The intersection of cryptocurrency and suspected human trafficking intensified in 2025, with total transaction volume reaching hundreds of millions of dollars across identified services, an 85% year-over-year increase. The dollar amounts significantly understate the human toll of these crimes, where the true cost is measured in lives impacted rather than money transferred.

This surge in cryptocurrency flows to suspected human trafficking services is not happening in isolation, but is closely aligned with the growth of Southeast Asia–based scam compounds, online casinos and gambling sites, and Chinese-language money laundering (CMLN) and guarantee networks operating largely via Telegram, all of which form a rapidly expanding…