Crypto's Dark Side: Funding Human Trafficking

Crypto payments to groups suspected of human trafficking saw a huge jump in 2025. A recent study found that these transactions went up by 85%. This money was mostly moving through public blockchains. The study also found that most of this activity was happening in Southeast Asia. There, scam compounds, illegal online gambling, and money laundering networks work together. The study looked at three main types of crypto activity linked to human trafficking. These were international escort and prostitution services, labor recruiters, and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) vendors. Customers sending payments came from all over the world. This shows how big these operations are. Criminals are using messaging apps like Telegram more and more. They use these apps to advertise their services, find victims, and handle payments. This shift from old darknet forums to messaging apps makes it easier for these networks to grow. It also makes it easier for them to move money around the world. The study also found that the transparency of public blockchains gives a unique look into criminal money flows. This helps blockchain trackers disrupt these activities. However, the financial scale of these crimes is huge. It's in the hundreds of millions of dollars. But the real harm caused is much bigger than any dollar amount.Escort and prostitution networks showed signs of being highly organized. Some of these services operate legally, but others show signs of trafficking. These networks use stablecoins and Chinese-language money laundering groups to cash out quickly. They also use Telegram channels to "clean" illicit funds. In 2025, there were an estimated $16. 1 billion in illicit crypto flows. Another big category was labor recruiters who bring people into scam compounds. These compounds are mostly in Southeast Asia and run crypto-based scams. Recruitment fees usually range from $1, 000 to $10, 000 in cryptocurrency. Victims are often forced to conduct romance scams and other online frauds. These compounds are linked to illegal gambling platforms and money laundering services. The study also tracked networks involved in CSAM. These networks operate under different payment structures but show similar organized financial patterns. About half of CSAM-related crypto transactions were below $100. This reflects subscription-based models and low per-user pricing in private chat groups.