-speaking money laundering networks, which are openly active on apps such as Telegram and form a global, interconnected illegal system.
Unlike traditional monetary systems, the transparency of blockchain makes it possible to track these flows, providing legal authorities with better opportunities to detect and disrupt networks.
“Chainalysis” has identified four main categories of activities suspected of being financed by digital currencies, including:
International escort services via Telegram suspected of involvement in human trafficking, labor recruitment agents associated with kidnapping and forced labor within fraud complexes, prostitution rings and sellers of child sexual exploitation material (CSAM).
Payment models differ between these categories; Escort and prostitution services rely almost entirely on stablecoins due to their stable value and ease of transfer, while Bitcoin has historically remained a favorite among CSAM networks, although its dominance has declined with the emergence of alternative networks and privacy tools.
Analysis of transaction volumes showed that approximately 49% of international escort transfers exceed $10,000, indicating organized and professional operations.
In contrast, prostitution ring transactions are often concentrated between $1,000 and $10,000, with standardized pricing and service models that produce clear patterns across the network.
The CSAM economy based on digital currencies has a different structure. About half of transactions are less than $100, with a growing shift toward subscription models that generate regular revenue.
In 2025, an expansion has been seen in the use of “Monero” and instant exchange services to launder proceeds, in addition to an emerging overlap between CSAM networks and electronic extremist groups that monetize offensive content via digital payments.
The report states that one of the top sites in this area alone has used over 5,800 digital addresses and generated over $530,000 since 2022.
The report concludes that these networks take advantage of U.S.-based infrastructure to improve their distribution and credibility, while operators often stay outside to reduce personal risk, complicating enforcement efforts despite advances in tracking tools.
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